Classical Gas
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Neil Back on Form at Oulton Neil had a good race, winning his class, after a slow qualifying run in the wet saw him way down the grid. A superb start saw him move into a class lead by the first corner. Ian Clark mounted a late challenge but Neil held onto his gain. David Howard was the overall winner in his Jaguar XJ12, ahead of Dave Nixon (Mazda RX3) who beat Steve Primett in Class C. However, Steve maintains his championship lead. Click on the Links for:-
The recent spell of glorious weather had broken for qualifying at Oulton Park on Saturday 5th August. There had been early morning rain and there was low cloud and a damp track when an excellent entry of 19 Post Historics hit the track. There should have been 20 but William Jenkins non-started his BMW 3.0 CSL/3153. This saved the club from dealing with the thorny problem of the cars eligibility. (Click here for the discussion). Qualifying was delayed because of off-track excursions during the previous sessions. When their time came there was drama for the Post Historics. Ian Clark had an excursion. Then Neil Bray went straight on at Island and had to take to the escape road. The worst incident involved Jason Christie who was tucked up behind series sponsor Peter Halford when he lost his Escort RS2000, kissed the Armco with the front of the car, causing him to pirouette and come back in to the barrier very hard, pushing the rear quarter panel into the boot. David Howard was fastest, followed by Dave Nixon who had rebuilt the rotary engine of his Mazda RX3 after its Thruxton blow up. Championship leader Stephen Primett could only manage fourth fastest behind Mark Lucock in his similar Escort RS2000. Neil was back in 15th place, two seconds behind Ian Clark with James Christie and Len Allgood in-between. The weather brightened up for the race. All the qualifiers made the grid, including Jason who had straightened out the rear and masked the worst of the damage with tape. David Howard powered away into a lead he would retain for the whole race. Dave Nixon had a slow start and so did Mark Osborne who found himself with a box full of neutrals. This helped Neil who had a fantastic get-away, shooting straight up the middle, passing Len Allgood, both Christie brothers and Ian Clark amongst others. Neil lost a few places as the lap went on but had a comfortable buffer over Ian with Andrew Clarksons Firenza in between. Up at the front the order was Howard – Halford – Primett - Lucock – Jason Christie – Dave Nixon. The field soon started to spread out, but there were major developments during lap two when Mark Lucocks Escort RS2000 started to misfire at high revs and he pulled into the pits. Dave Nixon was recovering from his slow start, got past Jason and set off in pursuit of Steve Primett who was around three seconds in front. He got closer and closer until two laps from the end when he pulled alongside as they crossed the start-finish line and out-braked Steve into Old Hall. Meanwhile both the Dolomites of Ken Selfe and Mark Osborne had retired. Neil had established a lead of nearly four seconds over Ian Clark but this came down before the end when Neil was right up behind Andrew Clarkson but didn’t want to risk mixing it to get by. Andrew had been between Neil and Ian until lap six when he overtook Neil but slowed towards the end. Ian closed to within less than a second at the end, setting fastest lap and coming close to breaking Nick Danns lap record. However, Neil hung on to take the all-important class win. Roger Stanford drove an impressive, but lonely, race in his Lotus Cortina to finish sixth, only to pull off as he crossed the finish line. Simon Kinsley was just behind in a very standard looking Escort RS2000. Phil Rhodes made up quite a few places from a low grid position but was lucky to finish when a fan belt slipped off during the last lap. Hope you enjoyed this report. You can show your support for our efforts on Classical Gas by joining our Frappr Map. Click here to join.
Championship Position Click here for full points. Stephen Primett 69 + 1 + 6 = 76
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