BATES’WAITFORFIRSTFUTURE CLASSICSWINOFYEARISOVER

Tim Bates improved on his secondplace double at Donington with his first Future Classics victory of the season at Oulton Park.

From third on the grid, his rearengined Porsche 911 transmitted its power to the wet track more effectively than the cars around it to give Bates a big lead by Cascades. Brian Lilley, however, set a string of fastest laps in his Ford Sierra Cosworth and took the lead on lap five. Bates and Mark Chilton (Porsche 928) pitted from second and third on lap seven with Chilton getting the jump in the stops. When Lilley lost time handing over to Aaron Tucker, the Porsches were left in the top two positions.

Although Bates overshot Hislops chicane on lap 12, he took the lead on the run to that corner a lap later as the leaders encountered a slower car. Bates eventually finished comfortably clear of Chilton, who won the 1980s division, with Tucker more than 30s back.

The Swinging Sixties contest was slashed to 20 minutes after a race-stopping first corner shunt. Solo driver Mark Campbell won the restart from the front row in his Triumph TR5 despite making two stops rather than the mandatory one. “The first time I got told that my penalty [for wins at earlier events] didn’t apply, but I hadn’t done my actual ‘driver change’, so I needed to come back in,” he explained. The Ford Mustang of Martin Sledmore had charged into the lead at Hill Top, three laps before early leader Malcolm Johnson retired his smoky Lotus Europa. Campbell retook the lead on the same lap, while Sledmore’s grunt fended off Ian Everett’s nimble BMW 1502.

The safety car was out twice during the combined New Millennium and Modern Classics race, the second time to allow treatment to a marshal who had been taken ill, but the rules for pitstops under caution rendered it a disappointing sporting contest. A BMW M3 pair was worst affected: Dominic Malone led before the driver change, but the pit lap took almost nine minutes as Arran Moulton-smith waited for the pit exit lights to turn green although the track was empty. He rejoined 22nd, climbing back to 13th. Piers Reid had pitted earlier, and although he was penalised for a faulty stop he still ran out a comfortable winner in his E46 M3 from Mark Smith’s E36.

Nic Grindrod was a convincing victor in Magnificent Sevens in his Caterham R300, immediately pulling clear of a three-way battle for second. Gary Bate (CSR) took the position from Tim Davis (C400) at Cascades early on, but the positions were reversed after the stops and Jonathan Mitchell (CSR) eventually lost touch. Davis won the programme-closing Open race, which was flagged early in dark, dank conditions.

Tin Tops poleman Lee Williams was swamped on the run to the first corner, spun at Old Hall a lap later and eventually retired his Honda Civic. Tom Mensley had a much more successful race in the wet, winning by more than a minute in his Renault Clio 172 – rendering the success penalties of the three cars ahead of him on the grid irrelevant. “I tried to take some wider lines and that seemed to be working,” explained the Leicestershire driver. The Peugeot 206 of Colin and Steve Simpson and the Ford Fiesta ST of Paul Mensley were the only other cars on the lead lap at the end.