VTEC Challenge does Cadwell


Jonathan F

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Cadwell Park: July 26th/27th (Rounds 9 and 10 of Honda VTEC Challenge)


Rounds 9 & 10 of the VTEC Challenge took place as the well known circuit of “Cadwell Park” in the sprawling Lincolnshire countryside. At just over half way through the season, the series took the opportunity to have a summer celebration over the weekend.


VTC Entrants:

08 – Simon Jessop – Super Tuner – Integra DC2
14 – Daz Smee – Production – Integra DC2
31 – Phil Wright – Super Tuner – Accord Type R
39 – Rob Burkinshaw – Tuner – Integra DC5
42 – Dawn Boyd – Production - EP3 Civic Type R
47 – Paul Garrod - Production – Integra DC2
66 – Paula Webb – Production - EP3 Civic Type R
67 – Marc Kemp - Production - EP3 Civic Type R
139 – Andy Smith – Super Tuner – Accord Type R

With what seems like an age since we last turned a wheel at Silverstone, it was welcoming to see everyone ready for the event, and with some taking advantage of a Friday afternoon test session to familiarise themselves with the circuit.

Local driver Marc Kemp was new to the series for Saturday only as he was racing elsewhere on Sunday. However as Cadwell is his home track he didn’t want to pass on the opportunity to race his “Production” Civic amongst the VTEC Challenge regulars.

With considerable experience of the circuit in all manner of exotic machinery, Marc’s progress would be closely watched and hopefully the experience would be enough to encourage him to come back for future races.

Following their first time outings at Silverstone, both Daz Smee and Paul Garrod returned to the VTC running their JDM Integra’s in “Production” class.

With the majority of drivers arriving Friday evening, everyone got set up in readiness for the weekends activities.


Qualifying:

With clear skies overhead, circuit conditions looked perfect for the first outing onto the track. With the call to the assembly area announced over the tannoy, all drivers headed out to test their metal against this formidable track.

With a few laps to familiarise themselves with the tracks layout, it was time to press on and set about achieving some fast lap times and good qualifying positions.

With growing confidence in the track conditions, everyone’s lap times began to fall, with the majority setting their fastest lap towards the end of the session.

With everyone safely back in the paddock, details on lap times began to come in.

Out in front it was Rob Burkinshaw and his “Tuner” DC5, with Phil Wright’s “Super Tuner” Accord in 2nd and the “Production” Civic of Marc Kemp in 3rd. With only a couple of seconds covered the top 3 cars, the racing was shaping up to be as exciting as ever.

Pole: Rob Burkinshaw
2nd: Phil Wright
3rd: Marc Kemp


Race 1:

With Rob and Phil covering the front row of the grid, it would be a straight up sprint to the first corner. Although Rob would have the inside line for “Coppice” the long sweeping corner of “Charlies” would benefit Phil if he could remain alongside.

With everyone lined up following their green flag lap, the countdown was on.

Seconds ticked down and with the red lights extinguished, 15 minutes of racing got underway.

Everyone got clean away and from the 2nd placed grid slot, it was Wright who pulled ahead and took the lead into “Charlies” with Rob close behind.



Kemp in the Civic remained in 3rd place and despite the power differential pushed hard to stay in contention.

Smith in the second Accord and Jessop in the Integra ran side by side into turn 1, but it was Smith who slipped in behind Boyd to take 5th place.

Daz Smee in his DC2 began to make up positions from his last placed grid slot (a result of an incorrectly displayed black flag in qualifying) and was soon up with Paul Garrod in his equally spec’d DC2 for a race long battle.



Burkinshaw continued to chase Wright for the lead, but with the narrow circuit, overtaking opportunities where sparse.

Kemp continued to hold station in an untroubled 3rd and began to pull away comfortably from Boyd in 4th.



Smith began to close up on Boyd over the following few laps, sizing up his options to make a clean overtake. Coming through the wooded section of the “Hairpin” and “Barn”, Smith saw his opportunity and using the Accords greater power, overhauled the Civic along the start finish straight to take 4th and begin his charge to Kemp.

