Pictured: Race start at Rockingham. Click to open hi-resolution version

NEWS RELEASE: 5 MAY 2014

MASON WINS AT ROCKINGHAM AS FULBROOK FALTERS

Pictures from Rockingham

Aaron Mason claimed a lights-to-flag win in the first of the Rockingham rounds of the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup, but the reigning champion was fortunate to get things all his own way. Pole man Joe Fulbrook looked to have the legs of everybody in the 31-car field and was lining up to take the lead from Mason when his power steering failed just before mid-distance.

Fulbrook dominated Saturday qualifying in his AWM/Warranty Direct Golf GTI, posting three lap times which would have earned him the pole – his best was more than a second quicker than last year’s pole time. However Joe did not make the best start and was swamped away from the line by Mason’s AWM/Warranty Direct Scirocco and by the JWB Scirocco of Stefan Di Resta. Di Resta nosed ahead of everyone for a hundred yards before a gearchange problem left him with a sudden lack of impetus and he too was swallowed up.

When the dust settled on the opening lap it was Mason out in front from SlideSports Scirocco man David Sutton, with Fulbrook third from James Greenway’s White Rose Volkswagen-backed Scirocco and the Maximum Motorsport Sciroccos of Chris Panayiotou and Stewart Lines, with Di Resta seventh.

Less than a second covered the top three over the course of the opening laps and Fulbrook was soon lining himself up to take second away from Sutton; he found a way though on the fifth lap and then prepared to mount his challenge on leader Mason. Disaster struck at Kirby corner on the sixth lap when Joe suffered a repeat of the power steering problems which afflicted his Golf at Oulton Park. “The system failed and pumped fluid on to my tyres, so I spun off and then got completely lost,” said Joe, whose evasive action took him way off track and effectively ended his race.

Despite Fulbrook’s demise Mason had no opportunity to relax – he had Sutton breathing down his neck for the duration. David stayed on Aaron’s tail throughout, waiting for a mistake to materialise, but otherwise unable to challenge. “We knew from qualifying that the tyres were only going to be at their best for three or four laps,” said Sutton, “so I was trying to preserve them but to be honest Aaron made more out of the corners than me and there weren’t many places I could have got him.”

Mason crossed the line eight-tenths of a second ahead for his 17th career win and his third in a row, taking into account his 2013 final-round victory at Donington Park. He felt fortunate: “It definitely would have been Joe’s race, but I’ll take the win. To be fair, I thought David might have got me towards the end, too, because my tyres went off a couple of laps before his. There were bits where I was quicker than him, though, and I managed to bring it home.”

Di Resta overcame the Sciroccos of Panayiotou and Greenway to slot into fourth, which became third with Fulbrook’s demise. “I burnt my clutch out on the line and tried to shift into second a got a bunch of nothing,” said Stefan. “I dropped back and the whole race I was battling with the gearbox – in fact for the last three laps I was stuck in fourth. But I came through and at the end of the day it’s my first full race and I’m happy to be on the podium.” Di Resta set a new lap record on his charge.

A flat-spotted set of tyres hampered Greenway’s chances; he finished fourth, just ahead of the mercurial Tom Barley in his Team Hard Golf; Tom started 12th and described it as “probably my best race – I just seemed able to pick people off”. Philip House was six seconds behind Barley, holding off a final-lap challenge from KPM’s Lucas Orrock to secure sixth and with it pole position for race two. Orrock was rueing a poor start which dropped him well back at the start; the rookie did well to battle through from 13th after lap one to seventh by the end.

Josh Caygill drove through the night from Germany, where he was contesting the opening rounds of the Scirocco R Cup, to start the race from the back of the grid. He made up the most places of anyone, charging through to eighth by the end in his AWM Scirocco. “It was not a bad drive, and good fun from the back,” said Josh. “I’m happy enough with eighth and a better start spot for race two.”

David Fairbrother scored his best finish for two years with ninth for SlideSports, ahead of Lines, whose Scirocco was suffering from steering damage following an incident in qualifying. The Walker family battle went the way of father Richard, who lifted 11th place from son James’s Milltek Sport-backed Golf in the closing laps. Walker Junior endured an eventful race, making a mistake on the opening lap which dropped him to 12th, and then clashing with the Scirocco of his cousin, Jack Walker-Tully, as they disputed sixth. Walker-Tully retired his car on the final lap.

Sixteen-year-old Sam Morgan brought his KPM Golf home 13th ahead of Simon Rudd’s Golf and Robin Riley, whose Scirocco had undergone an extensive rebuild by the AWM/Warranty Direct team following the Oulton Park startline shunt of a fortnight ago.

Tim Snaylam, James Pile, George White, Kieran Gallagher and Paul Dehadray completed the top 20, with Fulbrook classified 26th with an overheating engine following his off-track adventures. Simon Andrews retired his Golf with a blown turbo pipe, while Matt Hamilton’s Golf suffered a puncture after a clash of wheels with Gallagher. Panayiotou exited the race at Kirby on the eighth lap when he ploughed into the gravel trap.