Having missed out on last years campaign, Ollie Mortimer‘s hunger for success showed in abundance at Rockingham. He won the first two races and only a narrow defeat by defending champion Martin Depper kept him from a hattrick.

Former VW Cup Champion Phil House had set the pole time and he held the initial lead in race one as they arrived at Deene.

Depper and Mortimer were close behind, but in the scramble Depper got a tap and was left to limp back to the pits with a front puncture. “If there was a touch it was very light, as I didn’t feel anything,” he explained.

Jack Stanford emerged from Yentwood as House’s chief pursuer, followed by Mortimer, Arthur Forster, Lee Allen and Steve Liquorish.  Stanford was in a determined mood and wasted no time in making his lead challenge through Pif Paf on the second lap and emerged with the his nose ahead.

For a while it was six car lead train, but House slipped back fourth when he was unable to match Mortimer and Forster on the straights. A lap later he lost out to Allen too, but fought his way to rechallenge for fourth. Liquorish was also under pressure as Jason Richardson, Carl Bennett and Shaun King joined him, but within a couple of laps he shook them off again.

Although he still had a solid third Forster started to lose ground on the lead pair, which prompted Mortimer to close in and challenge Stanford. They were side by side through Pif Paf but it was Mortimer that led into the Steel Straight for the ninth time. “I was trying to get Ollie and got on the marbles out of Gracelands and drove over the gravel trap", Forster explained.

House clawed his way back into fourth at Deene, but was unable to make further progress as the top three closed up again.  “I just kept losing out every lap around the banking,” he said. Mortimer responded again to secure his first win of the weekend, while Forster snatched second from Stanford with a lap to go. “It was a crazy start, but I stayed cool and got third. I was happy behind Jack until Arthur caught us, then just sat and waited for my moment,” said Mortimer.

Stanford was still happy with third however, “I got a good start but when Ollie had a run on me I let him go and tried to stick with him, but had gearbox problems and so Arthur caught me,” he explained. House, Allen and Liquorish completed the top six, while Joey Powis held a steady racelong gap over James Blyth to take the Club class, with Nick Booth a distant third.

Race Two

Mortimer and Forster were side by to Deene on the opening lap of race two, before Mortimer nosed in front. Stanford was into third, from Allen, House, Bennett and Liquorish, before the top five made a second lap break. But having started at the back, Depper was carving his way through and was into sixth by Tarzan on lap three.

As the lead pair edged clear, Allen started to threaten Stanford for third. He got inside at Tarzan but Stanford fought back to hold the place at the Brook Esses. Allen tried again into Deene on the next lap, but went sailing straight on as he missed his braking point.

Forster began to close and looked poised to challenge Mortimer for the lead, until both hit the wall in Turn four and Mortimer got away again. “We both hit the wall but I think Arthur hit it harder,” said Mortimer. They both held station for remaining laps for Mortimer to record win number two.

Stanford made it home third again from the closing Depper, who had made it past House with a couple laps to go. “I was pushing as hard as I could, but with bad understeer I was just holding on,” said Stanford. “I had a mid race break or something then came strong again at the end,” Depper added. Liquorish was on his own in sixth, while Bennett’s hold on seventh came to an abrupt end when he was tapped into a huge 100mph+ slide on the back straight  which ended in the wall.

Roles were reversed in the Club class from the first race, with Blyth keeping Powis at a safe distance throughout and a happy Sarah Parsons a solitary third in her untested car. “It was a good start and I seized the moment to get Joey at Deene,” said Blyth. “I couldn’t gain but didn’t lose, so the gap stayed the same. We just couldn’t get close enough to dice,” Powis replied.

Race Three

It was Stanford turn to lead at the start of race three, from House, Depper, Mortimer, King and Forster. House chased Stanford hard and Mortimer began to challenge Depper too, as Forster tried to make his presence felt.

On lap three Mortimer took another exploratory look at Depper, but the defending champion had it covered. House had more success when he went for the lead into Tarzan on lap eight, but it was all starting to close up between the top four, after Forster started to lose touch.

As House tried to build on his lead, Stanford ran wide at Deene on lap 11 and both Depper and Mortimer shot through. It was all over for House a lap later, as he explains. “I was comfortable then went from fifth to fourth approaching the Esses and there was nothing. The gear linkage had broken and I just coasted along the banking. Depper therefore picked up a late win, “I was pushing hard though at the end,” he said. Mortimer held onto second and Forster followed Stanford in a distant fourth. “When I hit the wall in the second race I must have dislodged the dash, as it came away and got between the steering wheel spokes,” Forster explained.

King and Richardson rounded off the top six, and Blyth took another clear win in the Club class over Booth. Powis made it home third after a frustrating race in Sarah Parsons wheeltracks . He finally got by aggressively at Deene with a couple of laps remaining. The new drivers in the Club class, Nigel Johnson, Kevin OConnor, Luke Caudle and Roger Bates will all take the battle to the front runners at the next event at Brands Hatch 6/7 June.

Photos

Photos from this event are available in the photo gallery.