Rounds 5 and 6 at Oulton Park, Sunday, May 20, 2001
James Kaye scored his best Sprint Race result of the year, with 2nd place at Oulton Park yesterday, despite carrying an extra 39kgs (the equivalent to a child passenger) of 'success weight ballast' in his car. He was set for another top three result in the Feature race when a freak mechanical failure forced him to pull off the circuit and retire. Fortunately for James, his chief rival for the championship, Simon Harrison (Peugeot 306), experienced some brake problems during this event and was only able to move ahead of him by eight points.
We were delighted with James's qualifying performance during Saturday's official session, even though he only qualified fourth on the grid for both races. With the weight penalty he was always going to struggle, as it was costing him at least half a second a lap. This especially hurt his performance under braking and acceleration into and exiting Oulton's tight first gear hairpin. His lap time was a second quicker than we had done last year, however, which is a tribute to the developments and new set-up work which we have done during the winter and test days so far this season. James's team-mate, Peter Cate, was having his first ever run in a Touring Car at the demanding Cheshire circuit, and was suffering from differential problems throughout unofficial practice and qualifying, nevertheless posting an impressive eighth fastest time on the grid.
The Sprint race featured a six-car breakaway pack, which fought out the top race positions for its duration. This pack featured both Barwell Motorsport Honda Accords, after Peter Cate (with a new differential replaced by the team late on Saturday night) had made one of his customary stunning starts to blast straight into sixth place. Out front Gavin Pyper (Alfa Romeo 156) and Roger Moen (Peugeot 306) disputed the race lead, as Harrison and Kaye both fought their way past a fast-starting Gareth Howell (Ford Focus) to have their own scrap over third place. This became a fight for the lead, however, when things became a bit overheated between Pyper and Moen and they both straight-lined the chicane - thus both incurring 10-second time penalties.
As the brakes on Harrison's Peugeot started overheating on the penultimate lap, Kaye was climbing all over the back of his car and almost squeezed through at Lodge corner. Harrison was able to use both the power of his Peugeot and his weight advantage to just open up a big enough gap down the straights to stay ahead, however, and he crossed the line a mere 4/10ths of a second ahead. Cate, meanwhile, was catching Howell hand over fist for fourth place, but then nearly got taken off the circuit by a wayward backmarker and lost a chunk of time. This cost him another place at the finish, as the time-penalised Pyper only edged Peter out for fifth place by 3/10ths of a second!
Cate was once again the man on the move at the start of the 30-lap Feature race, as he rocketed from eighth on the grid up to fourth during the opening lap, passing his team mate Kaye and his old foe Roger Moen’s Peugeot. Unfortunately for Peter, however, his Moen made a lunge at him as they entered the Knickerbrook chicane on lap five, and he had to take avoiding action as the Peugeot bounced along the grass next to him. This cost him valuable momentum on the exit and allowed Kaye through as they accelerated up the hill towards the super-quick Druids bend. It was at Druids, though, that he was then seriously assaulted by the Ford Focus of Mat Jackson and knocked into a hair-raising spin. Peter kept the Accord out of the barriers, however, and rejoined down in 12th place.
James was now biding his time in fifth place, as he knew that the brakes of the Peugeots ahead of him would be overheating severely in the second half of the race, and also that he had the outright pace to catch Howell's Focus in second spot. On lap 12 this became fourth position as Moen limped back into the pits, but four laps later disaster struck as a freak breakage to one of the brake caliper mountings forced James to pull off the track and post a rare retirement.
Barwell honour was thus now being upheld by Peter, who had rapidly worked his way back up to fifth place with some incredible lap times by the time James had stopped. He then set about the obstinate Peugeot of 17-year-old former stock car champion, Tom Boardman, who was using some very dubious 'short oval racing' tactics to try and keep our man behind. Peter outfoxed him and surged his way past at Cascades on the 22nd lap, but Boardman then just drove into the back of him two corners later and punted our Honda into a spin - a move for which the Peugeot driver later received a racing licence endorsement and fine from the race stewards. This punishment was of no consolation to Cate, however, who had been robbed of a fourth place finish and had to settle for eighth at the flag.
