19/11/2007

2nd for Andrew Herron in the 2007 Winter series and first podium for Richard Cannon

Niki Lanik (Ashurst Wood) successfully defended his ELF Renault Clio Winter Cup title with a win and a second place at North Yorkshire’s Croft circuit on Saturday, 10th November to beat JHR Developments’ Andrew Herron (Dromore) by 12 points.

Donington rounds 1 & 2

Robertshaw Racing’s Harry Vaulkhard (Jesmond) secured a fantastic pole position for round one on his Clio Cup debut.
JHR Developments’ Richard Cannon (Chesterfield) lined up second after a terrific qualifying performance that saw him take pole for round two, while team-mate Andrew Herron (Dromore) also had two top-three grid slots.

Lanik made the best start in round one and he took the lead ahead of Herron as Vaulkard ran wide at Redgate, just holding third ahead of Cannon.

Lap five saw a change for the lead as Lanik slid wide at Redgate allowing both Herron and Vaulkhard to pass. On the following lap, Vaulkhard passed for the lead at Coppice but Herron forced his way back through at Goddards chicane and Vaulkhard ran wide onto the grass dropping to fourth.

Lap nine saw Lanik re-take the lead from Herron but he lost it again on the following lap as the track conditions continued to play their part. Cannon continued to defend third place from Vaulkhard, both drivers sliding their way through the chicane on lap 12 and losing several seconds to the leading pair.

Vaulkhard’s race ended two laps later when he ran wide through the Craner Curves and into the tyre wall. The lead changed hands three more times in the following laps, Lanik making the decisive move at Coppice on lap 15 to secure victory ahead of Herron.
Cannon took a maiden Clio Cup podium with MacDowall taking fourth in the closing laps from Bradley with Team Pyro’s Chris Law (Guernsey) rounding out the top six.

Round two saw MacDowall make a blistering start from the second row to take the lead. Alongside him, Vaulkhard also got away well but as he tried to pass between the front row starters, he hit wheels with Herron causing a puncture that cost him two laps after making a pit stop.

Cannon was fourth ahead of Bradley and the recovering Herron, while TCR’s Jonathan Ridley-Holloway (Barnstaple) headed Lines and TCR team-mate Mike Robinson (Effingham).

On lap three, a mistake from Hopkins saw him fall to sixth place, while Herron passed Bradley to rise to fourth. The Northern Irishman then caught Cannon over the next few laps, passing him on lap seven for third place.

Bradley upped his pace to close on fourth-placed Cannon, while Robinson posted his own fastest lap to pressurise Ridley-Holloway for seventh as the midfield battle intensified. Cannon then suffered a throttle problem on lap 11, forcing him into retirement on the following lap.

At the head of the field, Lanik’s lead was reduced slightly by MacDowall but he controlled his pace perfectly to take a second victory of the day, MacDowall and Herron completing the podium line-up.

Andrew Herron ended the day second in the drivers’ standings, commenting: “Race one was really cat and mouse and it was probably better to be in second place during the race because of the rain. My steering was slightly off in race two after the bump at the start but I couldn’t get back on terms with Alex because my tyres had worn a lot as I fought my way back through.”

Croft rounds 3 & 4

Qualifying on Saturday morning saw local favourite Harry Vaulkhard (Jesmond), who works as an instructor at the 2.13-mile circuit, put his Robertshaw Racing car on pole position for both races by well over half a second. Herron joined him on the front row, while Lanik and Mardi Gras Motorsport’s Árón Smith (Rathfarnham) made up the second row for each round.

As round three got underway, Herron got the drop on Vaulkhard to lead through Clervaux on the first lap, with Lanik also getting ahead of the pole-sitter. In the early stages, Lanik was made to defend as Vaulkhard tried to regain second place, while the closest battle on track was for Lines’ fifth place with JHR’s Richard Cannon (Chesterfield) and TCR’s Jonathan Ridley-Holloway (Barnstaple) in close pursuit.

Lap five saw Vaulkhard make his pressure pay off as he passed Lanik through the chicane, as the group led by Lines was catching Bradley in fourth place. At the head of the field, Northern Irishman Herron, looking to make up ground on Lanik in the overall standings, was building a huge 3.5s lead.

Even with a clear track ahead of him, Vaulkhard was unable to close the gap on Herron on lap six. The following lap, in his efforts to score his first Clio Cup win, Vaulkhard out-braked himself at Tower and retired from the race, promoting Lanik to second, worth three championship points more than third place.

Race-winner Herron was more than eight seconds ahead of Lanik, who was a further eight seconds ahead of the thrilling battle for third.

Heading into the final race of the four-round championship, Lanik held a five-point lead over Herron.

In a repeat of the earlier race, Herron jumped into the lead ahead of Lanik as Vaulkhard once again failed to make full use of pole position. The top three ended the lap nose to tail, with a gap back to a train of four cars led by Árón Smith ahead of MacDowall, Bradley and Ridley-Holloway. Knowing victory would assure him the title, Lanik made his move on lap two to pass Herron at Tower Bend with a textbook out-braking manoeuvre.

Vaulkhard continued to challenge Herron for second place, enabling Lanik to increase his lead by half a second on lap five. Lap six saw Vaulkhard take second place from Herron, coming from a long way back under braking at Tower. Later in the lap Vaulkhard had a huge slide coming into the Complex, somehow keeping the car on track and ahead of Herron through the final turns.

Drivers’ standings after round four – provisional
1 Niki Lanik AUT Youth 4 Human Rights with SVE 124 pts
2 Andrew Herron GBR JHR Developments 112 pts
3 Alex MacDowall GBR Total Control Racing 86 pts
4 Carl Bradley GBR Coastal Racing 84 pts
5 Chris Law GBR Team Pyro 60 pts
6 Jonathan Ridley-Holloway GBR Total Control Racing 60 pts