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Backers for Caterham Motorsport’s UK and European race series include Bilstein, Brian James Trailers, Cheesman Products, Circuit Driver, Cooper-Avon Tyres, Demon Tweeks, evo, HSBC Insurance Brokers, Mitchell Cotts, Motorsport News, Stack and Steel Fabrications.

Caterham Roadsports 2007

SUCCESS FOR ELLIS & GARETH THOMAS

 
Jeremy Ellis maintained his perfect win record in the Motorsport News Caterham Roadsport Challenge at Silverstone at the weekend (14/15 April), taking victory in both races to extend his Roadsport class points lead. In Roadsport B there were twin wins for Gareth Thomas, who accelerates into the championship lead.
 
Both of Ellis’s victories were by the tiniest of margins. It took Jeremy 13 laps to make it to the front in race one, and his tussle for victory with another former Caterham champion, Luke Embling, was a highlight. Several cars came a cropper in an opening lap accident caused by oil in the track; among the retirements were Toby Talbot, Kevin Dodd and Academy Champions Lewis Hopkins and Kevin Sharrock, who rolled but was unhurt.
 
In race two Ellis, David Pearce and Toby Dicker duelled for the duration and finished, in that order, with less than a second between them. Andrew Walton fought through from 17th on the grid to fifth behind Mike Robinson to secure the Driver of the Meeting award.
 
Simon Young, Dax Humberstone and Graham Johnson were among the non-finishers, the trio tangling at the complex on the 18th lap as they disputed fourth place.
 
A great battle for the lead of the first Roadsport B encounter was won by Gareth Thomas, who led almost all the way from pole position. Paul Storton was the driver who nosed ahead of him briefly, but he slipped back to fourth by the end behind second placed David Tansley and Andrew Thomas in third. Stuart Patterson and Richard Edwards were both going well until colliding at Becketts on the fifth lap.
 
In race two Gareth Thomas overcame a serious late-race challenge from Chris Legg to win once again by a two-second margin. Erstwhile series leader David Tansley was in the bidding also but was summoned to the pits with a dangling exhaust system. Paul Latimer earned himself third place and the Driver of the Meeting award.
 
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
Roadsport race 1
1 Jeremy Ellis; 2 Luke Embling +0.078s; 3 David Pearce; 4 Toby Dicker; 5 Mike Richards; 6 Simon Young. Fastest lap Dicker.
Roadsport race 2
1 Ellis; 2 Pearce +0.024s; 3 Dicker; 4 Mike Robinson; 5 Andrew Walton; 6 Tony Hawkins. FL Neil Fletcher.
Roadsport B race 1
1 Gareth Thomas; 2 David Tansley +2.006s; 3 Andrew Thomas; 4 Paul Storton; 5 Chris Legg; 6 Mark Bowles. FL Andrew Thomas.
Roadsport B race 2
1 Gareth Thomas; 2 Legg +2.164s; 3 Paul Latimer; 4 Storton; 5 Duncan Winner; 6 Kevin Begley. FL Begley.
 
Full results available from www.msttiming.com
 
PROVISIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP PLACINGS
Roadsport
1 Ellis 80 points; 2 Dicker 62; 3 Robinson 58; =4 Richards & Pearce 52; =6 Young & Hawkins 47 etc.
Roadsport B
1 Gareth Thomas 72; =2 Storton & Legg 66; 4 Tansley 56; 5 Begley 53; 6 Andrew Thomas 48 etc.
 

 
Next rounds: June 2/3 Donington Park Caterham Jubilee

Chris Legg Roadsport B

ELLIS & TANSLEY ON TOP AFTER SNETTERTON SUCCESSES

A field totalling 60 cars made for a memorable start to the Motorsport News Caterham Roadsport Challenge for 2007 at Snetterton yesterday (Sunday), with some equally unforgettable racing in the spring sunshine.

Jeremy Ellis emerged the most successful driver of the day, the 2005 Roadsport B Champion recapturing winning ways to emerge on top in both his races and to take an early championship lead. In Roadsport B, David Tansley claimed a win and a second to take the class lead overall.