Now Boyd was faced with the attentions of Jessop and having witnessed Smith’s overtaking manoeuvre a couple of laps earlier, carried out something similar and slipped by before “Coppice”.



Out in front, Wright continued to fend off Burkinshaw who was busy applying the pressure. Into the “Hairpin” and the Integra pulled alongside and the pair drove door handle to door handle through to “Barn” where Rob managed to exit ahead of Phil to take the lead and pull away to take the chequered flag.

Disaster soon befell Wright as the engine in “Kato” cried enough and resulted in a retirement and a return to the paddock.

Chasing down Smith, Jessop was soon up with the director of “VTEC Direct” in the Accord but was unable to find a way past. Now into 3rd and 4th place respectively, Smith began defending with earnest.

As the laps ticked down, the last lap board was hung out over the pit wall, and Smith looked set to pick up the final podium position. However racing can be a cruel mistress and on the final approach to “The Mountain” Smith found the Accord stuck in 3rd gear and unable hold off Jessop any longer.

With Jessop through, Boyd was closing in on the stricken Smith, however the gap was just too much to close up and Smith held on to 4th at the line. Elation soon turned to disappointment as the engine in the Accord let go following sustained use at full revs, sidelining both Accords from race 2.

1st Rob Burkinshaw
2nd Marc Kemp
3rd Simon Jessop

Class wins were awarded to:

(P) – Marc Kemp
(T) – Rob Burkinshaw
(ST) – Simon Jessop

Fastest lap: Rob Burkinshaw 1.42.487 on lap 4 of 9


Race 2:

With both of the Accords out of action and Paul Garrod only racing on Saturday, the grid numbers suffered a little, but never the less the racing still shaped up to be as exciting as ever.

With Burkinshaw and Kemp locking out the front row, Jessop lined up behind with an empty grid slot alongside him which should have been home to Smith.

As the lights went out Marc’s EP3 didn’t get away as cleanly as he would have liked, which allowed Jessop to get the jump and chase after Burkinshaw into “Charlies”.

With a clear track ahead, Burkinshaw was able to capitalise on the phenomenal acceleration of the DC5 and almost immediately begin to pull out a significant gap over Jessop.

Quickly recovering from his less than perfect start, Kemp was soon back up to speed and challenging Jessop for his 2nd place, whilst Boyd held on to her 4th place.



Starting in 10th, Daz Smee soon dispatched of the Pre 2005 contenders to slot into 5th place behind Dawn.

Paula Webb in the 3rd EP3 began a race long battle with Kenneth Adlard in the Pre 2005 class Alfa 145, with both drivers completing the race without incident in spite of the close fought racing.



With Burkinshaw untroubled, some of the most exciting action centred on the battle for 2nd and 3rd place. The nimble Civic of Kemp proceeded to crawl all over the rear bumper of Jessop’s Integra through the twisting sections of the circuit, but it was the Integra which was able to open the gap on the long straights.



Over full race distance the pair kept each other honest and despite using all of his circuit knowledge, Kemp was unable to overhaul Jessop and had to settle for 3rd place overall as the Integra was brought home safely in 2nd place.

1st Rob Burkinshaw
2nd Simon Jessop
3rd Marc Kemp

Class wins were awarded to:

(P) – Marc Kemp
(T) – Rob Burkinshaw
(ST) – Simon Jessop

Fastest lap: Rob Burkinshaw 1.42.690 on lap 2 of 9


Summary:


Thanks to the series sponsors: Toyo Tires, Ultra Racing, Performance Autoworks, Finsport, Honda Tuner, R-Motion and MOTORV8 Media for their support.

The next race is on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit on the 6th/7th September. Anyone interested in coming out to race, just get in touch at vtecchallenge@gmail.com



Words: Jonathan Fletcher
Pictures: Lindsey Fletcher
 
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