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The Inside Track with Power Maxed Racing: Professionalism from the team, if not from our adversaries!

By Power Maxed Racing / MJP Media | 17 June 2015

A turbulent weekend and more than our fair share of bad luck, but the team still managed to leave the Cheshire circuit with a healthy points haul and the lead in the Jack Sears Trophy for rookie drivers.

Josh Cook leads the Jack Sears Trophy

All the teams at Oulton Park were starting from scratch to some degree on setup because of the introduction of the brand new Dunlop standard tyre. The team made solid progress in the free practice sessions with both drivers putting in strong sectors and gaining valuable data on the new tyre. Qualifying took place on a warm track after a long burst of welcome sunshine with both Dave and Josh putting in good opening laps to run in the top 10 but they were squeezed to 13th and 14th respectively in the closing seconds.

With a leisurely midday start to race one and under sun filled skies, both drivers got off the line well and kept out of trouble with some close door to door action. Maintaining their relative positions throughout the race saw Dave finish in 10th and Josh in 12th. The impact of the battling traffic on the notoriously difficult to overtake Cheshire circuit resulted in unusually slow lap times for both drivers, which dropped them down the grid for race two with Josh starting in 17th and Dave just behind in 18th place.

A broken sub-frame ruined race 2 for Dave Newsham

Race two saw both our cars stricken with bad luck. A championship component failure saw Dave pit on the warm-up lap as the front sub-frame failed after the brutal Oulton Park kerbs took their toll. The team put in a sterling effort, showing their mechanical prowess and managed to remove and refit the whole front end and engine, replacing the damaged sub-frame and getting Dave out with moments to spare before race three. Josh was on the receiving end of a hefty shunt from the Audi of Rob Austin, resulting in a puncture. Josh made it back into the pits and after fast work by the team, was back out to finish the race. Unfortunately he had lost too much ground and finished in 26th.

Race three saw the knock-on effect of the events of race 2 with Josh starting in 26th and Dave back in 28th. Both cars got off the line cleanly, making good ground in the opening laps. Dave had his head down and had made it to 23rd by lap 4, but Josh really had the bit between his teeth and battled his way to the midfield in 15th. Both drivers gained further places with Josh finishing 13th and Dave 18th.

Power Maxed Racing is currently 6th in the Teams Championship

We left Oulton Park with both drivers maintaining their positions in the Drivers' Championship with Josh in 13th and Dave 15th. Not where we want to be, but not disastrous either! We are currently 6th in the Teams Championship while Josh leads the Jack Sears Trophy by 49 points.

Adam Weaver, Power Maxed Racing Team Principal commented: "It has been another weekend of hard knocks to both drivers and the team. There has been some robust passing by a few unnamed drivers, but both drivers have shown their skill to keep it on the track. The team, however, have been outstanding for me this weekend. After the failure of a standard issue part, they put in a tremendous effort to change the entire front end, transplanting the engine and all front end components in a shade under 2 hours. It was a delight to see professionals doing their job and working so well as a team - they have made us all very proud. We have further developments to make to the car and will be out testing next week to move things forward again."

Power Maxed Racing

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