Racing Results 2010
Round 3 Oulton Park: 15 May 2010
- Race win for Rex Stamp, Stamp is new championship leader
- Class wins for Andrew Morrison, Andy Robinson, Jason Richardson and Stewart Calder
Built into the natural contours of the Cheshire countryside, Oulton Park’s combination of stunning scenery and spectacular racing make it one of the most picturesque and cherished circuits for spectators and competitors alike.
Photos courtesy of Adtrian Arran
Qualifying:
Qualifying saw Rex Stamp (Lotus Exige) set a blistering time of 1.48.454, fully 0.5 seconds below the Euro Saloons lap record) followed by Dave Cockell (Ford Escort Cosworth) just 0.17 seconds behind, with Simon Deaton placing third (and taking Class B pole) in the Elite Motorsport prepared Seat Leon. After losing a wheel from his Ford Falcon last weekend, Andy Robinson set the Class C pace in his Peugeot 306 while Jason Richardson (Mini Cooper) narrowly won Class D pole from Gary Whitehead’s BMW M3.
The Renault Clios were the pacesetters in Class E, with Stewart Calder taking his first pole position from Tim Clarke and David Pierce. Simon Jackson (MG ZR) and Yaser Almaghrbi (Daihatsu Charade) were suffering a lack of gears, Simon missing 5th and Yaser missing 4th, Steve Wood’s Mini Cooper S splitting them at the rear of Class C.
Unfortunately Ilsa Cox (Seat Leon) and Antony Sullivan (Renault Clio) suffered clutch and engine problems respectively and were unable to take part in the race.
Race:
On the warm up lap, both the BMW of Gary Whitehead, and the Subaru of Chris Huntley retired, and took no further part in the race. The Subaru suffered a blown exhaust and the M3 from diff issues.
Following on from the Alfa race, there was a large amount of oil left on the track, from Lodge, all the way along the start finish straight. This meant that when the race started, huge clouds of cement dust filled the vision of all but a couple of the front runners.
Stamp and Cockell from the front row of the grid cleared the chasing pack, and disappeared at a rate around 4 seconds per lap, while the pink Seat Leon of Deaton lost a few places to settle back in 6th. Morrison in the yellow Seat went up from 6th to 4th and settled into his race.
Further back in the pack, the racers soon spread out, and got down to having their own class battles, especially in Class E where Pierce kept Calder under constant pressure throughout the race to lose out by just 0.2 seconds.
Peter Isherwood and Tim Evans in the near identical ScoobyClinic Subaru’s were running side by side, until Evans seemed to loose power and drop way down the field. Whatever the problem, it looked to rectify itself as Tim was back up to full pace for the later part of the race.
Tim Clarke in his Clio took part in a massive off at Cascades, as the back end got away from him, which resulted in him spearing the tyre wall. Paul Horton in his Seat got caught up in the carnage and parked the Leon backwards in the tyres next to Clarke.
Andy Robinson was running in his 306, instead of the Falcon he campaigned at Silverstone. A big difference in vehicle, but he was still on the pace, and running well to finish 9th overall and first in Class C despite a slow start due to not switching on all the fuel pumps at the start!
The wide bodied M3 of Kevin Wendt was closed in on Deaton’s Seat towards the later part of the race, but was unable to capitalise on the seemingly troubled pink racer. It later turned out to be a failing air flow meter, which appeared to have been a casualty of the cement dust.
The supercharged Exige of Stamp, and the Cosworth of Cockell continued to pull out their lead, and dice with one another. Although 2nd to Stamp overall the Cosworth set the fastest lap time (and new lap record) of 1:47.676.
Charlie Jackson was the last to retire, with a very smoky Coswoth on lap 7, pulling off to the infield to limit the damage to both the car and track.
With Rex Stamp playing his joker, Stamp now leads the championship with 76 points from Kevin Wendt (52) and Nick Hayes (48). Stewart Calder also played his joker and now leads the Mark Fish Motorsport Clio Cup Challenge with 36 points from Brett Walter (32) and David Pierce (16). With 60 points, Renault closed up on the MSE_Performance.com Manufacturers Cup leaders, but Seat (248) still have a big lead from BMW (148) and Renault (122).
With support from :
Mark Fish Motorsport, MSE-Performance.com & LMA Performance
Report by Trevor Nicosia, Car 10 (www.nyssaracing.com) and
Jonathan Fletcher
Click here to link to the full TSL Timing results pdf of the meeting