Race 1

Hodgetts wasted no time in asserting himself on the race by pulling a car length clear off the line to lead Paul Rivett into Copse corner for the first time. Rivett tried to regain the lead at Becketts but Hodgetts forced the double former champion wide as they joined the National Straight.
Meanwhile, Full Speed Racing’s Phil Glew (Alford) was caught up in two separate incidents, the second with JHR’s Mark Hazell (Llanhennock) and EPS UK with Robertshaw Racing’s Robert Gaffney (Waltham Abbey), which ended the race of the driver lying third in the overall standings.

Lap 12 saw Rivett make another bid for the lead round the outside at Becketts but once again Hodgetts defended as Rivett clipped the kerb and dropped back towards Pattison and Winrow. They were joined by MacDowall as it became a four-way battle for second place and then five-way for first as the pacy Rivett brought the train of cars up to Hodgetts’ bumper.

Race 2
At the start of the race, JHR’s pole-sitter Paul Rivett (Banstead) held the inside line on the run to Copse as Hodgetts challenged round the outside. Pattison tucked in behind Rivett on the inside and the trio ran through Becketts and then Brooklands as one. Rivett suffered a loss of grip through Luffield, fighting to keep the car on track but dropping to seventh as Hodgetts inherited the lead ahead of Pattison.
Hunter had moved from sixth on the grid to third ahead of Rob Boston, Alex MacDowall and Niki Lanik. Osborne made a great start from 15th on the grid and passed the recovering Rivett to lie seventh at the start of lap two.
As the rain lashed down and spray caused problems for all drivers, lap two saw Hodgetts become the second leader in as many laps to slide out of first place. He ran wide at Becketts to hand Pattison the lead and Hunter took second place. In the lead battle, Hunter set the NGK fastest lap of the race at 1min 12.872s (80.96mph) to close the gap on Pattison to one second.
Rivett’s early promise continued to fade as his JHR team-mate Matt Allison (Norwich) took sixth place on lap seven.
With just four of the 18 laps remaining, Pattison’s lead was down to just half a second as Hunter and Hodgetts tried to use their greater Clio Cup experience to unsettle the 34-year-old. Hodgetts then tried to take second place with a late-braking manoeuvre at Brooklands but Hunter kept the place as Hodgetts lost grip through Luffield.
The action behind left Pattison in the clear to take a deserved first Clio Cup win having shown great pace all weekend. Hunter crossed the line one second adrift, Allison completing the top six.
Second-placed Steven Hunter said: “It was an entertaining race and it’s great to be on the podium. Although Stefan was close I didn’t feel under any pressure because I couldn’t see anything in my mirrors through the spray! Lee was flying, especially through the Complex, and I was never able to get a good run at him on the straights.”

2008 ELF Renault Clio Cup provisional drivers’ standings – round 18 (incl. dropped scores)
1 Ben Winrow GBR Team Pyro 495 pts (champion)
2 Paul Rivett GBR JHR Developments 371 pts
3 Phil Glew GBR Full Speed Racing 307 pts
4 Carl Bradley GBR Coastal Racing 238 pts
5 Mike Robinson GBR Total Control Racing 225 pts

Seat Cupra Championship
Two second places for Andrew Herron but it's tight at the top

Race 1

Jonathan Adam (Total Control Racing) looked certain to erode Robert Lawson’s (Bardon/JHR) lead in the Championship even further from his pole position at the beginning of Round 17 at Silverstone. But a great start from Lawson on the inside saw Adam pushed back a place, with Andrew Herron (Brian Herron Plant/JHR) adding further agony to the Scotsman by passing him too.Lawson and Herron pulled a gap on the rest of the field and made sure those top two steps on the podium were theirs, in a result that could be a step closer to handing the rookie Cupra driver the title.

James Appleby (Hardinge Machine Tools) had an eventful race, finding himself totally sideways on his first run through Copse to drop him right back to 12th place from his 9th place on the starting grid. Pushing hard, the young driver battled his way back through the pack managing to get past a number of drivers to finish the race in a very respectable 7th place.

ROUND 17 result
1.Robert Lawson (Bardon/JHR)…21:18.451
2.Andrew Herron (Brian Herron Plant/JHR)…21:20.585
Fastest lap: Robert Lawson (Bardon/JHR)…1:02.337

Race 2

Andrew Herron (Brian Herron Plant/JHR) looked likely to finally record a race win in his SEAT Cupra in a wet Round 18 race at Silverstone. The young Irishman pushed hard from the front row as the lights went out, almost squeezing Jonathan Adam (Total Control Racing) out of the lead but not quite managing it. But a rare error from Adam saw him take to the grass and not only let Herron into the front, but also drop himself back down to 5th. Meanwhile, Robert Lawson (Bardon/JHR) who had been forced to start the race from the back of the grid, had made short work of picking up some places, sitting in 9th with his Championship rival not that far ahead. But while Lawson’s misted windows started hampering his progress, Adam stepped up a gear.

Herron was pulling a decent lead at the front, whereas behind Adam was making up places. Herron may have pushed his car too hard too early as he was soon looking in his rear view mirror at Adam. With four laps to go the gap was under half of one second, with Adam almost firing past by the time they reached Brooklands, with three laps to go Adam was neck and neck with Herron and with two laps to go Adam was leading the race. And with no laps left Adam had recorded his ninth win of the year.

While Adam was delighted with the win after his poor finish in Round 17, Herron was kicking himself for not managing to hold on for his first win of the year, but it was another solid 2nd place for the promising driver nonetheless, which is still impressive for his first year in a SEAT. Lawson added a disappointing 7th place to his emphatic win in Round 17, but with a 25 point penalty (currently under appeal) he may well find that nothing less than two wins at Brands Hatch will be enough to claim the crown now.

Round 18 at Silverstone certainly threw up plenty of entertainment elsewhere in the pack. Daniel Rowbottom (DRM M-sport) had managed to find a way past Lawson right near the end, while behind him Freddy Nordström (Plumbertraining.com/Advent Motorsport) and James Appleby (Hardinge Machine Tools/JHR) had both had their ups and downs… and sideways moments, but managed to be chomping on Lawson’s tail as they crossed the line. Lawson will be hoping it’s not like that in the final two rounds though and with a win at Brands Hatch earlier this year he could be a tough man to beat there.

ROUND 18 result
1.Jonathan Adam (Total Control Racing)…23:20.121
2.Andrew Herron (Brian Herron Plant/JHR)…23:21.581
3.Carl Breeze (Blue Chip/Welch Motorsport)…23:26.203
4.Martin Byford (AB Glass/Z Speed Racing)…23:38.122