RACING LIVESLEY BEATS THE WEATHER FOR FUTURE CLASSICS GLORY

SNETTERTON 300: CSCC BY OLIVER TIMSON

Alec Livesley battled back from an early moment to guide his Jensen Healey to an emphatic win in the Future Classics.

Polesitter Tom Brenton had initially led away, only for Livesley to overtake him into Agostini. But with unrelenting rain making the track treacherous, both of them suffered early excursions (at Hamilton and the Bomb Hole respectively).

Their misfortune allowed Will Plant’s Morgan to seize the initiative. But his victory hopes soon disappeared when he incurred a stop-go penalty for a transgression at his mandatory pitstop. He emerged 10 seconds behind leader Livesley and, determined to make amends, closed the gap to the lead for three straight laps only to slide off into the gravel at Riches and end his race. Livesley gratefully took the flag to win, well clear of the recovering Brenton.

With sponsorship secured for a full season of racing in the Morgan Challenge, former Ginetta Junior pilot Elliot Paterson showed his intent with an impressive brace of wins in Saturday’s slippery conditions. He was always in control of the opener, moving seamlessly from pole to an everwidening lead. Meanwhile, his father Russell gradually dropped back, but had enough in hand to claim second, well clear of Andrew Bentley’s Plus 4.

Elliot had to work harder to get to the front in race two, after his dad leapfrogged past him to claim the initiative as they swept towards Riches for the first time. But his offspring was in no mood to stay behind for long, pulling off an impressive move around the outside of Palmer to reclaim the place. Once ahead, he pulled clear to complete another convincing win. Meanwhile, Paterson Sr pulled away from Tony Lees to secure second.

Colin Philpott kept a cool head in the first leg of the Jaguar Saloons and GT Championship double-header, taming the wet conditions to convert pole to a lead he held to the finish. By contrast, his fellow front-row starter Rodney Frost had an eventful race, chasing after Philpott in the early laps only for a brief off into Riches to set back his charge. He briefly dropped to fourth, but bounced back, setting fastest lap and reclaiming runner-up spot a lap from home.

Philpott took an early lead again in Sunday’s dry sequel, only for James Ramm to seize the advantage by taking the lead on the exit of Brundle. Undeterred, Philpott fought back ahead at the halfway stage and defended a narrow lead to the finish. A distant Frost completed the top three.

Jonathan Mitchell guided his Caterham to a comfortable win in the Open Series race, a full minute clear of Pantelis Christoforou’s Ford Escort and Gary Bate’s Caterham.

The battle for top spot in the opening race of the Magnificent Sevens season proved to be a private affair between polesitter Peter Ratcliff and Danny Winstanley. Ratcliff took advantage of a slower getaway by fellow front-row starter Jonathan Mitchell to lead, with Winstanley quickly moving from fourth on the grid to chase Ratcliff in second. The pair was soon trading lap times and slipstreaming moves as they contested top spot in a breathless chase. In the end, Winstanley worked the backmarkers well and had just enough to keep his rival at bay despite (or perhaps boosted by) an occasional sticking throttle on his Superlight.

Having converted pole to an early lead in the Tin Tops, Russell Hird looked to have a fight on his hands when second-placed Tom Mensley clawed back an early deficit to challenge him. But the loss of first and second gears blunted his progress and secured Hird’s Honda the win.

There was an intriguing early scrap at the front of the 60-minute Classic K race between the grunt of John Davison’s TVR Griffith and the more nimble Lotus Elan of James Barclay in the opening laps, only for Davison’s efforts to end when he went straight on at Riches. But Barclay and co-driver Nick Atkins couldn’t afford to relax as the new second-placed car of David Holroyd picked up the baton and chased after them. Holroyd slashed the gap to be on the leader’s tail going into the infield section, before sweeping decisively ahead at Hamilton to win. “I always thought I was in with a chance,” said the satisfied winner.

