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Donington Park 1st November 2008 Race Report
Richard Gould wins again but
Rhys Lloyd is the 2008 LMA Euro Saloon and Sports
Car champion
Class wins for Rhys Lloyd,
Angus Dawe and Andrew Neal
Rhys Lloyd confirmed as the
2008 LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car champion
The final round of the 2008 LMA Euro Saloon and
Sports Car championship could have been anti-climatic as planning
permission issues prevented the circuit from running the planned double
header event. Instead of a four-way fight for the title, Rhys Lloyd was
declared champion before the race started. But 30 drivers made their way
to a wintry Donington Park to provide an excellent spectacle.
Qualifying
The sky was overcast but the track was dry as the
shortened qualifying session (just 10 minutes) took place. Richard Gould
(Noble M12) won last time out at Mallory Park, and continued his good
form to head the times by almost a second from Peter Challis (Nissan
Primera). Class A champion Nick Williamson (Escort Cosworth) missed
third place by a fraction from Stewart Whyte’s similar car.
Rhys Lloyd headed the Class B drivers back in 6th
place with a comfortable 2 second margin from Douglas Ellwood (Marcos
Mantis), with Gareth Porter’s Peugeot 205 Gti turbo 3rd in class in its
first LMA race since Castle Combe in May. Ian Craig (BMW M3) headed the
Class C grid from Lee Reynolds (Citroen Saxo) while Class D promised a
close battle as Andrew Neal (Honda Integra) bettered Jim Mepham (Renault
Megane) by less than 1/10 second.
Race
By race time, the weather had
changed, heavy rainfall had soaked the track, but the rain had stopped
an hour before the race. Decision time for the drivers, most drivers
went with wet tyres, the front row drivers Gould and Challis went with
intermediates while the two (four wheel drive) Escort Cosworths went out
on slicks. Williamson’s challenge was effectively over on the formation
lap, as he pulled to a halt on the grid, the clutch pedal went to the
floor. He used the starter to pull away for the rolling lap, then 3rd
and 4th gear only for the race, meaning he slowly fell backwards through
the pack.
Rex Stamp (Lotus Exige) got a
flying start and shot through to second place from 5th on the grid to
follow Gould down Craner curves for the first time. Challis followed
through in third place but his intermediate tyres were giving no grip on
the slippery track and he would fall backwards rapidly – 15th by lap 5.
There were spinners on lap 1, Dean Irving (Ford Sierra) spun at the
bottom of Craner Curves, more seriously Ian Craig spun on the way up to
Macleans, flying across the grass and barely slowly before hitting the
tyre wall. On lap 2 Stamp passed Gould and was slowly building up a
lead, to a little over a second by lap 5. At this point Gould came back
and repassed Stamp on lap 8. The two leaders were in a class of their
own, the gap back to Tim Evans (Subaru Impreza) increasing at a rate of
4 seconds per lap. At the start of the final lap, Stamp led Gould by
just 3/10th, but was looking good value for the win. Disaster struck on
the final lap, the Exige’s supercharger belt snapping, the Exige slowed
and Gould went on to record his second consecutive race win by 5
seconds. Although finishing some 48 seconds behind the winner, Tim Evans
had looked comfortable back in third, but a late show from Whyte’s
slick-shod Escort Cosworth brought the gap down from 11 seconds on lap 6
to just 1 second at the finish. Angus Dawe had rebuilt his BMW M3 since
his Silverstone crash, and was now running in Class A. Starting at the
back of the grid, in 30th place, Dawe put in a storming drive to finish
5th, just 10 seconds adrift of the 4th placed Whyte.
Star turn from the start was
David Pierce (Renault Clio) who jumped from 18th on the grid to end lap
1 in 5th place, and move up to 4th on lap 2. The following laps were
spent battling for the Class B lead with Rhys Lloyd, the two swapping
places many times before Lloyd finally made the break on lap 10. Douglas
Ellwood had taken over the Class B lead on lap 3, passing both Pierce
and Lloyd, but a spin on lap 10 gave the Class B lead, and eventually
the win back to Lloyd.
With Class C favourite Craig
out of contention on the first lap, Mike Hurst was left to take an easy
class win in his Vauxhall Vectra, David Roberts (Rover Tomcat) had to
work a lot harder to take 2nd in class from Lee Reynolds (Citroen Saxo).
Jim Mepham always goes well in the wet and looked to have the measure of
Andrew Neal for Class D, but Mepham was tapped into a spin on lap 10,
and then went off again at Craners the following lap leaving Neal to
take the Class win with Mepham 2nd. Simon Jackson enjoyed a good race in
the MG ZR with its newly applied “Pongo” stripes, holding off Jason
Newman (Peugeot 306) and Rich Ellingham (Fiat Tipo) to take the final
Class D podium position.
Rhys Lloyd is the 2008 LMA Euro
Saloon and Sports Car champion finishing with 276 points from Andrew
Neal (254) and Jim Mepham (234). Class A was won by Nick Williamson
(232) from Richard Gould (212) and Derek Hale (132), class C by Ian
Craig (160) from David Roberts (140)and Mike Hurst (128), while Andrew
Neal won Class D from Mepham and Simon Jackson (162). Lloyd won Class B
from Douglas Ellwood (210) and David Pierce (148).
David Pierce was rewarded for
his stunning drive with 8th overall and 1st in the Mark Fish Clio Cup
Challenge from Mark Crook. This result ensured that Pierce won the 2008
Mark Fish Clio Cup Challenge. A good final score saw Renault hold off
any possible challenge from Honda to take the MSE_Performance.com
manufacturers’ cup, with Vauxhall holding off a late challenge from Ford
and Seat to finish 3rd.
Race Result:
Winner: Richard Gould (Noble M12), 2nd Rex Stamp
(Lotus Exige), 3rd Tim Evans (Subaru Impreza), 4th Stewart Whyte (Escort
Cosworth), 5th Angus Dawe BMW M3), 6th Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon), 7th
Andrew Neal (Honda Integra), 8th David Pierce (Renault Clio)
Class Winners: Class A Gould, Class B Lloyd, Class
C Mike Hurst (Vauxhall Vectra), Class D Neal
Fastest lap: Richard Gould 48.507s (100.19mph)
Mallory Park 28th September 2008 Race Report
Richard Gould takes his first LMA win
Class wins for
Douglas Ellwood, Lee Reynolds and Andrew Neal
Rhys Lloyd
extends his championship lead as Nick Williamson and Jim Mepham crash
out
Mallory
Park was the venue of the
penultimate round of the 2008 LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car
championship and uniquely provides both the fastest average lap speed
and the slowest corner of all circuits visited during the season.
Qualifying
Steven Taylor
(Lotus Exige) set the pace in qualifying with an astounding 103.56mph
average speed to lap Mallory Park in just 46.926 seconds.
Richard Gould (Noble M12) was just 0.3 seconds adrift and also averaged
over 100mph at 102.88. Both lap times comfortably beat Simon Blanckley’s
LMA Euro Saloon lap record of 48.248. Class A shut out the front 7
places on the grid, places 3 to 7 being filled by Rex Stamp (Lotus Exige),
Nick Williamson (Escort Cosworth), Peter Challis (Nissan Primera), Mal
Davison (Noble M400) and John Hammersley (Honda Accord).
