OULTON PARK ROUND-UP
The North Western Centre of the BRSCC staged their third extravaganza of motorsport in 8 days. Having laid on the entertainment at Anglesey on Saturday and Sunday the week before, 10 races were run at Oulton Park on 15th August.
The highlight this week was 2 rounds from the Ma5da MX5 Championship in which there were battles throughout the capacity field. Despite strong challenges from Jonathan Greensmith and Robert Boston, Tom Roche scored a brace of victories which takes him very close to securing the 2009 title. First time out Roche was able to establish a reasonable gap to his pursuers as Greensmith and Boston enjoyed a good dice only for back-markers to delay the leader in the closing stages and significantly reduce his advantage. In the second outing the trio remained in close contact throughout with a one lap Safety Car interlude helping to keep the field bunched. Formula Ford action focussed on the annual contest for the Moose Trophy which is awarded in memory of Colin Benn who had pivotal role in the success of the category in the North West. The coveted prize was taken by Mike Bennett – the former Champion of Oulton scored his first win since returning to competition at the beginning of last season. When the flag fell he was 7 seconds ahead after challenges from Martin Short and Simon Kinsey evaporated because they suffered a spin and engine problems respectively. Earlier in the day Kinsey and Short had set the pace in the Creative LED Solutions NWFF1600 encounter. Their duel came to a head when Short spun at Lodge just after half distance, this put the Van Dieman driver down to fourth from where he demoted Bennett but then he had to settle for third behind Dougie Crosbie. The initial Race.tv Open Sportscar Series event was red flagged before it had even started! A heavy downpour on the green flag lap behind the Safety Car made conditions treacherous for these slick-shod cars. The Clerk of the Course wisely aborted the Rolling Start and gave the marshals an early lunch-break to give the track time to dry out. When the field was finally released Alan Hogg’s Jade 2 was unbeatable. He took the honours again when the cars came back for a second thrash, on this occasion he set himself the target of recording a 100 mph average lap-time. This quest nearly got Hogg into trouble when he clipped a kerb at Brittens and had a quick gyration. He achieved his goal with a 1 minute 36.9 secs penultimate tour. Race 1 for the www.motorlawyers.co.uk Fiat Racing Challenge could have gone to any of 5 competitors but it was Jason Greatrex who took the laurels. He repeated the feat with ease in the final event of the day. Kamal Kalsi was the winner of both BRSCC Porsche 924 races. He was “gifted” the first set of spoils when championship leader, William Penrose, had a brief moment on the grass. Penrose was even more generous second time around as he pulled over just before the line to let Kalsi through. He later told the circuit commentator that he “owed it him”. The meeting results can be found at Click Here Dave Williams |