Having jumped ship from the CSCC’S Future Classics series into the Modern Classics for 2016, Nick Olson made an instant impact in his familiar Lotus Esprit, beating the Porsche of Miles and Piers Masarati home to win.

The weekend’s racing was brought to a tense conclusion by a cracking victory chase in the combined New Millennium/puma Cup race. Having moved ahead of long-time leader Lee Spencer at the halfway point thanks to a rapid mandatory pitstop, Thomas Houlbrook held off Spencer’s charging team-mate Rick Kerry to claim victory by a tenth of a second in a BMW battle.

Pickup Trucks (25 laps) 1 Mark Willis; 2 Paul Tompkins +0.568s; 3 Michael Smith; 4 Gavin Murray; 5 Antony Hawkins; 6 Freddie Lee. Fastest lap Tompkins. Pole Murray. Race two (25 laps) 1 Tompkins; 2 Lee +0.059s; 3 Willis; 4 Murray; 5 David O’regan; 6 Hawkins. FL Murray. P Murray. Race three (35 laps) 1 O’regan; 2 Smith +0.467s; 3 Tompkins; 4 Willis; 5 Murray; 6 Lee. FL O’regan. P Smith.

early pacesetter Ian Prior at Deene before pulling clear. Rob Spencer relegated Prior to third with a last lap move at Tarzan, but Prior’s attempt to regain the position exiting the Brook Chicane ended with his MGB V8 GT sliding into the outside wall.

Another unlucky driver was Jason West in the first Kumho BMW Class A event. After taking pole position and leading the early laps, he lost out to eventual victor James Card at Brook on lap five before his engine expired, promoting Roger Lavender and Daniel Wylie on to the podium.

Card was also close to the win in race two, but a red flag prevented him from attacking leader James Macintye-ure in the closing stages.

In the pair of races run separately for Class B, C and D competitors, Ollie Taylor claimed a double despite being baulked by backmarkers in race one and being beaten off the line by Robert Davidson and Dominic Surdi in race two. James Ford staked his claim for the overall title by taking two class D wins, with Russell Dack taking identical success in the ‘CC’ Compact class.

Another double winner was Kirk Armitage in his BMW E36 M3 in the Pre93/PRE-2005/BOSS Classic Touring Car event, each time defeating Roger Stanford in his E30 model. Behind the leading duo, the focus of both races was a fierce battle for third between Malcolm Wise in his Ford Sierra Cosworth and Simon Ward’s Vauxhall Astra GTE. Ward challenged hard and briefly held the position in each contest, but forceful tactics from Wise helped him to prevail. Elsewhere, Ali Rushworth was a delighted double winner in the Pre-2005

1 Russell Mccarthy (BGT V8); 2 Rob Spencer (BGT V8) +2.226s; 3 Simon Cripps (BGT V8); 4 Babak Farsian (B Roadster); 5 Jordan Spencer (BGT V8); 6 Paul Khouri (B GT V8). CW Cripps; J Spencer; Khouri. FL Mccarthy. P Mccarthy.

Race two (10 laps) 2 Dominic Surdi (M3) +2.344s; 3 Robert Davidson (M3); 4 David Griffin (E36 M3); 5 Alana Taylor (1 Series); 6 Darren Morgan-owen (M3). CW Taylor; Russell Dack (E46 Compact); James Ford (318i); Peter Miller (328i). FL Surdi. P Taylor. 1 O Taylor; 2 Davidson +13.605s; 3 Griffin; 4 A Taylor; 5 Dack; 6 Adrian Gilbert (M3 E36). CW Taylor; Dack; Ford; Miller. FL Taylor. P Taylor.

