RACING EXPOSURE :: Club level motorsport e-magazine

Race Report – Oulton Park – 3^rd SEPTEMBER 2011

Cheshire’s infamous Oulton Park circuit, with its rapidly changing gradients and blind crests leading into unforgiving corners (which a few found out the hard way), played host to the Roadsport and Supersport Championships this weekend.

Supersport – Race 1

A double victory for Reece Somerfield after dominating with outstanding driving.

Qualifying produced a few anomalies; championship leaders Jeremy Webb and Lee Wiggins started down in seventh and eighth. While Somerfield snatched pole, Carlton Brown lined up second and Ben Whibley third. Somerfield got a fantastic start and began to pull away. Ian Payne leaped into second in front of Whibley then missed a gear as they headed towards Shell Oils Hairpin which resulted in Whibley running into the pack of Payne, unfortunately ending the race for Whibley. Meanwhile Webb and Wiggins were on a mission to join the leaders; Webb made the initial progress marching through the field, eventually challenging Brown for second place by lap three.

Chaos occurred behind as the spinning car of Sean Bryne was left facing the oncoming pack, leaving Ray Gilliland and Richard Solomons nowhere to go, both collecting Bryne’s stranded car at the entrance to Knickerbrook. This called for the safety car to be released, bunching up the entire field, destroying Somerfield’s time advantage. Once the race got back underway Somerfield took command and began to rebuild his lead, leaving the hunting group of Webb, Wiggins, Brown and now Steve Day to fight it out for second place. They entered Old Hall almost four abreast and unsurprisingly they didn’t all make it through the corner in one piece. Brown spun on the exit and sadly ended his race in the barrier. Later that lap Webb also suffered bad luck after an out-of-character misjudgement of the braking point for Shell Oils ended his race in the gravel trap. With a few of the key players out of the race, Somerfield led Wiggins, who fought off constant advances from his team mate Day. Payne began setting fastest laps while fighting with Ben Gower for forth.  The pair produced an epic battle but were unable to catch the leaders. Somerfield rightfully took the win for McMillan Motorsport after a dominant race followed by Stancombe Vehicle Engineering teammates Wiggins second and Day third. Payne claimed the fastest lap, 1:58.111 but missed out on a podium finishing forth, Gower had to settle for fifth with Albert Vella surely delighted with sixth after starting from fifteenth.

Race 2

The front runners produced a nail biting race, with the first six cars ‘as one’ lap after lap. Although they were a tight bunch of cars, continually swapping position during the lap each time they crossed the line, it was in the same order; Somerfield, Payne, Wiggins, Day, Gower. They stuck together like glue, chancing late brakes and dives down the inside of each other at Old Hall, desperate to finish on the podium. Race two also suffered a safety car period, this time due to Andrew Salmon’s car rolling end over end following heavy contact with the barrier after getting the entry a little wrong at Island bend, an extremely fast part of the circuit. Luckily Salmon was able to walk away unharmed from the incident but the safety car was necessary to clear the debris and fuel which had spilt onto the circuit. The majority of the pack strung out a little after the re-start but the leaders remained tight. Somerfield did not have an easy drive but managed to hold off Payne and Wiggins for his second win of the day. Payne eventually secured second and Wiggins claimed fastest lap of the race, the new lap record 1:57.820 and third place!  Meanwhile, two championship contenders Webb and Whibley started from the back of the grid and did everything they could throughout the race to minimise damage to their championship positions and maximise point scoring. Webb made up nineteen places to finish sixth while BWR front man, Whibley overtook twenty two cars to finish seventh, an epic drive from the pair of them.

This means that Wiggins now has 196 points and leads Webb by one point in the championship. Somerfield moves up to third with 186 and Day is forth only a couple of points behind. Gower is now fifth with Whibley back in sixth.

Next Round: Anglesey International – 24/25^th September

Supersport Race 1 Finish

Race Report – Snetterton 300 24^th / 25^th April 2011

Supersports

Easter Bank Holiday weekend, Snetterton 300 circuit layout flooded in sunshine set the scene for racing to commence.

Race 1

Jamie Orton claimed pole with a one second gap between himself and Lee Wiggins who was closely followed by Jez Webb in third.

A scintillating close race ensued for the third round of the championship, Orton did not manage to utilise his pole position as he was beaten to the first corner by Wiggins who then spent the race defending his lead from the rainbow of cars behind. Steve Day, blue car, Orton in his JPS coloured car, Webb in the all yellow machine and Reece up at the front for the first lap until a puncture scuppered his chances after he ran wide at Hamilton.

