MG Racing News
October 11th
Oulton Park

Oulton-Park

The Oulton Park Circuit - Cheshire

Pictured above: Jon-Paul Ivey in his C Class MG Midget earlier this season




Once more we must thank Allan Patterson for this his last race report:


Acequip Cockshoot Cup
After my success at Cadwell Park I set off to Oulton for the last round of this years championship in a pretty good mood. The weather reports were a bit bleak but I was determined to end the season with a big effort. I still had a chance to beat Graham Jones for fourth place in the class.

Practice was quite greasy with everyone complaining of a lack of grip. My in car timing gear showed my best lap as 1.27.22 some seven seconds off a good dry time. No one had caught me in practice and I had slowly made some headway on one of the road going modified cars (Mike Peters) so I thought my time would be reasonable. As it turned out not reasonable enough. Graham have only finished his car rebuild after Cadwell the evening before was obviously buoyed up, he was the quickest standard class car on a 1.26.47 ahead of Ian Wright and Peter Harrison (already class champion) my time was good enough for fourth. I was not too worried as I felt I could go a bit quicker and the race is always a different story from practice.

Wet or damp conditions always throw up strange results and Saturday was no exception, Mark Ashworth probably one of the best drivers ever to sit in an MG was definitely having an off day and qualifying second to Steven Cartwright, the first time he has not qualified on pole all season. Just as well he has already sewn up the Championship! John Hewitt was in a class of his own fully three and a half seconds ahead of Andrew Storer. The modified class result was by no means over as one of five drivers could still win it, Jon-Paul Ivey (59), Ian Hodkinson (58.5), David Ecob (55) and Andrew Storer (54).

In addition to the final Championship positions being decided two traditional trophies were also up for grabs on the days results. For the overall winner the magnificent Peter Mallinson Trophy, donated by the parents of a former Cockshoot Cup racer, who tragically died in the early eighties as a young man. For the Standard Class drivers the Entune Trophy was there for the taking donated by The Entune Garage, first awarded in 1991.

As the day progressed the weather couldn't quite decide if it was going to rain or stay dry in the end for our race starting at five forty, as the light was fading, it decided to do both, with a dry but damp track getting increasingly slippery as the rain came on.


Click on image for full size version
A Racing MG Metro at 'Fosters' Oulton Park

Those of you regular readers (yes, both of you!) will know that my starts this year have been improving so I am delighted to tell you that I beat Peter Harrison to the first corner and third spot off the line. This was despite the fact that the gearbox has lost syncro on second gear and I had to be fairly brutal to it to get second off the line. Still it didn't do me much good initially as he overtook me up Clay Hill having got a good run on me out of Fosters on lap one. During the excitement of the start I had not realised that Mark Ashworth was having a night mare start so imagine my surprise as he came blasting passed on the Avenue on lap two. I had kept Peter in sight and once Mark passed him I was able to slowly make ground on him as Mark did not seem able to pull away. It had started to rain by now and Peter was getting a little ragged. Up front Graham and Ian Wright were disappearing. By lap four I was on Peters back bumper out of Fosters and through Knicker Brook, when he spun. I had time to take avoiding action and take third once more. Unfortunately Graham and Ian had disappeared by now and so I entertained myself by trying to catch Mark as there was no one in my mirrors. At the end I was just four seconds behind him. Graham Jones took a well deserved win driving extremely well in the conditions a full one second quicker than anyone else in the class.

John Hewitt and Andrew Storer had a great battle for the overall lead crossing the start finish line side by side for the first four laps. Eventually John eased ahead but Jon-Paul Ivey's seventh place meant he secured the modified class championship for the first time, well done Jon-Paul. Steven Cartwright had a fairly easy run to the Road Going Modified Class win, which also secured him second overall in the class in his first season racing MG's. Steven's brother John had practised in Bill Hewitts standard car but could not race as he was a reserve. However, he enjoyed himself enough to buy the car for next year. Of course this meant Bill Hewitt did not race which allowed Graham Jones to take third overall for the class this season.

Here's how they crossed the finish line. 
10 Lap Race
1..John Hewitt........Midget
2..Andrew Storer......Midget
3..Ian Hodkinson......B Roadster
4..Martin Richardson..B Roadster
5..David Ecob.........Midget
6..Robert Nettleton...Sprite

Class Winners:
Graham Shrigley-Jones.B Roadster
Steve Cartwright......B Roadster
John Hewitt...........Midget

Fastests Laps:
Shrigley-Jones........1m 28.76s @ 67.08mph
Cartwright............1m 28.23s @ 67.48mph
Hewitt................1m 18.96s @ 75.41mph


Well that is another enjoyable season completed.
Unfortunately unless I find some additional sponsorship I will not be racing next year. However I will be rebuilding the car for the 1999 season. I have ended the year with two thirds, two seconds and a first, yet was still only fifth in the class. I think that is a testament to the competitive nature of the ACEquip Cockshoot Cup.
In the standard class this year the average grid has been fourteen cars and throughout the season the class has had seven former race winners and three former class winners competing. In qualifying it has not been unusual to have the top five covered by less than one second, so all in all I am quite happy with fifth spot.
Of course if there is anyone out there who might like to help I would really like to talk to you.
I hope to write and additional article to set out what I would like to do with the right backing as I am sure I can find the one second per lap that would make all the difference to my! results and create a Championship winning set-up.

You can E-mail your thoughts or comments to me at AllanPaterson1@Compuserve.com

This is my last report of the season, but I will be doing a piece searching for sponsorship for next year, otherwise I won't be racing and won't be able to write such fabulous reports for you!!!!
All the best, Allan

Thanks for your assistance Allan, we could not have done it without you!!

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