Oulton Park 8th May 2010
With 21 entries for these two rounds our grid average is looking good, let’s hope we can maintain it throughout the season. Despite trying his best, Ash had to withdraw at the last moment, he brought his car to Oulton and enlisted help but electrical and HGF problems eliminated him. Following the Brands accident everyone made it to Cheshire except Graham but he’ll be back for the Silverstone biggie. It was good to see Simon’s car once more resembling a ZR.
Testing
Testing on the Friday saw 16 (?) Trophy cars present again mixing it with some rather slower machinery. The only dramas appeared to be Colin with a front hub problem and Zak who was pushed wide into the wall by an errant Lotus Cortina resulting in considerable front rhs damage. A visit to see the MSV clerk proved to be pointless as there is no recourse (on a test day) in this situation unless the incident is reported to race control by a track observer and, guess what ? !
Chris was unhappy in the 1m 59’s, Paul L, 1m 58’s and Colin into the 1m 57’s. Colin likes it here. Meanwhile the CMC team got to work on Zak’s car and it was soon looking fairly decent, well done guys.
Qualifying
The Trophy acted as track sweepers being first out at 8.30 and soon set an unenviable record (that may never be broken) of receiving TWO red flags by the end of lap one !! Charles and Chris both received licence points and fines for progressing onto the track whilst the red light was still on, luckily the rest stopped in time. Following this, a restart of the qualifying session saw Charles into the barrier at Old Hall after completing his first lap which produced the second red flag. This delayed things further as the barrier was repaired leaving just 8 minutes of qualifying time left. All were out on wets except Andy who braved slicks and it was paying off for him until he spun off leaving Colin, Andrew, Paul L and Doug the initial pace setters. Unsurprisingly the fastest times were achieved on the last lap with Paul L, Chris, Doug, Colin and Andrew setting the top 5 places. Paul’s time of 2:07.495 showed how damp it was. In classes C&D, pole went to Oliver on 2:14.664 followed by Dan, Julia, Paul S and Ross. Charles rounded up the field with no laps credited following his off, however he still managed to qualify without further track action?
Race 1
Unfortunately, once again briefings were missed and spotted, luckily no fines were imposed. Everyone made it to the start despite a couple of very last minute hitches to David and Helen, Chris was lucky as a loose rear wheel managed to stay on as he drove to the assembly area, wheel nuts dropping off as he went ! The race got under way at 11:46 following the new green flag lap behind the safety car idea. At the end of lap one the train was Paul L, Chris, Colin, Ben and Andrew, Doug moved into 4th on lap two as Alastair had a big off finishing his racing for the day. Doug was on fire (hot coles !) and moved up to P3 then into second spot on lap 4. The front four put on a good race with several place changes, Chris into P2 on lap 5 then P1 on lap 6 a position he held to the flag. Behind him Paul L and Doug had a good dice with Colin ready to pounce. His chance came on the last lap having taken Doug on lap 8 when he passed Paul at Cascades leaving the LE 500 bouncing almost airborn as he slid 200m to a standstill ! The finishing order then reading Chris, Colin, Doug, Ben and Gary in his best finish to date. Andrew was out on lap 7 with rear suspension failure (again!) and Andy on lap 9 with front hub failure. Simon spun off on the first lap dropping hm to last, he then put in a class act to finish 6th. Fastest lap went to Andy before his off with a very quick 1m 56.657s just 0.06s off the fastest ever race lap.
In the class C/D group, Oliver led until lap lap 8 with yougster Dan in P2 until lap lap 3 when Paul S moved into second spot finally taking the lead off Oliver on lap 8 which he held to the end. The remaing top 5 places going to Julia and Ross. Fastest lap was given to Paul on his 9th with a 2m 04.700s. Driver of the race was awarded to Doug/I’m on fire/Coles ! A popular decision by the sound of the applause.
Race 2
Of the 4 DNF’s Alastair’s car was too badly damaged to continue and Andrew’s was also out due to the loose drive shaft saying hello to the gearbox through the casing, ouch ! That left 19 cars to start race 2 at 15.39, unfortunately that’s as far as Andy got as his car failed to get off the line. Simon again spun off on the opening lap but another stirling drive saw him finish 11th. Ben was out at the end of lap 3 after lying 4th with suspected HGF leaving Ben as a spectator to watch the exciting duel he’s been part of between Paul L, Chris, Colin and Doug. These four ran with just 0.5s covering them, Colin having taken the lead on lap 6, until lap 7 when Paul lost out to Chris and Doug dropping him to 4th.The first 3 held station to the finish giving Colin his 2nd Oulton win. Fastest lap also went to Colin with a 1m 57.353s. In the C/D race pole sitter Oliver held his lead throughout the race until Paul S pipped him on the last lap (Brands all over again), once again Dan held onto his P3 slot to the flag. In this race David managed to beat Helen to the flag unlike race 1 where Helen was victor. Fastest lap went to Paul on lap 9 as he worked hard to get past Oliver, for this he was awarded driver of the race.
Paul S leads the championship with 68 points from Chris in second on 62 and Colin third on 58.