Pre-93/ Pre-2005 Touring Cars & BOSS (10 laps) 1 Kirk Armitage (BMW M3); 2 Roger Stanford (BMW M3 E30) +1.595s; 3 Malcolm Wise (Ford Sierra Cosworth); 4 Simon Ward (Vauxhall Astra GTE); 5 Andrew Sheraton (BMW 325i): 6 Alastair Rushworth (MG ZR 160). CW Stanford; Sheraton; Rushworth; Gary Parkes (Peugeot 206 GTI); Jeffrey Windsor (Ford Puma); Andrew Smith

OULTON PARK: BRSCC BY IAN SOWMAN

“He’s the one,” asserted a seasoned FF1600 observer as Chase Owen collected the spoils of his first UK victory in round two of the National Championship. It is too early to say whether the 23-year-old Texan is, as suggested, the strongest of the recent US imports into the British singleseater scene, but a dominant victory over a quality field in the wet suggested he might be. It was a good day for Cliff Demsey Racing all-round, as 2014 Festival winner James Raven won round one.

Race one should have been Niall Murray’s, but the Dubliner and local star Doug Crosbie tagged one another at the first corner, relegating Murray to the back. A typically storming drive carried him to fifth, but in passing Cavan Corcoran he cannoned a tyre stack at Hizzy’s. Undeterred, Murray pushed on in what remained of his Van Diemen, getting up to sixth.

Meanwhile, Raven had passed Crosbie down the Avenue on lap two and left everyone else to it. Crosbie manfully defended from Jonny Mcmullan, then Owen (who was up from row three), but was denied second when Owen barrelled through

(Honda CRX); Alan Willett (Ford Fiesta XR2I). FL Armitage. P Stanford. 1 Armitage; 2 Stanford +8.063; 3 Wise; 4 Ward; 5 Rushworth; 6 Sheraton. CW Stanford; Sheraton; Rushworth; Parkes; Smith; Windsor; Willett. FL Stanford. P Armitage.

Classic VW and Pre-2003 Touring Cars (10 laps) 1 Ken Lark (Volkswagen Corrado); 2 Steven Barden (Honda Civic Type R) +2.285s; 3 Danny Cassar (Honda Integra DC5); 4 George Young (Civic Type R); 5 Ross Craig (Civic Type R); 6 Tony Absolom (VW Golf). CW Barden; Young. FL Lark. P Absolom. Race two (10 laps) 1 Lark; 2 Absolom +1.544s; 3 Barden; 4 Cassar; 5 Tony Harberman (VW Beetle); 6 AJ Owen (Civic Type R). CW Barden; Owen. FL Lark. P Lark.

at the hairpin on the last lap. Reigning champion Mcmullan took fourth from Corcoran, who had earlier tagged Tom Mcarthur into a spin at Cascades that also claimed Rob Hall.

Owen led the second race from the off and eased to a classy win, while Crosbie managed a throttle issue on his way to second. Mcmullan and Murray took the next two places, with Chris Middlehurst starring on his way to fifth from row 10 having been ruled out of the opener when he clipped a barrier at the chicane. Raven clawed back seventh after a poor start and a wild moment on lap two.

Calum Mchale made the fastest getaway to the Pre-1990 opener, but he couldn’t unseat polesitter Jamie Jardine into the first corner. The Reynard 84FF driver eased away, while Mchale was reeled in by Jaap Blijleven, who finished within a tenth.

Mchale did have the lead by Old Hall in race two, and had a clear advantage when Blijleven passed Jardine for second at Island on lap three. But the race one winner reversed the positions at Old Hall, before getting the lead away from Mchale at Hizzy’s at the second attempt on lap eight.

1 Stephen Primett (Ford Escort Mk1); 2 Alan Greenhalgh (Vauxhall Firenza HPF) +34.744s; 3 David Howard (Jaguar XJ12); 4 David Hall (Vauxhall Firenza Droopsnoot); 5 John Wright (Ford Escort); 6 Stuart Caie (Ford Capri). CW Howard; Caie; Malcolm Jeffs (Alfa Romeo Alfasud SC); Andrew Messham (Austin Mini 7); Gary Fletcher (Ford Lotus Cortina); Luc Wilson (Austin A40). FL Primett. P Primett.

