Racing Results 2010
Rounds 9 & 10 Anglesey: 25/26 September 2010
- Double race win for Dave Cockell
- Class wins for Richard Hawken, Kevin Wendt, Nick Hayes (x2), David Pierce and Stewart Calder
- Nick Hayes confirmed as 2010 Champion after double class win
With the penultimate race of the season being held at the outpost that is Anglesey, an 18 car entry was a good turnout, and a number of drivers took advantage of pre-race testing on the Friday.
Qualifying:
Pre-race testing had its issues and marked out the Anglesey circuit as a bit of a diff breaker. Biggest casualty was Grahame Tilley whose Saker succumbed to diff issues late on Friday with no chance of sourcing a replacement. Also having diff trouble were Mike Gregory (Ford Escort Mk II) and Charlie Jackson (Ford Escort Cosworth) but both were able to repair their cars in time for Saturday's qualifying session.
So 17 cars, split 3 each in classes A, B and C and 8 in a busy looking class E. Richard Hawken was looking for a good weekend's points haul to take the Arrowpak Touring Car cup and showed his intent by taking pole position on the Coastal circuit by a devilish 0.666 seconds from class A pole sitter Dave Cockell (Ford Escort Cosworth). Kevin Wendt's BMW M3 was a second off pole with Simon Deaton (Seat SUper Copa) just a tenth further back. The class C and championship contenders Nick Hayes and James May (both Seat Leon) were surprisingly 2 seconds apart but still next to each other on the grid in 6th and 7th places. Class E was predictably led by the trio of Renault Clios, David Pierce getting the better of Tim Clarke and Stewart Calder, but the closest battle looked to be further back in Class E with Trevor Nicosia (Fiat Tipo), Yaser Almaghribi (Daihatsu Charade) and Simon Jackson in his freshly rebuilt MG ZR separated by just 6/100ths of a second, about 6 feet over a complete lap! Andy Jordan (Renault Clio) caused a stir in his first race by using the same 77 race number as his BTCC namesake, and was just 3/10ths shy of the three car group in front of him.
Race 1 (Saturday):
Richard Hawken and Dave Cockell were on the front row, and they launched off together, Hawken just getting in front while Kevin Wendt was a couple of seconds further back after the first lap. Cockell kept the pressure on Hawken the gap between the two fluctuating around the 2-3 tenths, and never more than 1/2 second. Hawken's Nissan Primera was running too hot which may explain why the race pace was somewhat slower than qualifying pace, but on lap 14, Cockell got by to take the lead and upped the pace considerably. Hawken tried to match Cockell's pace but finished just 3 seconds adrift, losing two of those on the final lap as Cockell progressed further through the pack while lapping.
Kevin Wendt was always in close attendance just in case, but never really threatened to join the leader's battle, and took the final podium position 5 seconds adrift of Cockell. Simon Deaton and Douglas Ellwood spent the whole race squabbling over 4th place, Deaton's pink Seat just holding off Ellwood's silver Marcos by one second. Hayes and May have been running close all season, but Hayes was demonstrating his superiority at this circuit finishing 20 seconds clear of May as they finsihed 1st and 2nd in Class C, 6th and 7th overall.
In Class E, David Pierce drove a sterling race to take a comfortable win over Tim Clarke, while the battle further back looked like going Nicosia's way after a slow start until his Fiat retired with broken gearbox leaving Simon Jackson to take the first non-Clio position in class.
Race 2 (Sunday):
All action on the first corner as the Clios of Pierce and Clarke touched and both spun off, rejoining the race some way down on the remaining drivers. Up front, Hawken was running strangely subdued, but he needed to finish the race to win the Arrowpak Touring Car cup so was trying to keep engine temperatures manageable. This left Cockell with an easty win, though with a margin of just 5 seconds to second placed Ellwood, it doesn't look that way on paper. Wendt capped a fine weekend with another podium just getting the better of Deaton in 4th, Hawken finishing a lonely 5th having backed off after initially staying with the pack.
Hayes had another comfortable Class C win over rival May, which would then turn into championship winning as May was disqualified after the race for a non-functioning reverse gear and now cannot catch Hayes in the final round. With two Clios out of the way early on, Stewart Calder was always going to be favourite in Class E, but Simon Jackson made a great start and led out of the first corner, and held on gamely for the first lap. Pierce and Clarke were making slow progress, picking off one car per lap on average, Clarke being in front as he recovered first from the spin. But a lurid spin later in the race would reverse the order leaving Pierce in second place, just 7 seconds behind Calder, Pierce unsurprisingly set class E fastest lap on his comeback drive.
With one round to go, James May's disqualification means that Nick Hayes is the 2010 Euro Saloons champion, our congratulations go to him and his team. The double win takes Dave Cockell to the fore in Class A, ne needs just 2 points at the final round to guarantee the class title. Class B is finely balanced, Simon Deaton (138) leads from Ilsa Cox (136) and Richard Hawken (132) while Kevin Wendt (124) is still in contention with his joker still to be played. Hayes has won Class C from May with Mike Gregory 3rd, while Class E has Stewart Calder (160) leading from David Pierce (140, but still to play a joker).
Stewart Calder leads the Mark Fish Motorsport Clio Cup Challenge by 34 points from David Pierce but will still need to finish the final round to be sure of winning the cup, while Seat look unassailable for the MSE_Performance.com Manufacturers Cup.
With support from :
Mark Fish Motorsport, MSE-Performance.com & LMA Performance
Report by Trevor Nicosia, Car 10 (www.nyssaracing.com)
Click here to link to the full TSL Timing results pdf of the meeting