Championship leader
Rhys Lloyd had his worst position of the season, 3rd in class B behind
local driver Joss Ronchetti (Talbot Lotus Sunbeam) and Douglas Ellwood
(Marcos Mantis), with Ronchetti and Ellwood also dipping below 50
seconds for the lap. Andrew Neal (Honda Integra) headed class D by 0.4
seconds from class and championship rival Jim Mepham (Renault Megane)
while Lee Reynolds took his first Class C pole in the little Citroen
Saxo from David Roberts (Rover Tomcat) and Ian Craig (BMW M3).
Race
With the cars in
the assembly area, light rain started to fall, just enough to slow the
cars a little and make track conditions “interesting” for the opening
laps. Steven Taylor, the pole man was unable to take up his position due
to a supercharger problem with the Lotus Exige leaving Richard Gould to
take over pole with Rex Stamp joining him on the front row. The start
was not one of the series’ better rolling starts, the cars being very
strung out. Williamson outbraked himself and went off at Gerrards from
the start, seriously damaging his title hopes. Stamp followed suit at
the Esses, limping round to complete the lap before retiring. The first
four across the line were Gould, Challis, Hammersley and Davison, but
had a 3 second lead after lap 1 which had extended to 7 seconds by lap
4.
Slowly but surely
Challis started to narrow the gap as the leaders lapped the slower cars
(twice) but Gould held on to record his first LMA Euro Saloon and Sports
Car win by three seconds from Challis, with Hammersley another 15
seconds further back. Hammersley had to work hard for the final podium
spot, first defending from Davison (who briefly got by), then from the
battling Class B cars of Ellwood and Ronchetti. Ellwood had led
Ronchetti for the first 17 laps before the Sunbeam got past the Marcos,
but Ronchetti’s joy was brief as the Sunbeam ingested a spark plug on
lap 19 leaving Ellwood to take the Class B win and fight with Hammersley
for 3rd overall. Rhys Lloyd moved up to second in Class B but was 10
seconds adrift of Ellwood at the finish. His 18 point haul was still
enough to extend hi championship lead with the demise of Williamson.
David Roberts made
the better start in Class C to lead Lee Reynolds and Ian Craig, Craig
then got past Reynolds on lap 2. The three drivers stayed in close
contact with occasionally other class drivers slotting between them. On
lap 8 Reynolds repassed Craig, then on lap 9 Reynolds got by Roberts to
lead Class C. Craig moved up into 2nd on lap 13 but neither he or
Roberts were able to live with Reynolds’ pace, Reynolds taking his first
LMA win. In class D Andrew Neal was in a class of his own as he pulled
away from Jim Mepham at a couple of seconds per lap, to take an easy
class win. Mepham was looking comfortable for second place, but a last
lap coming together with Mark Crook (Renault Clio) at Shaws dented both
his Renault Megane and his title aspirations.
Rhys Lloyd (254)
now leads the championship by 22 points from Andrew Neal (232). Nick
Williamson (222) and Jim Mepham (216) both failed to score at Mallory,
but all four can still win the title. Rhys Lloyd is the first confirmed
class winner (Class B) and needs just 22 points from the final two races
at Donington to win the championship.
David Pierce needs
just 6 points to win the Mark Fish Clio Challenge as he leads Mark Crook
by 54 points, but Crook has yet to play his joker. Honda narrowly gained
on Renault in the MSE_Performance.com manufacturers’ cup.
Race
Result:
Winner: Richard
Gould (Noble M12), 2nd Peter Challis (Nissan Primera), 3rd John
Hammersley (Honda Accord), 4th Douglas Ellwood (Marcos Mantis), 5th Rhys
Lloyd (Seat Leon), 6th Derek Hale (Honda Accord), 7th Mark Harrison
(Mitsubishi Evo), 8th Andrew Neal (Honda Integra)
Class Winners:
Class A Gould, Class B Lloyd, Class C Lee Reynolds (Citroen Saxo), Class
D Neal
Fastest lap:
Richard Gould 48.507s (100.19mph)
Anglesey 6-7th
September 2008 Race Report
Wins for Nick Williamson and Steven
Taylor
Class
wins for Rhys Lloyd (x2), Derek Kelly-Cooper, David Hinde, Jim Mepham
and Simon Jackson
Rhys
Lloyd is the new championship leader
Another return to the Anglesey International circuit for the LMA Euro
Saloon and Sports Car championship. Mixed weather added interest;
Saturday was almost flooded, by contrast Sunday was a dry day.
Qualifying – SaturdayOn
a very wet track, almost treacherous from Church up to Rocket, it was no
surprise that Nick Williamson (Escort Cosworth) was comfortably on pole
by over 2 seconds from Class B leader Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon). But even
Williamson fell foul of the conditions falling off at Church and
bringing the session to a premature end after just 6 laps.
The
conditions caused a massive spread of lap times, the Class C poleman
Simon Parker in one of seven Vauxhall Vectras present was 5.5 seconds
behind Williamson, yet only 4th overall. Mark Crook was fastest Clio in
5th overall while Class D leader Jim Mepham took class pole but down in
12th overall.
Race - Saturday
On a
wet, but drying track, Williamson set the pace hotly pursued by Steven
Taylor (Lotus Exige), these two making a break from the other drivers.
Williamson slowly pulled out a gap and led by 2.5 seconds after 10 laps.
Taylor pulled back ½ second on lap 11, but a massive final lap (13) saw
Taylor set the fastest lap of the race and follow Williamson over the
line just 0.6 seconds adrift. Rhys Lloyd had started from the front row
but quickly succumbed to Taylor falling away by a second or two per lap.
Douglas Ellwood had qualified down in 18th after an off on the second
lap, but the patched up Marcos Mantis moved through the field in pursuit
of Lloyd eventually finishing 2nd in class B and 5th overall.
With
seven Vectras and a solitary Tomcat competing in Class C, the odds were
in favour of a Vauxhall win. Even more so as David Roberts had an off
during Friday testing that required much work to get in shape for
Saturday. And just to make sure, the Tomcat was struggling with turn-in
and a misfire. Simon Parker started well from 4th and was looking
comfortable before his race ended on lap 10, two other Vectras (Mike
Hurst and Craig Odams) also leaving the lap charts on the same lap.
Parker had set fastest Class C lap, but his demise left Derek
Kelly-Cooper to take his first class win for 2008 with David Rawlins 2nd
and David Roberts picking up an unexpected 3rd in class. Class D was
less well subscribed that for the previous races leaving Jim Mepham
(Renault Megane) to take an easy class win from Simon Jackson (MG ZR).
Qualifying – Sunday
In
contrast to Saturday, Sunday was dry leading to a more conventional
shape to qualifying, although there was another red flag and a delay
while a dog was removed from the circuit!. Once again, Williamson took
pole but this time Richard Gould (Noble M12), Richard Hawken (Nissan
Primera) and Steven Taylor (Lotus Exige) all got within 2 seconds of his
time. Rhys Lloyd again found himself with Class B pole, his main
competition Douglas Ellwood was unable to compete as the Marcos had
holed its radiator. Bradley Gelman took up the mantle of second in Class
B, his Sierra Cosworth enjoying the dry so much more than the wet.
Six of
the Vectras made Sunday qualifying, Simon Parker managed only two laps
which allowed David Hinde to take the Class C pole from David Roberts’
Tomcat and Derek Kelly-Cooper. Jim Mepham again outqualified Simon
Jackson to take Class D pole.
