SCORTON racing driver Max Coates had a rollercoaster weekend at Oulton Park where he was competing the Renault UK Clio Cup and it wasn’t without incident.

In pre-event testing, Coates was inside the top ten with a number of drivers separated by just tenths of a second but moments before Saturday’s qualifying session, the heavens opened with spitting rain which was progressively getting worse. Coates pitted for wet tyres when the red flags appeared but the session was soon underway again as the rain continued to fall. Coates posted the eighth best time of the session shortly before crashing at the final corner.

His Harron Homes, Primex Plastics, JT Atkinson, Clements Ltd and PLASgran Recycling-backed car clipped a white lined before hitting the barrier head on and seconds later, another driver made the same mistake and hit the back of Max’s car which was in the already destroyed barrier. The damage was extensive but the Ciceley Motorsport team were able to straighten the car enough to be able to race in the first round of the weekend just three hours later.

Coates climbed two places at the start and on the run into the Island Hairpin gained another two as his competitors collided and ran wide. Running in fourth, he came under pressure from behind and was tapped wide exiting Cascades dropping him back to sixth where he remained to the flag. Race two followed in a similar way, Coates up two places at the start to run in fifth at the end of lap one before the race was red flagged within a matter of laps to repair damage to the circuit after a first corner crash.

At the restart, Coates held his position and was running in fifth when another red flag brought the race to a finish, this time another driver had barrel rolled and landed on top of the tyre wall lining the circuit. Despite his misfortune, the weekend’s results move Coates to fourth in the championship standings, just 25 points behind second place.

The next rounds of the championship will be held at his local track of Croft in two weeks’ time where he scored a win and a second place last year.

NARROW DEFEAT FOR THE BEARS

Last Thursday evening, Redcar SG Petch Bears were at home to their Cumbrian rivals Workington Comets whose line-up included Craig Cook, who is rated as one of the top UK riders. The meeting got off to a win for Cook with Bears’ captain Jason Garrity in second. Heat three was a win for ex-Bear Ty Proctor with Bears’ Jonas B Andersen pushing hard for second place. Bears’ Ben Barker won heat four before Cook won the next one with Bears’ Charles Wright, who was still recovering from flu, in second place.

The points were split in the next two heats with wins for Garrity and Barker leaving the scoreline was 19-23. Comets stretched their lead to six points with wins for Matt Williamson and Thomas Jorgensen before a fine win for Garrity in heat 10 reduced the Comets’ lead to four points. Points were split again in the next heat with a win for Barker, who held off a race long challenge from Cook. Proctor and Williamson scored the only 5-1 of the match in heat 12 to stretch the Comets lead to eight points.

However, Barker then had another fine win over Cook with Garrity in third which reduced the Comet’s lead back to six points. Andersen had a win in the penultimate heat to split the points and then Cook got the gate and won the last heat from Barker and Garrity leaving the final scoreline 42-48 in favour of the visitors.

ROBBO OUT OF LUCK

Ripon’s Matthew Robinson was out of luck when he contested the RSAC Scottish Rally at the weekend. Along with co-driver Dave Robson, the Fiat 131S pairing encountered a problem on the opening stage and although temporary repairs were effected, their rally came to a halt three stages from home.