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Oulton Park
16/09/2007
Oulton Park
Martin loses it-Martin wins it
For someone who was “only going to do a few rounds this year” Martin Galpin has shone quite brilliantly all year. In every kind of weather he has shown what can be done with a lot of talent and not quite as much money as he would have liked to have had. Throughout the year he has had to overcome obstacles both on and off the track and Oulton Park was no exception. At Oulton Park he had to overcome yet more hurdles to show what he is made of and show everyone he did. Martin could only book up a half a days testing due to so many places already booked, as Martin had never visited here before it was imperative he completed as many laps in testing as possible to be confident of a good points finishing position as possible. Virtually straight away a big setback, a cylinder- head stud broke and he was forced into the pits where he missed out on the first of his two sessions. Then in the second session his oil cooler was holed first and then a rocker cover gasket blew, due to these misfortunes he only completed seven laps in total with none of them a “flying” lap. In stark contrast Martin’s only rival for the title Martin Farmer was the fastest of all in testing and looked set to take a big chunk out of Martin Galpin’s slender ten point championship lead.
Race Day
In qualifying as expected Martin Farmer grabbed pole position, he was though only three one hundredths faster than James Birch with incredibly Martin Galpin third. Danny Hands was in fourth with outgoing Vee champion Sam Oliveira in fifth on the grid with his brother Jake in sixth. Our Ryan Lindsay once again made the top ten with seventh, Jaime Conyers, Ian Buxton and Tim Probert completed the top ten. Steve Ough and Paul Taylor were in twelfth and thirteenth with Tim Hill and Miles Southerton filling row eight. Both our Alan’s (Robinson and Forster) had row ten between them, James Conyers and Neale Hurren did the same thing on the thirteenth row with Steve Robbins bringing up the rear.
The start of the race saw Martin Galpin lose two places; first Danny Hands went by then Jake Oliveira leaving Martin Galpin in fifth. Going down the lakeside straight the second of the Oliveira brothers Sam took fifth position from Martin, as they crossed the line for the first time the order was Hands, Jake Oliveira, Birch, Farmer, Sam Oliveira, and Galpin. At the end of the lap Martin Galpin passes Sam going down the start-finish straight then passes Martin Farmer through Cascades. The order stays the same on lap two; on lap three Martin Farmer decides to overtake Martin Galpin around the outside going down Lakeside Straight. When they reach Island Bend it all goes horribly wrong for Mr Farmer; he is on the marbles and under steers off of the circuit and into retirement. For Martin Galpin this puts a whole new perspective on his race strategy, before his objective was merely to finish ahead of Martin Farmer; now a top four finish will suffice. One lap later fortune smiles on Martin Galpin as James Birch suffers an engine failure; this promotes Martin to third. Sam has also suffered an engine failure and has retired leaving Martin relatively although not entirely free from attack from behind, for quietly making his way forward though is one Ryan Lindsay, by the fourth lap he is up to fourth and only a half a second behind Martin. Up at the front on lap seven Jake has passed Danny to take the lead; although Jake will lead for only two laps but they are the best two to lead on. The front three positions stay the same until the chequered flag with Martin closing up to Jake and Danny; this means the front three cross the line 0.47 seconds apart. Behind the front trio there is also some very good racing taking place; in his pursuit of fourth Ryan has posted the races fastest lap, an excellent achievement. Jaime Conyers finish’s in fifth a mere seven seconds behind the leader, Tim Probert takes sixth which must have been extremely pleasing in what has been a sometimes frustrating year. In what must have been dual of the race Paul Taylor and Steve Ough are in seventh and eighth places with Paul edging it by all of 0.86 sec, in ninth and tenth are Charlie Reilly and Alan Forster having another good dice and both doing well to be in the top ten. In the next four places are Tony Dowson, Allan Robinson, Richard Potterton and Elliot Hopkins virtually line astern, Glyn Davies and Tim Hill are fifteenth and sixteenth with the seventy one going on thirty one James Conyers only five seconds behind them in seventeenth. I can honestly say that I have known thirty- odd year olds who could not hold a candle to this man in terms of outlook, intelligence, stamina, race craft and definitely personality; long may he stay with us. Behind James on the track are (in order) David Cotterall, Steve Robbins and Angus Mayhew; these are the last of the runners. There are nine non finishers which although has helped promote others to where they may not have finished otherwise, “to finish first you first have to finish”. All in all an excellent days racing by many competitors and as usual a lot of hard work put in by all of the AHS team both in and out of the cockpit.
And what of Snetterton?
See you all there
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