JAMIE BACK ON TRACK AT OULTON PARK
Jamie Jardine was back on song at Oulton on Saturday. Photo: www.bournephoto.co.uk
Jamie Jardine recorded his first 2015 win in the Avon Tyres Pre 90 Formula Ford 1600 Champion of Oulton series when the BRSCC’s North Western Centre took charge of a busy 10 race programme on 4th July.
Having taken 5 FF1600 titles last season the Frodsham driver has been dogged by misfortune this year – he has even reverted from being Car No. 1 back to sporting the 28 with which he enjoyed so much success on his nose-cone. In Saturday’s single header, Jardine was beaten away from pole position by fellow front-row starter Calum McHale but by Island he was out in front and was never headed again as McHale had to fight a rear-guard action while he fended off Jaap Blijleven and Matthew Cowley. His defences were breeched at the start of lap 10 when Blijleven overtook him at Old Hall and then Cowley immediately took the final place on the podium with a move at Cascades. This result was enough to keep Cowley at the top of the Northern Championship standings of which this race was also a round.
The Post 89 cars also had a single header as they chased Northern and Champion of Oulton points. Some last minute tweaks in the assembly area prior to qualifying helped Doug Crosbie take pole position but, having taken the lead at the start, a few laps into race his engine suddenly stopped when a wire broke on his master switch. This left Josh Fisher with a clear track ahead of him although the McArthur brothers, David and Tom, were filling his mirrors. He kept them at bay by little more than 0.1 secs at the line to extend his advantage in the Champion of Oulton. Tom McArthur still leads the Northern Championship.
Jason Tingle had a busy day in which he competed in 4 Production VW GTi events – a brace each for Mk2 and Mk5 models – all of which were sponsored by Teekay Couplings. His first outing was in the newer cars and he was never headed. Simon Hill hoped to make a last lap challenge but had a nasty bout of wheelspin at Knickerbrook that cost him crucial time. Tingle had a similar late race moment at the same corner in the Mk2 opener and it dropped him from second to fourth behind Thomas Witts, Chris Webb and Christopher Sanders. He was ahead in the early stages of the second encounters for both classes but was narrowly the runner-up behind Witts in the Mk2s and fell to third behind Martyn Walsh and Simon Hill in the Mk5s.
Welcome guests on the schedule were the HRDC who provided two races that were packed with fabulous historic machinery. Modern day BTCC star, Andrew Jordan, and his father Mike teamed up to steer possibly the World’s fastest Austin A40 to victory in the Touring Greats contest. They took the flag almost a minute ahead of everyone else after 45 minutes. Mike Gardiner was even more dominant as he had lapped the field in his spectacular TVR Griffith at the end of the 30 minute Allstars encounter. His advantage was extended when the second placed Marcos GT of Richard Skinner coasted to a halt in the closing stages.
Also making a guest appearance was the GAZ Shocks BMW Compact Cup. The start of the first of their two races was very spectacular as pole-man Mike Tovey lost control at Cascades and forced championship leader Steve Roberts to take avoiding action. This pair finished well down the order as James Gornall took the spoils. Later in the day, Roberts and Tovey fought it out at the front as they completed a fabulous day of motorsport in that order with three quarters of a second between them.
You can view the full results at OULTON RESULTS
Dave Williams
