The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
In-form Donington racer Christian Slater was back on the track at Oliver’s Mount as he contested the popular Steve Henshaw Gold Cup.
The Scarborough circuit has been closed for a couple of years, but is now under the new management of 243 Road Racing Association – who re-opened the venue with the Barry Sheene Festival back in June.
Tricky weather conditions made it a mixed meeting for the South Holland ace, but he still enjoyed being back at one of his favourite tracks.
After Slater’s two impressive successes on the Isle of Man at the end of August – where he received two finishers medals for both the Junior and Senior Manx Grand Prix races – he was looking forward to more pure road racing.
As with the Isle of Man Mountain Course, Oliver’s Mount does not have the run-off areas and wider tracks like many of the National circuits around the UK and the racing is close to grass verges, fences, trees and embankments.
The poor weather forecast did not deter the 100-plus solo competitors turning up for the event, with 55 entering in the 600cc SuperSport class which Slater had his name in the programme for.
Due to the circuit size and the vast entry level, there were three races arranged in Slater’s class – with qualifying to decide who would race in either the A, B, or C races.
Within the class there were several British Super Bike, British Super Sport, Isle of Man TT, Manx Grand Prix and National riders all contesting for the prize money in the A race and trophies in all three races.
Slater last rode a competitive race in the wet over three years ago and there was not much time to set up his Kawasaki ZX6-R for qualifying. In fact, he had just four laps of practice around the 2.43-mile circuit prior to his session.
A few minor adjustments were made to the suspension after practice and Slater qualified for the B race.
In the afternoon, the track dried very quickly which resulted in the support team having to quickly change the tyres just prior to the start of the race.
A set of intermediate tyres were fitted to allow for a mixture of both dry and wet Tarmac conditions around the tree-lined circuit.
In the race Slater made a good start when the lights went out and picked off a couple of riders in the first couple of bends.
All was looking good until lap two at the Mountside Hairpin when Tobias George (Yamaha R6) went down in front of Slater and forced him to nearly stop.
That ensured that his efforts applied in the first lap were wiped out and Slater found himself at the rear of the field. However, he did manage to take the chequered flag in a respectable 15th place.
Slater was placed 14th on the grid for his second race of the weekend, with a set of full wet weather tyres fitted.
He was feeling quite confident after his qualifying session and the feel of the Kawasaki machine, but only managed to complete one lap. Both his helmet visor and machine screen misted up under the conditions so Slater had to pull in for the safety of himself and other riders.
Four other riders also pulled in with the same issue.
Due to the late start of the racing caused by the climatic conditions and delays between other races because of the water volume on circuit, Slater’s return meeting to Oliver’s Mount was over. The second round of racing did not take place.
He was very pleased with the weekend, albeit not in the best of conditions and is now looking forward to 2020 to attend Oliver’s Mount again.
Provisional dates for Oliver’s Mount in 2020 are: Spring Cup – May 25 & 26; Cock O’ The North Festival – June 20 & 21; Barry Sheene Classic Festival – August 1 & 2; Gold Cup – September 12 & 13.
