START ERROR PROVES COSTLY FOR ROSS AS HE MISSES OUT ON MG TROPHY DOUBLE

Reigning MG Trophy champion Graham Ross added another win to his sizeable 2019 collection at Oulton Park, though a penalty denied him a double triumph.

The first race was held in wet conditions and its green flag running was truncated by a safety car period, caused by a multi-car accident at the Shell Oils hairpin on lap one. This left three laps of racing to the end, which poleman Ross completed in first place. But just as he took the chequered flag, he was given a 10-second penalty for being lined up incorrectly on the starting grid. This dropped him to fifth overall and second in class; Robin Walker inherited victory.

Ross made some amends by winning the dry race two. He led all the way though was wary of the closing Doug Cole, charging back from a lap-one off at Shell Oils after locking the rears. To his incredulity, Cole had also made an almost identical error in race one!

“I have to be fairly satisfied,” Ross said of his day. “The first race it was very annoying, rules are rules and I broke the rules so I’ve got to take my medicine. Whether I could ever have made it [the 10s] up is hugely debatable, but I didn’t find out about it until I came across the finishing line.

“Second race went according to plan. I was thinking ‘don’t do anything stupid, pace it’, then all of a sudden I saw Doug Cole in my mirror, and I thought ‘you’ve got to get a move on!’”

Mike Williams continued his strong form in the MG Cup, in his rapid Metro GTI by dominating race one, despite the challenge of an oil slick at Druids and confusion from a safety car signalled then quickly recalled. Williams looked set to make it a double win in race two but a brake problem at Druids pulled him right and pitched him off, letting points leader Richard Buckley’s Rover Tomcat through to victory.

Jack Ashton continued his 100% record in this year’s MG Metro Cup by winning both races from pole and taking both fastest laps. This time though he had his long-awaited close challenge from Dick Trevett, whose A-series ran well after an engine rebuild – which Trevett described as “suck it and see”.

Trevett finished 6.5s shy of Ashton in race one, though afterwards discovered his boost was too low. Having sorted this for race two he gave an even stronger challenge. He led at the start and, although Ashton got back past on lap two at Lodge, Trevett chased him strongly for the remainder. “We had a good ding-dong,” Ashton said.

Paul Clackett wrapped up the Cockshoot Cup title in Anglesey’s previous round in his MG ZS, and at Oulton was joined by guest multiple Caterham champion Danny Winstanley, driving Howard Hunt’s for-sale ZS 180, and by 2018 champion Ray Collier who, after day job clashes, made his first appearance of the year at Anglesey.

Winstanley qualified on pole comfortably from Collier, while Clackett started only eighth after electrical problems; Clackett however stormed through to lead on lap one! But Winstanley and Collier soon passed him and Winstanley led close-at-hand Collier as the laps ticked down. Then, sensationally, the pair crashed out at Old Hall on the final tour on oil dumped by Karl Green’s expiring MG ZS engine. This let Clackett through to win.

“It’s the old saying: to finish first, first you have to finish,” Clackett said. “It’s nice to top it [the season] off with a win in the last race.”

The MG Car Club was joined at Oulton Park by two Porsche Club GB championships. Ben Mcloughlin, as expected, wrapped up the Classic Restoracing Championship for Boxsters, though to his surprise he took both race wins too. The second win was controversial as he prevailed after a last-lap collision with Will Heslop when trying to pass him at Cascades.

Class championship leader

Simon Clark in his Cayman led every lap of the first Porsche Club Championship race, despite a couple of safety car interruptions, heading double champion Pete Morris in his 997 C2S. Chris Dyer claimed the second race in his Cayman, leading home Clark and Morris after early leader Glen Broster dropped out.

Ross was incorrectly lined-up at the start and hit with penalty

The Cockshoot Cup’s 2018 champion Ray Collier got a rare ’19 outing in his highly distinguished MG ZR 190 at Oulton Park.“it was the only left-hand-drive shell that was on the production line when Rover went bust, and it was e-coated only so its whole life it’s only ever been a racing car,” Collier explained, “and it’s the only car that’s won the Class B championship and the Class C championship and the Cockshoot Cup.” He was also happy to race with guesting Caterham champion Dannywinstanley.“he’s pulled my driving on a long way,” Collier added.

Ben Mcloughlin only needed a single decent result at Oulton Park to wrap up the Classic Restoracing Championship – which pitches UK Porsche Centres against each other in restored Boxsters.with 60kg of ballast, Mcloughlin planned to play percentages, but sealed his crown by storming to race one victory in streaming conditions.he also won the dry race two, albeit controversially.“two wins at the end of the season with all the weight in the car is very pleasing,”he concluded.“the first race was a case of trying to keep it on the island, because there were so many rivers out there.”

In a season where he’s been juggling racing with exams, Sam Kirkpatrick entered the Oulton Park round second in the Mgtrophy’s overall table and leading the Class B championship for MG ZR 170s.oulton was however a frustrating meeting.first he spun from the class lead on lap one in uncertain wet conditions, then sustained rear damage avoiding another spinner atturn 1 of the second race.“i’m pretty happy with how I’ve been driving,” he said.“i’ve just been having unfortunate results.”now with schooling done he’s looking further afield for 2020, including racing his dad’s historic MGB.