OULTON PARK: BRSCC BY GRAHAM READ
Danny Winstanley made a victorious return to the Caterham Superlight R300-S championship following a car rebuild, helping himself to a brace of hard-earned wins ahead of pre-oulton championship leader Aaron Head.
Head, the 2014 Superlight R300 champion, might have taken seven victories from the eight opening R300-S races this season, but the Colchester-based driver made a poor start from third on the grid in the first part of the double header. Winstanley swept into an early lead while Head started his recovery drive, climbing to second place. Despite applying intense pressure, Head had to settle for second place, with Jack Sales completing the podium.
The second contest had to be redflagged following offs at Druids for Justin Armstrong and Paul Thacker. Following the restart Winstanley could never relax as he was pursued by Sales and then Head, but held on for his double.
In the opening Caterham Tracksport encounter poleman Daniel Bremner sprinted ahead, but championship frontman Anthony Barnes got the better of him on the second tour with Alistair Calvert a close third. Bremner was soon out front again though and following Calvert’s retirement he led Barnes to the chequered flag, the winning margin just 0.074s. Barry Moore finished third, more than half a minute adrift of the leading duo.
Next time out Bremner and Barnes again took turns in the lead, but the former’s race came to an abrupt end with a trip through the gravel and into the tyres at Knickerbrook. Bremner emerged unscathed, but had to watch new leader Barnes on his way to the spoils.
The current Caterham Supersport field, many of who have raced together since their Academy days, put on two superb displays of clean and close racing. Both events featured multiple leaders, but Jack Brown hit the front in the closing stages first time out and just held off Henry Heaton, William Smith and Andres Sinclair at the chequered flag. Later, Smith took the head of the charging field and held on for victory, leaving Ben Tuck to edge second place from Sinclair by a mere 0.001s!
Daniel Quintero emerged as a double Caterham Roadsport winner. The story of the opening event was the fine scrap for the spoils between poleman Quintero, William Lloyd and championship leader Russ Olivant. Quintero drove a composed race to take the laurels, leaving Lloyd as runner-up after Olivant had lost second place at Cascades on the penultimate lap. Come the start of the second contest Olivant made a brilliant getaway from the second row to lead into Old Hall for the first time. However, Quintero got the better of him early on, and remained in front.
Peter Spencer consolidated his Caterham Academy Green Group championship advantage with a clear-cut victory after turning his P2 starting position into an early lead, which he then maintained. Behind Pete Walters, Steven Tozer and Tom John had their own fine battle for the supporting places. In the subsequent White Group encounter Jay Mccormack was the winner, although he was kept honest by the chasing Ben Gillias. Spencer Wright completed the podium.