Aaron Mason got his title defence off to the perfect start with victory in the incident-strewn opening round of the 2014 Miltek Volkswagen Racing Cup at Oulton Park.
Mason took a belated win after scampering away from pole and the ensuing carnage behind him on the opening lap, with a multi-car crash involving the likes of Team Hard’s Howard Fuller and THM Racing’s Matt Hamilton at the first corner. Despite all the involved drivers escaping uninjured, the race was red-flagged and re-scheduled for later in the afternoon and the planned second race was cancelled.
On the re-start, Mason once again got well and in first place going into Old Hall, ahead of his AWR Warranty Direct Racing teammates Joe Fulbrook and James Greenway.
Behind the leading trio however, it was bedlam once again as the fight between fourth and ninth place around the Cheshire track saw yet another horror crash, with Team Hard’s Kieran Gallagher the unlucky victim. The Scot clattered into the barrier at 120mph on the outside of the Shell Oil hairpin, after the brake pipe on his Golf GTI failed.
Gallagher thankfully walked away without serious injury from the shunt, and took to Twitter to voice his gratitude at the aftermath of the incident.
“Thanks to everyone for the messages I’m ok, sore back and got a limp.”
The size of Gallagher’s crash and the consequent damages caused to the track limits saw yet another red flag produced, and the results being taken from the running order at the end of lap 4.
The premature chequered flag left Mason victorious and his AWR Warranty Direct Racing team celebrating a 1-2-3 in the series opening round, on an Easter Bank Holiday that proved to be as chaotic as they come.
