Dodd does the double at Oulton Park
James Dodd completed the Oulton Park clean sweep as he drove to a dominant victory in a delayed second Super Touring race.
The race started almost two hours later than originally planned after a sudden downpour on the original pace lap brought out the red flag. Despite the best efforts of the teams in fitting wet weather tyres to the cars, the organisers took the decision to postpone the race until after the final BTCC race of the weekend.
Having won the opening race of the weekend, Dodd had the advantage of starting from pole position, leading from the start and never looking back. John Cleland hung with the Honda driver for the duration of the 20 minute race, despite worries that the Vauxhall would struggle to keep up with the ex-Tom Kristensen car.
“That was a very hard race,” Dodd told TouringCarTimes, who takes his tally of Oulton Park Super Touring wins to four out of four. “John pushed all the way and I was impressed at how well he kept with the Honda again. There was a bit of confusion over the set-up and tyres after the downpour from the original start but it looks like we made the right choice with slicks. It’s great to keep up the 100% record, but I don’t know how long that’ll last.”
“I’m very happy, the car felt great,” said Cleland. “The car went quicker around here than it’s ever gone before. James drives that Honda incredibly well and I just couldn’t get up to him, but we’ll keep on pressuring him and we’ll get there.”
The battle for third was a much tighter affair, with Simon Garrad falling foul to the flying Alfa Romeo of Neil Smith in the early stages. Smith, who started eighth, made his way up in to the top three within two laps as Garrad’s Laguna steadily dropped through the field, allowing both Patrick Watts and Stewart Whyte, who was consistently setting the fastest lap, to join the fun.
Smith, Watts and Whyte provided one of the most entertaining battles of the day, with the trio running nose-to-tail for a number of laps. A lock-up from Watts going in to Knickerbrook allowed Whyte through to fourth, dropping the Peugeot 406 out of the fray. Whyte then seized his opportunity for a podium finish, passing Smith at Old Hall at the next time of asking.
There were small battles up and down the field, with Graeme Dodd, who had an issue with his Nissan Primera in the early stages, clawing his way back to battle with Garrad, while Keith Butcher and Derek Palmer had a close race with their pair of Primeras.
Steve Dymoke found himself in the centre of the action more often than he may have hoped after causing Tom Andrew’s Alfa Romeo 155 to spin out at Old Hall on the first corner, before contact with Tony Absolom’s Vauxhall Cavalier saw the Alfa Romeo 156 end in the gravel at Shell Oils hairpin.
“This was a good result after our driveshaft issue on Saturday,” Whyte said to TouringCarTimes after qualifying issues forced him to start Saturday’s race from 24th. “The race was great, good clean passing, hopefully it was great for the fans at the track and at home. With a better starting position we could have challenged for the win, so we’re really looking forward to Brands Hatch and Silverstone.”
Mark Wright once again took the GA class victory, taking his second win of the weekend in the Ford Escort RS1800.
“That was hard work,” said a delighted Wright. “I tried to hang on to the Super Tourers as long as I could before they started pulling away. I hit the kerb at Knickerbrook a little too hard near the end and I think I broke or bent something, but I knew there wasn’t long to go so I limped round. I’m looking forward to Brands as it’s one of my best tracks, so it should be fun.”
