OULTON Park's first motor racing meeting of the 2001 season took place on Saturday.

Penketh Formula Ford driver, Mike Sheeran, had a solid start to his challenge by achieving sixth place on the grid for the popular Opal Telecom FF1600 race.

The packed race was run in damp conditions and although Sheeran had eased back to seventh position after the 15 difficult laps, he managed to claim fourth place in his class.

The British Racing and Sports Car Club's Ford XR Challenge continued to be well supported by Warrington's racing drivers with no less than six competing in this year's championship.

The Escort XR3i class saw a clean sweep for Andrew Lennie, claiming pole position in the morning's qualifying session and building a comfortable lead during the 12-lap race. Lennie was three seconds ahead of the field as the chequered flag fell.

Other drivers all improved on their start positions, with Mark Scott taking a podium position, Ricky Roundell in eighth and Barry Noble 10th.

In the Fiesta XR2 race, Warrington was represented by Paul McMahon and Tony McKean. McMahon's blistering start from the fifth row of the grid led to disappointment as a spinning car forced avoiding action, seeing his car take to the grass and become bogged down in the soft ground.

McKean fared better, enjoying a race-long scrap to finish in a creditable ninth place at the flag.