The individual battles were momentarily paused while the safety car was deployed to clear the circuit after an incident on the apex of Oggies. Unusually the safety car didn’t pick up the leaders which caused confusion to both spectators and drivers. After the safety car peeled off a tremendous finish played out, Wiggins took the win narrowly as Day propelled his car down the Senna Straight using Orton’s tow to launch himself forward to finish second, which meant Orton missed out by 0.099 seconds and finished a rather deflating third after an amazing race up at the sharp end.

Race 2

The second race was an absolute stunner; a true performance of what Caterham racing is all about. Nose to tail action from lights to flag, a different leader each time they crossed the line not to mention multiple position changes during each lap. Wiggins wished to repeat his fantastic performance from race one and Day was desperate to claim his illusive win and make Snetterton 300 a circuit to remember for Stancombe Racing, while Orton really didn’t want to finish third again. Webb and Whibley followed inches behind waiting for an opportune moment to pounce.

During the race, attention was given to Reece ‘the Rocket’ who flew through the field from the back row of the grid due to a DNF in race one. He progressed through the order like a man on a mission and gracefully picked his way up the order to join the leading pack. As they crossed the line for the final time it was Webb who was victorious, the waiting game had played off, Orton finished second and third place went to ‘The Rocket’. What an epic race, one of the closest Supersport races to date.

Orton proudly sets the new lap record, while Wiggins tops the championship table, ‘for now’.

Roadsport A

Both Roadsport A races were won by Richard Carter, Chris Legg in second and Rob Vissers in third. With only three entrants, all were guaranteed trophies if they finished.

Chris Legg now holds the lap record as he secured the fastest lap.

Roadsport B Race 1 finish

Roadsport B

To celebrate Easter, trophies filled with cream eggs awaited the podium finishes.

Mike Hart started his weekend on a high with securing pole and positioning his car ahead of the championship leaders, Kurt Brady and Wes Fox. A couple of names appeared higher up the standings than usual, Spencer Horgan in fifth and Ian Davis in seventh with newbie Adam White in thirteenth beating a few fast contenders that were expected to be higher up the grid including Matt Rigby (guest driver; third in Academy 2010).

Hart managed a perfect start and held the lead into Riches where he remained for the majority of the first few laps. A quintet of cars merged at the front forming a close train. Hart fought off Fox to keep his lead while Aaron Head made his way up into third. Brady and Jon Mortimer, who made fantastic starts were knocked out of contention when they collided together at the exit of Oggies and stranded their cars in the gravel, this made way for Jim Needham to nudge his way back up the ranks and allowed Hart and Fox to create some air between them and the chasing pack.

After an epic race with plenty of moments leaving the spectators on the edge of their seats there was no surprise as the leading pair came around Murrays for the last time neck and neck. The win genuinely could have gone to either of them. Hart tucked in behind Fox to get an almighty tow that he used to catapult himself across the line as they went side by side although he misjudged his exit slightly and ran wide, bouncing over the grass narrowly missing the armco after the flag had fallen. Hart missed out on the victory by 0.098 seconds. Needham finished third after beating off the competition from Horgan and Head. A truly spectacular end to the race that left the crowd wanting more of the same thrilling action.

Race 2

Race two was more of a battle for second and third as Fox was able to pull away from pole and break the all important tow that features so heavily in Roadsport B races. This resulted in lights to flag victory and a gap of nearly four seconds between him and the others.

Although Fox had pulled such a big lead the remaining cars did not disappoint to produce a thoroughly entertaining race. From the back of the field Kurt Brady and Jon Mortimer were trying to make amends for loss of points in race one and were both keen to make up as many places as possible. Brady managed to work his way up to ninth while Mortimer pulled out all the stops, bagged the fastest lap of the race and made his way all the way up to fourth. It was a race of much overtaking and Martin Pass carried out his fair share propelling himself from twentieth up to seventh, although unfortunately his great efforts were not able to be counted due to a technical infringement resulting in disqualification.   Meanwhile, Needham had recovered from a poor start, zoned himself back into the job in hand and managed to snatch second place leaving Hart the smaller trophy and third place.

It was Aaron Head who claimed the lap record and his name in the history books with a fantastic time of 2:15.916. Unsurprisingly it is Fox who tops the championship table with three out of four races won.

Next Rounds: Brands Hatch 11^th/12^th June

Roadsport B

Sunny skies over Silverstone’s new Arena GP circuit set the scene for the opening rounds of the 2011 Roadsport B championship.

