By Our Special Correspondent
Fresh from a victory the previous week at Croft in north-east England, Nigel Reuben once again proved the class of the field as he took his fifth win in seven races round the 2.356-mile Island Circuit, with David Roper this time providing his main opposition.
Qualifying
With Luke Kidsley non-starting after blowing an engine in testing on Friday, and Croft star Tom Tremayne not entering, 10 cars faced a damp track for Saturday morning�s 15-minute qualifying session.
Reuben looked untroubled as he slid smoothly round to an easy pole position of 1m 40.738s, once again well clear of his closest challenger. This time it was Roper who led the less grippy �low-nose� opposition, setting second fastest time of 1m 41.575s to edge out Anglesey and Croft winner Mark Fell (1m 42.294s). Behind them Andy Roberts continued his recent strong form in his F.A.S. car with 1m 42.701s for fourth despite missing Friday�s important test and having to guestimate wet settings, ahead of Adam Saward who was happier with the Arri Media Jedi than he had been at Croft. Saward�s 1m 43.073s pipped David Scott, the Heathfield engineering student disliking his car�s handling on the wet track on his way to 1m 43.211s having been second only to Reuben in the dry on Friday.
Jodie Hemming was back after missing Croft, and the 16 year-old student took her best grid placing with seventh ahead of the similarly-liveried ex-Votex car of Louis Hamilton-Smith (1m 44.985s and 1m 46.260s respectively). Mark Hosken was also back with his yellow and black car after missing Croft. He took ninth place on the grid with 1m 51.483s, leaving the final place to Welshman James Baker, another to miss Croft, who rather bravely elected to run slicks throughout. It was a marginal choice, but the track didn�t dry out enough and he had to be satisfied with 1m 56.335s. Better would come from him in the race.
Race
The weather was improving slowly as the day progressed, and in the assembly area all but Hemming decided on a late change from wet tyres to slicks. Reuben, Roper and Fell made perfect getaways on the damp but drying track, while Scott also made a better start than of late and was fifth going into Old Hall and fourth as he reached the Dentons left-hander at the end of The Avenue straight. But there his engine hiccoughed momentarily. Thinking he had taken the wrong gear he looked briefly at his rev counter, and the distraction was enough to send him sliding wide on to the grass. After a neat 360 he continued, in last place.
Reuben never looked ruffled as he reeled off the 10 laps to win from Roper, who nonetheless kept up the pressure just as he had done in the opening races at Cadwell in April. The Scot was in strong form all day, and regained second place in the points from Andy Roberts after pushing hard enough to lap within four-hundredths of Reuben�s best time. Roberts� quickshift failed as he left the assembly area, obliging him to remember to change gear throughout with the clutch, and as a result he muffed his start slightly. He got into his rhythm in time to lap within a second of the leaders� pace, but before long realised that his gearing wasn�t correct and had to settle for the final podium place rather than being able to challenge Roper.
Initially Roper and Roberts were separated by Fell, but going down to Island Bend on lap five the former 125 karter felt something go awry in his rear suspension as he was thinking of challenging Roper�s second place at the hairpin. He dropped back a little and exiting Knickerbrook on lap six the suspension broke completely, forcing him to post his second non-finish of the season. Afterwards he all but conceded the championship to Reuben and vowed instead to focus on pushing for wins for the rest of the season.
Saward was happy to net good points for fourth after his recent run of misfortune, passing Hamilton-Smith partway through. The latter had another of his unobtrusive runs to fifth but counter-attacked Saward all the way to the flag to finish only half a second adrift. Both were lapping at the same pace as Roberts. Sixth was taken by the recovered Scott. Kicking himself for his early error, he charged back past Hosken, and then Hemming (whose gamble on wets backfired and saw her slipping backwards as the track continued to dry out) and Baker. Near the end the Welshman�s run looked likely to merit sixth after all, however, as Scott�s engine was misfiring badly, probably with dirt in the carburetion after his first-lap off. His engine actually cut out as he crossed the line, but it happened too late for Baker to be able to take any advantage as he was almost a minute behind Scott. He nevertheless took the best result of his five-race Formula Honda career with seventh place.
With an extra point for fastest lap in his pocket Reuben now heads to Mallory Park in June with a very comfortable points advantage, but Roper was delighted to regain second place overall. Roberts dropped to third but remains in close touch, while Scott moved up to challenge Fell�s fourth place as Saward drew level with the absent Tremayne who will be back in the fray at Mallory to defend his lap record.
RACE RESULT
1 Nigel Reuben 0.00s; 600; Pole
2 David Roper 2.653s; 600; 2
3 Andy Roberts 17.372s; 600; 4
4 Adam Saward 21.336s; 600; 5
5 L Hamilton-Smith 21.913s; 600; 8
6 David Scott 36.832s; 600; 6
7 James Baker 95.502s; 600; 10
8 Jodie Hemming 1 lap; 600; 7
9 Mark Hosken; 1 lap; 600; 9
RETIRED
Mark Fell, lap 6, suspension 3
FASTEST LAP
Reuben, 1m 29.340s on lap 7, 95.17mph
POINTS STANDINGS
After round 7, Oulton Park, May 18
POS DRIVER POINTS
1 Nigel Reuben 103
2 David Roper 66
3 Andy Roberts 64
4 Mark Fell 56
5 David Scott 55
6= Tom Tremayne 41
6= Adam Saward 41
8 Hamilton-Smith 27
9 Luke Kidsley 21
10 James Baker 14
11 Mark Hosken 12
12 Scott Mansell 10
13 Jodie Hemming 09
14 Philip Churchman 05
15 Rob Hedley 03
16 Dean Kidsley 01
17 Robin Pritchett 01