EXCOOL OSS Championship 2016

A full grid of open regulation sportscars stormed Silverstone International for their Finals weekend 15/16 October 2016 for a nail-biting series of races across six classes to determine the winners.

Josh Smith, in his Bridgwater College prepared Radical Class C 1440cc PR6, held on to be crowned the Excool OSS 2016 Champion, but only just, as he DNF’d with driveshaft failure in the last two races. The rest of C Class, an all Radical affair and traditionally reliable, was thrown into disarray with a number of DNF’s leaving the Class with a points tie for the WSC Motorsport team mates Graham Hill and Alastair Smart for 2^nd and 3^rd place, resolved by countback on class wins; 2^nd place going to Hill. Adam Dale in his Radical SR3 was the only OSS driver to have completed all 14 races with no DNF.

Class B and 2^nd place in the championship went down to the last second in the final race. The battle between Craig Mitchell and Mike Jenvey was played out between Duncan Williams and Jenvey as Mitchell had already retired back to Scotland. Jenvey’s luck ran out to the tune of 1 point and Mitchell, who hasn’t won a race all season but has been sufficiently reliable, collected the Class B title and third position in the championship overall table. Jenvey was second and Williams took third. Jenvey and Williams also vied for the circuit outright lap record, with Jenvey holding it for 3 hours before Williams nabbed it to hold it at the end of the meeting at 1:01.672 – also an OSS outright record.

Graham Cole held onto the lead in A Class, despite technical difficulties and being caught out on slicks in the rain during the third race. He takes second place in the championship overall. A pair of Radical SR8’s take second and third place, piloted by Richard Fearns and Paul Spencer respectively.

The D Class Radical Clubsport driven by John & Richard Gillman was a new entry at Silverstone International and their points tally caused an overall tie with E Class John Wilkes; on countback, the Gillmans gained the 24^th place.

In E Class, Daniel Prendergast has been all about lap records this year and at Silverstone he completed the set, an OSS record in itself. John Wilkes and Tim Harmer are in 2^nd and 3^rd places in class.

Denmark’s Kevin Suenson collected the Aquila Synergy Series Cup which runs within the OSS Invitation Class. Karolis Griska from Lithuania took second place and the Paul Hill / Paul Watson team from England came in third.

#6 is the Jade Traxstar of Class A Winner Graham Cole

#22 is the Ligier JS49 of Class B Winner Craig Mitchell

#9 is the Radical Clubsport of John & Richard Gillman Class D winner

#59 is the Contour of lap record beater Daniel Prendergast Class E winner

#99 is the 17 yr old Danish driver Kevin Suenson in the Aquila Synergy

The Finals were held on 15/16 October at Silverstone International.