TOVEY & CRISPIN TAKE THE SPOILS, BUT IT’S COCKHILL’S TITLE
20 cars were at Oulton Park for the final round of this years championship and the title still to be settled.
Kris Tovey was comfortably on pole for the first race, his KT Racing car 1.389 seconds quicker than Pete Sparrow’s Team 2CV Lion car.
As they charged down the Avenue for the first time Sparrow had the lead, from Luca Proietti and Tovey, but Laurence Broadhurst was tapped into a spin exiting Cascades. “I was hit a couple of times, we all wanted the same place. I did touch the barrier and briefly stopped for the marshals to check my car was OK,” he explained.
Sparrow still led as they crested Hilltop, but Tovey was second, from Proietti, Seb Jones-White, Nick Crispin and Andrew Bull.
The top five soon broke clear, but as they arrived at Knickerbrook for the second time, it was Tovey, from Proietti and Jones-White, followed by Sparrow and Crispin.
Bull was doing his best to hold on to the lead group, but the gap was growing, as he had Brian Heerey closing in too.
Crispin had started to tail off from his rivals, while behind Bull, it wasn’t only Heerey closing, but Mick Storey and Julie Walford too.
While Tovey just kept his nose in front, Jones-White and Sparrow duelled for second, as Sparrow was back into third, with Proietti losing ground.
Tovey finally got a break with a lap to go, but behind it was two seperate duels, with Jones-White against Sparrow and Proietti trying to hold off Crispin.
“I had to work hard for that, from the beginning to the end. The car felt good, but the title is now in Alex’s hands,” said Tovey.
Sparrow then got clear on the final lap too and managed to close in on the lead again, but at the flag it was another win for Tovey by 0.485 secs over Sparrow, giving a 100% record in his sprint races this season.
“I wonder why I am still doing this sometimes after 37 years. But after the 24hrs win the car wasn’t bad, so we decided to do it. I think I explored my own limits though,” Sparrow explained.
Jones-White retained a clear third, but Crispin managed to pip Proietti for fourth. “I had a rear tyre delaminate when I wanted to challenge Kris. It wanted to spin at Shell, so I had to back off. The car felt amazing though,” said Jones-White.
“I had a great early battle and then got pushed back. Pete got me at Old Hall on the inside and then I made mistakes and lost touch,” Proietti admitted.
“I couldn’t stay with them, so just focussed on being the one ahead of the ones behind,” Crispin replied.
Bull managed to retain his racelong sixth, “I was being pushed along by Brian, but considering I went into the tyre wall at 50mph in qualifying, the car was OK,” he said.
“I was just trying to push Bully along, I wasn’t trying to pass him as I was to far off the pace,” Heerey added.
Julie Walford eased well clear of Storey to seal eighth, while Ethan Sparrow rounded off the top 10.
Chris Yates wasn’t far behind, while in 12th Howard Wright, just held off Giles Owen and Matthew Hollis, but Owen received a jump start penalty, dropping him behind Hollis.
Matthew Arrowsmith-Brown and Colin Etchells both finished on the lead lap, while the recovering Broadhurst and Simon Turner completed the finishers, after Andi Donaldson and Nick Home had been early casualties.
RACE TWO
Donaldson and Richard Hollis were missing from the race two grid and so it was 18 cars coming under starters orders, with Championship leader Alex Cockhill on pole.
Crispin had the lead off the start, from Robert Dawson and Bull, but it didn’t last long. By the end of the opening lap Crispin was in second between Pete and Ethan Sparrow, but Ethan was penalised for a jump start.
Sparrow senior soon extended his lead but behind it was still a formation, with Crispin, Sparrow jnr, Dawson, Heerey and Cockhill the early top six.
It was damp and drizzly which prompted a rare mistake from leader Sparrow, “we had a deluge and I thought I could take Island on the dry line, but I couldn’t. I was way off before the grass, great fun though,” he explained after dropping to 10th.
Crispin was back in front but not without his own dramas. “There had been something loose at the front wheel from about lap two, but I lost it too at Island like Pete. I was offline and just managed to hold it, so didn’t go all the way round,” he explained.
It was a win for Crispin by 0.946 secs, with Heerey a clear second. “I had a battle with Ethan and clouted him a bit at Lodge, but they let me off,” he admitted.
Ethan Sparrow had retained third on track, but his penalty dropped him to 10th and so Cockhill moved up to complete the podium and was crowned 2024 Champion for KT Racing.
“I felt the pressure a bit on the grid, but knew I had to stay close to Nick to keep the title alive. But the conditions changed corner by corner and after a tentative start I had the pace to work through,” said the newly crowned champion. “It’s been a great year and working with Kris I have learned so much,” he added.
Dawson, George Broadhurst and Bull finished line astern with Cockhill to complete the top six. “I was happy with that, very hectic and fourth was a nice surprise really, after I had a coming together with Ethan at Lodge,” said Dawson.
“That’ll do for me,” Broadhurst added, “car was great but I had a carb problem,” said Bull.
Steve Walford just missed out on the top six, “but Julie and I both finished our races, and I was in that big pack at the finish, despite going through the Lodge gravel,” he emphasised.
Pete Sparrow, Tom Perry and the penalised Ethan Sparrow were the rest of the top 10, Perry having started the last lap in sixth. “With the rain it was difficult seeing and I lost it at Cascades on the last lap trying for third,” he explained.
Storey, Owen and Turner were next home, before Howard Wright on his debut in the ex Baycon Racing car. “I might have pushed a bit harder in the dry, but not in the wet conditions,” he admitted.
Etchells and Martin Sunderland were the final finishers.
Full results sheet: https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BARC/2024/2441272cv.pdf