Racing Results 2012
Rounds 7 & 8 Rockingham: 30th June/1st July 2012
- 2 Race wins for guest driver Paul Rose
- Class wins for Gary Prebble (x2), Ilsa Cox (x2), Dennis Crompton (x2), David Hinde, Wayne Schofield and Chris Boon (x2)
A cloudy weekend at the Rockingham Speedway, and a new layout for the Arrowpak Euro Saloons as we used the International SPortscar Long layout. This added an extra length of track running down to Kirby between Pif Paf and the Steel Straight.
Qualifying:
19 Arrowpak Euro Saloons were joined by 4 guests from the Saker Sportscars, the Saker drivers showing their speed with Paul Rose taking pole, the other three drivers lining up 3rd, 4th and 6th after qualifying. Andy Robinson (Ford Falcon) was a late withdrawal due to a family bereavement which denied the crowd the opportunity to see him continue the battle up front with Gary Prebble (Mitsubishi Evo). This left Prebble to take the Class A pole (and 2nd overall, splitting the Sakers) with 5th overall Rex Stamp (Lotus Elise) a second and a half further back, 2nd in class.
Vaughan Fletcher (Subaru Impreza) was next up in Class A, 9th overall and just ahead of Doug Ellwood (Marcos Mantis), but Fletcher's qualifying was cut short with overheating issues. Ilsa Cox (Seat Leon) was on her own in Class B, but nevertheless qualified 7th overall, and 3rd amongst the Euro Saloons. Nick Hayes (Seat Leon) headed up Class C in 11th overall, a couple of places and over a second ahead of Dennis Crompton (BMW M3), while the diminiutive Suzuki Cappuccino of Wayne Schofield blitzed Class D, finishing 4.5 seconds ahead of his nearest challengers, Clio drivers Peter Felix and Andy Jordan, and 8th overall, just 3/10ths behind Cox.
Chris Boon (Honda Civic) was alone in Class E and finished just short of the Class D runners, suggesting he could compete with them come race time.
Race 1:
The lights went out as the lead cars reached the gantry, and Stamp launched from 5th straight up to the front challenging Prebble for the lead. The two would battle it out for the first lap, Prebble leading across the line by just 3/10ths with the squadron of Sakers occupying the next 4 places, before a gap back to Cox, Fletcher (who had outpowered the Suzuki) and Schofield. The lead Saker of Paul Rose passed Stamp on lap 2 before finding a way past Prebble into Tarzan to take the lead, Rose immediately starting to pull away while Stamp was snapping at Prebble's rear bumper. On lap 3, Stamp suddenly slowed, taking a while before parking up on the outside of the track leading up to Tarzan. Rose had already opened up a 5 second gap back to Prebble, now Prebble had Steve Harris in the next Saker climbing all over him, or more to the point, almost going under him coming out of Tarzan. Cox had pulled out a gap from Fletcher and Schofield, but was already 3 seconds adrift of the last Saker, itself 3 seconds behind the next Saker in front.
Fletcher retired on lap 4 as the overheating issues (head gasket) manifested again, leaving Schofield to move up into 7th, while Rose continued to pull clear and Prebble continued to defend from Harris and Tim Wheeldon (Saker). On lap 7, the Clerk sent the Safety Car out so that Stamp's car could be retrieved, 2 laps behind the Safety Car bunched the pack back up again. Rose immediately opened up a big gap while normal service was resumed behind, Prebble still defending from Harris and Wheeldon. Schofield took advantage of the restart and closed right up on Cox, but was still unable to make a pass stick, ending the lap 0.5 seconds adrift. Lap 9 lost both Ellwood (who had moved up to 8th just behind Schofield) as the Marcos parked up on the approach to Yentwood with electrical failure, then almost straight away Schofield lost power and rolled to a halt as his throttle linkage failed.
Crompton (Class C) had been running well, and was now up to 8th, while Alex Sidwell (Holden Commodore) had moved almost unnoticed through the pack to 7th.
With the lead cars starting lap 10, and with still likely to be another 2 or 3 laps to go before time, the crowd up in the grandstand had the eerie sight of watching a vertical wall of rain encroach the circuit, crossing turn one and Tarzan first. The track immediately became slippery, up front Rose had a big slide that almost allowed Prebble to take advantage, pulling back 2 seconds of the 5 second deficit. The Clerk took the sensible decision of throwing out the chequered flag as Rose and Prebble came towards the line. Those further back slid around, Wheeldon in the thid Saker had a big moment that cost him 6 seconds but still just held onto 4th place, now some distance behind third place Harris. Andy Jordan had inherited the Class D lead when Schofield retired, bit an trip across the outside of Tarzan on the final lap gave the class win to David Hinde.
Race 2:
An overnight break between races allowed Ellwood and Schofield to repair their cars and join in for race 2 along with another race 1 retiree Craig Odams (Vauxhall Vectra). Although the forecast was for rain, the weather remained dry for race 2, although very cloudy.
Once again, Rose made an early break from Prebble, already 2 seconds clear by the end of the first lap. Harris, Wheeldon and Burton (all Saker) took the next 3 places with Cox, Sidwell and Crompton up next. Schofield had a mighty opening lap moving up from the back of the grid to 11th place.
Prebble was carrying more pace in race 2, running quicker than the leader and pulling away from Harris in 3rd. By lap 5 the gap from Rose to Prebble had come down to 1.5 seconds (from 3 after lap 2), while the gap back to Harris was up to 5 seconds. Crompton had passed Sidwell on lap 2, while Schofield was moving ominously through the pack, up to 9th on lap 2, and up to 7th on lap 4 as Crompton and Sidwell were dispatched. Schofield was now 2.5 seconds behind Cox and closing in quickly.
Lap 6, the gap at the front back up to 2 seconds as the lapping started, Schofield took 1.8 seconds off Cox, partially a measure of Schofield's pace, but Cox appeared to be slowing a little, falling 2 seconds behind Schofield after the following lap. The gap between Rose and Prebble was fluctuating up front, sometimes down to a second, sometimes more like 2 as the pair lapped further through the field. Harris and Wheeldon were running nose to tail, Burton in the 4th Saker having been long dropped, but still running at a similar pace to Schofield's Suzuki.
Sidwell repassed Crompton on lap 10, and further back in Class D, the battle for Class runner-up was between the Jordans, Andy and Ian, David Pierce having pulled from the race a lap earlier with a puncture.
Over the last 3 laps, Rose pulled away from Prebble to win by 3 seconds, with Harris, Wheeldon and Burton spread out over the next three places. Schofield won Class D, finsihing 6th overall, just 7 seconds adrift of Burton, and although Cox's pace had slowed to the effect she finished 23 seconds behind Schofield, she still retained 7th place ahead of Sidwell, Crompton and Ellwood, the only remaining drivers on the lead lap.
In Robinson's absence, Ilsa Cox extended her championship lead with 154 points, from Schofield (130) and Robinson (120), however only Cox has played her double points joker at this stage. Cox also extended her lead in the Arrowpak Super Touring Cup with 118 points to Derek Hale (70). David Thomas still leads the Mark Fish Renault Clio Cup Challenge, but with 124 points to Andy Jordan (122) and Ian Jordan (116), the gap is much closer. Renault posted their lowest scores so far this season (48 points in each race) in the MSE_Performance.com Manufacturers Cup, but Seat (28 and 30) were unable to take advantage, the gap is now 544 v 438.
The series now moves on to the next race at Snetterton on 21/22 July.
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