Race - Sunday
Richard Hawken’s third place in qualifying counted for nothing, the
Primera’s power steering pipe had burst in qualifying and repairs meant
Hawken just managed to join the grid at the back. This led to a storming
drive culminating in Hawken taking fastest lap and finishing 3rd
overall, 6 seconds adrift of Richard Gould’s ailing Noble M12. Another
lap and Hawken would have made 2nd. Out front and in a class of his own,
winning by 35 seconds was last year’s
Anglesey double
winner Steven Taylor, the Exige once again showing its pace in the dry.
Race 1 winner Williamson was struggling with set-up and finished back
his 4th. Rhys Lloyd took his second Class B win of the weekend, and 5th
overall, by over 20 seconds from Bradley Gelman, with Andy Robinson
(Peugeot 306) taking the final Class B podium position another 7 seconds
back.
A
better race for the squadron of Vectras, 5 out of 6 making the finish.
Once again Simon Parker set fastest lap, but this time it was David
Hinde who took the class win with David Roberts’ Tomcat running better
today and finishing second in class. Disaster struck Jim Mepham’s
Renault Megane, an electrical failure meant it would not start for the
race leaving Simon Jackson to take an uncontested Class D win, his first
in the MG ZR.
Rhys
Lloyd played his joker and now moves ominously into the championship
lead on 236 points from Williamson (222), and Mepham (216) – but Lloyd’s
two lowest scores to drop will be a pair of zeroes while Williamson and
Mepham will both drop further points. Lloyd is looking like the
favourite to win the LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car championship for
2008.
David
Pierce (220) narrowly extended his lead at the front of the Mark Fish
Clio Challenge from Mark Crook (186) and Fergus Trenholme (166). Despite
the influx of Vectras, Vauxhall only scored 144 points leaving them
third in the MSE_Performance.com manufacturers’ cup, but Renault have
now taken the lead on 662 points from Honda (566) after outscoring them
110-0 at Anglesey.
Race 1 Result:
Winner: Nick Williamson (Ford Escort Cosworth), 2nd Steven Taylor (Lotus
Exige), 3rd Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon), 4th Richard Gould (Noble M12), 5th
Douglas Ellwood (Marcos Mantis), 6th Mark Harrison (Mitsubishi Evo), 7th
Tim Evans (Subaru Impreza), 8th Jim Mepham (Renault Megane Coupe)
Class
Winners: Class A Williamson, Class B Lloyd, Class C Derek Kelly-Cooper
(Vauxhall Vectra), Class D Mepham
Fastest lap: Steven Taylor 1:41.903 (74.18mph)
Race 2 Result:
Winner: Steven Taylor (Lotus Exige), 2nd Richard Gould (Noble M12), 3rd
Richard Hawken (Nissan Primera), 4th Nick Williamson (Ford Escort
Cosworth), 5th Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon), 6th Tim Evans (Subaru Impreza),
7th Bradley Gelman (Ford Sierra Cosworth), 8th Andy Robinson (Peugeot
306)
Class
Winners: Class A Taylor, Class B Lloyd, Class C David Hinde (Vauxhall
Vectra), Class D Simon Jackson (MG ZR)
Fastest lap: Richard Hawken 1:33.187 (81.12mph)
pic Paul Williams
Snetterton
24th August 2008 Race Report
Nick Williamson holds
off Mal Davison to win
Class wins for Rhys
Lloyd, Ian Craig and Jim Mepham
Andrew Neal is the
new championship leader but Lloyd has yet to play his joker
The LMA Euro Saloon
and Sports Car Championship returned to Snetterton where the season
started, this time with mixed weather conditions.
Qualifying
Morning qualifying,
and just like the previous race, it was wet. At least this time it was
wet enough to ensure all drivers were properly prepared this time. The
Nobles of Mal Davison and Richard Gould set the pace, Davison heading
Gould by over a second. Class A leader Nick Williamson was third in the
Ford Escort Cosworth – the four wheel drive advantage in the wet being
negated by mismatched wet tyres - while Doug Ellwood (Marcos Mantis)
narrowly took Class B pole from Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon), the next four
places on the Class B grid order being filled by the Renault Clios which
fared better in the wet that the pair of Class B Ford Sierras.
The pattern was the
same in Class C, Rob Gough in the fwd Leyland Mini getting the better of
Ian Craig’s rwd BMW M3 while in Class D championship leader Andrew Neal
(Honda Integra) took pole by 1.5 seconds from his nearest rival Jim
Mepham (Renault Megane).
Race
As is
often the case at Snetterton, the afternoon race was in fully dry
conditions. Richard Gould got the drop on Mal Davison with Nick
Williamson also getting by the second Noble at Sears, with Davison
losing almost 3 seconds on the first lap alone – it transpired there was
a huge (Mal’s description!) wasp in the car which delayed him for a few
laps. Williamson got by Gould on lap 2 at Coram and started pulling away
at 1-2 seconds per lap. Mark Harrison (Mitsubishi Evo) made a flying
start leaping from 10th on the grid to 4th by the
end of the first lap, but was unable to keep up the pace of the front
runners. Williamson started to slow on lap 6 with noises coming from the
Escort’s diff while the two Nobles were still squabbling over second
place. Davison crossed the line on lap 8 3/1000ths ahead of Gould, but
it took lap 12 before he was able to make the pass stick, and was now
4.5 seconds behind the lead car. The gap had reduced to 0.4 seconds
within two laps, but Williamson managed to hold on to win by that same
margin. Rex Stamp (Lotus Exige) moved up into 3rd on lap 13
as Gould lost ground to finish 4th, some 30 seconds down from
Williamson.
In Class
B, Doug Ellwood played his joker having out-qualified Rhys Lloyd, but by
lap 2 Lloyd had got passed, and slowly edged away to record his 7th
win of the season. Bradley Gelman recovered from a poor (wet) grid
position now he was able to use the power of his Sierra Cosworth gaining
six places on the first lap before moving slowly through the field to
take 3rd in class leaving the first of the Clios (David
Pierce) fully 40 seconds behind. With only two cars in Class C, and Rob
Gough’s Mini pulling out after a lap, Ian Craig (BMW M3) ran to an easy
class win. Class D was much more exciting, with the two championship
leaders Andrew Neal and Jim Mepham running in close formation and
swapping places all the way through to the final lap, the win finally
falling to Mepham as Neal’s Integra had engine problems and slowed
dramatically losing 19 seconds on that lap.
With the
three championship leaders all scoring 20 points, it’s all stable at the
front for the first time all season. The points stand at Neal (210),
Mepham (198), Williamson (188) and Lloyd (170) but take away the two
lowest scores and it’s a lot closer – Neal (178), Williamson (176),
Mepham (174), Lloyd (170) - but Rhys has yet to play his joker so the
last three meetings of the season will see lots to play for.
David Pierce played
his joker and extended his lead in the Mark Fish Clio Cup (184) from
Mark Crook (152) and Fergus Trenholme (134) Renault’s 66 point hauled
narrowed the gap to 566-552 from Honda in the MSE_Performance.com cup
for manufacturers.