With 38 drivers wishing to start in the Roadsport category the field had to be split into three groups and three races were held, each driver taking part in two of them.

The first was an Ellis benefit, Jeremy leading every lap but the first. He had to overcome an early challenge from Simon Young but once this was achieved there was no stopping the Kent man.

Young had to fend off the attentions of six others for second place, managing to break free of them with three laps to go. But by this time Ellis was long gone. Jeremy crossed the line 13 seconds ahead of Young, with David Pearce putting in a brilliant drive to third from 17th on the grid, just ahead of local hero Toby Talbot.

Mike Richards proved that a year out of the cockpit need be no hindrance with a finely judged victory in race two, again from lucky spot 17 on the grid. Richards, the 2003 Academy Champion, broke into the top 10 by lap three and crept inexorably towards top spot. The Essex man popped out of the others' slipstreams on the 22nd and final lap to win by three-hundredths.

No fewer than four drivers had already taken a turn in the lead - Pearce, Graham Johnson, Luke Embling and Mike Robinson. Pearce's hopes of another top-three ended in tears at the final corner with contact and a spin.

Race three went Ellis's way once more, but this time he had to work hard to fend off the attentions of a number of drivers. James Davis was only a tenth adrift at the flag, with Richards close behind for third place. The race was marred by a high-speed crash for Matt Porter, who suffered concussion in the incident.

The Roadsport B action was no less frenetic: in race one, Andrew Thomas made a superb start from the second row to grab the lead on the opening lap. But polesitter Chris Legg was not about to let Thomas run away with things and put up a spirited fight all the way to the final corner. Alas for Legg, his do-or-die lunge at the Russell chicane brought him nothing more useful than a spin.

Thus Oxfordshire's Thomas earned a 4.7-second victory over Tansley, who had held a solid third the whole way until promoted to runner-up at the flag. Legg recovered his composure to take fifth, with Driver of the Day Paul Storton third and Gareth Thomas fourth.

Four different drivers led race two, Gareth Thomas and Storton making the early running before Tansley and Paul Latimer charged towards the front. Andrew Thomas was once more in the thick of it, but his hopes of a repeat victory ended on the final lap when contact with another car sent him spinning down to ninth.

Wiltshireman Tansley held on to take the win and the championship lead, just seven-hundredths ahead of Legg, with Storton third ahead of Gareth Thomas and Roelant de Waard.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
Roadsport race 1
1 Jeremy Ellis; 2 Simon Young +13.063s; 3 David Pearce; 4 Toby Talbot; 5 Toby Dicker; 6 Tony Hawkins. Fastest Lap Young.
Roadsport race 2
1 Mike Richards; 2 Mike Robinson +0.033s; 3 Graham Johnson; 4 James Davis; 5 Dax Humberstone; 6 Luke Embling. FL Richards.
Roadsport race 3
1 Ellis; 2 Davis +0.113s; 3 Richards; 4 Robinson; 5 Simon Young; 6 Dicker. FL Dicker.
Roadsport B race 1
1 Andrew Thomas; 2 David Tansley +4.661s; 3 Paul Storton; 4 Gareth Thomas; 5 Chris Legg; 6 Roelant de Waard. FL Legg.
Roadsport B race 2
1 Tansley; 2 Legg +0.071s; 3 Storton; 4 Gareth Thomas; 5 de Waard; 6 Kevin Begley. FL Legg.

Full results available (eventually) from www.msttiming.com

PROVISIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP PLACINGS
Roadsport
1 Ellis 40 points; 2 Richards 37; =3 Robinson & Davis 34; 5 Simon Young 33; =6 Talbot & Dicker 29 etc.

Roadsport B
1 Tansley 38; 2 Storton 34; 3 Legg 33; 4 Gareth Thomas 32; 5 Andrew Thomas 31; 6 de Waard 29 etc.

Next rounds: 14/15 April, Silverstone.

Backers for Caterham Motorsport's UK and European race series include Bilstein, Brian James Trailers, Cheesman Products Circuit Driver, Cooper-Avon Tyres, Demon Tweeks, evo, HSBC Insurance Brokers, Mitchell Cotts, Motorsport News, Stack and Steel Fabrications.
 

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