Following a break of six weeks in order to accommodate the Isle of Man T.T. Races, the championship resumed at Oulton Park on Saturday 24th June. Due to a lack of available dates, coupled with the Covid pandemic, it had been almost four years since the series had last visited the immensely popular Cheshire venue. Unfortunately, due to limited Sunday hire availability and the expense and logistics of offering a Friday Test Day, the event was condensed into a one day meeting – which was certainly one filled with drama and unpredictability.
Daryl Gibson / Rhys Gibbons (CES Suzuki) had their best results to date, taking the win in race one, while they were runners-up to championship leaders Pete Founds / Jevan Walmsley (LCR Honda) in the second outing, who had bounced back from a non-finish in the earlier race. Meanwhile, Brian Ilaria / Arlo Brown (DDM Suzuki) extended their enviable lead in the F2 Cup to 55 points taking both wins from Charlie Morphet / William Reilly (LCR Honda) who moved back to second in class following a torrid meeting last time out at Donington Park.
A grid of twenty one outfits – bolstered by three wild-card teams – attended the meeting, however there were notable absences from Alan Founds (LCR Yamaha) whom had been lying in a strong second place in the table, and Manxmen Mike Jackson / Jake Roberts (DMR Suzuki) – who had also been lying in the top five. Mike is recovering from surgery to correct a hand injury which is a legacy to an incident in 2019 at Tower Bends on the T.T. Circuit – the F.S.R.A. wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing the team back later in the season.
With an intense programme of races to get through, it was agreed in order to be able to provide two races that there would be a single practice/qualifying session, which was shared by the Wirral 100 Club sidecars, which included teams from first time novices through to top B.S.B. F600 teams, so all competitors had to be ultraalert with some huge speed differences in the session which took place in bright sunshine, on what was going to be one of the hottest days of 2023 so far.
The initial pace was set by wild-cards Lee Crawford / Scott Hardie (CES Suzuki) from Gibson / Gibbons who were closely shadowed by Steve & Matty Ramsden (LCR Honda), all times being reasonably modest, some five seconds off the existing lap record. However, Founds / Walmsley quickly put in a time which put them three seconds clear at the front, with all other teams then upping their pace reacting to signals from pit lane.
Founds / Walmsley topped the timesheet with 1:47.382, 1.4s clear of Crawford / Hardie who in turn had 3.2s over Gibson / Gibbons, with the “middle order” posting much closer times. The Ramsdens were fourth, just ahead of Sean Hegarty / James Neave (Baker Honda), with the wild-card pairing of Dan Knight / Ben Hughes (LCR Honda) rounding out the top six. Ilaria / Brown were the fastest of the Cup teams, placing seventh, ahead of Wayne Lockey / Ben Binns (LCR Honda) and Rob Atkinson / Mark Middleton (Bellas Honda). Tenth overall, and second in class came David Schofield / Josh Smith (Bellas Yamaha) – despite having to make a detour to pitlane late in the session as Josh was feeling queasy and feared soiling his helmet!
Morphet / Reilly were third in the Cup, however from the times posted it looked like the battle for lower reaches of the top six in the sub-class would be a highlight with less than two seconds covering the pairings of Bruce Moore / Amy Dodd (Ireson Honda); Paul Riley / Jody James (DDM Suzuki); Chris Schofield / Tom Dawkins (Baker Honda); Paul D'Henin / Gary Wheeler (DDM Suzuki) and wild-cards Maria Costello / Colin Smyth (LCR Kawasaki).
With an initial delay on the grid for the opening race, it appeared some teams were having issues with the heat, which while the competitors were suffering discomfort, some of the outfits were also reluctant to perform! Founds / Walmsley had to “bump-start” their machine prior to the warm up lap, while on returning to the grid, Riley / James machine was pushed into pitlane and failed to take the start. Once again, Founds / Walmsley had their outfit cut out, and recruited the services of fellow front row starter Scott Hardie to assist with a “push-start” before the race could finally get underway!
Both front row teams made textbook starts, but it was Crawford / Hardie who stole the initiative into Old Hall Corner to lead the stream of outfits up The Avenue and into Cascades with all machines seemingly getting through lap one cleanly. The two leading outfits had opened a gap from third placed Gibson / Gibbons, who had a similarly comfortable margin over the Ramsdens, who had Hegarty / Neave eying them from a couple of seconds back, as they in turn were moving away from Knight / Hughes. Lockey / Binns were having a particularly strong ride, well inside the top ten, as were Atkinson / Middleton, Gary Horspole / Kenny Cole (Baker Suzuki) and Ilaria / Brown who were definitely in total control at the head of the Cup charge.
