The Grid.co.uk the national & club motor racing website - est1998
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PROVISIONAL FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP PLACINGS
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JEREMY ELLIS & ANDREW THOMAS THE ROADSPORT CHAMPS
Jeremy Ellis and Andrew Thomas were crowned the 2007 Motorsport News Caterham Roadsport Challenge Champions at Brands Hatch on Saturday (20 Oct), Ellis doing just enough thanks to a brace of top-10 finishes to take the Roadsport title and Andrew Thomas defeating his namesake and Roadsport B championship rival Gareth Thomas in an action-packed curtain-closer. It was Ellis's plan, having led the championship all season thanks to five race wins on the trot, to stay out of trouble and to cruise and collect at Brands Hatch, and this he did with ninth position in both Friday's and Saturday's races. "It's been a very, very good season for me," said Bromley-based Ellis, "and I'm very pleased to have won the title. They were fun races at Brands but I had a couple of scary moments trying to keep out of the way of others." Friday's race was led from start to finish by Mike Robinson, who was shadowed from the outset by Simon Young after pole-sitter James Davis fluffed his start. "It was a long, hard race," said Mike. Davis recovered to third ahead of Robin Russell, who claimed his best-ever result, Mike Richards and Graham Johnson. Eighteen-year-old Davis made amends on Saturday, fighting through from third past both Young and Robinson to take victory. His rivals might have come back at him but for a red flag four laps from the scheduled end when Lewis Hopkins ran off the road. Russell and Richards were fourth and fifth once again, with Julien Draper beating local hero Toby Dicker to sixth. A win in Friday's Roadsport B race, after a long tussle with Roelant de Waard, made Andrew Thomas's championship-clinching task on Saturday appear quite easy - he needed only to finish in the top seven, ahead of Gareth Thomas. Henley-on-Thames driver Andrew chose to do things the hard way, however, spinning back to 14th place on the opening lap after contact with the car of Simon Naylor into the Druids hairpin. With Gareth holding second place behind de Waard, Andrew needed a miracle. It came on the 10th of the 16 laps, when Gareth spun away his title hopes at Surtees; Andrew was by this stage back up to fourth, where he stayed to the chequered flag. "I couldn't believe it when I spun," said Andrew. "I thought that that was it. I'm over the moon to have won the title." de Waard's hopes of a season-closing victory came to nothing two laps from home when the mercurial Richard Jennings, who had started from the back of the grid after a first-race off, charged past to claim his maiden win ahead of de Waard and Paul Latimer. Gareth Thomas came home ninth.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS Full results:
DAVIS & DE WAARD ARE THE OULTON PARK VICTORS
The Motorsport News Caterham Roadsport Challenge is set for a thrilling finale after Saturday's (22 Sept) penultimate rounds at Oulton Park, where 18-year-old James Davis maintained his superb late-season form to claim a brace of Roadsport class wins and Roelant de Waard took a maiden double win in Roadsport B. The final rounds, at Brands Hatch next month, promise a feast of excitement with seven drivers in with a shot of Roadsport championship honours and five drivers bidding for the top prize in Roadsport B. Season-long Roadsport points leader Jeremy Ellis saw his advantage cut dramatically at Oulton. The Kent-based driver failed to finish the day's first race after seventh-lap contact at Druids with the car of Peter Young, who was also sidelined in the incident. Mike Robinson took up the running from Ellis on the second lap but was overhauled for victory by Davis on the final lap. James had fallen to ninth in the early stages and had had to stage a fight back. Robinson took second ahead of pole position man Simon Young. Davis made a poor getaway from the pole in Roadsport race two and was overhauled by Robinson. James recovered to take the lead on lap two and, despite being pushed back to third at mid-distance, reasserted himself four laps from the end to win by 1.2s and claim his fifth consecutive win. Robinson and Simon Young were again second and third. Robin Russell earned the driver of the day accolade for his ninth and sixth place finishes in respective races. Ellis heads for Brands with his championship advantage over Mike Richards cut to 14 points and with Davis and Robinson each just a further point adrift. The Roadsport B opener saw de Waard score an untroubled debut win, leading championship frontrunner Gareth Thomas all the way from grid to chequered flag. The Dutch driver's winning advantage was nearly seven seconds. Andrew Thomas scooped third on the last lap when Rockingham double winner Paul Storton lost control at Lodge and was in collision with the car of Stuart Patterson. Gareth Thomas headed de Waard in the early stages of race two until Roelant beat him back to second; by mid-distance de Waard was a second ahead and he doubled his victory margin by the fall of the chequered flag. Andrew Thomas was once again third. Seven points (and only three when dropped scores are taken into account) now separate Thomases Gareth and Andrew at the top of the championship table. Roadsport B driver of the day at Oulton was 22-year-old ex-Academy racer Ollie Boughton, who placed 10th and eighth in respective races. PROVISIONAL RACE