Race Result:
Winner: Nick
Williamson (Ford Escort Cosworth), 2nd Mal Davison (Noble
M400), 3rd Rex Stamp (Lotus Exige), 4th Richard
Gould (Noble M12), 5th Stewart Whyte (Honda Accord), 6th
Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon), 7th Douglas Ellwood (Marcos Mantis),
8th Clive Anderson (BMW E30)
Class Winners: Class
A Williamson, Class B Lloyd, Class C Ian Craig (BMW M3), Class D Jim
Mepham (Renault Megane Coupe)
Fastest
lap: Mal Davison 1:12.962 (96.31mph)
Silverstone 9-10th
August 2008 Race Report
Wins for Mal Davison and Nick Williamson
Class wins for Rhys Lloyd, Douglas
Ellwood, Ian Craig (2), Jim Mepham and Andrew Neal
Andrew Neal is the new championship
leader
Another huge entry as 38 drivers
arrived for a weekend’s racing at Silverstone, although a forecast of
inclement weather suggested an interesting weekend’s racing was likely.
Qualifying – Saturday
Just as the drivers were called to the
assembly area, it started to rain. Some had taken the fortuitous choice
of qualifying on wet tyres although the majority were on dry tyres. A
number of cars found conditions very slippery and spun on the first two
laps, but when Angus Dawe (BMW M3) spun into the pit wall on lap 3, the
session was red flagged and most drivers headed straight for the paddock
and a change of tyres. Another red flag to retrieve cars from the gravel
gave these drivers a chance to get 3 or 4 laps in at the end. Mal
Davison (Noble M400) and Laurence Kilby (Mitsubishi Evo 8) had set
banker laps on lap 2 to take the top two positions, Nick Williamson
(Ford Escort Cosworth) shit into 3rd on his final lap of 12
on a wet track. Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon) narrowly took Class B pole from
Douglas Ellwood, while Jim Mepham (Renault Megane) continued his good
form with a comfortable Class D pole. Ian Craig (BMW M3) was fastest in
Class C from the unfortunate Angus Dawe.
Race - Saturday
With rain continuing to
fall, conditions for the afternoon race were very wet. Nick Williamson
managed a standard Williamson start to burst through to the front, while
many drivers were held up as Douglas Ellwood’s Marcos tail-wagged all
the way up the straight. Williamson’s lead was short lived as he was hit
and spun into the wall damaging the back of the Escort and dropping him
down to 7th, and then fell back rapidly as he spun 5 more
times with rear tyres wrongly fitted, finally working back up to 9th.
Mal Davison assumed a lead from Richard Gould in the other Noble,
Davison pulling away with unabated pace to win the race by an incredible
38 seconds from Gould. Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon) hung in to finish 3rd
just 6 seconds behind Gould to take yet another Class B win.
Most of the rear wheel
drive cars were just unable to put any power down and cars usually
running a lot nearer the front were being lapped, even by the slower
cars. Ian Craig’s BMW M3 suffered as much as most, and his Class C pole
form went with the rain leaving Mike Hurst (Vauxhall Vectra) to take the
Class C win by 2 laps! Jim Mepham continued with his championship
leading form to take a convincing Class D win from Andrew Neal by 25
seconds.
Qualifying - Sunday
It was almost a case of déjà-vu as the
rain started just as the drivers were called to the assembly area, but
the shower was short and light, and a totally dry track was waiting.
Nick Williamson had patched up the Escort with a large role of white
duck tape as he and Mal Davison fought for pole honours, Williamson
finally triumphed by 0.18 seconds. Douglas Ellwood (Marcos Mantis) was 3rd
and lead Class B less than a second adrift of Williamson, with Tony
Soper (Harrier LR9) and Derek Hale (Honda Accord) all just a second off
the front. With a dry track, power was king so it was no surprise to
find Andrew Neal down in 17th as he took Class D pole from
Jim Mepham, with a time 1.5 seconds lower than the class lap record. Ian
Craig was back on form to take Class C pole from Mike Hurst by less than
0.1 seconds.
Race - Sunday
Davison made the better
start and led Williamson for two laps before they reversed places. For
the first 15 laps, these two ran within half a second or so before
Williamson was finally able to break away in traffic and win by 4.7
seconds. Class B leader Rhys Lloyd parked up on lap 2 with broken front
suspension leaving Douglas Ellwood to take his first class win of the
season and 4th overall behind Derek Hale. Tony Soper and
Richard Gould had remained in contention until late in the race, Soper
with turbo actuator failure, Gould running low on fuel. The rear wheel
drive cars had a much better day, Clive Anderson’s BMW 5 litre turbo had
been undriveable on Saturday, but finished 18 places higher in the dry.
Ian Craig and Mike Hurst
carried their close qualifying times into the race, Craig narrowly
taking the win while in Class D, both Andrew Neal and Jim Mepham beat
the previous lap record easily, Neal taking the win in his Honda
Integra.
For the 5th race running,
there is a new championship leader. Andrew Neal played his joker in race
2 and now leads with 190 points to Jim Mepham (178), Nick Williamson
(168) and Rhys Lloyd (148).
David Pierce now leads the Mark Fish
Clio Cup (148) from Mark Crook (138) after they each won a race at
Silverstone, while Honda 534) extended their lead in the
MSE_Performance.com cup for manufacturers from Renault (486).
Race 1 Result:
Winner: Mal Davison (Noble M400), 2nd
Richard Gould (Noble M12), 3rd Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon), 4th
Richard Hawken (Nissan Primera), 5th Keith Butcher (Nissan
Primera), 6th Andrew Morrison (Seat Leon), 7th
Julian Long (Peugeot 306), 8th Douglas Ellwood (Marcos
Mantis)
Class Winners: Class A Davison, Class B
Lloyd, Class C Mike Hurst (Vauxhall Vectra), Class D Jim Mepham (Renault
Megane Coupe)
Fastest lap: Mal Davison
1:10.415 (83.79mph)
Race 2 Result:
Winner: Nick Williamson (Ford Escort
Cosworth), 2nd Mal Davison (Noble M400), 3rd Derek
Hale (Honda Accord), 4th Douglas Ellwood, 5th
Laurence Kilby (Mitsubishi Evo 8), 6th Keith Butcher (Nissan
Primera), 7th Richard Hawken (Nissan Primera), 8th
Andrew Morrison (Seat Leon)
Class Winners: Class A Williamson,
Class B Ellwood, Class C Ian Craig (BMW M3), Class D Andrew Neal (Honda
Integra)
Fastest lap: Nick Williamson 1:01.714
(95.60mph)
Rockingham 12-13th
July 2008 Race Report
Wins
for Nick Williamson and Steven Taylor, double win for Rhys Lloyd
Class
wins for David Hinde and Simon Parker, double win for Jim Mepham
Jim
Mepham is the new championship leader
With 49 entries in place the decision
was taken to run split races, but to even up the numbers, the races were
split as Class A and D, and B and C with two guest entries racing in the
first group.
Qualifying – A/D
The Lotus Exiges of Rex Stamp and
Steven Taylor set the pace at the front of the field, but Tony Soper in
the Harrier LR9 ran them close to qualify third. With Richard Gould’s
Noble in 4th, the front two rows comprised mid-engined cars,
before the Honda Accord Super Tourers of Stewart Whyte and Derek Hale
headed the front engine cars. Series leader Nick Williamson was a lot
further back than usual in the Escort Cosworth, back in 8th
place.
Simon Taylor led the Class D cars back
in 11th overall – hardly surprising as Rockingham offers the
fastest cars the chance to stretch their legs on the banking. Jim Mepham
(Renault Megane Coupe) was just 0.5 seconds back from Taylor with Andy
Neal (Honda Integra) and Simon Jackson (MG ZR) taking the 3rd
and 4th grid positions in class.
