James Dodd takes his first Super Touring win of 2014
James Dodd continued his 100% win record at Oulton Park in the Super Touring Championship after sailing away from John Cleland in the second half of the race.
The early stages of the first 20 minute encounter of the weekend saw pole-sitter Cleland, who had only made it to the grid following a mad dash to Coventry and back for spare parts, keeping back the chasing Honda driver, despite Dodd’s best efforts to find a way through.
“The boys did a hell of a job getting this car together,” said Cleland, who only just made it in time for the race. “I had to go to Coventry to fetch the only other spare in the world, the roads were chocker. I don’t know how many speeding tickets I’ll have but there’s going to be a few.”
A pre-race deluge had left the stretch between Druids and Lodge in much worse conditions than the rest of the circuit, with the majority of the track bone dry after the sun made its first real appearance of the weekend as the cars went out for their pace lap. Despite a spot of twitching here and there from a few of the field, everyone made it through Druids, visibly the wettest section of track, safely.
The race continued to see Cleland trying to keep Dodd behind, holding him back through Knickerbrook despite a small moment on dropped oil from one of the BMWs. Eventually Dodd found his way through, passing the Vauxhall and opening him up for an attack from Graeme Dodd’s Nissan Primera.
Action was taking place all through the field, with a couple of hair-raising moments for Patrick Watts, Keith Butcher and Alvin Powell. Watts first found himself going wide at Knickerbrook and on to the grass, before having to avoid Butcher’s Primera at Britten’s on the following lap after the latter locked up and went straight across the grass. Meanwhile, Powell ran wide at Old Hall, resulting in, to many fans’ delight, a hanging rear bumper.
One of the biggest movers of the race was Stewart Whyte, who, having started from the back of the grid, quietly worked his way through the pack and found himself in the points by the time of the chequered flag, finishing the race in sixth place and setting himself up for a better race on Sunday.
Back at the front, Graeme Dodd appeared to be hitting mechanical issues as he dropped back into the clutches of Simon Garrad in the Renault Laguna. A slide from Dodd at Cascades opened the door for Garrad, who passed the Primera with ease. Dodd’s next opponent came in the form of Derek Palmer in the similarly-liveried Primera, with the former eventually relinquishing the position by running wide and spinning at Old Hall.
As the race drew to a close, the top three remained relatively well spread out and as James Dodd crossed the line to start his final lap, the result seemed fairly academic, despite a wave of backmarkers in front of him. John Cleland held second to the line while Garrad came through to complete the podium places.
“That was a really good race,” James Dodd told TouringCarTimes. “John drove brilliantly, it was really impressive how he was able to keep up with the Honda. I couldn’t get past at first, but the Honda has the legs on the Vauxhall and I was glad to get through. We’re on pole for tomorrow’s race so hopefully we can do the double.”
“That was exciting mixing it with the big boys,” said Mark Wright, who was the winner in the GA category. “I love Oulton Park, I’ve had a few good wins here and racing with the BMWs today was great fun. The car felt great, we’ve worked on it and hopefully I can get the double tomorrow.”
