Round 6 of the 2009 Elise Trophy held at Oulton Park on 25 July 2009.
Introduction
Just a week after the Brands Hatch WTCC support meeting, the Elise Trophy headed North to Cheshire’s Oulton Park circuit. The Modified and 2-Eleven cars rejoin with their own grid, making it two qualifying sessions and four races squeezed into one day. With several big names missing from the entry list, Jamie Stanley and Steve Williams looked to be favourites to repeat their Brands Hatch victories, with the latter remaining in the Production class.
Production Qualifying
A welcome break in a wet July meant that we were likely to experience a warm day and a healthy field of cars took to a dry circuit. With several cars bunched, right at the back Steve Williams circulated at a reduced pace, this would be a wise move as when he sped up, he had a clear track. Using this and his undoubted speed to qualify on pole, the gap to second-placed Marcus Jewell was over three-tenths of a second. A similar gap then to Andy Dolan, a promising third place, ahead of Stuart Mason, who was the first of the drivers lapping the circuit in over two minutes.
After this we had several Production front runners. Fifth place went to Gary Broad, then we had Michael Edwards, Martin Roberts, Ken Savage, Paul Harding and Hans Baumhardt.
Modified/211 Qualifying
A smaller Modified field than usual was headed by Jamie Stanley, who only needed to put in a few laps. His car suffered a big off in testing, but was hastily repaired and clearly still quick, as he was three seconds ahead of Chris Headlam, himself a second quicker than David Harvey. Youngster Benji Hetherington, in between GT duties, was fourth and top 2-Eleven, ahead of Pat McBennett, Tom Chatterway, Doug Setters, Tony Verrier, Mark Gooday and Vitthal Chauhan, trying out a Modified class Elise again, following his 340R drive at Snetterton.
A few Production cars joined in, led by Simon Phillips, followed by Mike Davies and Andrew Napier.
Race 1 Production
Williams converted his pole into an early lead, from Jewell and Edwards, the latter making up for his qualifying place. Dolan was next up, from Mason, overtaking Savage on the run out of the final corner. The latter would soon retake the place as the field settled down, with the top three making a clear run for it, leaving Dolan a lonely fourth. However, Edwards’ start was a little too good, a ten-second penalty being awarded for a jump start.
Behind the top four Savage and Broad now led the pack, with Mason dropping back a little from Roberts, Harding and Baumhardt. Mason would suffer more woes, falling to the back of this group as they spent the race in each other’s company, closely followed by Simon Deacon (driving Mark Speller’s car), Russ Treasure, Matt Franks, Pete Storey and Nigel Ayres. Treasure made progress, before dropping back behind Ayres. He cleared Nigel’s car but would make no further progress.
At the halfway point the main interest was whether Edwards could make up the 10 seconds on Dolan. To do this it looked likely that he would need to pass Jewell, then of course start to pull clear to gain another place. Whatever, this became academic when the number 33 car no longer appeared. With Edwards gone, Jewell worked on Williams, visibly trying hard. Too hard, as he too would fall into problems. He reappeared behind Dolan, who was now in second but some way back from the now dominant Williams.
Jewell didn’t give up, clearly on the limit through Lodge on the final lap but would finish behind Dolan, who was 13 seconds behind Williams. Savage just pipped Broad to the line, ahead of Roberts, then Harding and Baumhardt, virtually together, followed by Mason, Franks, Deacon, Storey, Treasure and Ayres. Even if the lead was never in too much doubt, there was incident aplenty through the field.
Race summary – 24 starters, 20 finished.
| Overall | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Steve Williams | 2. Andy Dolan | 3. Marcus Jewell | 4. Ken Savage | 5. Gary Broad | 6. Martin Roberts |
Race 1 Modified/211
The winner of this race was clear cut as soon as Stanley exited the first corner in the lead. Headlam followed him through but was unable to keep up with the fierce pace. McBennett held an inital third place until 2-Eleven leader Hetherington put in a good move at the Knickerbrook chicane to take the final podium place. In fifth place was Harvey, followed by Chatterway and Gooday. Production was led by Phillips, holding off Chauhan and Campbell for much of the race.
