CAROTHERSLOTUS ELISE

The Lotus Elise Trophy arrived at Snetterton at the weekend with more thrills and spills in the action-packed race series.

The massive field was split into two with the Modified/211 runners racing sperately to the Production-based cars to provide four entertaining races at the Lotus Festival.

Race 1 Modified/211

Jamie Stanley made a poor getaway and left the way clear for Chris Randall to set off into the lead, with Steve Williams, Connaire Finn and Chris Headlam also getting ahead of the white Honda-powered Elise. Immediately Stanley was eager to atone for this and soon passed Headlam, with Ben Pitch following closely behind. However, during his comeback Stanley was to make a mistake entering the Esses and rejoining in third, was some way behind the lead battle between Randall and Williams.

With Pitch tracking his moves, Stanley made serious inroads into the gap between himself and second place, at this point held by Williams, who was finding himself unable to peg the gap to Randall. Catching the Duratec car at Russell chicane, Stanley made his move but with Williams getting a better exit onto the Senna straight, he had it all to do again.

He soon got the job done and set off after Randall at a relentless pace, despite being given a warning flag from the marshals for his driving. This seemed to slow his progress a little but if he had done anything it wasn’t enough to satisfy the stewards, for he was given a pitlane drive-through penalty. Drawing this out to the last minute, it wasn’t enough to maintain his second place and he finished the race in 5th.

Randall took the win, a fine achievement considering that the car had just been finished following a lot of hard work after it was nearly written-off in a crash at Brands Hatch six weeks earlier. He headed Williams by 11 seconds, who just held off Pitch at the line after a good dice. Six seconds back was Headlam, then after the unfortunate Stanley the 2-Eleven pair of Gavin Kirby, taking the GT4 version to a place ahead of Mark Fullalove and Tom Chatterway, who finished behind Modified runners David Seear and Doug Setters. Top Production runner, in 14th place, was Paul Harding.

Overall Result

1. Chris Randall (M)
2. Steve Williams (M)
3. Ben Pitch (M)
4. Chris Headlam (M)
5. Jamie Stanley (M)
6. Gavin Kirby (211)

Race 1 Production

Before the cars even sat on the grid the big drama of the race was that James Knight was unable to take his place at the front of the field, electrical problems relegating him to a pitlane start. This appeared to be very good news for Paul Quinn but as the cars made their way into Coram, Quinn and Marcus Jewell together, Quinn’s car was not turning into the corner and spun on the grass placing him firmly at the back of the field. Jewell was unable to capitalise, straightlining the chicane and would be headed by Mark Speller.

Speller would maintain a healthy lead, whilst behind Jewell, Ken Savage and Hans Baumhardt lapped in close company, followed by Greg Noble and Matthew Bartlett. These four would provide some good entertainment as first Baumhardt stalked Savage before making a move to claim third place. But a moment at the Esses dropped him to fourth before Savage had an even bigger moment, handing the place back to a happy Hans. Noble and Bartlett fared worse, the latter making a move on the former but unable to make the exit of the corner he spun and the unfortunate Noble collected him, however Noble was able to continue whilst Bartlett pitted.

Several drivers were making comebacks from the rear of the field. Quinn barely gained ground, perhaps a legacy of his earlier incident, whilst Paul Harding and Knight worked their way up. Knight’s progress was one of the stories of the race – pulling away from Harding, he chased down the leaders, posting the fastest lap of the race, and although a podium place became a lost cause after a late-race error, he still finished a creditable 7th.

In the end it was a clear victory for Speller, nine seconds ahead of Jewell, himself over six seconds in front of Baumhardt. Next up was Savage, then Noble and Harding. Behind Knight, Martin Roberts headed the unfortunate Quinn and John LaMaster rounded out the top ten.

Overall Result

1. Mark Speller
2. Marcus Jewell
3. Hans Baumhardt
4. Ken Savage
5. Greg Noble
6. Paul Harding

Race 2 Production

With a reversed top-ten grid, Matthew Bartlett led the field off on the first lap, with Stuart Kirkbride unable to make the race, Hans Baumhardt should have challenged but retired almost immediately with a misfire. With the rest of the grid doing well to avoid the stricken car, Mark Speller took advantage of the confusion and found his way to the front. Marcus Jewell followed, as did Paul Quinn soon afterwards, however James Knight was taking his time picking off the runners. He was certainly struggling to dispose of Bartlett, trying at the chicane to take another scalp. At the second attempt the two made contact with Knight spinning, losing a couple of places. At this point the safety car was scrambled for another incident and for two laps the focus of interest was on the Evora lapping Snetterton.

At the restart Knight found himself unable to capitalise on the bunched field and retired with recurring electrical problems. Speller, Jewell and Quinn lapped together for some time before Quinn dropped back a bit. Some way behind, Greg Noble, Simon Phillips and Bartlett fought over 4th place.

At the flag it was Speller completing a double but this time only just over a second from Jewell and a more competitive Quinn not much further back. The trio finished some way ahead of Phillips, Noble and Bartlett, ten seconds ahead of the remainder of the top ten, Martin Roberts, Paul Harding, Mike Davies and John LaMaster.

Overall Result

1. Mark Speller
2. Marcus Jewell
3. Paul Quinn
4. Simon Phillips
5. Greg Noble
6. Matthew Bartlett

Race 2 Modified/211

Another reverse top ten saw Gavin Kirby lead the field for the first time in the 2-Eleven GT4 but Ben Pitch was happy to relieve him at the Esses on lap three, taking a useful lead whilst the other front runners, Steve Williams and Chris Randall, picked off their next target, Mark Fullalove, who was keen to avenge his defeat to Kirby in race one. Not long after, Randall found himself in second and was soon under pressure from Jamie Stanley, who had also taken Williams. The two circulated as one for the entire distance, with Randall having the distinction of both the only and widest Europa in the field. At one point Stanley started a move at Coram, taking Randall into the chicane but his compromised exit handed back the advantage to the more aerodynamic coupe.

Behind them Williams, Kirby and Fullalove entered the chicane almost three abreast and despite the odds, somehow made it through in one piece. With Williams and Chris Headlam eventually clearing the 2-Eleven pairing, Kirby and Fullalove provided a mirror image of the Stanley/Randall fight. Time and time again one of the 2-Elevens would pass the other, only for the other to get past and the process would then start again. This lasted until the penultimate lap when, entering the Bombhole corner, Kirby felt the engine falter and pitted with fuel starvation caused by an almost empty tank.

So it was a finely-judged victory for Pitch, pacing the final laps to finish less than a second ahead of Randall but with the battle for second, the race had been won long before the cars crossed the line. Stanley never did clear the Europa but with Randall had provided all the entertainment as the top three completed the race distance almost fifteen seconds before Headlam, holding a similar gap to Williams, with the leading 2-Eleven of Fullalove another six seconds in arrears. Rob Beves had a quiet race to seventh, then it was the second-placed 2-Eleven of Tom Chatterway, David Seear in ninth and Doug Setters tenth. The leading production runner was Simon Phillips, in 13th place overall.

Overall Result

1. Ben Pitch (M)
2. Chris Randall (M)
3. Jamie Stanley (M)
4. Chris Headlam (M)
5. Steve Williams (M)
6. Mark Fullalove (211)

Watch Lotus Elise Trophy highlights on Motors TV (Sky Channel 413, Virgin Media 545) in 2009.


www.elisetrophy.com