BTC: Smooth Sullivan Mounsey wins a thrilling Race One

Sullivan Mounsey wins a last-lap shootout at Oulton Park.

Sullivan Mounsey (Wilson Racing / Maddison Media) qualified on pole position at Oulton Park with Evan Belford Belford (City Lifting / RS Racing) in second. Amanuel Brinton would round off the front row of the grid.

As the lights went out it was Belford who led the field through after an impressive launch from the grid. Mounsey eventually battled back to the front to lead the field through the rest of the lap.

Charlie Huntingford (Opteven Mototechniks) was the first crasher of the race, ending his race after one lap. Rhys Stephenson (Rocket Racing) suffered from a mechanical issue with Alexander Rowan (Mortimer Racing Victoria House Academy ) having his own issues, crashing out on lap three.

Lucas Brown (Amphibian Scaffolding / SP125 Racing) soon got involved in the battle for the lead and would soon pass Brinton for third.

Brinton’s race came to a premature end after a crash on the exit of Cascades with Ryan Frost (Talentum Motorsport by Azure Notions) crashing just seconds later. These crashes would bring out the safety car which would stay out until lap nine.

On the safety car restart, Ollie Walker (VisionTrack Racing Team) ran off the track but managed to stay onboard the #48 machine.

Sullivan Mounsey got the best restart of the race, extending his gap to almost one second to Belford. Lucas Brown was in his own battle on the restart with Harrison Dessoy (Microlise Cresswell Racing / Eastern Garage) for fourth place.

Ronnie Harris (Kovara Projects / RS Racing) was having an extremely impressive ride at Oulton Park, running in fifth position.

On the final lap of the race, it was a shootout for the race win between Belford and Mounsey – Championship rivals. The two riders changed places multiple times with the race going down to the final corner.

Magic for Mounsey at the line

Mounsey made the move into the final corner of the race, running onto the grass to pass Belford for the lead. At the line, just 0.022 separated the race winner, Mounsey and Belford in second position. Harrison Dessoy came across the line to come home in third position after a tough season.

Julian Correa was in fourth ahead of British Talent Cup rookie, Ronnie Harris who rounded out the top five. Lucas Brown ran onto the grass on the last lap, dropping the #29 to sixth position. Harrison Mackay (Wilson Racing / HMR) was in seventh and ahead of Harley McCabe ( McCabe Racing) rounded out the top eight.

Just 44 points separate Belford and Mounsey in the Championship with the title looking like it will go down to the wire.

Image credit: British Talent Cup