A win apiece for Ant Whorton-Eales (Lichfield) and Mike Bushell (Tunbridge Wells) in Rockingham’s two Renault UK Clio Cup races has effectively left them tying for the championship lead as the title battle heads to another circuit in Northamptonshire, Silverstone, for the crunch penultimate rounds of the season in three weeks (Sat 17/Sun 18 September).
On a sodden track, JamSport’s Whorton-Eales put in one of the drives of the season to take victory in Saturday’s race – he started a relatively lowly tenth on the grid but, on a wet track, was quickly into the lead before going on to win by nearly ten seconds.
The race ended spectacularly amid a savage lightning storm and resulted in the final laps being run in near pitch darkness. Finishing second was another of the title protagonists, 4Front Motor Group with WDE’s Paul Rivett (Epsom Downs) while Team Pyro’s Bushell, who had started from pole position, was a disappointed third.
Bushell, however, made amends in Sunday’s race – shown live on ITV4. This time in dry conditions he led all the way from another pole – his ninth of the season – and set the fastest lap for two bonus points to ensure a maximum score. Rivett took another second place as Ciceley Motorsport’s Max Coates (Scorton) got the better of Whorton-Eales to finish third – a result that also keeps him in the title hunt.
Bushell has been able to slightly increase his outright lead at the top of the table over Whorton-Eales. Critically, though, when the championship’s all-important two-dropped-scores rule is applied, he and Whorton-Eales are equal on points with 328 apiece. The reason for that is Bushell’s two worst scores to date amount to 22 points more than those of Whorton-Eales (38 vs 16).
“That is an absolutely massive result for my championship and Ant finishing off the podium is an added bonus,” commented Bushell after Sunday’s race. “I was a bit dejected on Saturday evening and was actually up at five o’clock this morning thinking about how to make sure I won. Silverstone in a few weeks is going to be very interesting…”
Whorton-Eales, whose win on Saturday was his seventh of the season, said: “A bit of a topsy-turvy weekend all in all. I was really pleased with my drive in Saturday’s race – in the closing laps the light was so poor it was actually difficult to pick out the corners! I really thought we had a chance of another win today as well but it wasn’t to be. The championship has reminded both Mike and I just how quickly fortunes can change this weekend so we both need to be on top of our games at Silverstone.”
Two second places for three-times Champion Rivett mean he closes right up to Coates for third in the table and in fact he takes over the position when the dropped scores rule is applied. He said: “We’ve had a good weekend with two very strong results but Bushell and Whorton-Eales are going to be hard to catch with just four races to go – two at Silverstone and then two at Brands Hatch. There’s no way I’ll give in, though – I know from experience just how important it is to keep up the pressure. Anything can still happen.”
Coates said: “Saturday’s race didn’t go my way with a spin on the last lap which dropped me to eighth, so it was important to bounce back today with a good result and I’m really pleased to be back on the podium. I suppose to some degree people will see me as the outsider in the title race but I don’t mind – there’s no pressure in that situation and I can just go into Silverstone and Brands Hatch with a nothing-to-lose mentality.”
Coates has also put himself in with a chance of provisionally securing the Graduates Cup title for young, first-year drivers at Silverstone. Likewise Pyro the Entrants’ championship, although WDE has managed to edge ahead of JamSport in a tight battle for second place…
