25 May 2004

AGGRO AT OULTON

Until I started racing Clios, Oulton was not a track I liked at all. Having been there last year for the first time with the Clio I was bang on the pace as the car suits the track so well and I had picked up some expert tips from the TCR driver coach Malcolm Smith.

Oulton Park now rates as one of my favourite tracks and the weekend proved we were fast when, during testing, we were right at the sharp end. Qualifying backed this up with a 4th and 5th on the grid for the two races and my start off the grid for the Saturday afternoon race was the best I'd ever had. I was into third and battling for the lead during the opening laps. The first three, Jonathon Adam, Matt Allison and I were soon locked into a fight that lasted for the race distance. Although we had pulled out a healthy gap to the following group I was nervously watching my tail as they inexorably made up the ground as we slowed ourselves down with our in-fighting. 'Go go' was all I was thinking at this point, we can battle for the lead later, however this was not to be, with Ian Curley joining the fray. I made it past Allison as I was faster than him at this point, but he was immediately back on the pace.

The old phrase "it's easier to hunt than be hunted" was relevant here and I made a slight error going into Lodge corner and, despite going side by side right up to Old Hall, I had to concede the place. I was watching my rear from this point, cautious that Curley may pull another stupid move, which fortunately he didn't, and I was pushing Matt Allison hard all the way to the flag trying to pressure him into a mistake.

At the end, though, third was a fine result and it's what I come racing for - fast clean racing with a good dice at the sharp end of the field. Getting on the podium, spraying the champagne and receiving another trophy for the cabinet is incredibly satisfying. The final joy? An undamaged Clio in parc ferme.

That's as good as it got, sadly, with Sunday's race great while it lasted. I was running fifth behind Pead, who in turn was being held up by a very defensive Stephen Hunter. He clearly had a problem but was determined to hold his place and was holding us up behind him, allowing numerous others to join the melee. Pead made a mistake and went wide, I was then taking my turn to pressure Hunter but could not find a way past. I am not a driver who barges or fouls and wanted, as ever, to race cleanly and professionally, gaining positions by skill only. Regrettably others do not hold this maxim and I was pushed into a half spin by Pead at the Knickerbrook chicane. Any driver knows there is only one line through the end of the chicane and he was off the inside of the circuit and drove into the side of my car to get past. This left me to be out-dragged by several others as my momentum was ruined.

McDonald, who had got past in the Pead shuffle, then fought with Allison and got held up at Old Hall, and I got a super run past both of them down the Avenue which would have left me on the inside for Cascades. This was not to be, however, when McDonald, who claims he didn't know I was there, then drove me off the circuit and put me on the grass at 90mph. One bounce on the green stuff put the car sideways and I then performed two 360-degree spins across the track, incredibly without hitting anyone or anything on the way. Sixteenth at the shortened race finish was poor reward for the promise we had shown and I felt robbed of a good finish by the tactics of others.

As a final note I would like to say that the Clerk of the Course was sympathetic to my cause and excluded Pead from the proceedings or docked him some places, or even told him off a bit. He did nothing of the sort. Despite the video evidence that we all watched, which clearly showed the incident, Pead was let off with a verbal warning, despite having been endorsed the previous day for much the same incident. So to all, including our beloved Clerk of the Course, I am announcing a policy change in my driving style - guess what it is going to be? As I said at the time if you don't penalise such driving standards you obviously must be condoning it, sad but true but I'm going to have to be more aggressive to survive. It's going to be an interesting visit to Thruxton in a week's time...