Oulton Park
26th-27th July 2008

Seat Cupras

Robert Lawson (Bardon/JHR) is the man everyone is trying to catch in the Seat Cupra championship and with two 2nd place finishes behind Adam, the current Championship leader did a great job of damage limitation. Lawson will still be heading to Knockhill in a fortnight with a decent lead in the standings.

Round 13, which unusually took place on the Saturday, had been a lot about the start. Lawson sat alongside Adam on the front row, but a poor launch saw both Andrew Herron (Brian Herron Plant/JHR) and Martin Byford (AB Glass/Z Speed Racing) go around him to tuck in behind Adam after the first corner. By the end of the first lap though Lawson was back into 3rd at the expense of Herron and had Byford in his sights. Biding his time Lawson was finally able to capitalise on a Byford mistake at the Island Bend hairpin to go back into 2nd place, but Adam was too far ahead to catch by this point, the Yorkshire driver having to settle for the second step on the podium.

With a nights rest between the two races, Round 14 was the chance for those who made poor starts in Round 13 to make amends. And as the lights went out all fourteen drivers got away well, Lawson looking like he may challenge Adam into the first corner but with only a narrow track it was Adam who pushed through first. Heading down towards Cascades though and Herron was sent sideways into a spin. He managed to keep going but had his work cut out from the back of the pack, especially considering the gap Adam had already made at the front. A familiar looking sight at the front soon developed with Adam leading from Lawson who was ahead of Byford. James Appleby (Hardinge Machine Tools) was doing a sterling effort of holding off a hard charging yet slightly damaged Breeze further back until he lost gear selection for half a lap allowing the rest of the field to pass him.

With Adam now not far behind Lawson in the Championship and Knockhill to come yet it looks like it will be these two that will battle it out for the title as we head into the final throws of the season.

James Appleby: “A couple of times in the second race Breeze was right on me but had Rowbottom right behind him. So there was no way he was going to pass me. It was cracking before that second race, but that wrecked the whole thing and makes a top six finish almost impossible now.”

Robert Lawson: “The aim of the game is to win races, and we haven’t done that here. The team are doing well with the car but we haven’t quite found that sweet spot this weekend.”

Championship Standings
1. Robert Lawson (Bardon/JHR)…228pts
2. Jonathan Adam (Total Control Racing)…206pts
3. Martin Byford (AB Glass/ Z Speed Racing)…188pts
4. Carl Breeze (Blue Chip/ Welch Motorsport)…181pts
5. Andrew Herron (Brian Herron Plant/JHR)…141pts
6. Daniel Rowbottom (DRM M-sport)…100pts

Rounds 15 and 16 of the SEAT Cupra Championship take place at Knockhill on August 16/17th.

Clio Cup

Round 15

ELF Renault Clio Cup championship leader Ben Winrow (Earls Barton) celebrated his ninth win of the season with victory in round 15 at Oulton Park on Saturday, 26th July. Team Wood Racing’s Lea Wood (Hereford) had a fantastic race to second place and a maiden podium in Clio Cup, while JHR Developments’ Paul Rivett (Banstead) climbed from ninth on the grid to finish third in an action-packed race held in sweltering conditions. On lap four, Rivett immediately passed Robert Gaffney for seventh,  and then rose two more spots on lap five when Hodgetts nudged MacDowall into Pyper at the hairpin. Both MacDowall and Pyper retired, while Hodgetts was later issued with a three-point penalty by the Clerk of the Course.  The race for third continued to be the best battle on the track, with Rice pressuring Hodgetts but then having to defend from the charging Rivett at the hairpin. On lap 9, Rivett finally passed Rice for fourth, before contact between Hodgetts and Rice gifted third place to the double former champion while the race for ninth was between drivers who started on the ninth row of the grid with Steven Hunter coming under pressure from Rob Boston. Third-placed Paul Rivett said: “From ninth on the grid I thought third was a possibility but probably not much higher. I got past Gaffney on the restart, which was quite hard because of staying close enough across the line. A couple of people came off ahead of me and third is a great result given where I started.” Round 16 With 136 points left to race for over four rounds, Winrow, who has led the championship since the opening weekend and is yet to finish outside the top two on the road, is now 142 points ahead of nearest challenger Paul Rivett after he finished 10th. However, with each driver dropping their two worst scores, the actual lead is 113 points, although the title is now a formality for the 23-year-old at his home circuit of Silverstone. The second tour also saw heavy contact between Full Speed Racing’s Phil Glew (Alford) and Shepherd as they tried to avoid the spinning Gaffney, who had run wide on the exit of Old Hall corner and bounced back onto the circuit. All three retired, along with Full Speed’s Chaz Small (Braunston) and the Safety Car was brought out for two laps to clear the debris, the race extended from 12 to 14 laps. At the resumption on lap five, Rivett immediately took 10th place from Pyro’s Chris Rice (Beverley) with a late-braking move at Old Hall. 2008 ELF Renault Clio Cup provisional drivers’ standings – round 16 (incl. dropped scores) 1 Ben Winrow  GBR Team Pyro    440 pts 2 Paul Rivett  GBR JHR Developments   327 pts 3 Phil Glew  GBR Full Speed Racing   298 pts