Round 10 of the 2008 Elise Trophy held at Silverstone International 19 October 2008.
The series’ second visit to the current home of the British GP, this time taking place on the International circuit, meaning that the series has now run on all three configurations of the Northamptonshire track.
Chris Randall and Andrew Walsh would be resuming battle for overall honours, both having taken 8 victories apiece so far in 2008. With Paul Quinn once again absent, would Michael Edwards have it his own way or would Steve Williams be the new class A pacesetter?
Qualifying
Randall immediately asserted his authority, putting in a succession of fast laps, which culminated in him breaking the 1 minute 30 second barrier. After this he pitted, however when he rejoined he was unable to match his earlier pace.
Not that this mattered, as he ended the session over 2 seconds clear of the second-placed car…of Sean Bicknell. His Audi-powered Exige in place of an off-form Walsh, who was staring at a 5th place start until a switch of spark plugs and an end-of-session lap put him in 3rd place.
Alongside Walsh on the 2nd row would be Gavin Kirby, leading the 2-Eleven class by some margin, then the recently-hitched Rob Beves, Ben Pitch’s absence leaving an open battle for the head of class B. Beves qualified two places ahead of David Harvey, the pair sandwiching Doug Setters’ class C Exige.
Then we had the first of the class A cars, Williams placed 8th and over a second clear of Marcus Jewell. Martin Johnston’s 2-Eleven rounded out the top ten. Behind Phil Chatterton’s class B car were the other class A frontrunners – Edwards and Paul Harding heading the pack.
40 cars took part in qualifying, with only Mark Gooday unable to post a competitive time, following gearbox troubles in his 2_Eleven.
Race 1 All Classes
| Class A | Class B | 2-Eleven | Class C | Overall |
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At the start Walsh immediately took second from Bicknell, and gave chase to Chris Randall. The other class leads were assumed as per qualifying, with Beves hanging onto Kirby’s 2-Eleven and Steve Williams well clear of the class A field, his lead extended when Jewell pulled into the pits on lap 2.
At the front Randall was pulling clear, with Walsh holding a similar gap over Bicknell, then Kirby and Beves, the 2-Eleven eking out a small advantage on each lap. Behind them Harvey was giving Setters a hard time.
Simon Deacon and Stuart Kirkbride fought hard over 2nd in class A, however moving past them was a charging Gooday, the 2-Eleven driver making amends for his back row start.
By the mid-point the leaders were lapping the tail of the class A field, giving Walsh some hope of closing the gap, which had shrunk to 2 seconds. Meanwhile Gooday, already in the top ten, was closing on Johnston for 2nd in class. Further back, Harvey had got past Setters with three-quarters of the race gone and closed in on Beves. However towards the close of the race Harvey suffered some mechanical issues and Setters retook the place.
The gap for the lead see-sawed throughout the final laps, Walsh getting it down to barely more than a second by the final lap. However Randall was able to pace himself in the traffic and took the win by 3 seconds at the flag. Bicknell took a lonely third place ahead of Kirby, the clear winner of his class. Beves claimed class B honours, with Setters providing him with a cushion to Harvey’s 340R, who had the consolation of taking the fastest lap in class, however he was later disqualified for a ride height infringement. This meant Johnston now finished in 7th, responding to the threat from Gooday, who placed behind Williams, the class A victor. Behind Chatterton, 11th and 12th spots were claimed by Kirkbride and Deacon, the former winning their race-long battle.
Race summary – 40 starters, 35 finished.
Race 2 All Classes
| Class A | Class B | 2-Eleven | Class C | Overall |
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The low late afternoon sun served as a reminder that this was a late-season race and provided an extra challenge for the drivers, already starting from a grid with the first 10 places reversed from qualifying order. This meant that Johnston started on pole, with Walsh, Bicknell and Randall in 8th, 9th and 10th places respectively.
Walsh made a great start, challenging on the outside into Copse corner. Taking the lead, he was followed by Bicknell and Randall, next up Kirby was heading the 2-Eleven class over Johnston, with Williams heading Jewell for class A honours. Beves held a comfortable lead in Class B with Harvey dropping a long way down the field and eventually retiring with mechanical problems.
The top three pulled clear, Randall unable to make an impression on Bicknell, who could do nothing about Walsh. They were then followed by the leading 2-Elevens, Beves sitting between them. Class A was shaping into a three-way battle between Williams, Jewell and a resurgent Edwards.
Randall made his move past Bicknell in the complex on lap five and set about taking on Walsh. However Bicknell was determined to make a race of it and the three circulated as one until lap 8 when Walsh disappeared from the top of the timesheets, coming round in 10th place following a spin.
Edwards was also falling back at this point, into the clutches of Mark Gooday, again putting in a fight from the back of the grid. He would finish 9th at the flag.
Bicknell continued to stalk Randall, never being more than a second behind. His constant attacks for the lead would be rewarded as a dramatic retirement from Randall on the last lap left Bicknell to take the flag, a well-deserved win after a catalogue of troubles in previous races.
Kirby took overall second place and 2-Eleven honours, with Class B winner Beves in third. Setters took 4th, from a recovering Walsh, who headed Johnston. Class A winner Williams was next, with Jewell just under a second behind. Gooday and Edwards rounded off the top 10.
Race summary – 36 starters, 32 finished.
Conclusion
Look out for television coverage of Elise Trophy races on Motors TV, with the Croft races from September being transmitted in November. For further details of our television coverage and to see a short promo, please check out the Race Television web site.
(The Elise Trophy on Motors TV is sponsored by Hot-Lap.com – performance enhancements for your race car at affordable prices)
For the next round we return to Brands Hatch on the Indy circuit, on 8-9 November.
