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Monoposto Championship Round 9 There have been songs called Smile by Nat King Cole, the fragrant Lily Allen and (according to Google) “Scarface featuring 2Pac”, which I thought was a type of paint. But nobody needed a song to make them smile at Oulton on Saturday. A glorious parkland circuit, sunny weather and Monoposto. Who could ask for more? Entries were a bit light at 33 in total, possibly a sign of the economy, possibly because it's a single header. Who can tell. But the healthy sized crowd were treated to a couple of races with plenty of variety and some cracking dices. I don't think I saw an unhappy face. Qualifying – MotoMono, 1600, 1800 I arrived a little late and practice was in progress. It was good to see former club director Stephen Brooks back out in his JKS running a rapid fourth having not driven the car since the club's last visit to the Cheshire circuit. At the very front, Jason Timms won the battle whereby he and Adrian Wright were swapping fastest laps, settling on a 1.41.05 for pole. Geoff Fern took up third with 1800 interloper and regular fastest man Ewen Sergison fifth in the 1800 Swift, Christian Parker just behind in the (for now) unique Seward. Geoff did well to be third after only 3 laps, stranded at Fosters with a broken chain. Team Fern led 1600 with Nigel Davers in the RF89 ahead of Mat Jordan in the FVJ, third being Luke Rosewell in his Ray. Doug McLay failed to complete a lap due to what he described to me as “that very English thing, an intermittent fault”. After much changing of bits and testing, Doug approached the start nervously, hoping to at least finish..... Race - MotoMono, 1600, 1800 There was drama on the green flag grid as Luke Rosewell had a problem and was pushed off the grid. The ever resourceful Tony (Dad) got the car running and Luke joined from the pit lane. As the lights went out, Adrian Wright made a superb start to beat polesitter Jeremy Timms away. Geoff Fern stayed in third, but Christian Parker had, by Old Hall, moved up 2 places to fourth. Sadly, this promising start came to nought on the second lap as he fought the car in the same place, steering from side to side to correct an apparently damaged rear suspension. He parked up, to take no more part. The leaders, meanwhile, went on their way, lapping cars as required, to finish in the same order they had first approached Old Hall, separated by a second between each car.
Stephen Brooks was fourth, around 40 seconds in arrears, but considering it has been a year since he last drove the immaculate JKS, I suspect he must have been pleased by the result. Next lonely pilot was Ewan Sergison. winning the 1800 class by just over 20 seconds. Len Turner stayed a bit aloof from the dicing 16/1800 proceedings to finish overall 6th, ahead of Nigel Davers who took the 1600 class with his usual aplomb. Then the dicing really started. I can only assume Mat Jordan had a dreadful start because he came into view at Old Hall second to last. Conversely, Doug McLay, worried about his electronics, had made up a couple of places in the first few hundred metres. By the end of lap 1, Doug had made up 4 more places to slot in just behind Michael Dale, who in turn was behind Marcus Sheard, which was a little confusing as Mike and Doug have both chosen the same yellow and black colour scheme for their Mygales, albeit distributed differently. Mat then decided to make up for his poor start and passed David Parkinson (lap 1) and got inside Doug (lap 3) with the cunning intention of using Doug as protection against DP, his deadly rival in the 1600 class. Doug then fought back and re-passed Mat on lap 5. Had he been driving for points, Mat might have settled but he's not only a racer, he had DP on his heels. Going through several corners side by side, David pushed Mat hard, and on lap 6 Mat went just a bit too quick at Druids, the treacherous double apex caught him out and he ended up in the sand. “Some of the best driving I've ever done until I binned it” Mat later quipped. Slightly behind this excitement, Luke Rosewell was driving for a finish, knowing the car was not quite right. He nursed the overheating Ray to the end and a well deserved third in class. Meanwhile, in 1800, Ewen was out in front and Marcus was in a safe second. Unfortunately lady luck (or to be more accurate, lady fuel pickup) thought otherwise and as Marcus faltered, doubtkess cursing the deceptively high fuel consumption of Oulton, Michael Dale and Doug McLay sneaked by to deprive him of a podium. Whilst everybody felt sorry for Marcus's misfortune, it was good to see Doug coming back from his electronic hell to a podium. Geoff Cowell and Jock Sergison completed the proceedings, enjoying their racing in the beautiful Cheshire setting. At the end, everybody was smiling. Tony Cotton Disclaimer: The above represents only the unofficial view of the writer and not of the Monoposto Racing Club in any way whatsover. We are unable to reproduce results due to copyright reasons but hope that a link here to TSL will not provoke the lawyers.
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Slightly wobbly Seward pulls off
Michale Dale Spot the difference..Doug McLays Mygale SJ04...... ....Marcus Sheard's SJ00
Len Turner Ewen Sergison
Adrian Wright Pics:TC |
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