In an action packed day at Oulton Park on 11th July, the BRSCC’s North Western Centre staged no less than 11 races – including a 45 minute mini-enduro.
Durley Garage Fiesta ST150 Challenge
Dan Robinson was the early leader of both Fiesta ST150 encounters but on each occasion he was deposed from P1 by Robbie Harrison. Indeed, race 1 saw Robinson drop to third behind Tommy Bruley. Later in the day, Bruley had a problem with his gear linkage which forced a visit to the pits at the end of lap 1. Robinson came home second ahead of Spencer Lane.
Silverlake Production Cup & Silverlake DS3 Cup
It had been quite a dramatic week for Chris Bassett who had fifth gear make a break for freedom from his Peugeot the previous weekend at Thruxton. He therefore had a busy week fitting a new gearbox. Then, on his way to Oulton Park up the M6, there was a puncture on his trailer.
Once he got out on track in Cheshire, life became much better. While building up his confidence, he was third fastest in qualifying before winning both contests later in the day.
In race 1, Lee Curtis finished as runner-up but when his Renault Clio was a non-starter in the next contest, that position was taken by Robert Buckland who was in another Clio. Taking third on both podiums was Chris Reece (BMW 135i).
Theo Longman did the double in the DS3 Cup.
Racingline VW Audi Racing Championship
Richard Clarke dominated the 2 VW Audi thrashes in his Seat Leon. His winning margins were well over 45 secs.
The brace of Audi TTs of Tim Evans and Oliver Devine-King were his nearest challengers in the opener but both retired later in the day. Evans’ car succumbed to the hot conditions – it suffered from heat soak. Nonetheless, Evans was happy to have lapped Oulton Park 2 secs faster than he did last year in his Audi.
Their demise meant Paul Roddison (Skoda Octavia) and Tony Hunter (VW Golf) occupied the lower steps of the second podium.
CNC Heads Sports & Saloon Car Championship
A very welcome guest series was the CNC Heads Sports & Saloon Car Championship which brought a huge grid of diverse cars. With Andrew Southcott’s MG Midget Lenham stuck in fourth gear, it looked as though Paul Rankin was going to win their first race. But then Rankin couldn’t get his Westfield Aero out of fifth gear. It turned out solely using fourth gear around Oulton Park is more effective than having just fifth available as Southcott caught and passed Rankin to take the win.
Chris Roberts brought his BMW M4 home in third.
Later in the day, Roberts finished in the runner-up position after Southcott retired. Indeed, Roberts was the leader for a short period of time when Rankin’s visor became covered in fluid from the header tank. Once his vision was restored, Rankin powered away to take a comfortable victory.
Deri Davies completed the podium on this occasion in his nimble little Darrian T90 which had got out in front at the start of both races before the more powerful cars got into their stride.
Nankang Tyre BMW SuperCup
Connor Daly took a comfortable win in the opening BMW encounter with Darren Rickaby and Thorburn Astin completing the podium. However, later in the day, Daly was less fortunate as he retired in the pits on the penultimate lap.
Aydan Hassan won the second thrash with Rickaby once again finishing as runner-up ahead of Simon Waterfall.
SW Motorsports Clubsport Trophy
The mighty Morgan of Shane Kelly took the spoils in the 45 minute ClubSport Enduro. Only Ben Walkinshaw (Scirocco R) and Nick Brady (Audi TT) finished on the same lap as Kelly.
Thank you
The BRSCC is indebted to all the marshals and officials who endured the baking heat throughout the day to enable this meeting to take place.
Dave Williams