Mcmahon uproots Plant in eventful Alfa finale at Oulton
The Alfa Romeo championship provided some surprises in its final round as more 750 Motor Club categories came to a conclusion at Oulton Park last weekend.
Barry Mcmahon took the Alfa win in his 156 after it looked as if Paul Plant’s Giulietta would run away with it. Plant had built up a sizeable lead after leapfrogging a visiting 4C driven by Mike Hilton and then shaking off the attentions of Tom Hill in his V6 class-winning GT. Mcmahon had started at the back after a bad qualifying on a damp track, but quickly caught up with the top five. After a couple of laps, he was behind Hill, then past him into second place. A few tours later, a spurt of speed allowed him to get level with Plant, then pass him at Knickerbrook.
Hilton spent the opening laps stuck in third gear and went backwards from pole, but the problem cleared and he was able to threaten Hill’s third place towards the end. The championship went to Twin Spark
Cup driver Andrew Bourke’s 156, although he was only third in class behind Giles Billingsley (156) and Jon Billingsley (147).
The second Alfa race was cancelled due to delays while Club Enduro driver Kevin Clarke was extricated from his crashed BMW M3. Invitees Bruno Costa and Paul Curran were the winners of the two-hour enduro in a VW Golf TCR, taking the lead after William Stacey’s Lotus Elise lost oil due to driveshaft issues, having built up a huge advantage.
Clarke and Aldo Riti were classified as the winning registered pair, despite Clarke colliding heavily with the pitwall and then the tyre wall opposite, trying to pass a backmarker, with only a few minutes left.
The SEAT Leon of Carl Swift and Rob Baker failed to finish with a gearbox problem, but had banked enough points to narrowly take the overall title. Class C rivals Joel Oswick and Dan Ausano just missed out after suffering a late fuel issue that dropped them to third in class.
The Locost championship had already been wrapped up by Craig Land and he was in typically dominant form, but a furious chasing pack was after second in both races. Karl Ruijsenaars prevailed in the opener, but a carburettor problem in race two dropped him to eighth. David Martin was the best of the rest after dealing with Rob Apsey.
Dominance was also the name of the game in the MX-5 Cup. Ben Short tied up the championship with two more wins and a lap record. Ben Abbitt qualified second, but contact with Short sent him to the back of the opener. He fought back but managed to spin again and couldn’t return to the leading group. Ben Hancy lost second to a determined Jordan Johnson late on, although he got his own back and snuck past Johnson on the last lap of race two.
Aaron Cooke was also only a whisker away from winning the MR2 title and a second place in the first race was enough to confirm it. Shaun Traynor got a better start than Cooke and won the race, despite a late attack by Cooke. Traynor had to repeat his strong start as the race was redflagged during the first lap, when Maxine Nicholls and Jim Mew collided at Old Hall.
The second race went Cooke’s way, with Traynor six seconds behind. Alastair Topley consolidated third in the championship in his Mk2 machine with two third places.