Adam Stays on Top, While Ian Churchill Climbs into SEAT Cupra R Lead
04 June 2007
Oli Wilkinson
(Sureterm Direct/CMS Motorsport) upset Jonathan Adam's (Total
Control Racing) winning streak in Round 7 of the 2007 Blaupunkt SEAT
Cupra Championship at Croft. However, Adam made sure this didn't
happen again in Round 8, notching up his fifth victory of the year
so far. In the Leon Cupra R class it was Ian Churchill (Churchill Motorsport)
who looked dominant with two wins in a row, mirroring his achievements
in the first two rounds at Brands Hatch.
A flying start by Wilkinson
in round 7 saw him edge the lead from Adam as they went into the first
corner at Croft. Fulvio Mussi (Total Control Racing) took his opportunities
too, darting into third place ahead of Carl Breeze (Blue Chip/CMS Motorsport)
from the start and holding onto that position. Despite having a few
problems with his car Wilkinson set a quickest time of 1:29.273 on
his third lap and managed to hold off Adam's interests until
the chequered flag. Mussi looked content with 3rd spot as the gap between
his car and the blue Leon of Breeze in 4th was too large to threaten
his podium spot. In fact Breeze was on his own for most of the race
while the rest of the New Leon Cupra class rubbed wings behind him.
Daniel
Welch (Marriott/Welch Motorsport) and Alan Blencowe (Triple R) gave
each other a tough race as they both aimed to finish as high as possible
from their 7th and 9th starting positions respectively. Coming together
on a few occasions they collided and came close to a standstill as
they exited the hairpin towards the end of lap five. Welch managed
to hold off Blencowe's challenge but Liam McMillan
(Maxtreme), Ray MacDowall (Total Control Racing) and Stewart Whyte
(SWR) all capitalised on the incident by passing the stricken pair
with relative ease. But none of them could hold off the charge of Welch
and Blencowe for long once they picked up the pace again, Blencowe
even being showered with tyres after an incident ahead of him. ‘Everyone
seemed to be belting tyres and locking up,' said Blencowe afterwards,
adding, "we know we've still got to find something extra
for the next race though". Neil Waterworth (Total Control Racing)
dropped places too after taking a trip across the gravel with Gareth
Nixon (Nixon Motorsport) who wasn't lucky enough to be able to
continue the race. Waterworth did eventually manage to finish above
MacDowall but it was Welch and Blencowe in that order who salvaged
the best they could from their situation with 5th and 6th spots respectively.
In
the Leon Cupra R class Ian Churchill romped home to his third win of
this season. Fellow title hopeful Freddy Nordstrom (Advent Motorsport)
had problems with an oil pump fuse failure and pulled off in the third
lap leaving it wide open for yet another contender Harry Vaulkhard
(Volkis Boozer's/ Triple R) to slot into 2nd spot. "I missed
a gear on the first lap and let a few through, so the result's
not bad considering," admitted Vaulkhard. Adrian Churchill (Churchill
Motorsport), who'd been thinking his weekend was over after engine
problems during qualifying, did start the race from 6th on the grid
and after taking it easy and dropping places in the first corner had
soon made them back up and then some, sitting in 3rd and looking for
ways past Vaulkhard in the second half of the race. He couldn't
find it in the end, but will be glad of the 13 championship points.
Kristian Waite (Second Time Round) also made up for his time in the
gravel during qualifying by moving up six places in the race, finishing
an impressive 5th in his class after starting at the back of the grid.
So
it was Wilkinson who took his first victory of the year ahead of Adam
and Mussi, but he would have his work cut out to repeat the performance
in the second race, while both Adam and Mussi would look for more podium
positions from their front row starting points.
Whyte started Round
8 in a strong fourth position on the grid. When the lights went out
he searched for a way past the front two of Adam and Mussi, having
forced Breeze out of his 3rd position along the first straight. But
the Scot couldn't repeat the performance of Wilkinson in Round
7 and ended up buried in the gravel at Clervaux allowing Adam, with
Mussi tucked snugly behind, to exit the first corner in 1st position.