Qualifying – B/C
Joss Ronchetti (Talbot Lotus Sunbeam)
set the pace in the Class B & C race with the Seat Leons of Simon
Blanckley (back after his sojourn with the BTCC) and Rhys Lloyd in close
attendance. Top running Class C car was David Hinde in the first of six
Vauxhall Vectra challenge cars competing in this race, with the similar
cars of Simon Parker and Craig Odams taking 2nd and 3rd
in class. Davod Roberts’ Rover Tomcat may have felt outnumbered but
narrowly missed 4th in class which fell to Derek
Kelly-Cooper.
Race 1 – A/D
Nick Williamson launched through from 8th
place to end the first lap in second place splitting the two Lotus
Exiges, but the following lap Steven Taylor had passed Williamson to
take 2nd, but already 3.4 seconds behind Rex Stamp out front.
One of the guest entries ran off on the first lap and on lap 3 the
safety car was brought out while it was retrieved, bunching the pack
right up again. The safety car was out for just two laps, but one lap
later came a sudden shower. Williamson took full advantage of his
Escort’s four wheel drive and was lapping fully 5 seconds faster than
anyone else. In the space of three laps he went from 3rd
place to take a 16 second lead from Taylor, Stamp having fallen away
after a slow first wet lap. As the track dried, lap times dropped to
something approaching fully dry times, but Williamson’s lead was
unassailable and he won by 10 seconds from Taylor. John Hammersley also
fared well in the wet, moving up from 8th to 3rd
as the rain fell.
Class D was thrown wide open on the
first lap with Simon Taylor’s Honda Civic suffering gearbox failure. Jim
Mepham was holding a steady 2 second advantage over Andy Neal from the
first lap and maintained this lead throughout the race to record his
first class win of 2008. Jason Newman (Peugeot 306) and Simon Jackson
were scrapping for 3rd in class, Jackson initially looked to
have the place in the bag but Newman responded quicker to the drying
track conditions to make the pass and hold onto 3rd place.
Race 1 – B/C
With the track dry again, Joss
Ronchetti headed the 2 Seat Leons for the first four laps, but all three
cars were running little over a second apart. Rhys Lloyd upped the pace
on lap 5 to take the lead, Simon Blanckley followed him through 2 laps
later, but by now Lloyd had a 6 second lead. Douglas Ellwood (Marcos
Mantis) was running a steady 4th some 8 seconds behind
Ronchetti who slowly fell back from Blanckley. The race finished with a
win for Lloyd from Blanckley by 9 seconds, with Ronchetti 3rd
a further 11 seconds back and Ellwood bringing up 4th. Andy
Glossop headed the Renault Clio contingent to take the win in the Mark
Fish sponsored Clio Cup.
With 6 Vauxhall Vectras out in Class C,
the odds on a Vauxhall victory were good. David Hinde converted his
class pole into a class win (7th overall), and the only
Vectra not to be lapped by the winner. Craig Odams enjoyed a good tussle
with a pair of Class B Clios (David Pierce and Mark Crook) and ended up
splitting them on his way to 2nd in class. David Roberts
prevented a total Vauxhall podium bringing his Rover Tomcat home in
third. Hinde played his joker which contributed to Vauxhall scoring a
massive 104 points in the MSE_Performance.com manufacturers’ cup.
Race 2 – A/D
With Rex Stamp unable to take part, and
no interference from rain, Steven Taylor was able to take full advantage
and cruise to a comfortable win from Derek Hale by over 20 seconds, with
Richard Gould further back in third. The real drama during the race lay
further back. Stewart Whyte missed race 1 and started this race from the
back – a storming start saw him drive through the pack and up into 5th
place as lap 1 ended. A collision with Tony Soper saw Whyte pit to have
the Honda’s front splitter repaired, and then Whyte put it a massive
effort to pull back through the pack from last to finish 8th,
just taking fastest lap away from Soper in the process. Williamson was
struggling in the dry and lost 2 spokes from a front wheel lapping a
slower car near the end of the race, amazingly he was able to complete
the race and just outdragged Soper’s Harrier to the finish line as they
exited the chicane side by side on the final lap.
With Simon Taylor unable to repair his
Honda’s gearbox, Mepham played his joker and took full advantage scoring
his second win of the weekend. This now moves Mepham out front in the
championship, the third leader is as many events. Simon Jackson was
getting to grips with his MG ZR and found himself challenging Andy Neal
for 2nd place, losing out by just 0.4 seconds, the best
showing for the MG so far.
Race 2 – B/C
Blanckley had a poor start to race 2
and found himself down in 4th place after lap 1 behind Lloyd,
Ronchetti and Ellwood. He slowly moved back up to second on lap 4 but
was already 6 seconds down on Lloyd. Blanckley maintained the gap until
lap 10 but then damaged two wheels which slowed his Seat finally
allowing Lloyd to extend his lead. With two laps to go, Ellwood caught
and passed Blanckley and finished second, but 14 seconds adrift of
Lloyd, and a second ahead of Blanckley. Fergus Trenholme got the better
of Glossop in the Mark Fish supported Clio Cup, just avoiding being
lapped.
David Hinde looked set for a second
class win of the weekend but his race ended on lap 13 allowing Simon
Parker to take over the lead and go on to record the Class win. David
Roberts had been feeling confident after race 1, his Tomcat was
performing well on the banking so he played his joker for this race. A
good start saw Roberts move past Parker and into 2nd place,
but on lap 2 a tap from a Clio caused the Tomcat to spin and Roberts
fell to last. Undeterred, Roberts set about chasing down the Vectras
again, but worn tyres caused a couple of lock-ups near the end of the
race, and to add insult to injury, the Tomcat started to misfire on the
last lap!
Joker-playing Mepham now leads the
championship on 138 points from Williamson (134), Lloyd and Neal (both
128). Of these, only Lloyd has yet to play his joker.
Andrew Glossop (112) moved past David
Pierce (110) in the standings for the Mark Fish Clio Cup, while
Vauxhall’s massive 202 point haul brings them up to third (276 points)
in the MSE_Performance.com manufacturers’ cup, but still some way behind
Hinda (456) and Renault (414)
-
Race 1 A/D Result:
-
Winner: Nick Williamson (Ford Escort Cosworth),
- 2nd
Steven Taylor (Lotus Exige),
- 3rd
John Hammersley (Honda Accord),
- 4th
Tony Soper (Harrier LR9),
- 5th
Derek Hale (Honda Accord),
- 6th
Rex Stamp (Lotus Exige),
- 7th
Jim Mepham (Renault Megane Coupe),
- 8th
Andrew Neal (Honda Integra)
-
- Class
Winners: Class A Williamson, Class D Mepham, Class F Jochim Ritter (Ginetta
G50)
-
Fastest lap: Rex Stamp 1:28.787 (79.00mph)
-
-
Race 2 A/D Result:
-
Winner: Steven Taylor (Lotus Exige),
-
2nd Derek Hale
(Honda Accord),
- 3rd
Richard Gould (Nobe M12),
- 4th
Nick Williamson (Ford Escort Cosworth),
- 5th
Tony Soper (Harrier LR9),
- 6th
John Hammersley (Honda Accord),
- 7th
Jochim Ritter (Ginetta G50),
- 8th
Stewart Whyte (Honda Accord)
-
- Class
Winners: Class A Taylor, Class D Mepham, Class F Ritter
-
Fastest lap: Stewart Whyte 1:27.861 (79.84mph)
-
-
Race 1 B/C Result:
-
Winner: Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon),
- 2nd
Simon Blanckley (Seat Leon),
- 3rd
Joss Ronchetti (Talbot Sunbeam Lotus),
- 4th
Douglas Ellwood (Marcos Mantis),
- 5th
Alex Heynes (BMW M3),
- 6th
Andy Glossop (Renault Clio),
- 7th
David Hinde (Vauxhall Vectra),
- 8th
David Pierce (Renault Clio)
-
- Class
Winners: Class B Lloyd, Class C Hinde
-
Fastest lap: Rhys Lloyd 1:28.662 (79.12mph)
-
-
Race 2 B/C Result:
-
Winner: Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon),
- 2nd
Douglas Ellwood (Marcos Mantis),
- 3rd
Douglas Ellwood (Marcos Mantis),
- 4th
Alex Heynes (BMW M3),
- 5th
Simon Parker (Vauxhall Vectra),
- 6th
Fergus Trenholme (Renault Clio),
- 7th
Andy Glossop (Renault Clio),
- 8th
Derek Kelly-Cooper (Vauxhall Vectra)
-
- Class
Winners: Class B Lloyd, Class C Parker
-
Fastest lap: Simon Blanckley 1:28.751 (79.04mph)
Brands Hatch 15th June 2008 Race Report
Nick Williamson triumphs after race cut short
-
Class wins for Joss Ronchetti, Lee Reynolds and Simon Taylor
-
2007 Champion Simon Taylor is back in front
-
Another full grid of 32 cars after the entry was closed 6 weeks
before the race due to oversubscription!
