DRAMATIC CATERHAM ACTION ROCKS OULTON PARK RACE DAY
As expected, the BRSCC’s Caterham Championships provided a day of non-stop action when the North Western Centre were in charge at Oulton Park on 1st June.
Daniel French won both Motul Caterham Seven 270R encounters even though he wasn’t ahead the last time the cars crossed the line at racing speed on either occasion. Following an early Safety Car period in the opener, French went on to establish a 4 second lead over the multi-car scrap for second until he suffered terminal wheel damage which saw debris scattered across Clay Hill.
With the 30 minute duration just about expired, there was no time to deploy the Safety Car and so the red flags were displayed as it was too hazardous for the drivers to continue at full chat. Justin Heap passed the wreckage to cross the line as the “winner” just 0.134 secs ahead of Matt Sheppard but the official results were declared on the previous lap meaning French took the spoils as Heap was put back to third behind Sheppard.
There was more shuffling required with the second classification. James Murphy had seen the chequered flag first but he was issued with a 5 second penalty for track limit infringements which meant French took victory once more. Murphy was awarded fifth with Sheppard and Gregory Monks completing the podium.
In the first Avon Tyres Caterham Seven 420R contest, John Byrne and Richard Ainscough set the early pace but the rest of the pack reeled them in around half distance. David Henderson had just overtaken Ainscough when Byrne’s engine let go handing him the lead. He pulled away as Ainscough, with his tyres going off, unsuccessfully defended second place from Timothy Dickens.
Byrne’s engine remained on song for the whole 30 minutes in race 2 and remarkably came through from the back of the 22 car field to take the win by the narrowest of margins with 3 other cars driven by Henderson, Henry Heaton and Aaron Head all within 4 tenths of him when the chequered flag was waved.
The opening Santander Caterham Seven 310R thrash was a real thriller with well over half a dozen cars within a second of the leader for the majority of the contest. Jay McCormack spent much of the race out in front although up to 5 drivers demoted him at various times. McCormack was always able to get back ahead. That is until the final lap when he approached Hislops side by side with Andrew Perry. They both spun handing victory to Tom Grensinger. Richard Lambert came through from fourteenth on the grid to take second with Perry recovering to complete the podium.
McCormack crossed the line in twelfth and worked his way up from that place on the second grid of the day to finish as runner-up to double winner Grensinger. Pete Walters was third.
Ben Lopez-Appleton was another to take a brace of wins, his were in the Roadsports category where he held off Lars Alexander Hoffman.
The Academy runners had a single outing but there were so many of them they had to be split into two Groups – Green and White. The top 3 home in the former were Alexander Conway, David Morgan and William Brunt while in the White Group, Blair McConachie and Tom Wyllys have had a ding dong battle with the latter getting the verdict by 0.048 secs as the duo crossed the line side by side. Adam West won a 3-way dice for third.
With a timetable due to end just before Oulton Park’s 6:30 pm curfew, the BRSCC wish to thank all marshals and officials for keeping the meeting on schedule during an action-packed day.
You can find a detailed breakdown of the weekend’s results at Oulton Park here OULTON PARK RESULTS
Dave Williams
