Burgess and Jackson spar in gruelling Radical contest
Like a heavyweight-boxing match, the lead of the Radical Challenge Championship ebbed and flowed over the course of the Oulton Park meeting as SR3 titans Steve Burgess and Dominik Jackson traded blows across three races.
Burgess landed the first significant strike, taking his first win following a tough meeting last time out at Spa-francorchamps. His results from that round meant he did not have to take any pitstop ‘success seconds’ during the first 40-minute race. Jackson, who had claimed a hat-trick of wins in Belgium, had to endure the maximum 20 seconds during his stop.
Since Jackson led from Burgess by just 5s at the beginning of the pitstop phase, the 20s delay looked like it would prove the deciding factor in the race result. But while Burgess did indeed go on to victory, Jackson lost an additional chunk of time when he ran off at Cascades. Mark Richards and Brian Murphy completed the podium.
“My brakes had boiled from standing still [in the pits] for so long,” Jackson said after finishing a distant eighth. “From there on in I had to pump them to slow down – must have been about 30 to 40 times a lap.” Round one to Burgess.
Round two, the 20-minute sprint, went the way of Burgess too. Jackson had to settle for a narrow second place, finishing only 1s behind his title rival, before he clawed back some much needed points in race three, which proved to be a role reversal from the meeting’s opener.
This time Burgess was burdened with a 20s success penalty, while Jackson’s eighth in race one meant he didn’t have any. Jackson went on to take a comfortable victory, 14s ahead of Kristian Jeffrey, but Burgess was sixth, tipping the balance of the championship standings in his favour. He now leads Jackson by eight points as they head into the second half of the season.
Tom Rawlings finally overcame his torrid run of misfortune and unreliability throughout 2018 by taking his first victory in race two of the Monoposto Moto 1000 championship, featuring a grid shared with 1800, 1600 and Classic 2000 models.
Rawlings’s Speads initially looked to have ended its run of temperamental behaviour in race one, but overheating in the midmorning Cheshire sun prompted Rawlings to park it before the problem got worse. This gifted Richard Gittings and his Jedi Mk6 a first win of the season.
As temperatures soared for the second race, Rawlings was understandably dubious about his chances – but, though his car continued to run hot, he managed to cling on to the lead and celebrate only his third finish in eight races. “I still had to slow down and manage everything right until the last lap,” Rawlings admitted. “But it’s great to finally get the win.”
“Damage limitation” was how
Lotus Elise Trophy championship leader Craig Denman summed up his performance at Oulton as he took a second and a third-place finish.
“We knew it was going to be a tough weekend,” he said. “I’ve got the heaviest car on the grid and she struggles in quick direction changes, which you get a lot here.”
Both wins went the way of his nearest championship rival Joe Taylor, who continues to chip away at Denman’s points deficit at the top of the table following three consecutive wins.