1 Primett; 2 Howard +37.553s; 3 Caie; 4 Wright; 5 Hall; 6 Mike Haynes (Ford Capri). CW Howard; Caie; Phil Manser (Austin Cooper); Jeffs; Fletcher; Keith Wright (Morris Minor). FL Primett. P Primett.

Classic Thunder (11 laps)

1 Dale Gent (Subaru

The CRXS of Peter Dixon and Jeff Cooper took the fight to Robert Burkinshaw’s Integra in the Honda VTEC contest. Cooper lost ground when he went straight on at Hizzy’s on lap two, but he came back to make it three for the lead. He briefly wrested second from Burkinshaw at Old Hall on lap six, but as they scrapped Dixon was able to make his break.

Dixon replicated his team-mate’s earlier error in race two and conceded a big advantage, but leader Burkinshaw erred at Old Hall a lap later. Dixon dived ahead there on the penultimate lap to seal a double, while Cooper was narrowly denied second.

Chris Webb took his maiden victory in the Production Golf GTI opener in conditions that got progressively more slippery. That was to the liking of Tim Hartland, who made steady progress before displacing Peter Milne at Hizzy’s at half-distance. Hartland ate into Webb’s lead, and was only 0.4s adrift at the end. Webb added a second win later, with Chris Sanders and Peter Milne completing the podium. From the pitlane, fastest qualifier Adam Hance salvaged fourth in his only race of the day.

Impreza); 2 Andy Robinson (Ford Falcon) +8.263s; 3 Neil Wade (Mini Cooper); 4 James Ross (Renault Clio); 5 Ian Froggatt (Subaru Impreza); 6 Marcus Reynolds (BMW E36 saloon). CW Robinson; Ross; Reynolds. FL Gent. P Dave Cockell (Ford Escort Cosworth). Race two (10 laps) 1 Gent; 2 Robinson +16.709s; 3 Froggatt; 4 Wade; 5 Ross; 6 Reynolds. CW Robinson; Ross; Reynolds. FL Robinson. P Gent.

Hyundai Coupe Cup (9 laps)

1 James Raven (Ray GR15/16); 2 Chase Owen (Ray GR14/15) +5.062s; 3 Doug Crosbie (Van Diemen JL013K); 4 Jonny Mcmullan (Van Diemen DP08); 5 Cavan Corcoran (Ray GR08); 6 Niall Murray (Van Diemen RF99). CW Daniel O’beirne (Swfit SC95). FL Murray. P Murray. 1 Owen; 2 Crosbie +9.605s; 3 Mcmullan; 4 Murray; 5 Chris Middlehurst (Mygale GR15K); 6 Corcoran. CW Matthew Chisholm (Van Diemen RF92). FL Owen. P Raven.

1 Jamie Jardine (Reynard 84FF); 2 Calum Mchale (Van Diemen RF89) +4.749s; 3 Jaap Blijleven (Reynard 88FF); 4 Mario Sarchet (Reynard 86FF); 5 Ian Wolfenden (Reynard 87FF); 6 Raymond Smith (Van Diemen RF88). CW Mchale. FL Blijleven. P Jardine. 1 Jardine; 2 Mchale +2.369s; 3 Blijleven; 4 Nick Barnes (Van Diemen RF87); 5 Smith; 6 Andrew Kluge (Van Diemen RF89). CW Mchale. FL Jardine. P Jardine.

1 Peter Dixon (CRX); 2 Robert Burkinshaw (Integra) +0.808s; 3 Jeff Cooper (CRX); 4 Paul Waddington (Civic); 5 Paul Donkin (Civic); 6 Stuart King (Integra). CW Burkinshaw; Donkin. FL Cooper. P Burkinshaw. 1 Dixon; 2 Burkinshaw +1.052s; 3 Cooper; 4 Waddington; 5 Donkin; 6 King. CW Burkinshaw; Donkin. FL Dixon. P Dixon.

Production GTI Mk2 (10 laps)