Oulton Park 30th August 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The August Bank Holiday was traditionally one of the high days of the 500 calendar, and whilst the holiday has moved, the Oulton Park gold Cup meeting has reinvigorated that tradition. A fine entry of twenty seven, comprising most of the regular runners and many faces not seen for some time, were greeted by a clear, sunny sky after two wet days. Sadly, Hakan had already been and gone. Bringing the JBS out for its first UK outing of the season, he was called away to deal with a fløød at home.
Practice
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Martin Sheppard and Brian Joliffe headed the next group with John Jones, Mike Gilbert (looking racy), Stuart Wright and George Shackleton, the last-named still with some gearbox issues and recovering from a very poor start. Kerry Horan and James Holland came up next, then Shirley Monro, David Holland and Mike Bell, Paul Hewes and Roy Wright, then the late-starting Richard Bishop-Miller (angry at the start problems, and using that anger to good effect) and Richard Utley. Of all the cars to suffer at the start, the Trimax was the most likely, and sure enough Tony Steele brought her into the pits with a smoking clutch after one lap.
Next up was yet another battle. At first led by Martin Sheppard with Brian Joliffe in close company. John Jones, Mike Gilbert and Stuart Wright followed, whilst George Shackleton cut through on the first lap. But desperate to get back to the front, George over-cooked it out of Lodge Corner and managed a 360 spin in the dip of Deer Leap, back on the gas and onto the group again in a moment. Clearly the fastest of the group, George worked his way through the group over the first six laps. At first there were signs that he might set after the Hunt/Woods/Challis group some sixteen seconds up the road, but with o incentive he eased off for a safe seventh place. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Classified Finishers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nigel and Sally make hard work of marking cake, while Gordon despairs
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