Qualifying
32 cars on the
short Brands Hatch Indy circuit makes for a crowded qualifying session
and sets a premium on getting out on track early. The queue in the
pitlane to join the track was so long that 4 cars had still to join the
circuit when Rex Stamp had completed his first lap! The chase for pole
was a straight battle between Rex Stamp (Lotus Exige) and Stewart Whyte
(Honda Accord) as they traded lower and lower laps culminating in Stamp
beating the LMA lap record by ¼ second with 50.358 to Whyte’s 50.608.
Eight further cars lapped in the 51s with Joss Ronchetti (Talbot Lotus
Sunbeam) taking Class B pole and 4th overall from Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon
Cupra R) back in 8th. Championship leader Nick Williamson had to be
content with 6th fastest in his Ford Escort Cosworth.
The Class C entry
was halved when Ian Craig (BMW M3) spun after Graham Hill and Mark Crook
(Renault Clio Cup) was unable to avoid the collision. Craig was unable
to continue further in the day, but an unbelievable effort by Crook’s
team using a Range Rover to pull the chassis back into shape, and making
a borrowed Peugeot radiator fit, meant that Crook was able to take his
place in the race. Class C pole went to Lee Reynolds (Citroen Saxo)
while Simon Taylor (Honda Civic Type R) put in his best performance of
the season to take Class D pole from Andrew Neal (Honda Integra) and Jim
Mepham (Renault Megane).
Race
Stamp got a
storming start and led Whyte by 0.9 seconds after one lap, Williamson
had launched the Escort Cosworth from 6th to 3rd but was already 2.2
seconds off the lead and closely followed by the Nobles of Mal Davison
and Richard Gould. A second lap collision at Paddock left Jason Tarling
(Renault Clio) and Jason Newman (Peugeot 306) parked in the gravel and
the race continued under yellow flags for the next 3 laps. By the end of
lap 2, Stamp had extended his lead and Gould had swapped places with
Davison, but coming round Clearways on lap 3 Whyte and Stamp touched
leaving Stamp’s Lotus spinning off to resume in 9th place. Davison had
fallen back to hard charging Ronchetti who was now up to 4th and
climbing all over Gould’s Noble which he would pass for 3rd the
following lap.
Whyte looked on for
the win as he opened up a 5 second gap back to Williamson, with
Ronchetti right his tail, but on lap 8 Whyte went off at Druids and was
unable to rejoin, leaving Williamson narrowly leading from Ronchetti and
Davison. Gould was falling backwards in the second Noble while Richard
Hawken (Nissan Primera) was making good progress to 5th on lap 8, and
4th on lap 9 as both he and Derek Hale (Honda Accord) passed Ronchetti’s
nearest Class B competitor Rhys Lloyd. But on lap 12 Antony Harrison
(Rover Tomcat) went off at Paddock narrowly missing the 2 cars parked
there since lap 1. Harrison kept his foot in, but just failed to get out of the gravel. This caused
the safety car to be deployed and the pack closed up behind Williamson
who was relieved to get some respite, his power steering having failed
on lap 4.
Two laps under the
safety car, and a very abrupt decision to come in, and the race was back
on. Williamson led from Davison and Ronchetti, with Hawken closing fast.
On lap 16, Davison passed Williamson, Hawken passed Ronchetti and
Williamson as the Escort lost power, but at the same time Clive Anderson
(BMW E30) went off at Paddock and stopped just short of the 2 cars still
parked there – only Harrison’s Rover had been moved under the safety car period. With 4 cars off the
circuit and only minutes to go, the race was red flagged. Under the rule
of counting back one lap, Williamson was declared the winner from
Davison and Ronchetti.
With Ian Craig
unable to race, Class C’s sole representative Lee Reynolds took the win
but spent the whole race mixing with the Class D trio of Taylor, Mepham
and Neal. Taylor was struggling to pass Bernard Hogarth (Class A Ford
Mondeo) and this allowed Mepham and Neal to stick close by, but Taylor
held on to take the Class D win from Mepham and Neal, with just 1.7
seconds separating the three.
In the Mark Fish
Motorsport Clio Challenge, honours fell to David Pierce, with the
patched up Clio of Mark Crook taking a well earned second..
Taylor played his
joker and his 44 points haul puts him at the front of the championship
with 112 points from Williamson (100) and Neal (92). The class leaders
are Williamson, Lloyd (86), Angus Dawe (80) and Taylor. In the newly
announced MSE_Performance.com cup for manufacturers, Honda (354) lead
from Renault (284) and BMW (214).
Race Result:
- 1st.Nick Williamson (Ford Escort
Cosworth),
- 2nd Mal Davison (Noble M400),
- 3rd Joss Ronchetti (Talbot Sunbeam
Lotus),
- 4th Richard Hawken (Nissan Primera),
- 5th Derek Hale (Honda Accord),
- 6th Tony Soper (Harrier LR9),
- 7th Rex Stamp (Lotus Exige),
- 8th Richard Gould (Noble M12),
- 9th Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon Cupra
R),
- 10th John Hammersley (Honda
Accord)
-
- Class Winners: Class A Williamson,
Class B Ronchetti, Class C Lee Reynolds (Citroen Saxo), Class D Simon
Taylor (Honda Civic Type R).
Fastest lap: Rex
Stamp 50.859 (84.84mph)
Castle
Combe 5th May 2008 Race Report
-
Outright win for
Rhys Lloyd in race of attrition
-
Class wins for John
Hammersley, Angus Dawe and Andrew Neal
-
Only 4 points
separates top 5 drivers
A measure of the success of the LMA
Euro Saloon and Sports Car Championship is that the Castle Combe Racing
Club invited us to race at Castle Combe shortly after the 2007 season
completed. Another 33 car entry justified their faith.
