TEAM SHERADIZE FOILED BY OIL PUMP


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JPR-Uvio were the team to beat in the Fun Cup finale – Photo: bournephoto.co.uk

The concluding round of the Fun Cup Championship – a 4 hour enduro at Oulton Park on 17th October – was the headline event at the penultimate meeting of the season for the BRSCC’s North Western Centre, with their final gathering of petrol-heads scheduled for Anglesey Circuit 5 weeks later.

Coming into Saturday’s finale, Team Sheradize were the Fun Cup squad in form having won their previous 3 races but as early as lap 6 (with the winners going on to complete 108 circuits) they were already out of contention when falling oil pressure forced them to make a pit-stop. Their crew quickly changed the oil pump in the time it took the rest of the field to negotiate the International layout a trio of times but, although the drivers Marcus Clutton and Peter Belshaw were on the pace of the front-runners on returning to the fray, they were unable to make up the ground that had been lost. Twelfth was their reward in the final classification.

The JPR – Uvio car had more speed than any of the others and drivers, Graham Roberts and Farquini Deott, led most of the contest. Track Torque’s Chris Hart and Henry Dawes were the runners-up having, in the closing stages, held off Team Geometric’s 3 person crew of Guy and Zoe Wenham plus Stephen Johansen.

With one week to go to the Festival at Brands Hatch, the Avon Tyres Northern Formula Ford 1600 Championship’s Post ‘89 and Pre ‘90 categories put everyone in the mood with 4 fantastic races.

In the section for older cars Jamie Jardine was absent leaving his season long rival, Matthew Cowley, to add the Northern crown to the National title he secured a few weeks earlier. He took two victories on the day but only after some epic battles with Calum McHale. Heading into the final corner of their opening duel, McHale braked ultra-late in a bid to take a last gasp win but carried so much speed that he ran wide allowing Cowley to slip back through.

Cowley was also leading on the final lap of their second encounter when McHale tried to get a good run out of Brittens to put him in position to attack at Hislops however he clipped a kerb, got airbourne and spun. He recovered to take third behind Michael Beaver, who was third earlier in the day in the first race. It was key that McHale finished on the final step of the podium as this put him level on points with Cowley and made him 2015 Champion of Oulton on a countback which went all the way down to the number of fourth places!

The day got off to the worst possible start for the leader of the Post ‘89 Northern Championship, Tom McArthur, who started his two races from the back of the grid after a throttle problem prevented any laps being completed in qualifying. He managed to work his way up the order to finish fourth in the opening encounter. Later in the day, Tom came home in the runner-up position where he was one place ahead of his brother David. The siblings also finished in that order in the final Northern standings.
A third and a fourth confirmed Josh Fisher as the Champion of Oulton for the Post ‘89s while Doug Crosbie took a brace of hard fought wins during the course of the day. A slow start to the season while he got used to the new car he acquired over the winter put Crosbie out of contention for any titles, but he will be starting as one of the favourites next year.

The Dunlop TVR Challenge runners finished 2015 with a single race in Cheshire. Two guest drivers in the shape of Nick Cresswell and John Seery (who brought along their Caterham and Westfield respectively) ran at the front of the field. Cresswell was leading until he had a scary moment on some fluid that had been laid down at Knickerbrook after two cars further down the order had a coming together. This allowed the TVR Sagaris of Dean Cook to get ahead. The duo passed and repassed each other a number of times with Cook eventually coming out on top. Seery ran third until he retired with 3 laps to go. This allowed Darren Smith (Tuscan) to complete the podium – he was another who was caught out on the slippery surface in the early stages.

You can view the full results at OULTON PARK RESULTS.

Dave Williams


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