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RECORD 73 CARS FOR ROADSPORT CHALLENGE AT CROFT

Caterham Motorsport is expecting a record 73-car field at Croft next weekend (26/27 Apr) for the opening rounds of the Motorsport News Caterham Roadsport Challenge. A total of five Roadsport races are planned for the British Formula 3 Championship-supporting event.

"We have enjoyed large grids in many of our championships over the years," said Caterham Motorsport Director Magnus Laird, "but I believe that 73 paid entries for a round of one championship is a best-ever figure for Caterham and probably for any championship ever in the UK, and it demonstrates amply that even in these uncertain financial times there is still a more than healthy demand from competitors for cost-effective motor sport such as this."

Mounting a championship as large as the Roadsport Challenge is a feat of logistics and careful planning. There are two completely separate classes, Roadsport A and Roadsport B, and the 33 drivers contesting the latter division - chiefly those progressing from last season's Caterham Academy starter series and some novices - will enjoy two 20-minute races at each of the season's seven meetings.

The 39 men and one woman contesting Roadsport A get 30-minute races at each meeting; they are also allowed some extra technical freedoms and team support. But the large number of competitors presents its own problem, because most circuits have a maximum limit on the number of starters of between 32 and 36.

To avoid the sending home of a handful of disappointed drivers, Caterham and the organising British Racing and Sports Car Club have devised an ingenious three-race system for Roadsport A. After qualifying and based on the times set, the field is split into three separate groups; the first group then goes up against the second group in race one, race two pits the second group against the third and race three sees group three up against group one. Every driver races twice.

Leading the Roadsport A brigade into battle at Croft is 2006 double champion Gary Halcrow (Bournemouth), who returns to the championship after what was by his standards a disappointing '07 season in a Caterham Superlight. Gary won 17 races on his way to the '06 Roadsport A and B titles, but he'll be lucky if he manages to be so dominant again, for there is considerable talent ranged against him.

Among those returning for another crack at the Roadsport A crown are 2007 race winners Toby Dicker (Tunbridge Wells) and David Pearce (Feltham), and their fellow top-10 championship finishers Graham Johnson (Old Windsor) and Dax Humberstone (Burnley).

Then there are a number of front-runners from last year's Roadsport B who are moving up, including Paul Storton (Woking), Chris Legg (Leeds), Roelant de Waard (Brentwood) and Richard Jennings (Warwick), not to mention the two 2007 Academy champions, Jonathan Walker (Virginia Water) and Philip Broad (Ely), who will join their '06 counterparts James Sharrock (Preston) and Lewis Hopkins (Winchester) on the grid.

The only female in Roadsport A is Lucy Redding (Toddington), who joins the Challenge after success at the wheel of a Caterham in Formula Woman events.

There's a lot of talent in Roadsport B also, with top-six Academy men from 2007 such as David Townrow (London), Stephen Tucker (Downham Market), Mark Blackburn (Hinckley) and Magd Mohaffel (London) making the move up the Caterham ladder. There will be two bright yellow AA-backed cars in action also, for Scott Illman (Southampton) and Steve Ives (Wokingham). Scott is an AA patrolman and Steve his operations manager; both are race novices.

Backers for Caterham Motorsport's UK and European race series include Bilstein, Brian James Trailers, Cooper-Avon Tyres, The Daily Telegraph, Demon Tweeks, evo, HSBC, insuremotorsport.com, Motorsport News, Quaife and Stack.