A
promising start, but another disaster for Dunn & Gates
Anthony
Dunn & Barry Gates had another mixed weekend at Oulton
Park this weekend.
In damp qualifying, Anthony qualified the Ligier JS49 in
7th place, despite only getting one clear lap when conditions
were at their best due to an alternator problem forcing
them to spend much of the session in the pitlane.
Anthony took the opening stint of the four hour endurance
event, slotting in 6th place behind Ivor McCullough's Ligier
on the opening laps. He ran closely with McCullough and
the Pilbeam of Charlie Hollings for much of the first part
of the race and the trio fought their way through backmarkers
until the first series of pitstops.
Gates
took over the car and after some good pitwork from the Chevron
Racing crew, he rejoined in a strong 3rd place and was keeping
pace with the leaders.
However, shortly after the 2 hour mark he was caught out
by oversteer at Old Hall corner & crashed heavily into
the tyres, wrecking the front end of the car & putting
them out of the race.
"We struggled in pace a little this weekend and although
I initially couldn't match the speed of the top 4, we were
strong as a driver pairing and could have won." said
Anthony. "It's a shame, and it really was a mistake
from Barry but it's still only his 2nd year of racing and
he'll learn sooner or later than not everything on a racing
car is made of rubber...".
The race was won by Bryce Wilson and Ally McKever in their
Ligier JS49, despite having gear selection problems.
