| 2009 race 7 - Oulton Park |
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One person whose chances had already been destroyed was Sammie Fritchley. A road collision left her with a thumb that ruled her out of competing (actually, the doctor probably ruled it out, it was unlikely the thumb had any say in it!). Despite the threat of rain at most of the races before this one, it had never really happened to the extent of altering the track conditions. But as the teams awoke on the Saturday, it was to an overcast sky and a wet ground. Cue the work from the mechanics and drivers to lower tyre pressures, soften shock absorbers, or just put on a hat. As the cars splashed their way onto the circuit for first qualifying, it was with some trepidation. Oulton Park is a fast track, even for a 2CV, so it was hardly surprising to see cars exploring the scenery sa they scrabbled for grip.  The grippiest of them all was Myatt, over a second quicker than Wayne Cowling, and a whopping 3.7 seconds quicker than Matthew Hollis in 3rd place. from then on the times were a bit closer, with Alec Graham 4th, John-Paul Wilkinson 5th, Anthony Robinson a career best 6th, Aubrey Brocklebank 7th despite a spin, and Simon Pearson 8th. The two winners from the previous meeting, Martin Hindley and Sandro Proietti, were down in 9th and 10th, just ahead of Simon Crook, whose car was going a lot better than when he had last driven it, thanks to Pete Sparrow's tinkering. Lien Davies was also in a season's best 12th. Having fitted new springs, Nick Roads had not had time to adjust the height of his car - either than or he was worried about damaging the underneath of the car if he went off! He managed 19th on the grid, out of 21 starters.By the time the race came round, the track had dried apart from the odd patch here or there. Myatt held into the lead into the first corner, although Hollis did his best to get past. By the end of the first lap, Cowling had also dropped behind Graham, but it didn't matter much as carnage reigned at the first corner on the 2nd lap. Having only taken the corner at racing speed in wet conditions, it was an unknown for the drivers this time round.  Myatt almost lost it but managed to gather it up, whilst Graham was virtually at 90 degrees to the cars around him! Pearson got on the grass at the exit and half spun to the inside but continued. Hindley however did the same but spun 180 degrees onto the racing line. Davies half-spun in avoidance and stalled, right in the middle of the track, not to mention the middle of the pack! Trevor Williams spun off to the inside and hit the barrier, although he managed to get going again. Most of the cars avoided him, but Peter James had already lost it on the exit of the corner himself, and slammed into the side of Davies at undiminished speed, very nearly rolling in the process. The ensuing force sent Davies back across the track, right into the path of Martin Harrold, who had already committed to the inside. Up on two wheels went Martin, as Lien's car was assaulted again! Fortunately no-one was hurt, as out came the red flags, and the cars lined up on the grid to wait for the restart, minus Davies, James and Harrold, with Williams and Mick Storey both in the pits.It was a long wait for the drivers, especially as James' chassis had to be hydraulically cut to move it! With a few minutes to go before the new green flag lap (although the drivers were unaware of this), a marshal handily showed a 20 minute board and a green flag, which many took to mean 20 minutes to the green flag lap! So it was with some surprise, having got out of their cars, that Hollis, Wilinson and Crook, to name a few, were suddenly being shouted out to get back in! The marshal had meant the race was to be shorted to 20 minutes, but his telepathy had obviously not reached everyone!  It was now that Hollis' efforts came undone with an engine that refused to restart on the grid. Eventually he got a bump start to start from 22nd place. Up at the front, Myatt again got away well, followed by Cowling, Graham and Wilkinson. Hollis shot up to 10th by the first corner (although Crook aided him somewhat by making the classic 1st to 4th gear change), and passed Hindley and Pearson to cross the line in 8th! Brocklebank was the big mover on lap 2, up to 4th. At Cascades on the next lap, Wilkinson lost it, leaving Hollis with nowhere to go except into the side of Robinson. Round went Matthew, eventually rejoining in 11th behind Jon Twidale, who had already ulled out a gap from the rest of the midfield. Wilkinson had managed to keep going, as had Robinson, but they were now in a pack battling for 5th with Hindley, Pearson and Proietti. The kerfuffle at Cascades had left Myatt and Graham out front, with Brocklebank and Cowling slightly further behind in 3rd and 4th, and tren the battle for 5th. Hollis and Twidale were another 7 seconds behind, then it was Crook, Helen Deeley, Williams (who had started from the pits), Christine Thompson, Michael Fox (going much better here than at Cadwell), Storey (who had also started from the pitlane) and Roads, who went off but rejoined on lap 3, dropping him to last by some distance.And so the race continued, with Graham shadowing Myatt's every move, Cowling doing the same to Brocklebank, and then the 5 car battle for 5th, which was gradually being caught by Hollis. With a few laps to go he had caught them, aided by Robinson being removed from the race at Cascades after bouncing across the grass folloiwing an unhelpful tap from Proietti. He actually drove all the way to the Island Hairpin on the grass before finally stopping, having almost crossed onto the return straight such was the distance he went off!  Roads also took this opportunity to stop at the hairpin, though his positioning at least gave him a good view of the remaining few laps.In another life, Alec Graham may well have been a leopard, stalking his prey until just the right moment, which in 2CV racing terms is the last lap. Sneaking through and then holding off Myatt, he claimed his second win of the year by just over half a second. Cowling had briefly got past Brocklebank for 3rd at one point, but Aubrey wasn't about to miss this oppportunity, and duly repassed him to take his first 2CV podiom finish. 5th was Hollis, who was justifiably pleased with the position having made what he modestly termed a "double-comeback" (not to mention the fact that his front wing was only just still attached, something he definitely would have been penalised for at Cadwell!). He led Proietti, Pearson, Hindley and Wilkinson across the line, whilst Twidale rounded out the top 10, having had a somewhat quiet race. Crook got his best finish of the season in 12th, followed by Fox, who just held off Deeley and Storey, the former having been delayed after a collision with Thompson, which had dropped Christine to 16th after a pitstop to assess the damage.
Report by the Hollis family.
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Just a few weeks after Cadwell Park, the 2CV Racing circus set up camp at Oulton Park in Cheshire. Last year the event had been dominated by three people - Pete Sparrow, Mark Turner and Phil Myatt. The latter would be looking to dominate again this year, whilst Turner would have to make do with just the one race, again sharing driving duties with club chairman Aubrey Brocklebank. Sparrow meanwhile wasn't racing at all. But there were plenty of other drivers that would be hoping to claim the spoils in the races that could make or break their chances.