27 August 2012 - Oulton Park
John Counsell takes the HF3 Class win at Oulton Park
Oulton Park Gold Cup August 25th – 27th 2012
HSCC Classic Racing Cars supported by The Cubicle Centre
Whilst the dedicated double header at Croft attracted a superb twenty four car field; at Oulton Park the return to the multi class Classic Racing car, single race format attracted only ten Historic Formula three cars. We were treated to sunshine for both qualifying and the race, local ‘Ace’ Nigel Bancroft in Tony Mantle’s familiar Chevron headed the F3’s ahead of Keith Messer who was continuing his Croft form in the Vesey. These two were four seconds clear of Leif Bosson in his familiar Brabham BT28 and a returning John Counsell in his immaculate Chequered Flag Brabham BT18. Chris Holland, unhappy with the performance of the Brabham, just headed Steve Seaman, both in Brabham BT21s. from Grant Saunders, March 703, and Peter Froude’s Tecno; the immaculate Lotus 31 of Andrew Thorpe and the familiar Brabham BT15 on Peter Williams rounded out the F3s.
Unusually, Mike Scott had taken overall pole, and he led Ian Jones, on he first ever visit to the circuit, for the first few laps before Jones restored the status quo, finally running out a comfortable winner by some fifteen seconds. Back in the F3s, Bancroft led away from Messer who was to become embroiled in a race long battle with Martin Cowburn (Brabham BT29 Twin Cam) and Chris Drake in his Formula Junior Elva 300. Bancroft spun on the first lap and came through well down the field, but staged a dramatic chase through before being forced to retire on lap eight with an oil leak. Bosson, Holland, Counsell and Seaman were having a stirring time, but as the race went on, Holland began to suffer from a lack of brakes, and Bosson too began to fall back. Messer was having a mighty battle with Cowburn and Drake, but was in fact safely in the F3 lead; it all ended in tears on the last lap when Messer made a move on Cowburn exiting Island on the run up to Shell, which resulted in Messer putting a wheel on the grass and a slow speed spin into the gravel. To add to the excitement Seaman made a move on Holland, who was nearly out of brakes, and found himself in the tyre wall at Hislops; the main beneficiary was John Counsell who came home intact to take a popular Historic Formula Three victory. Peter Froude had a lonely afternoon in the Tecno, whilst Andrew Thorpe upheld family honour by beating son Robert (Lotus 51 Formula Ford)
Next Outing is September 23rd at Brands Hatch, before the Season finale at Dijon, October 6th-7th where the Nations Cup will be run for the Bev Bond Trophy.