Qualifying
A wet overnight track started drying as the
morning pushed on, and by 10am most LMA drivers faced a difficult choice
of tyres – would the track be dry enough for their dry tyre option, or
too dry for the wet option? Qualifying times plainly show the track was
still slippery in places although this didn’t stop Castle Combe regulars
Mark Funnell (Lotus Exige) and LMA championship leader Nick Williamson
(Escort Cosworth) from setting stunning lap times, 1:11.989 for Mark,
with Nick just ¾ second adrift. A measure of their dominance was that
3rd in qualifying, and another local driver, Mark Harrison (Mitsubishi
Evo 8) was over 5 seconds back from pole. Fastest Class B car was Alex
Heynes (BMW M3) in 4th place, just 3/100ths of Harrison’s pace.
Angus Dawe (BMW M3) headed Class C in 5th, just
2/10th behind Heynes and ahead of a multitude of Class A and B cars.
Pole man in Class D was Andrew Neal (Honda Integra) back in 15th place
on 1:21.304. But even as qualifying was drawing to a close, the weather
was visibly improving giving optimism for the afternoon race.
Race
Mark
Funnell stormed away from the start and held an incredible 5 second lead
at the end of the first lap. Fellow front row man Nick Williamson bogged
down and was 4th coming into Quarry for the first time, but had repassed
Mark Harrison and Angus Dawe by the end of the first lap. Funnell
increased his lead by 2 seconds on lap 2, and a further 4 seconds on lap
3. Behind Williamson, Doug Ellwood (Marcos Mantis) was heading the BMW
M3s of Dawe and Ian Craig, but on lap 4 the DNFs started with Ellwood
pulling off the track after Quarry with fan belt failure. Almost
straight after this we lost Gareth Porter (Peugeot 205GTi Turbo) to the
infield as he and Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon) both darted sideways to the
same piece of track. As if Funnell wasn’t pulling away quick enough,
Williamson slowed dramatically on lap 4 as his alternator had failed and
the battery could not provide sufficient power.
With
Ellwood’s demise, Rhys Lloyd was leading Class B but Joss Ronchetti was
pulling through the pack from last on the grid after a driveshaft broke
in qualifying. His team did an excellent job to repair the little
Sunbeam but on lap 6 a front wheel collapsed on the entry to Quarry and
the Sunbeam parked in the tyre wall. The BMW M3s of Dawe and Craig were
running in formation challenging Harrison for 2nd place while battling
over Class C honours. Back in Class D, Jim Mepham (Renault Megane) was
tapped into the infield and last (33rd) position on the opening lap
before storming back through the pack to miss second in class D (Simon
Taylor – Honda Civic) by 3/10th and gain 21 places on his way to 12th,
with Taylor 11th and Class D winner Andrew Neal 9th.
The
real drama started on lap 6, Funnell was already 32 seconds clear of
second place Harrison after 5 laps, but after rounding Quarry slowly,
Funnell parked up the Elise, also an alternator belt failure. This left
Harrison leading from Dawe, Lloyd and Craig, less than 2 seconds
covering the four places. Lloyd was looking favourite, but Hammersley (9
seconds back after 6 laps) was on a charge and started to bring the gap
down. By lap 12 he was on the pack of the leading pack, by the end of
lap 13 he was second, just half a second behind Harrison. An overtaking
manoeuvre at Old Paddock Bend saw Hammersley lose the Honda Accord’s
front bumper during an excursion to the grass and drop to 4th behind
Craig, while Lloyd got by both drivers to take the lead. Hammersley
managed to recover to 2nd place on the final lap and win Class A, but
finished some 12 seconds adrift of winner and Class B winner Lloyd.
Craig was challenging Harrison for 3rd but lost brakes on the final lap
and the ensuing collision allowed Dawe to retake 3rd and the Class C
win, with Harriosn 4th and Craig 5th.
In
the Mark Fish Motorsport Clio Challenge, honours fell to Fergus
Trenholme from Jason Tarling and Mark Crook.
Williamson’s DNF means he now only jointly leads the championship (80
points) with Dawe while Craig, Richard Gould (Noble M12) and Andrew Neal
(Honda Integra) are all in close attendance on 76 points. The Class
leaders are Williamson, Lloyd (66), Dawe and Neal.
Race Result:
- 1st
Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon Cupra R),
- 2nd
John Hammersley (Honda Accord ST),
- 3rd
Angus Dawe (BMW M3),
- 4th
Mark Harrison (Mitsubishi Evo 8),
- 5th
Ian Craig (BMW M3),
- 6th
Julian Long (Peugeot 306),
- 7th
Ilsa Cox (Peugeot 206Gti),
- 8th
Brian Cox (Peugeot 206Gti),
- 9th
Neal (Honda Integra Type R),
- 10th
Richard Gould (Noble M12)
Class Winners: Class A Hammersley,
Class B Lloyd, Class C Dawe, Class D Neal
Fastest lap: Mark Funnell 1:10.481
(94.49mph)
Championship
Positions
Class
Name points
-
1=.C Angus
Dawe 80
-
1=.A Nick
Williamson 80
-
2=A Richard Gould 76
-
2=D Andrew
Neal 76
-
2=C Ian
Craig 76
-
6.D Simon
Taylor 68
-
7.B Rhys
Lloyd 66
-
8.
Julian Long 64
-
9=.
Douglas Ellwood 54
-
9=. Jim
Mepham 54
Next race: Brands Hatch 15th
June
Oulton Park 19 April 2008 Race Report
3 wins out of 3 for
Nick Williamson
Class wins for
Andrew Morrison, Ian Craig and Andrew Neal
Another bumper entry saw 33 cars contest the
second round of the 2008 LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car Championship on
the Oulton Park International circuit.
Qualifying
With a lap time not far off 2 minutes, a 15 minute
qualifying session meant drivers had just 7 laps to get in a good time.
This was reduced to just 5 laps courtesy of a 2 lap red flag incidents
during qualifying, meaning some drivers qualified lower down the grid
than they might have expected. Not Nick Williamson though, a storming
lap crashing across kerbs everywhere saw his Escort Cosworth take pole
by 1.7 seconds from Rex Stamp (Lotus Exige), with Simon Scuffham (Lotus
Elise) a further 0.7 seconds back. Joint championship leader Richard
Gould was fourth in his Noble M12, with Mal Davison (Noble M400) just
behind.
Ian Craig (BMW M3) headed Class C in 6th overall,
with Douglas Ellwood (Marcos Mantis) heading Class B in 7th place.
Julian Long headed the Class D times in 10th overall in his Peugeot 306.
The Vauxhall Vectra contingent turned up in force with no fewer than 5
of the ex-Vectra Challenge cars partaking in this race, Simon Parker
setting the fastest time in 12th overall. Fastest of the six Renault
Clio Cup cars in the Mark Fish Clio Challenge was Andrew Glossop, but
only by 0.25 second from Fergus Trenholme.
Race
With second place man Rex Stamp
starting from the pitlane, Nick Williamson was free to make his usual
good start unhindered by his strongest competitor and led from Simon
Scuffham by 2 seconds after lap 1. Ian Craig made a storming start from
6th and ended lap 1 in third place, ahead of Derek Hale and Andrew
Morrison, already 10 seconds off the lead having lost time when Richard
Gould left the circuit. More spinners on the second lap meant the
introduction of the safety car on lap 3, slowing the cars to almost half
normal speed and allowing them all to bunch up. By now Ian Craig was up
to second as we lost Simon Scuffham, with Andrew Morrison third and
Derek Hale fourth. Rex Stamp was up to 17th by the end of lap 2 having
started from the pitlane in 32nd.
