Milltek Sport Civic Cup
Rounds 7 & 8
Oulton Park – 16th July 2022
Alistair Camp and Matt Luff score wins in the Cup Class, while Dave Marshall and Loui Hounsell secure Production Class honours in action-packed Oulton Park scorcher
2021 Champion Alistair Camp and runner-up Matt Luff scored a win apiece in rounds seven and eight of this year’s Milltek Sport Civic Cup at Oulton Park on Saturday 16th July, as Dave Marshall and Loui Hounsell topped the timesheets in the Production Class.
Whilst the second of the day’s two races ran to a full 15-minute duration, the same could not be said for the first when an incident and subsequent red flag on the third lap brought proceedings to a premature conclusion.
The outcome of the results as the championship for Honda Civic Type Rs manufactured between 2001 and 2011 reaches its half-way point sees Camp head the Cup class drivers’ standings from Luff and Morgan Bailey, whereas in the Production category for cars with fewer modifications, another two podium results for Alfie Jeakins sees him share the top spot with Marshall, ahead of Hounsell in third.
Qualifying
Camp carried on from where he left off last time out, following his two race wins at Brands Hatch, by placing himself in pole position for the first of the day’s two races – but only just, as Jack Harding was hot on his heels, just missing out by nine-hundredths of a second. Bailey wasn’t far off either, finishing the session just 0.193 seconds further back.
And whilst Hounsell was quickest of the Production Class runners, a technical infringement meant he would start from the back of the grid and in doing so, handed P1 to Marshall, ahead of Jeakins and Mark Hughes.
Round 7 – Race Report
Camp made the most of his advantage, acing the start when the lights went out. In contrast, Harding lost places after a hesitant getaway, allowing both Bailey and Dan Thackeray to get past on the run-up to the first corner at Old Hall.
Behind the leading quartet Ryan Bensley, Luff – who hadn’t made the early progress he was hoping for – Will Redford, Max Edmundson and Harvey Caton appeared locked in a battle for the remaining top ten positions. Albeit hounded by Bailey, Camp maintained his lead on lap two, whereas behind him Harding getting past Thackery to take third at the start of lap three.
As the pack streamed through the Knickerbook Chicane, there was clearly something amiss with Jordan Brennan’s brakes, forcing him to take to the grass and then the gravel to avoid the cars ahead of him. The car then made contact with the barriers on the outside of the track and rolled onto its side. Thankfully Brennan emerged unharmed.
With the circuit maintenance team having to carry out significant repairs, the race did not re-start and results were based on the positions at the end of lap two.
In the Production Class, the top three finishers reflected the top three qualifying positions, which saw Marshall record his first victory of the season, followed by Jeakins and Hughes.
Round 8 – Race Report
With the grid for race two determined by the positions of the top ten finishers from race one in reverse order – and on this occasion, after a series of penalties had been applied – 16-year-old Harvey Caton found himself in pole position ahead of Edmondson, Redford and Luff.
Caton hooked up his start perfectly and as cars headed down Cascades for the first time, relieved to have pulled ahead of the pack as drivers behind him battled frantically for position. The bumper-to-bumper action continued for the next two laps and with ambient temperatures rising, it was clear that braking and grip were becoming more and more of an issue.
With Caton sliding wide on the exit of Cascades on lap three, Edmondson took advantage and got past under braking for the Island Hairpin. Luff then made his move at the Knickerbrook chicane to take second place.
On the following lap, Edmundson became another victim to the conditions and slid wide at Cascades, Luff didn’t need to be asked twice and snatched the lead he was never to lose.
For the second half of the race all eyes focused on the intense battle for the next eight places that saw positions changing almost corner-by-corner. But when the chequered flag finally emerged, it was Harding who claimed second place followed closely by Bailey, Camp, Edmondson, Thackeray, George Alp-Williams, Bensley, Caton and Matt Cripps, who rounded off the top ten.
The fight for Production Class supremacy was also fiercely contested, with Hounsell scoring his second win of the year, ahead of Jeakins, Marshall and Hughes.
Competitors now prepare themselves for the second half of the season and rounds nine and ten, which take place at the historic Wiltshire circuit of Castle Combe on Saturday 6th August.
The Milltek Sport Civic Cup is supported by Milltek Sport, Goodyear, Maximum Networks, Liqui Moly, MaxiCloud Hosted Telephony, Co-ordSport, Berkshire Turbo, Joyce Design, Steel Seal, PRS braking systems and Maximum Performance. The Championship is administered by Club Time Attack.
Driver quotes
Alistair Camp – Round 7 Winner and Championship Leader
“It’s great to come away from this weekend with a pole position, fastest lap and a win. My aim is just to keep scoring points and focus on the championship. I could have perhaps made it onto the podium in race two but I didn’t want to risk it as it was such a close race and I’m happy to come away from the event leading the championship. I’ve not been to Castle Combe before, so that should make things interesting!”
Matt Luff – Round 8 Winner
After the start, I knew I had to get past the cars ahead of me if I was going to stand any chance of taking the win. Once I was in front I could pull out a gap and having heard it was pretty frantic behind me, I was pleased to have done that. After finishing on the podium four times this season, it’s great to finally score a win and to head into the second half of the season in contention for the title.”