MALLORY PARK
BARC/CMMC
18-19 MAY
Olly Allen produced the drive of the weekend at Mallory Park’s Classic & Modern Motorsport Festival event to storm through the entire combined Pre-’93 & Pre-’03 Touring Cars and Blue Oval Saloons field to take an impressive victory.
After crashing his Ford Fiesta Mk6 out of race one on Saturday, Blue Oval competitor Allen was forced to start at the back of the grid on Sunday with 22 cars in front of him. Yet that didn’t faze Allen, who battled his way through, setting fastest lap after fastest lap. By the closing stages, he had caught the Ford Escort Mk2 of leader Piers Grange, who had triumphed in race one the day before. Allen managed to squeeze past him on the final lap with only two corners to go, prompting scenes of jubilation greeting him from his team as he returned to the paddock.
The Pre-’83 Touring Cars also provided some exhilarating action. After taking pole in qualifying, Mark Cholerton was forced to retire his Ford Escort RS2000 with an engine issue after just one lap of the opener. Instead, multiple champion Stephen Primett, who started third in his Escort Mk1, took the victory by a just 0.252 seconds, fighting off a late Jonathan Corker attack in his Datsun 510. But Corker got the better of Primett second time around to end the weekend with a win.
There was further close racing among the Hyundai Coupe Cup contenders. Daniel Munro and Neale Hurren battled it out at the front of the opener, with Munro sealing the victory with a gap of just 0.965s separating the two. Munro had another narrow victory in the sequel, this time defeating Mark Ridout by just over a second.
Munro’s tight triumphs were in contrast to some of the single-seater contests. Current 500cc Formula 3 leader Alex Wilson extended his advantage with victories in both races in his Cooper Mk10. In race two, Wilson’s dominance was so strong he finished over a minute ahead of second-placed Xavier Kingsland’s Staride, which just pipped JB Jones and Richard Fuller to the runner-up spot. Had the 15-minute contest lasted one more tour, then Wilson would have lapped the entire field. His winning margin was a slightly
