Fox and Hart share Oulton Park Caterham Roadsport Spoils.

Oulton Park saw Wesley Fox secure his sixth win of the Caterham Roadsport Championship while Mike Hart showed that the Championship leader can be beaten on the track as he beat Fox to secure his first victory of the 2011 season.

Race One: Fox Seals Win Six of 2011.

The grid for the opening Roadsport race at Oulton Park saw the top seven cars covered by just over half a second, with Fox securing Pole Position on final flying lap – he had been sixth fastest – while Jon Mortimer lined up second and Aaron Head third.

The start of the race saw chaos at Old Hall as Sean Raftery spun after running wide and as he came back onto the track, he went straight into the side of Matthew Whate. Whate had started the Oulton Park race weekend lying third in the Championship but had qualified lower down than normal.

Trying to avoid the carnage was Duncan Harris but he was left with nowhere to go and he ended up airborne as he hit the side of Whate. As a result of this, Raftery and Whate retired – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT-_TNrEkS8 – on board footage of the Old Hall accident.

While the mid pack sorted themselves out, up at the front, things were starting to hot up. Fox had pulled out a slight lead but was unable to shake off the attentions of Mortimer, Head, Mike Hart and Kurt Brady. All four drivers were squabbling for position but on the approach to Shell Oil Hairpin, Head got out of shape and kissed the barrier – he recovered but had dropped right down the field.

This left a four car scrap for the race lead while in fifth, and looking for a special 40^th Birthday present was local racer, Chris Bingham. He was right on the tail of James Needham, who was sitting in fifth.

The lead quartet of cars was never in a settled order – as they slid down the side of one another into Knickerbrook, looking for the advantage up the hill towards Druids. Brady had practised the round the outside of Old Hall approach a few times as well, a couple of times it paid off but when it was safe to do so, Fox closed the door.

Chancing his arm one final time on the final lap, Brady tried again but going over the rough kerbing unsettled his car and he spun out of contention. Having spent the majority of the race sitting second, he ended up down in sixth.

After an exceptionally close and exciting opening race at Oulton Park, it was Fox who secured the honours from Mortimer while Hart rounded out the podium. Head secured the fastest lap of the race with a 2:00.403s but he finished down in fourteenth and faced an uphill task in the second encounter.

Caterham Roadsport, Oulton Park Race Result 1:

Position	Number	Driver	Entrant	Time/Gap
1	10	Wesley Fox	Caterham Roadsport	20m24.643s
2	46	Jonathan Mortimer	Caterham Roadsport	0.142s
3	11	Mike Hart	Caterham Roadsport	0.387s
4	40	Chris Bingham	Caterham Roadsport	3.570s
5	33	James Needham	Caterham Roadsport	5.068s
6	99	Kurt Brady	Caterham Roadsport	11.883s
7	4	Ian Davis	Caterham Roadsport	12.216s
8	18	Peter Bassage	Caterham Roadsport	12.616s
9	22	Alexander Ross Macindoe	Caterham Roadsport	13.480s
10	87	Adam White	Caterham Roadsport	16.557s
11	13	Joel Wymer	Caterham Roadsport	17.907s
12	3	Andrew West	Caterham Roadsport	27.384s
13	69	Lee Furness	Caterham Roadsport	27.610s
14	19	Aaron Head	Caterham Roadsport	27.870s
15	12	Spencer Horgan	Caterham Roadsport	28.083s
16	14	John Toshack	Caterham Roadsport	28.297s
17	6	Nick Powell	Caterham Roadsport	29.725s
18	45	Paul Mortimer	Caterham Roadsport	35.059s
19	56	David Szymanski	Caterham Roadsport	49.253s
20	23	Duncan Harris	Caterham Roadsport	1m02.834s
21	8	Bob Pearson	Caterham Roadsport	1m13.033s
22	26	Roy Gray	Caterham Roadsport	1m13.792s
DNF	9	Matthew Whate	Caterham Roadsport
DNF	16	Sean Raftery	Caterham Roadsport
Fastest Lap	19	Aaron Head	Caterham Roadsport	2m00.403s

 

Race 2: Hart Masters the Wet for Win Number One of 2011.

The second Caterham Roadsports race saw black clouds open just as the field formed up in the assembly area – thus the first wet race of the weekend was about to commence. On went the rain lights and the race was underway.

Fox led the field away with Hart just behind while Mortimer, who finished second in the opening race played safe on the side of caution as he chased down the two race leaders while in forth was Bingham.

Hart soon snuck past Fox for the race lead, and he made it stick before pulling away and put daylight between him and Fox. The top four drivers all started to pace out a bit which meant that the action was further back – and the battle for fifth was keeping the crowd entertained.

Brady was at the head of the next gaggle of cars and as they headed into Old Hall corner, two abreast and line a stern – they all emerged from Old Hall unscathed and this bravely resulted in a wonderful battle for fifth position, behind the top four who had made a break.

Having started from fourteenth after his race one problems but he is one to watch in wet conditions – the Schumacher of Roadsports. He must have performed a rain dance before the start of the second race as he started to pass several cars per lap and soon, he had caught up with the battle for third.

Bingham was right on the tail of Mortimer and he was determined to dispose Mortimer of third but Mortimer defended very well on each attack. On the final lap, however, Head caught them napping as he stole third position away and the final step on the podium – he also posted the fastest lap of the race en route to the podium.

Hart took the chequered flag first to secure a long awaited first victory of the 2011 campaign, Fox backed up his race one victory with a solid second while Hart was a delighted third after his recovery drive.

Heading to Anglesey International over the 24/25 September, Fox remains on top of the points and has a commanding forty eight point advantage over his nearest rival, Brady. Hart has moved into third, ahead of Whate.

Caterham Roadsports Race Two Results:

Position	Number	Driver	Entrant	Time/Gap
1	11	Mike Hart	Caterham Roadsport	20m18.209s
2	10	Wesley Fox	Caterham Roadsport	8.661s
3	19	Aaron Head	Caterham Roadsport	22.751s
4	46	Jonathan Mortimer	Caterham Roadsport	23.196s
5	40	Chris Bingham	Caterham Roadsport	24.060s
6	9	Matthew Whate	Caterham Roadsport	32.257s
7	4	Ian Davis	Caterham Roadsport	33.646s
8	3	Andrew West	Caterham Roadsport	35.438s
9	33	James Needham	Caterham Roadsport	35.532s
10	99	Kurt Brady	Caterham Roadsport	36.217s
11	22	Alexander Ross Macindoe	Caterham Roadsport	36.301s
12	87	Adam White	Caterham Roadsport	39.531s
13	12	Spencer Horgan	Caterham Roadsport	48.123s
14	13	Joel Wymer	Caterham Roadsport	48.205s
15	14	John Toshack	Caterham Roadsport	52.088s
16	18	Peter Bassage	Caterham Roadsport	1m22.232s
17	69	Lee Furness	Caterham Roadsport	1m22.777s
18	56	David Szymanski	Caterham Roadsport	1m39.350s
19	45	Paul Mortimer	Caterham Roadsport	1m54.638s
20	8	Bob Pearson	Caterham Roadsport	1m55.360s
21	26	Roy Gray	Caterham Roadsport	1m55.715s
22	6	Nick Powell	Caterham Roadsport	1 Lap
DNF	23	Duncan Harris	Caterham Roadsport	7 Laps
DNS	16	Sean Raftery	Caterham Roadsport
Fastest Lap	19	Aaron Head	Caterham Roadsport	2m08.189s