Breeze also diced with the gravel which allowed Waterworth to join
behind his two team mates with Wilkinson and Blencowe also both making
a place up on Breeze.
The safety car came out at the end of the first
lap under a yellow flag, with the New Leon Cupras all bunched up behind.
But when it pulled away the trio of Adam, Mussi and Waterworth set
off on a mission to repeat the same result they'd achieved in
the second race at Thruxton weeks beforehand… and to good effect.
As the laps went by the three of them kept their position and distanced
themselves from the battle for 4th and 5th places. Blencowe had made
a blistering start from 10th on the grid, challenging Wilkinson for
4th after only the first corner. As they entered the hairpin on lap
3 Blencowe made his move, cutting tight on the inside of Wilkinson
and powering his way ahead as they hit the start/finish straight.
Wilkinson
was then in the sights of both Welch and Breeze. Breeze was continually
searching for a way past Welch who defended valiantly against some
aggressive advances. Despite this, Welch again kept the crowd entertained
by passing Wilkinson, a move which Breeze also liked the look of and
followed Welch's lead. Then at the beginning of lap 8 Breeze
took his opportunity heading into Hawthorne, snatching 5th spot from
Welch who almost immediately hit a tyre marker sending them skyward.
Wilkinson bared the full brunt of this, a tyre smashing hard into his
windscreen, but did brilliantly to not lose sight of the now significantly
damaged Welch. As in Round 7 all eyes were on the battle involving
Welch as again he had to drive right on the edge to keep his 6th position. "The
car's still got all four wheels so that's good," said
Welch afterwards. "It was just one lap that I just didn't
block enough and Breeze came through. Fair enough though."
Nixon
had been forced to start Round 8 from the back of the grid despite
qualifying in 6th and managed to fight back to finish 8th , just behind
Wilkinson. Young McMillan had taken some advantage of MacDowall's
obvious problems by moving into 9th while MacDowall had to settle for
10th in his class but behind the first two cars in the Leon Cupra R
class. In this class it was again Ian Churchill who put in a blistering
display, steering clear of any trouble and scooping another win. As
at Brands Hatch Churchill's win in the second race made it another
double victory and never looked in much doubt after the restart.
Tim
Bevan (Pyro Motorsport) had made an incredible advance at the beginning
of this race forcing his way into 2ndplace on the first lap. Likewise,
Mike Doble (Doble Motorsport) had found a way past Vaulkhard into 4th
place looking hungrily at the rear bumper of Nordstrom. But Nordstrom
made his move on Bevan coming out of the hairpin on lap 3, squeezing
past after trading a little of Bevan's bright orange paint with
his blue and yellow hues. Vaulkhard also stepped up a gear, getting
past Doble and then past a spinning Bevan who lost his third place
to Vaulkhard and ended up at the back of the pack. Adrian Churchill
had been constantly pushing hard from the back, looking quick but unable
to pass a stubborn Eric Bailey (Startline Services/ABRA). "If
I could have got past Bailey I could have easily made up more places.
Easily!", commented Churchill afterwards, but as it was he ended
up 6th in his class and he and Bailey both received an extra championship
point for making the biggest improvement on their starting positions.
But
it was his brother Ian Churchill who took maximum points with Nordstrom
making up for an unfortunate electrical problem in Round 7 by taking
2nd in Round 8 while Vaulkhard kept his championship challenge alive
with a 3rdplace to add to the 2nd place he got earlier in the day.
With Blencowe , Breeze, Welch, Nixon and Wilkinson all showing they're
back near the pace of the likes of Adam, Mussi and Waterworth in the
New Leon Cupra class, there could well be some upsets at Oulton Park
during the next meeting.
See series calendar for SEAT
Cupra Championship 2007
Related Story 24.05.2007 - SEAT Cupra Challengers Plan to Attack at Croft
