Oulton Park Report 2017, Rounds 8&9
1800, 1600, M1400 and M1000 Grid
This meeting saw one qualifying determine the grids for both races on this one day twin header meeting. Jeremy Timms had an off after one lap of qualifying, he still qualified third on the grid for the first race with the time posted on his one full lap, but had to start from the back of the grid for the second race. This left Jason Timms to claim pole, with Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke in second for both races. Mark Reade took fourth overall and pole for the Moto 1000 class, before retiring to the pits before the end of qualifying.
Jeremy Timms managed to repair the crash damage to his car between qualifying and the first race and so was able to take up third place on the grid for race 1. As the cars lined up on the grid, confusion at the start meant some cars set off like they would on a green flag lap and some started racing. The race was red flagged almost immediately and the cars were brought back round to line up again, as this was by far the safest and fairest option for all involved. Unfortunately, Matthew Walters and Mick Kinghorn were caught out by this false start as they had a coming together which damaged Matt’s wing and Mick’s nose. Matt came in to the pits for his rear wing to be fixed, but this meant he then wasn’t allowed to take his position on the grid and would start from the pit lane instead.
The race eventually got underway properly and it didn’t take long for Jeremy Timms to get to the front of the grid. Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke bogged down on the start and lost a few places, but quickly gained his second place position back and was chasing Jeremy Timms down. Andrew managed to clinch fastest lap in the race on the last lap, but didn’t manage to get past Jeremy Timms for the win. Mark Reade led the Moto 1000 race from Jon Reed, but after a few laps Jon was pressuring him and eventually got past and took the win in class, with Mark in second and the other Leastone Racing driver, Morgan McCourt, coming in third place.
In the 1800 class, Chris Lord sailed through to take his first victory of the season whilst the 1800 championship leader, Matt Walters, battled his way through from the back of the grid. Matt ended up second in class but was far too far back to challenge Chris. Doug McLay got the better of David Jones to come in third in class. Geoff Fern took his seventh win and fastest lap of the season in the 1600 class, with Eddie Guest coming in second and James Gordon-Colebrooke third.
The second race saw Jeremy Timms starting from the back of the grid, but he made very quick work of getting up to the front. Jason Timms and Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke both had bad starts, losing a number of places. Jon Reed took full advantage, getting past them both on the start and getting past Mark Reade on the first corner for the lead of the race. By the end of the first lap Jon was still leading the race, with Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke close behind him and Jeremy Timms closing in on them both. They soon both got past with Jeremy taking the lead of the race on lap 2 and cruising through to win the race, with Andrew again coming second. Jeremy has now secured 9 out of 9 wins so far this season.
Jon Reed lead the Moto 1000 race right through and ended up winning the class and coming third in the race overall with a big gap to Mark Reade who came second in class and fourth in the race. Kyle Cutts came third in class, which was his first podium finish of the season. Further down the grid, Mick Kinghorn had a spin on the first lap which put him in last place of the race, but he managed to climb back up to take fourth in class. Mick has retained the lead of the championship, but Mark Reade is closing in after a successful weekend.
In the 1800 class, Matt Walters was unable to challenge Chris Lord for the lead and Chris drove through to class victory for the second time that weekend, with Matt coming in second. Third place in the 1800 class saw a tense battle between David Jones and Doug McLay, with Doug eventually coming out on top during the last lap. After the weekend’s racing, Chris Lord climbed up to second in the 1800 championship behind Matt Walters. In the 1600 class, Geoff Fern won again, with Eddie Guest second and James Gordon-Colebrooke third. The points gained at Oulton promoted James from sixth in the championship to third.
F3, 2000, FR2000 and Classic Grid
Chris Hodgen was seen out in a different car to usual this weekend. After his engine let go in testing, Simon Tate kindly lent him his car so that Chris could continue the fight for the F3 championship. Ashley Dibden lead the way for the first lap of the race after qualifying second and getting past Ben Cater on the start, but Ben stuck with him and got past at the beginning of lap 2, he then lead the race to the end. Ashley’s race didn’t go to plan, he missed a chicane on lap 5 which put him down in third behind Chris Hodgen and then he lost a place to Neil Harrison as well which put left him fourth in the race overall.
Kevin Otway had a poorly engine the whole day and although he could be seen fettling between sessions, it didn’t improve. Luckily he managed to keep it going, although well off pace, for both races and got two fourth places in class getting him the all important points for the championship. Bryn Tootell disappeared off into the distance to win the class, with Terry Clark coming in second. Mat Jordan had been running third in the 2000 class but had a problem on the last lap and stopped at Hill Top, this left Mark Smith free to claim third place. James Densley led the FR2000 race start to finish ahead of Hayden Edmonds, Richard Crisp had to start at the back of the grid for both races due to being underweight in qualifying, but he climbed a couple of places in the race to finish 14th overall and third in class. In the Classic class, Robin Dawe dominated the class, winning by quite a margin. Ian Hughes unfortunately came into the pits during the first race which put an end to his weekend, this left Nick Catanzaro to get second place for both races and put him up to the lead of the championship ahead of Ian.
The second race saw a rush in the Dibden camp to get Ashley out for the race. He almost missed the start, but got into the assembly area and out to take his position on the grid just in the nick of time. Ben Cater kept the lead of the race off the start, with Ashley in second and Chris Hodgen in third. They stayed very close for the first few laps before Chris got ahead of Ashley. Chris pushed hard to catch Ben and on the last lap Ben got caught up in some traffic and Chris managed to dive past him to win the race. Ashley Dibden came in third and Neil Harrison in fourth. Ashley Dibden is still leading the F3 championship, but his lead is down to only one point ahead of Chris Hodgen. Ben Cater is now up to third place after missing the first two rounds at Cadwell and suffering a DNF in one of the races at Brands Hatch.
In the FR2000 class James Densley again led start to finish ahead of Hayden Edmonds. Richard Crisp came third but had a very impressive drive from the back of the grid. He was up from 18th to 14th by the end of lap 1 and then continued to gain places to finish 9th overall and earn him driver of the day. In the 2000 class, Bryn Tootell retired from the lead of the class on lap 2 which left it open for Terry Clark to take the class win. Mark Smith and Mat Jordan fought hard for second in class, but Mark kept the position and pulled a gap to Mat by the end of the race. Kevin Otway’s problems over the weekend meant that Terry Clark was able to gain second place in the championship from him, but by managing to complete both races and take some points away with him, Kevin has managed to stay close behind in the standings.