Gooday took to the escape road at the chicane, putting him way down the field and later on Harvey was to join him, the two working their way back up. Harvey was the more successful, taking Setters and Verrier but having to settle behind Chatterway at the flag.
The first few places remained for the duration, Stanley the clear winner by half a minute from Headlam, Hetherington the lead 2-Eleven, then McBennett, Chatterway, Harvey, Setters and Verrier. Phillips won the Production class by a clear margin with a fine drive, getting amongst the faster machinery.
Race summary – 14 starters, 14 finished.
| Production | Modified | 2-Eleven | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|
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Race 2 Production
Race two in the Production class was run as a 15 minute skirmish with a reversed top-ten grid rolling start. This meant that Baumhardt and Harding were at the head of the field, with the latter taking the lead from Savage, with Baumhardt slotting into third. Towards Knickerbrook, Edwards and Broad went either side of Savage, this ambush working for Broad, who took an excellent second place with Edwards now third and keen to make up for his earlier exit. Behind them Williams and Jewell were fighting through to the front.
Edwards took second on the next lap, ready to challenge for overall honours, Jewell grinding to a halt on the exit of Old Hall. Taking the lead on the next lap, with Williams challenging, the number 33 car would soon retire, however. This left Williams pulling out a handy lead from Harding, Broad (suffering a little from the battles), Savage, Baumhardt and Roberts.
Williams would take another fine victory, seven seconds from Broad, who fought his way back into second. Taking third place was Savage from Roberts, both benefitting from a Harding dropping to fifth, just in front of Baumhardt and Dolan, fighting to the end. Then it was Deacon, Treasure, Bartlett and Mason, who circulated together, in front of a lonely Franks, then Ayres.
Race summary – 22 starters, 20 finished.
| Overall | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Steve Williams | 2. Gary Broad | 3. Ken Savage | 4. Martin Roberts | 5. Paul Harding | 6. Hans Baumhardt |
Race 2 Modified/211
With the same grid and a standing start, the second modified encounter would also be a 15 minute race. Another fine start from Stanley meant he once again led from Headlam, Hetherington, McBennett, Harvey, Chatterway and Gooday. McBennett made a successful bid for third and set off after Headlam, meanwhile Gooday once again managed to spin at the Knickerbrook chicane, putting him towards the tail of the field, where Phillips was once again putting in a strong performance, keeping the faster cars of Campbell and Chauhan behind.
The main interest in the race was in the battle for second. Unlike the first race, Headlam was unable to make space between himself and McBennett, Hetherington and Harvey. The latter made a move on Hetherington’s 2-Eleven into Knickerbrook, the 340R edging in front but despite his tender years, there’s a lot of race experience under Hetherington’s belt and he wasn’t going to let this one go. Benefitting McBennett by giving him the space to attack Headlam, Harvey could not hold off the 2-Eleven and a couple of laps later Hetherington retook fourth place.
So it was another dominant win for Stanley, in a car that was in some state after Friday’s test session. Twenty seconds behind, Headlam was second, from McBennett, Hetherington – the leading 2-Eleven, and Harvey. They were some way ahead of Chatterway and Setters, then Gooday, unable to make up for his spin but third in class. Phillips finished in tenth and took the production class, just unable to keep Campbell’s faster 2-Eleven behind.
Race summary – 14 starters, 13 finished.
| Production | Modified | 2-Eleven | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|
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Conclusion
Despite several notable drivers skipping the weekend, we had two excellent Production races, with Steve Williams no doubt pleased with his decision to remain in the class. The return of Benji Hetherington in his 2-Eleven enlivened the second Modified race, with the battle for second a highlight.
Taking a short break, the next round will also feature the Lotus Cup Europe drivers at the Donington GP circuit in mid-August.
