Lay racks up the points as Radical rival crashes
OULTON PARK MSVR 13 AUGUST
Noah Degnbol’s hopes of overhauling James Lay to take the Radical Challenge Championship title suffered a serious blow at Oulton Park, in spite of winning the first race to narrow the gap to his rival. The Dane crashed out of race two to allow the seven-time winner to pull away in the standings.
Degnbol passed the polesitting Dougie Bolger at the start of the sprint race, while Lay bounced back from a disappointing qualifying session – in which he was sixth best – to run second on the opening lap. Lay, in a RAW Motorsports-prepared SR3, chased Degnbol’s Breakell Racing version race-long, but a serious bid for the lead never materialised. Bolger circulated a distant third.
Degnbol controlled the 45-minute endurance race at first, with Lay taking until Island Bend on the sixth lap to oust Bolger from second. A safety car intervention early in the pit window prompted most to stop, including Degnbol, whose car then went into the barriers at Druids on his out-lap.
Ex-british Formula 4 racer Bolger made his stop in the caution period caused by Degnbol’s accident, and thus emerged in front of Anthony Ayres and Elliot Goodman. Having lost a lot of time in the stops, Lay made heavy weather of recovering from 12th to fifth, enough to take his points advantage above 50 with three rounds remaining.
Daryl De Leon strengthened his position in the Radical SR1 Cup with a second and a win. Everyone was overshadowed by Tom Wood in the first race, but his University of Derby entry suffered a damper failure in the second contest. Having taken the lead of race two at Hislops on the opening lap, Frazer Mcfadden worked hard to fend off De Leon’s Valour Racing car but became increasingly scrappy in doing so, eventually losing the lead at Lodge on lap 10 of 12.
Jordan Harrison lacked competition in the Classic Formula Ford contests, and looks a strong favourite to retain his title after two clear wins. The Lola T540E driver’s margin over Henry Chart’s Van Diemen RF81 in race one was 1.6 seconds, but that was a little artificial after a brief caution period.
Chart retired from race two, thus exaggerating Harrison’s advantage, with the main entertainment provided by Rick Morris and Joseph Ahrens. The latter had retired his Van Diemen RF80 on the first lap
of the opener but made excellent progress from the back of the grid in race two – until he caught 75-year-old Morris, who was second following Chart’s demise. Morris made his Royale RP29 very wide for the final four laps, with Ahrens having to settle for third and his maiden podium.
Alex Champkin leapt from third to first in the Clubmans Sports Prototype Championship’s premier class, capitalising on misfortune for his rivals. While he made serene progress en route to two victories in his Phantom PR21, erstwhile points leader Jarred Lester’s Clubman 35 had clutch issues all day, managing one start and no finishes. Cody Tree also faltered, his Phantom P94 suffering a front wishbone failure in the first race that caused him to sit out the second.
Second for Joshua Law would have been enough for him to wrap up the Sports 2000 title, as the MCR S2N driver finished ahead of rival Richard Johnson. Outgoing champion Tom Stoten, in the only Gunn in the top division, got ahead and crossed the line first, only to be excluded, handing victory to Law.