Elliot Goodman was on winning form at Oulton. The RAW Motorsports driver headed team mates Chris Short and Peter Brookes as they claimed the top three qualifying times in the SR3 Class, from where it just got better.
The much more powerful RXC Spyder of Michael Clark was on pole for race one, but he couldn’t hold off the RAW Challenge as Goodman led Short and Brookes down the Avenue.
Although Clark was able to use his pace advantage to regain the lead from lap three, Goodman had also managed to shake-off any threat within a couple of laps.
Short was in third but under pressure from Jason Rishover, while Carl Preen had also moved ahead of Brookes.
“I had a good start and nearly got Elliot. Then Jason started to close on me and I had a big sideways moment into Shell on lap six and he got by,” Short explained.
As Preen started to threaten Short’s hold on fourth, Brookes closed in on the dicing duo too, as it became a three-car train for third.
“Chris had got half way alongside me at the first corner, but then I just seemed to drive away,” said Goodman, who had a pleasant surprise on the last lap. “The Spyder had slowed so I went by,” he added, after red flags brought an early end and he was declared overall and class winner.
Short wasn’t so lucky as he had been hit by Preen at Lodge and was out of the race.
Brookes therefore came home fourth, but in the SR1 Class RAW’s Gavin McAlpine had been a comfortable fourth for most of the race.
“I had a very hairy approach into Old Hall near the end, but held on. I closed on the others when they battled, but love this circuit, it’s my favourite,” said Brookes.
“I could see I was being caught, ran wide at Old Hall and was looking in my mirrors at Shell and spun out of the race,” McAlpine admitted.
While Clark went clear for a lights to flag win in race two, there was little to split Goodman and Short through the entire race.
Short tried a couple of moves on his team mate, but had to accept third place, “I didn’t think he was that close enough to try really. I didn’t need to defend too hard, but it was a good clean race though,” said the victorious Goodman.
“I had the inside at the first corner and Elliot stuck to the inside at Cascades. It was very frustrating and I was closing into both chicane, but he had the edge elsewhere. I was certainly trying,” Short added.
Brookes had been fourth but headed pitwards on his seventh lap. “There was a vibration getting worse, a shame as that’s the most competitive I have ever been,” he said.
McAlpine was fifth in the SR1’s, after briefly holding third. “I saw them coming back at me, but didn’t make a fight of it as I wanted to finish,” he concluded.