Gorefield driver endures a difficult weekend at Oulton Park

Fenland race ace Bill Garner endured a testing weekend at Oulton Park in Cheshire.

Heading towards the end of the season with the Formula Vee Class B Title within grasp, the Gorefield driver and his team were looking to continue on the winning streak, but motorsport doesn't always go to plan.

As Garner stated: ''Just ask Ferrari F1 or Red Bull and they are spending tens of millions."

Friday afternoon testing went well with some new parts proving to work well on the car.

Saturday morning qualifying started ok but had to be aborted due to the clutch slipping, affecting lap times.

However, Garner still managed to secure P6 for race one and P5 for race two.

This meant a race against the clock to change the clutch before Race 1, which was achieved in 1hr 40mins with just a few minutes to spare.

''I cannot thank my team of Toby George, Duncan Holdsworth, Stephanie Garner and Caroline Shippey who all contributed in this amazing effort," said Garner.

Race one saw another trademark fast start, leaping into third place only to see the race red-flagged on lap two due to an incident further down the grid.

The restart saw Garner in fourth until running wide at turn three allowed five cars through.

Fighting back, he finished seventh overall and third in Class B scoring valuable championship points.

Race two was another rapid start from sixth on the grid which found Bill fighting for fourth overall.

However with three laps to go entering the fast Druids Corner, the car in front spun taking both into the gravel trap.

Garner said: ''On reflection, I should have just sat behind and taken fifth, as at that point I was comfortably in P1 for the class win, but that's not always a racer's mindset, especially gutted as my closest competitor for the title crashed out too."

The final two races of the championship are at Donington Park, Leicestershire, on October 12/13 where a good result in race one will see Garner crowned as champion for 2024.

Continued thanks to current sponsors, G3rSolutions Ltd, Maggie, Amy and Lucy at The Potting Shed, Remarkable Entertainments, Phillips Flooring and Darren Drew Painting & Decorating.