Roadsports B in action

Normal service continued as the two champions from their respective Academy groups lined up first and second on the grid after qualifying for the initial Roadsport B race. Wes Fox secured the first pole position of the year with Aussie Kurt Brady biting at his heels in second.

In an action packed close race, typical of Caterhams, a lead pack of six continually swapped places, each taking a turn in the lead. Fox had to fight off advancements of Brady, Jon Mortimer, James Needham, Joel Wymer and Mike Hart, frequently spreading five abreast down the Hanger straight into Stowe. Amazingly, despite locked brakes and puffs of tyre smoke, all would make it through the corner each time as the race raged on.

Further down the field  Academy frontrunners Martin Pass and Ross Macindoe were unusually off the pace, leaving them to mix it up with the mid field, rather than the lead pack.

Wymer spun from the lead pack dropping back to sixteenth place, allowing the top three of, Brady, Fox and Hart to pull away and decipher the order for the podium. Fox would eventually take the honors of a maiden Roadsport B victory closely followed by Brady in second and Hart completing the trophy winners.

In a near identical nail-biting encounter, a lead pack of cars quickly emerged in race two and broke away from the rabble. Hertfordshire driver Fox got a good start and held the lead for the first few laps, but this didn’t stick as Brady and Mortimer both proved they were worthy leaders. Meanwhile Aaron Head, who started on the back row of the grid due to a DNF in race one, sliced his way past his opponents and made his way up to a stunning fifth. The dice for the lead had pushed Fox down the order and allowed Brady to claim a win, with a dramatic photo finish between Hart and Mortimer for the runner up spot.  A delighted Mortimer learned of his 0.006 sec advantage when he arrived at the podium, leaving Jaguar development driver Hart to collect the third position trophy.

A new circuit layout guarantees that there will be a new lap record and Wes Fox has secured his name in the record books with a time of 2.36.358

With a pecking order far from established, Brady heads the Championship table closely followed by Fox, Mortimer, Hart and Needham; but for how long?

Supersports

A whopping thirty nine cars took to the grid for the initial rounds at Silverstone, all keen to discover what the Arena GP has to offer.

Caterham Supersport race is go!

Reece Somerfield seized the first pole position of the Supersports season with Jamie Orton and Jez Webb not far behind. Unusually, regular pole sitter Steve Day and fellow Essex fast man Lee Wiggins were much further down the field than expected.

Although frantic activity meant every lap produced multiple leaders, it was Somerfield who crossed the line each time in the lead lap until an electrical gremlin caused him to retire. Meanwhile Wiggins had carved his way from tenth into the lead pack to battle with Orton and Webb, each taking their turn in the lead. As the flag fell it was the JPS coloured car of Orton who was at the front followed by Webb and Wiggins.

Race two quickly produced two large groups of closely packed cars, thrilling the spectators and giving a fantastic example of what Caterham racing is all about,.

Orton, Webb and Wiggins were joined at the sharp end by Day early in the race, keen to prove that his qualifying performance was just a blip. As four cars funneled into a corner, Orton took evasive action resulting in a spin  pushing him well down the order. In the melee, an on-form Sean Byrne would produce a personal best performance, whilst Somerfield and Carlton brown were on a  rocket-like ascent through the field. But as the leaders crossed the line it was Wiggins who took the flag, with Day second and Byrne landing himself a trophy and podium position for the first time.

Brown can content himself with the new lap record whilst Wiggins tops the championship table ahead of Byrne and Day.

Roadsport A

Roadsport A shared the Supersports grid as the seminal series entered its farewell year.

Ian Payne secured pole position with a mighty two second advantage over Antony ‘Sid’ Sidney-Woollett and Adam Bettinson, lining up second and third.

Payne converted his pole into a lights-to-flag victory with a monumental twenty one second lead over second place. With Payne pulling out such a large gap the main race was for second and third as Peter Young, Sid and new-to-Roadsports, Bettinson duelling it out lap after lap. At the line it was Sid who would grab second and Young claiming third

As the lights went out for race two, Bettinson made a spectacular start.  Unfortunately, it was the start of the Supersports race and not the Roadsport A’s, which were to be started a minute behind the main pack.  Reversing back past the pole sitter into his grid spot was something new for the officials to consider, but thanks to the big time gap, no harm was done and no action was taken.

Payne put in a repeat performance and won the second race with another huge advantage. After his somewhat entertaining start Bettinson had a respectable race and finished second leaving Sid to take third position.

Payne now has a seven point lead in the Championship and the new lap record.

Photos: Rick Wilson