Lap two saw huge changes, as Gibson / Gibbons crossed the line with an impressive lead, and neither Crawford / Hardie or Founds / Walmsley were in sight as the Ramsdens were the second outfit across the line, with Hegarty / Neave visibly closer. As the pack streamed past, Crawford / Hardie limped into pitlane with their sidecar tyre totally deflated, having suffered an issue approaching Lodge Corner, while Founds / Walmsley were suffering with an intermittent electrical fault (later traced to the lanyard). While they continued and completed four laps the problem had become too chronic to safely continue and they too joined the list of retirements , which also included Costello / Smyth; Schofield / Dawkins and James Saunders / Sarah Stokoe (Baker Honda) – who had arrived at Oulton Park lying second in the F2 Cup points standings.
As the last lap flag was shown, Gibson / Gibbons had run a very mature and well managed race and had opened up a gap of almost eight seconds over the Ramsdens, who were under intense pressure from Hegarty / Neave in deciding the order of the final podium places, which went in favour of the latter. Knight / Hughes crossed the line fourth just ahead of Lockey / Binns taking their best result of the season to date, with Atkinson / Middleton sixth. Next came Cup victors Ilaria / Brown, who were unrivalled in the sub-class – indeed finishing with little company on the road. Horspole / Cole came home eighth while the top ten was completed by the remaining Cup podium finishers: Morphet / Reilly and Bob Dawson / Matt Sims (LCR Honda). Top six finishes in the F2 Cup for Moore / Dodd; Schofield / Smith and D'Henin / Wheeler also bore fruit for all teams with only 17 points separating teams vying for fourth in the standings at present.
The second outing included a reverse grid for the top six in race one, coupled with the prospect of the nonfinishing Founds / Walmsley and Crawford / Har die being positioned on the back row, so entertainment was almost certainly guaranteed! Front row starters Atkinson / Middleton and Lockey / Binns made the most of their track advantage, although there was frustration for Lockey and Binns as they had an early excursion through a gravel trap – thankfully recovering with a spirited ride to claw their way back to eleventh at the chequered flag – in a shortened seven lap race due to time constraints owing to earlier incidents in several solo classes.
Gibson / Gibbons and the Ramsdens had fought their way to the front, while almost unbelievably Founds / Walmsley were up to fourth, dumping Hegarty / Neave down to fifth at Lodge Corner on lap one. Crawford / Hardie were in their slipstream and lining up a move when a day to forget was completed with total engine failure, coasting into pitlane once more. However, the retirements list was far shorter in race two – just Andrew Bingham / Steven Dalton (Shelbourne Suzuki) pulled out on lap five, with nineteen teams completing the distance.
Founds / Walmsley quickly fought their way through to the front, and had began to open up a considerable lead – although they were neither able to break their own lap record, nor better their qualifying time set earlier in the day. This time around, Gibson / Gibbons had less breathing space over the Ramsdens, as they disputed the remaining podium places, while they eased away gradually from Hegarty / Neave. Further down the top ten, Atkinson / Middleton were in close company on the road with Ilaria / Brown, while Morphet / Reilly and Horspole / Cole were similarly so a couple of seconds further back. Meanwhile Saunders / Stokoe were making up for their earlier disappointment, and were disputing fourth place in the Cup with Dawson / Sims.
Confirming their earlier problems had been eradicated, Founds / Walmsley took a winning margin of 17.1s over Gibson / Gibbons, who held off the attentions of the Ramsdens by 1.6s. These results saw huge boosts for all three teams in their pursuit of the championship, especially Gibson / Gibbons who moved into third place, having been languishing in fifth, thirty points shy of third prior to Oulton Park.
Hegarty / Neave were fourth, another crew who had taken a decent points haul, with Knight / Hughes fifth. Atkinson / Middleton held off Cup winners Ilaria / Brown by a slender 0.2s. Horspole / Cole were eighth, just ahead of Morphet / Reilly (second in class), with Schofield / Smith taking the last podium slot in the Cup in tenth place, ahead of the charging Lockey / Binns. Saunders / Stokoe resolutely held off Dawson / Sims by a mere 0.093s to land fourth in the Cup, with the sixth placed Cup team being wild-cards Liam Saunders / Ben Stell (Ireson Yamaha), who crossed the line fourteenth on the road.
On behalf of the F.S.R.A., I would – as always – like to express thanks to our series sponsors: The A.C.U. for awarding the official “British Championship” title, along with A.V. Craine & Son; Hegarty Plant Ltd; Pagid Racing (Breitenbach Rennsport); Rowtec Engineering Maintenance; Whitby Cottages and Tingle Windows.
Finally, the F.S.R.A. would like to thank Wirral 100 Motor Club for hosting, and to all their dedicated officials, marshals, medics and all the other volunteers involved in running the event. There now follows a five week break, with July being a busy month for many teams with two events at Oliver's Mount, Scarborough, and also the Southern 100 Road Races. Round four of the series will be held on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th July at Anglesey, hosted once again by Wirral 100 Motor Club, with the International Sidecar Revival at Cadwell Park being the following weekend as the championship gathers momentum as we move into the second half of the season.
Words - Tim Langham (F.S.R.A. Press Officer)
Photographs – Bryan Gough & Simon Heath