07 Oct 2008

Round 9 of the 2008 Elise Trophy held at Croft 27 September 2008.

A week after the Silverstone GP round, the Elise Trophy headed back up North, this time to the Yorkshire airfield circuit of Croft in Darlington. Two races, incorporating all classes, would provide a backdrop to the return of Chris Randall to the series. Joining him would be former Vauxhall BTCC works driver Paul O’Neill, taking over Martin Donnelly’s car for the weekend.

Qualifying

26 cars took place in the qualifying session. With many familiar faces missing from the session, the grid was always going to have a different look. However there was nothing unfamiliar about series returnee Chris Randall taking up where he left off and heading the field by a hugely impressive 2.3 seconds. All this between VdeV endurance racing commitments! Many would have expected Andrew Walsh to be next up but he was languishing in 4th place, Chris Headlam taking the other front row slot, then ex-BTCC winner Paul O’Neill. Prior knowledge of the circuit from his VX Racing days was clearly paying off.

Dave Porter took Class B honours in Ben Pitch’s absence, his 5th place just ahead of class 2-Eleven front runner Gavin Kirby, who was consolidating his return to form after recent troubles. Mark Gooday was just over a third of a second behind in 7th.

8th place was occupied by Craig Denman taking Class A honours, then Doug Setters and Steve Williams rounding out the top ten.

Race 1 All Classes

Before the race had even started Headlam’s luck hadn’t improved and he failed to line up on the grid, neither for that matter, did Gary Broad. What looked to be an easy win for Randall proved nothing of the sort when he was swamped by Walsh and O’Neill at the lights. Despatching the 2-Eleven at the first corner, Randall then set off after the similarly-powered car of Walsh. However Walsh was determined to stay ahead, despite enormous pressure from the number 88 car.

O’Neill held 3rd at the end of lap one, followed by the 2-Elevens of Gooday and Kirby, the number 42 car getting the jump on Kirby. Class A was headed by Craig Denman, who converted his class pole into a handy lead, the faster cars of Setters and Martin Johnston providing a handy cushion between him and second in class, Williams. Martin Roberts was making up time from qualifying, keeping Malcolm Edeson at bay, followed by a fierce battle for the midfield placings, from which Tony Verrier spun on lap one, rejoining at the tail of the field. Edeson also had a trip through the gravel, giving him work to do to get back to the head of the pack. Class frontrunner Marcus Jewell had retired after 2 laps.

Much of the early laps were focussed on the intense fight between Walsh and Randall for the lead of the race, Chris feinting moves here, dropping a couple of tenths there and lap after lap the number 6 car would come through in the lead, either neck-and-neck with his adversary or a couple of car lengths ahead.

It wasn’t to last however and Randall asserted his authority halfway through the race, immediately taking an advantage that he would hold to the end. The two leaders had pulled a sizeable gap on the third place battle, which was the exclusive preserve of the 2-Elevens. O’Neill looked comfortable in third in his Class C version, whilst behind Kirby passed Gooday for 4th place and the lead of the 2-Eleven class.

Class A was taken comfortably by Denman, who held an 8 second advantage at the flag, but behind Edeson had caught Williams and crossed the line almost side by side – less than two-tenths covered them. Roberts took 4th in class, a long way back and the first of the lapped runners.

Race summary – 23 starters, 22 finished.

Race 2 All Classes

Race 2 was run as a scratch race, with the first 10 cars to finish race 1 being reversed at the front of the grid.

Randall put in a stunning first lap to take the lead at the line, having started from 10th. He was followed by the 2-Elevens of Kirby and O’Neill, then Walsh, who was having rather more trouble clearing them at this stage of the race.

Initial leader Gooday undid all his good work at the start by spinning on the exit of the hairpin at the end of lap one, he then confirmed his hero to zero status by waving as he passed the pits! However a stirring comeback drive netted him 9th place, just over a second behind fellow 2-Eleven driver Martin Johnston.

By mid-point Walsh was trying hard for an opportunity to challenge Randall, taking first O’Neill, then eventually Kirby for 2nd. O’Neill tried to follow later on but his challenge failed and Kirby finished in an eventual 3rd place.

In Class A, Williams duelled with Denman for a number of laps, the latter getting the nod by several lengths at the flag, to complete a brace of victories. These two also had the huge advantage of finishing race one in 8th and 10th places, meaning that they were starting off the front two rows, the nearest Class A challenger being Edeson, back in 11th place. He featured again, but issues with the guest car meant he retired at three-quarters distance. Still, he fared better than Stuart Mason, who failed to make the start.

Jewell made up for his race one woes with 13th place, behind Roberts and Andy Dolan.

By dint of being the only runner, Porter took both Class B victories, an overall 5th place complementing his 6th earlier.

Race summary – 24 starters, 23 finished.

Conclusion

Look out for television coverage of Elise Trophy races on Motors TV, with the Cadwell Park races being transmitted in October. For further details of our television coverage and to see a short promo, please check out the Race Television web site.

For the next round we return to Silverstone, this time the International loop, on 19 October.

Race Results in Full

Official results & times

Official photos courtesy of TSU Photographic

Andy Dolan burning rubber	Chris Pearson	Dave Porter‘s class B Exige	Class C double winner Chris Randall leads the way
Andrew Walsh, Randall & Paul O’Neill battle for the race lead	2-Elevens in formation	Martin Roberts‘ S2 Elise	Malcolm Edeson driving Paul Golding‘s S1 Elise
Rare footage of Tom Chatterway (aka Mr Bump) not hitting anyone (or being hit!)	Steve Williams‘ class A car	Vitthal Chauhan	Russ Treasure
	Race 1 class A podium: Williams, Craig Denman & Edeson	Martin Johnston‘s 2-Eleven	Gavin Kirby laps Keith Hurford
Walsh & Randall	Stuart Mason under pressure	Marcus Jewell re-enacts Greek tragedy after retiring	Randall & Walsh
Race 2 start	Denman leads the way in class A	Denman grasps a helmet in each hand