From the restart, Morrison and
Hale both got past Craig quickly, while Stamp was racing through the
pack, finishing lap 5 in 9th, lap 6 in 6th and lap 7 in 4th, still some
6 seconds adrift of third place Hale. Williamson was able to control the
race up front and recorded his third win in three races by just over a
second from Morrison. Two stunning laps in the 1:49s saw Stamp close up
and pass Hale on the last lap and finish 3rd, just 2 seconds off the
win. Douglas Ellwood drove a steady race to finish 2nd in Class B and
5th overall while Ian Craig won Class C and finished 6th, some 10
seconds clear of 7th place and Class D winner Andrew Neal, who won Class
D from Julian Long by just 0.14 seconds after a race long battle with
the pair never far apart.
Andrew Glossop took the win in
the Mark Fish Renault Clio Challenge, with nearest qualifier Fergus
Trenholme having spun off on lap 2, and Antony Sullivan the next Clio 9
seconds (and three places) further back. Glossop also finished 3rd in
Class B thus making good use of having played his joker for this race.
Simon Parker got the best of the Vauxhall Vectras, finishing 14th
overall (and third in Class C) from Craig Odams by less than 0.3
seconds, the two Vectras being sandwiched by the two leading Clios.
Williamson now leads the championship (80 points)
from Julian Long (64) and Richard Gould and Angus Dawe (60). The Class
leaders are Williamson, Douglas Ellwood (54), Dawe and Long.
Race Result:
- Winner: Nick Williamson (Ford Escort Cosworth),
- 2nd Andrew Morrison (Seat Leon),
- 3rd Rex Stamp (Lotus Exige),
- 4th Derek Hale (Honda Accord),
- 5th Douglas Ellwood (Marcos Mantis),
- 6th Ian Craig (BMW M3),
- 7th Andrew Neal (Honda Integra Type R),
- 8th Julian Long (Peugeot 306),
- 9th Simon Taylor (Honda Civic Type R),
- 10th Angus Dawe (BMW M3)
Class Winners: Class A Williamson, Class B
Morrison, Class C Craig, Class D Neal
Fastest lap: Stamp 1:49.341 (88.63mph)
Snetterton 30 March 2008
Report
For most drivers, it’s been 5 long
months since the end of the last season, and here we are back at
Snetterton, just where we left off. For some drivers, maybe the season
has started too early, the 76 registrations for the championship
translated into 38 entries, a full grid at Snetterton.
Qualifying
The LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car
Championship were first out on the Sunday morning, and the expected wet
weather had not materialized. However, the track was still very slippery
as a result of multiple oil spills the day before. The session was red
flagged almost immediately as Trevor Nicosia spun at the Bomb Hole, Mal
Davison was unable to avoid him and the incident ended with Nicosia’s
Lancia parked on top of Davison’s Noble.
Davison did get back up to complete the
mandatory 3 laps, but was well off the front-running pace. Nick
Williamson (Escort Cosworth) set the pace at the front with Richard
Gould’s Noble M12 fully 1.5 seconds further back. Douglas Ellwood
(Marcos Mantis) headed Class B in 4th overall but with Joss
Ronchetti (Sunbeam Lotus) and Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon) within 0.13 seconds
of Ellwood, the race for Class B honours looked an interesting one.
Angus Dawe’s BMW M3 headed Class C by two seconds from Ian Craig’s
similar car with Julian Long (Peugeot 306) setting a marker in Class D 2
seconds clear of Andrew Neal (Honda Integra) and 3 ahead of 2007
Champion Simon Taylor (Honda Civic Type R).
Race 1
Nick Williamson led from
start to finish, but it was far from an easy win. A poor starting
Richard Gould finished lap 1 in 5th place and took a few laps
to recover. By lap 6 Gould was on the move, up into 3rd
place but nearly 9 seconds off the front. A string of quick laps,
including setting a new lap record, brought the gap down to 2.4 seconds
with one lap to go. On the final lap, Gould was almost broadside out of
Russell, but Williamson held on to win by 1.2 seconds. Richard Hawken
(Nissan Primera) and Derek Hale (Honda Accord) were involved in a race
long battle which Hawken won by 0.17 seconds to take 3rd in
Class A and 4th overall.
Rhys Lloyd made a fine
start from 8th on the grid to end lap 1 in 3rd
place, and although he succumbed to Gould on lap 10, he too smashed the
class lap record ion his way to taking his first LMA Class win. Douglas
Ellwood also smashed the old lap record and got within 0.1 second of
Lloyd’s new record on his way to 2nd in class from Joss
Ronchetti.
Angus Dawe took a
comfortable Class C win from Ian Craig, while Class D saw an easy win
for Julian Long, the battle for second in class being a much closer
affair that eventually went to Andrew Neal from Simon Taylor.
Race 2
Both Williamson and Gould
was confident for race 2, both playing their jokers to score double
points. This time Gould was even further handicapped finishing the first
lap in 10th place, 11 seconds down on Williamson. The safety
car caem out on lap 3 bunching all the drivers back up so the gap was
down to 3.8 seconds after lap 4, but Gould still back in 9th
place. Gould again chased through the pack to reach 2nd place
but this time 8 seconds back from Williamson who took his second win of
the day.
Starting from 3rd
this time, Rhys Lloyd found himself 2nd after the first lap,
a position he held until lap 10 when Gould’s Noble finally got by. Lloyd
fell to 4th overall two laps from the end when Rex
Stamp’s Lotus Exige moved up to 3rd, but Lloyd recorded his
second class win of the day with Douglas Ellwood six seconds back in 5th.
Angus Dawe took 8th overall and the Class C win from Ian
Craig while Julian Long took the Class D win from Simon Taylor.
The joker playing Williamson and Gould
head the championship after round 1 with 60 points apiece, but 2 class
wins each for Lloyd (44), Dawe (42) and Long (44) give them the Class B,
C and D leads.
Race 1 Result:
Winner: Nick
Williamson (Ford Escort Cosworth), 2nd Richard Gould (Noble
M12), 3rd Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon), 4th Richard
Hawken (Nissan Primera), 5th Derek Hale (Honda Accord), 6th
Rex Stamp (Lotus Exige), 7th Douglas Ellwood (Marcos Mantis),
8th Joss Ronchetti (Talbot Sunbeam Lotus), 9th
Angus Dawe (BMW M3), 10th Alex Heynes (BMW M3)
Class Winners:
Class A Williamson, Class B Lloyd, Class C Dawe, Class D Julian Long
(Peugeot 306)
Fastest lap: Gould
1:13.487 (95.62mph) – new lap record
Race 2 Result:
Winner: Nick
Williamson (Ford Escort Cosworth), 2nd Richard Gould (Noble
M12), 3rd Rex Stamp (Lotus Exige), 4th Rhys Lloyd
(Seat Leon), 5th Douglas Ellwood (Marcos Mantis), 6th
Derek Hale (Honda Accord), 7th Alex Heynes (BMW M3), 8th
Angus Dawe (BMW M3), 9th Julian Long (Peugeot 306), 10th
Bernard Hogarth (Ford Mondeo)
Class Winners:
Class A Williamson, Class B Lloyd, Class C Dawe, Class D Long
Fastest lap: Gould 1:14.102 (94.83mph)
Supported by Mark Fish Motorsport &
Alpha Composites
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