After the spectacle that was Mallory Park, it was back to normal at Oulton. Having said that, the 2CVParts.com championship runners still found themselves on the programme of the Dunlop Great and British race meeting on the bank holiday weekend. Unfortunately the 2CVs were racing on the Saturday whilst everyone else was racing on the Monday, which meant few spectators and no commentary. Still, that wouldn’t bother the drivers as they had enough to concentrate on, with the rain pouring down!

Mallory master David O’Keeffe had had his 15 minutes of fame and was a no-show. Also not racing was Phil Myatt, who having raced at Mallory, was now unable to hold a steering wheel after more work had been done on his crushed finger. So it was back to ‘normal’ as the 17 cars entered splashed their way on to the track for the first qualifying session.

With the track soaked it was a real adventure for many drivers, but Wayne Cowling was the one who coped best, a massive 2.2 seconds ahead of Matthew Hollis, who had been talking down his chances all weekend after an enforced engine change - clearly his new one wasn’t that bad! Next up was championship leader Sammie Fritchley, followed by Mick Storey, who was in his best position for some time. Tony Robinson was 5th, with 24hr teammate Graham Johnson qualifying an excellent 6th. Other notable performances included Nick Roads in 7th and Peter Rundle in 13th, who at 16 years old was competing in his first car race.

Conditions had improved slightly as the cars lined up on the grid for the first race, but it was still a greasy track. From the front row Hollis led into the first corner, but by the end of the lap it was Fritchley who had crossed the line first ahead of Hollis, Cowling, the excellent Roads, Robinson and Storey. Up to 7th and 8th were Peter Rundle and Alec Graham. Into the pits and out of the race, was Steve Panas - he would need a good performance in race 2 to keep his championship hopes alive.

Fritchley managed to hold on to the lead for another lap, before Cowling got past, and with the advantage he had in qualifying most would have expected him to clear off into the distance, but Sammie had other ideas and clung to his bootlid, waiting for a mistake. Hollis was gradually dropping back, with Robinson overtaking for 3rd on lap 4. A few seconds behind these two were Roads, Storey and Rundle, but all three were being closed down by Nick Paton, who had started the race in 14th but was going considerably better in the race. Johnson couldn’t quite keep up with this group, but he was well clear of the next group, which consisted of Martin Riman, Michael Fox, Steve Jaques and Alec Graham, who was slowly drifting backwards through the field. After his excellent start, Crook was having a torrid time and had slipped to 15th place behind Lucy Cardell, who was going well despite next to no experience in racing 2CVs, let alone in these conditions! Lien Davies’ good speed at Mallory had deserted him, and after 4 laps he pulled into the pits to retire.

Despite his best efforts, Robinson could do little to catch the two leaders as the time ticked down, but with only a second or less between Cowling and Fritchley there was still all to play for. The man on the move was Paton, who had disposed of Roads and Storey and was rapidly catching Hollis for 4th. Rundle had attempted to overtake Paton at the first corner on lap 6, but realising that the inside line maybe wasn’t the best place to be in the wet, promptly spun off! At the end of the lap he was in the pits and became the 3rd retirement of the race.

Now it was Graham’s time to spin, which rapidly increased his descent through the field, to dead last. With 3 laps to go, Paton caught and passed Hollis, only to spin off in the process. He got going again and crucially rejoined just ahead of the battling Roads and Storey. With laps that were as fast as, if not faster than the leaders, he once again caught and passed Hollis on the last lap and this time made it stick. Had he been at the front of the grid there could well have been a 3-way fight for the lead. But he wasn’t, so it was left to Fritchley and Cowling, and despite having the Tete Rouge machine large in his mirrors, Wayne held on to take the win by 0.8 seconds (the largest winning margin of the year so far!). Robinson took the final step on the podium, ahead of Paton, Hollis, Storey, Roads and Johnson. Fox had broken clear of Riman and Jaques to claim 9th, whilst it was the former of the two battlers that completed the top 10. Lucy Cardell had got faster throughout the race and took 12th, whilst Graham snuck past Crook for 13th on the very last lap.

The mistake that Fritchley had been hoping to see from Cowling did occur, but unfortunately for her not until after the chequered flag. Whilst waving to his adoring fans, or possibly de-misting the windscreen, Wayne managed to test the strength of the Armco barrier, leaving a serious dent in the front wing and a slightly red-faced winner in parc ferme!

Qualifying:

1st: Wayne Cowling
2nd: Matt Hollis
3rd: Sammie Fritchley

Race:

1st: Wayne Cowling
2nd: Sammie Fritchley
3rd: Anthony Robinson