Tuesday September 28, 2010 at 7:50am
Sawford takes control of title race after Oulton thriller
Having taken 4 wins from the last 5 rounds, Bedfordshire’s Andrew Sawford arrived at Oulton Park for round 12 of the 2010 250GP ACU National Championship & NG Cup as the man to beat. Lincolnshire’s Ant Hodson has led the way for most of the season having posted podium finishes in all but one of the previous rounds. The pressure bit Hodson at Anglesey last time out where a crash posted his first DNF allowing the St Neot’s Motorcycles TZ of Sawford to really close in.
Although the clouds were threatening, qualifying was dry, which saw the usual suspects mixing it at the top of the list. True to form, Sawford posted his pole time with his final lap dropping Somerset’s Alex Kenchington into 2nd. Championship leader Hodson was 3rd and Rich Grinling placed his RG Carpentry RS Honda in 4th. The teenage sensation Scott Pitchers placed his Honda in 10th place, and NG Cup Championship leader Adrian Martin was the quickest of the Cup series contenders in 15th.
Just 30 minutes before the start of the Fraser’s of Gloucester and Dunlop backed series, the rain started to fall, and a difficult to manage, light drizzle continued right up to the start. As always it was not wet, but not dry!
At the end of the warm up lap, Colin Wilcock appeared to be the only rider gambling on cut slicks, but his race was over as his Welch Mill Bodyshop TZ resembled a crab, spending more time travelling sideways than forward on just the warm up lap!
As the lights went out, the award for the poorest start of the year went to Adrian Martin who was dead last away, and another Cup Championship front runner Paul McCullagh lasted only 300 metres before he was clipped and sent tumbling along the start straight, fortunately unhurt despite a very badly damaged Chippenham Motorcycles TZ.
It was the light blue Dennis Trollope Racing TZ of Alex Kenchington which led the pack for the first 3 laps closely followed by a rejuvenated Rich Grinling mixing it where he really belongs. The battle for 2nd was a superb scrap involving 8 riders for half of the race. Sawford squeezed passed Kenchington on lap 4 once he had time to assess the scrap, still involving Grinling, Ant Hodson, Darrell Higgins, Mark Linton, Adam Hoare and Shaun Williams. The scrap looked set to expand because by lap 5 slow starting 16 year old Scott Pitchers had set the fastest laps of the race in his bid to join the fun, bringing Daniel Jackson with him.
Pitchers 116, closes on Higgins In control – Sawford now heads the championship by 21 points
It was clear that Hodson’s MDJ Racing TSM Yamaha was not happy as he slipped down the pack to 10th by lap 5 and retired the TZ to pit lane a lap later with gearbox gremlins – more importantly opening the championship door to Sawford
With Sawford now setting the pace out front and gapping the fight for 2nd, positions swapped every lap with Grinling, Kenchington, Higgins and Williams all taking it in turns to lead the chase. Pitchers was now right in the middle of them, and challenging for 3rd place, only to have the Honda try and spit him off in the difficult conditions, sending Scott through the screen and off track, while he tried to maintain some sort of control. Despite the save of the day, his race was run as the Honda refused to rev after the scare.
The number 16 of Andrew Sawford took the win after 12 frantic laps of the damp Oulton Park circuit, then all attention switched to the entertainment for 2nd. As the pack came into Lodge for the final time, Higgins out braked himself in the rush for the bubbly, and slipped from 3rd to 7th, allowing Grinling to take a very well deserved 2nd place and first podium of the year, plus set the fastest lap of the race. A delighted Shaun Williams brought his Bryn Coed Garage and Snowdon Garage TZ home in 3rd place despite losing out to Grinling’s last lap charge, with Kenchington in 4th Mark Linton in 5th on the Exactweld TZ and Daniel Jackson just took advantage of the Higgins mistake to collect 6th, a tremendous result following his crash last time out. The afore mentioned Higgins was 7th Gloucestershire’s John Lewis had a lonely but strong race to 8th on the Hicks Plumbing Yamaha, Jonathan Stamper collected 9th and the NG Cup Championship leader Adrian Martin picked up 10th on the road, as well as those all important 25 points for the Cup win, despite his desperate start.
Peter Henry Cox collected 2nd in the cup with the K&B Motors Ltd TZ, only 1 second back from Martin. Ensuring the title chase goes to Thruxton next month – Sian Brooks picked up 3rd on the Spyre Ltd RS Honda, despite struggling throughout qualifying, where she was unable to match the times she set during testing the previous day. Brooks had a superb start and led the NG Cup chase until the Martin / Henry Cox scrap took over the running on lap 3
As always there was a rear Dunlop GP tyre up for grabs for The Dunlop Performance of the Day Award. This was awarded to Anglesey’s Shaun Williams who was right in the thick of the battle for 2nd throughout, and picked up his maiden podium in the series, on his 14 year old TZ supported by Bryn Coed Garage and Snowdon Garage.
Championship:
Sawford 208, Hodson 187, Kenchington 178, Mecham 98, Grinling 92, Jackson 86, Linton 74, T Davies 69, Hampton 64, Higgins 63
NG Cup:
Martin 225, Brooks 185, Henry Cox 161, McCullagh 151, Lou Goddard 103, Smithson 84, Harrison 71, Murphy 70, Skaife 47
Images and Media coverage available from official championship photographer – Nigel Dike at EDP Photo News- [email protected] www.edpphoto.com or simply call 07774 170235 / 01249 782412
For more information on the 250GP ACU National Championship & NG Cup plus full details about NG Road Racing events and Championships, visit www.ngroadracing.org