Photo credit to; Torque Talk with Erin McDonald
Jack Irvine and Liam Kelso have been crowned the SMRC Mini Cooper Cup overall and newcomers champions respectively after a frantic finale at Knockhill racing circuit this past weekend, with action up and down the field – including Lewis Cameron’s stunning pole position on debut at Knockhill – it was not one to miss!
Race One;
Previous to race one, Jack Irvine was effectively champion although leaded to outscore Chad Little in race one to secure the title. On the race start Lewis Cameron lost pole position to Jack Irvine and dropped behind the guesting Ian Munro, at the back in the newcomers battle, Liam Kelso managed to stay ahead of Presley Barrett, who reported he was feeling unwell this weekend in the car, making racing extremely difficult. Heading onto lap 4 the top 3 were incredibly close with Munro under major pressure from Cameron behind while closing up to Irvine at the same time, attempting a move on the leader at the hairpin but not being successful. James Hitchen had managed to close in on the podium battle on lap 5 – setting the fastest lap in the process. Onto lap 6 Ian Munro was caught and overtaken by Lewis Cameron at Duffus, with Munro trying the outside line to attempt to keep the position but instead losing time and dropping to 4th – while at the same time Chad Little had caught the pack, making it a 4 car battle for 2nd with Irvine breaking away in the lead. Little and Munro swapped places heading onto the final while at McIntyres Lewis Cameron slid wide and lost 2nd to James Hitchen, with Chris Cockburn catching and joining the battle as Cameron got past Hitchen, with Little attempting to follow through, with the pair battling through the first sector and up towards the chicane, where they stayed side-by-side eventually resulting in Hitchen going off the road and dropping to 6th, to the delight of Munro and Cockburn, who both gained a free place. Munro and Little ran side-by-side towards the hairpin as Cockburn tried to make it 3 wide! Munro and Cockburn would get through as Irvine won, sealing the championship after a dominant season, with Cameron finishing 2nd in his first ever motor race as the guesting Munro rounded off the podium, with Little, Cockburn, Hitchen, Wijetunga and Williams all finishing within a second of each other, with Munro leading the pack. Barry Holmes finished ninth with Liam Kelso rounding off the top 10, winning in the newcomers championship battle with his rival Presley Barrett less than 3 tenths back!
Race Two;
Race Two, was witness to the closest finish of the Scottish Mini Cooper Cup season by far with Chad Little taking the win from championship rival and now winner Jack Irvine by 0.015s, while Chris Cockburn rounded off the podium in 3rd position just under 4 seconds behind. The big story however was that of the Newcomer’s and Knockhill Cup battles, with Michael Williams finishing 6th, ending his hopes of taking the Knockhill Cup home from teammate Jack Irvine, who secured the second of his championship trophies in 2026. In the Newcomers cup, Presley Barrett would take home the win from Liam Kelso finishing in 2nd after a last lap incident with Barry Holmes going slower than Kelso anticipated at Duffus, catching him out and letting Barrett sweep through for the newcomers win. Heading into the final race it was all but certain that Kelso would win the newcomers cup as all he needed to do was finish the race – due to the way the Scottish Mini Cooper Cup works the final championship standings, like the standings on the website – are not exactly true, as they don’t factor in drop rounds which is where Kelso held the advantage with a 13 point lead when drop rounds are factored, meaning that the only way Barrett could overturn the defect would be Kelso not finishing the race will Barrett did, leaving him with 16 points to overturn the 13 point gap, however if Kelso finished, it would be impossible to win.
Race Three;
Guesting Ian Munro would go on to win the final race of the Scottish Mini Cooper Cup season in 2026 as Chad Little and Michael William would DNF with separate car failures, with William’s having a gearbox failure a lap before Little pulled into the pitlane with a smoking car due to an engine failure, filling a 3 meter radius around the car full of smoke when Little brought the car to a stop, ending his championship defending year in devasting fashion. James Hitchen would finish in 2nd while Irvine finished his championship winning season in 3rd, securing a record of 8 wins and 9 second places after drop rounds. A season of monumental dominance. Cockburn just beat out Lewis Cameron by less than a tenth to secure 4th and finish in a dead heat with Martin Wijetunga in the overall standings In the newcomers championship Liam Kelso secured the title after some confusion in parc ferme, with Knockhill FM initialling believing that Presley Barrett was champion – which was correct without drop rounds, but after drop rounds, Liam Kelso was champion, for the first time in his entire career and 365 days on from the devasting roll that ended his season early, he’d made the ultimate comeback.
Final 2026 Overall Championship Standings;
| Position | Name | Final Score | Difference | Gap |
| 1 | J. Irvine | 346 | ||
| 2 | C. Little | 309 | -37 | -37 |
| 3 | M. Williams | 237 | -72 | -109 |
| 4 | J. Hitchen | 221 | -16 | -125 |
| 5 | M. Wijetunga | 208 | -13 | -138 |
| 6 | C. Cockburn | 208 | -0 | -138 |
| 7 | B. Holmes | 153 | -55 | -193 |
| 8 | P. Barrett | 133 | -20 | -213 |
| 9 | L. Kelso | 133 | 0 | -213 |
| 10 | C. Scott | 47 | -86 | -299 |
| 11 | R. Dalgleish | 40 | -7 | -306 |
Final 2026 Newcomers Championship Standings;
| Position | Name | Final Score | Difference | Gap |
| 1 | L. Kelso | 313 | ||
| 2 | P. Barrett | 304 | -9 | -9 |
| 3 | C. Scott | 116 | -188 | -197 |
Final 2026 Knockhill Cup Standings;
| Position | Name | Final Score | Difference | Gap |
| 1 | J. Irvine | 208 | ||
| 2 | M. Williams | 128 | -80 | -80 |
| 3 | C. Little | 118 | -10 | -90 |
| 4 | J. Hitchen | 116 | -2 | -92 |
| 5 | M. Wijetunga | 115 | -1 | -93 |
| 6 | C. Cockburn | 107 | -8 | -101 |
| 7 | B. Holmes | 101 | -6 | -107 |
| 8 | L. Kelso | 80 | -21 | -128 |
| 9 | P. Barrett | 78 | -2 | -130 |
| 10 | C. Scott | 34 | -44 | -174 |