Fun Cup Clutton for punishment
REIGNING CHAMPION JPR UVIO successfully held on to its Fun Cup title at the Oulton Park finale, with Despatchbay.com taking a sensational maiden series win in what was the highlight of the day in Cheshire.
JPR Uvio was one of three teams in contention for the title, along with
Track Torque 2Rent Dominos and Team Trooper Iron Maiden, but due to the series’ random qualifying rules all three started towards the back of the grid.
All of the title hopefuls stayed clear of trouble and made steady progress towards the front, despite a stop-start opening hour punctuated with safety cars. At just over half distance, Despatchbay.com was beginning to build up a lead as the title protagonists traded places behind. Running fourth, JPR Uvio gambled on the undercut and was first of the frontrunners to stop at two-thirds race distance. The move paid off as it soon moved up to second behind new leaders Team Trooper Iron Maiden.
Despatchbay.com faded badly as the final hour began and briefly dropped to fifth, but a car swap to put Marcus Clutton in for the final stint paid off, and it quickly regained time on the leaders.
A frenetic sprint broke out in the closing stages, with the leading cars running four-wide on the pit straight and separated by just 0.234s with 12 minutes to go. Despatchbay.com regained the lead with just six laps remaining, leaving JPR Uvio and Team Track Torque 2Rent Dominos to fight over second place.
A tense wheel-to-wheel battle ensued, but it was JPR Uvio that clinched second place to win the championship, leading Team Track Torque 2Rent Dominos over the line by just a second.
It was also a day to remember for Michael Watton, who secured the F1000 crown with a dominant victory in race one. Watton’s seven-race winning streak looked to be in danger when he was awarded a time penalty for a jumped start, but from there on his pace was red-hot and he took the flag 22s clear of Dan Clowes. There was joy for former champion Rob Sayell, who took a deserved race-two victory in his final F1000 outing. Sayell held off Clowes for the entire race, with just 0.145s separating them over the line. Newly crowned champion Watton was eliminated after a lap-one coming together with Paul Butcher.
Joshua Smith claimed an impressive brace of wins to finish the season as FF1600 Northern champion. Smith was frustrated not to take pole in his Van Diemen JL13, but made amends in the race with a narrow victory over title rival Luciano Carvalho (RF05). Tom Mcarthur caught the eye with a strong fourth place after a mechanical issue forced him to start from the back.
A lengthy safety-car period cut short the action in race two, but it was Smith again who narrowly took the flag, soaking up pressure in the closing laps from brothers Tom and David Mcarthur, with Carvalho missing out on the podium in fourth.
In the Ford XR Challenge, Justin Roberts picked up a fortuitous win in race one after a late coming together between Mark Robinson and Michael Blackburn. Greg Speight pipped Blackburn to win the second race but, with a pair of third-place finishes, Robinson ends the season as series champion.