RESULTS
DAVIS & STORTON TAKE ROADSPORT DOUBLE WINS AT ROCKINGHAM
Eighteen-year-old James Davis( no 40 above) continued his winning ways in the Motorsport News Caterham Roadsport Challenge yesterday (Sunday), winning both his 'home' races at the Rockingham circuit in Northamptonshire. Melton Mowbray-based Davis beat championship leader and pole position man Jeremy Ellis (Bromley) into second place in both races, overhauling his more experienced rival after six laps of the opening race and romping to a 15-second victory, and then swapping the lead with him throughout race two to take a much more narrow win. A race one puncture for Toby Dicker left the Kent man languishing 22nd at the chequered flag and did little for his championship hopes. Mike Richards (Rayleigh) moves into championship second, 18 points adrift of Ellis, after collecting a pair of third-place finishes at Rockingham. Reigning Roadsport Challenge Champion Gary Halcrow (Bournemouth) returned at Rockingham but failed to finish race one after tangling with another car on the fourth lap; in race two he charged from the back of the grid to take fourth. James Sharrock (Preston) was voted the Driver of the Meeting for his strong showings. The Roadsport B title fight was blown wide open at Rockingham with twin maiden wins for Woking's Paul Storton and problems for championship leader Gareth Thomas (Southampton). Storton battled back from seventh place on the opening lap of race one to wrest the lead from Gareth Thomas with four laps remaining; Andrew Thomas (Henley) then beat his namesake back to third. There was worse to come for Gareth in race two, when he and Leeds driver Chris Legg were in collision and Thomas retired - his first non-finish of the season. Storton went on to beat Andrew Thomas once more, this time by three-and-a-half seconds, with Paul Latimer (Sawbridgeworth) third. Storton, the fifth different Roadsport B race winner this season, earned the Driver of the Meeting accolade, with 22-year-old Ollie Boughton taking the honour of fastest race lap. With four rounds remaining, Gareth Thomas's points lead over his closest challengers (Andrew Thomas and Storton) is slashed to five. PROVISIONAL RACE
RESULTS
FOUR ROADSPORT VICTORS AFTER CASTLE COMBE DRAMAS The 2007 Motorsport News Caterham Roadsport Challenge welcomed three new race winners at Castle Combe last weekend (Saturday 23 June), with Dave Pearce and 18-year-old James Davis claiming the honours in the Roadsport class and Simon Turner breaking his duck in the Roadsport B division. Early points leader Andrew Thomas took the other Roadsport B race win to renew his title challenge. There was bad luck, however, for Roadsport championship leader Jeremy Ellis, who qualified sixth on the grid and who added only 14 points to his tally after failing to finish one of the Combe races. Pearce's win in the first of the day's Roadsport encounters came after a race-long battle with Luke Embling, David securing his 0.2s victory only after a well executed last-lap overtaking manoeuvre. Pole-sitter Davis took third ahead of Simon Young and championship returnee Mike Blackadder. Ellis was sixth, losing time in a clash of wheels with the car of James Sharrock which cost the latter a puncture. Eighteen-year-old Lewis Hopkins drove himself to the Driver of the Meeting award with his charge from 20th on the grid to eighth at the flag; he also netted a new lap record. In what was only his sixth Caterham race, former kart star Davis made up for an early indiscretion which dropped him as low as ninth to win the second Roadsport race in some style. The Leicestershire youngster clawed his way back into the top four with two laps to go and then snatched victory from Simon Young's grasp with a brave manoeuvre through the tricky Camp corner. Davis's cause was aided by the demise of Ellis and Pearce, both of whom took their turn in the lead before touching and crashing out at Tower. There was another major shunt, involving the cars of Embling, Graham Johnson and Pete Wharton, in which the unfortunate Embling sustained a hand injury. Wharton was excluded from the results. Blackadder crowned his triumphant return by smashing Hopkins' briefly held lap record and claiming third behind Davis and Young at the chequered flag. Toby Dicker was fourth to narrow his overall points disadvantage to Ellis to just 11 with a further six rounds remaining. In Roadsport B, championship leader Gareth Thomas claimed the pole in qualifying but came away from Combe without a trophy. He led for much of the first race but spun his hopes away on the last lap as he tried to dislodge Turner from the lead he had held since two-thirds distance. Turner's maiden win was all the more impressive given his fourth-row grid slot. Andrew Thomas put in a great recovery drive after a poor start to take the driver of the meeting award and second place, ahead of Paul Storton and Stuart Patterson, with Gareth Thomas recovering to fifth. Gareth Thomas and Turner were at the sharp end for most of race two also but both came unstuck at Camp on the final lap, handing victory on a plate to Andrew Thomas, who crossed the line 0.6s ahead of Chris Legg, with David Tansley third. PROVISIONAL RACE
RESULTS
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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