The BRSCC’s North Western Centre organised a fabulous meeting at Oulton Park on 9th May which was sponsored by AD Modular.
During the lunch interval, presentations were made to a couple of individuals for their long service and dedication to the BRSCC in the North West.
AD Modular Mazda MX5 Championship
The MX5 Championship provided plenty of thrilling action in its 2 races especially between the leading quartet – Adam Sparrow, Neil Chisnall, Steve Foden and Oli Walden. Such was the intensity of the dicing that, on the last lap of the opening encounter, Foden was pushed out wide on to the grass at the exit of Cascades. He re-joined to finish fourth, rueful of the fact that his goal of finishing on the podium in every round this season had been dashed.
Sparrow and Chisnall twice finished first and second. Walden came home third in the morning but in the afternoon, he was demoted from fourth on the road to sixth when a 10 second penalty for a false start was applied.
Clapham North MOT Mazda MX5 SuperCup Championship
There was more magnificent MX5 action in the SuperCup Championship. In race 1, once he hit the front, Thomas Langford held off pole-sitter Ollie Hall until the chequered flag came out. Impressive newcomer, Will Antrobus, completed the podium with Alistair Dendy half a second behind the lead trio.
When the protagonists returned to the tarmac, Langford appeared to be on his way to repeating his victory but, in the closing stages, Antrobus executed a demon pass at Old Hall to take the spoils. Completing the podium was Ollie Hall.
Kumho Tyre Mazda MX5 Clubman Championship
Mazda MX5 racing is supposed to be some of the most competitive in the world… but Jordan Pimley didn’t get the memo!!! When he did the double in the Clubman category, his winning margins were 3.3 secs and then 10.8 secs. Jack Warry was the runner-up on each occasion as Denis Pilimonkin and then Keith Dalton visited the final step of the podium. Harrison Leach finished third on the road in race 1 but the stewards allocated a one place penalty to him.
Geoff Page Engineering Super Classic Pre-99 Formula Ford Championship
Talking of competitive racing, Formula Ford has been providing that for almost 60 years. The pair of Pre-99 rounds at Oulton were no exception.
Both were won by a Van Diemen driven by Callum Grant although he really had to work hard for both victories – not least because his car was lacking speed down the straights. Leon Frost in a Van Diemen RF89 did his best to demote him in race 1 and finished 0.047 secs behind. Harrison Morrow (Reynard FF92) thought he had snatched third from Oliver Roberts’ Van Diemen RF89 when he out-braked him into Hislops on the last lap but he ran across the chicane, handing Roberts the position back.
When the single-seaters returned to the tarmac, Roberts was the early leader but when Grant attempted to pass, he let him go by as he didn’t want to be embroiled in a battle which delayed them and put half the field on their tails. So, he bided his time. His plan worked to a degree as he and Grant pulled away from everyone except Frost. However, as the contest entered its closing stages, Roberts was unable to overtake Grant. The trio flashed past the chequered flag covered by a quarter of a second.
PBS Brakes Supersport Endurance Cup
This 2 hour contest proved to be a race of attrition which left David May with enough of a lead in his Ginetta that he had time to make a pit stop to change a tyre and still finish 2 laps ahead of Stuart Humphrey’s heavily-modified Mazda MX5.
Thank you Marshals!
The BRSCC would like to thank all the marshals and officials for the smooth running of this meeting.
In particular, we would like to acknowledge all those who were involved in the several incidents where “good old fashioned” marshalling averted the need to delay race starts or deploy the Safety Car!
Dave Williams