Chappell Racing end year on high with 1-2-3 finish
Race Report for Brands Hatch 14.11.09
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| Qualifying Gallery |
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The team returned to Brands Hatch for the finals rounds of the Cannons Tin Top Challenge Championship with Gary Chappell, David Clark and Terry Searles locked in a dogfight for second position in the championship. With a mathematical change of finishing 2nd in the championship, Searles would need to bag a brace of class wins to take the runner up position while hoping that his two challengers failed to finish at least one of the races.
After steady rain throughout the early part of the day, the weather improved slightly prior to the qualifying session. The three Chappell cars began the session cautiously looking to build tyre temperature before committing to a hot lap. Track conditions continued to improve and the times came down as the circuit dried, and the session ended with Cassar in his championship winning Proton taking pole position from Chappell, Searles, Clark and Barlow in the sister Proton.
Race 1
The weather had worsened after qualifying and by the time of the first race approached, the rain stopped and the track began to dry out, which made tyre choice virtually impossible. As the lights went out, Searles rocketed off the line and pulled alongside Chappell going into Paddock Hill, with Clark closely following. As the cars entered the corner Searles was clipped and sent into a spin collecting three other cars including Clark's Renault before ending up in the gravel trap and out of the race before it had barely begun.
The race was then left with Cassar leading the chasing pack of Chappell and Barlow going up towards Druids while Clark and Searles watched from the sidelines and deliberated on what caused the spin. Cassar begun to pull out a lead on Chappell with a series of fastest laps while Chappell in-turn begun to pull out a lead on Gary Barlow and Gary Cole.
In a fairly uneventful race (apart from the first corner!), Cassar stormed to another win with Chappell and Barlow finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Race 2
The Second race started with a strong wind and torrential rain battering the circuit, and as the cars began their warm-up laps it was deemed to unsafe to start the race. The cars came to a stop on the start/finish straight until the weather got a little better. After 15 minutes, the rain stopped and the sun began to come out although it was still very windy. It was deemed safe enough to race and the cars once again headed out for 2 warm-up laps before beginning the race. The lights turned to green and immediately Searles and Clark passed six cars on the first lap in their pursuit of Cassar and Chappell as they began the race on the final line of the grid due to their non finish in the first race.
Back at the front, Chappell was being held up by Barlow which allowed Cassar to pull out a lead. With Searles taking places by the lap, being closely shadowed by Clark, they began to catch the battle of 2nd, 3rd and 4th with Chappell now ahead of Barlow, followed by Cole. Chappell began to pull out a lead as Barlow and Cole held each other up and started to chase down Cassar's Proton, which by this time was nearly five seconds in-front. Lap by lap, Chappell was closing on Cassar and as the cars were mid-way through the race Chappell was right on the rear bumper of Cassar and searching for a way past. Back behind, Searles and Clark were storming through the field and right behind the battle for third with Barlow and Cole. Both Searles and Clark made their moves and it wasn't long until they were both past Barlow's Proton and Coles Citroen and then set about chasing down Chappell and Cassar at the front.
Chappell made his move going up the hill into Druids and Cassar failed to close the gap allowing Chappell to pass on the inside and take the lead. Chappell, reveling in the wet conditions, began to immediately pull out a big lead with Cassar falling further and further behind and towards the rapidly closing Searles and Clark. Searles was beginning to open up a lead on Clark and then managed to pass the slowing Cassar and into 2nd place. With only two laps remaining Clark passed Cassar who then lost places to both Barlow and Cole. The race and season ended on a high for Chappell Racing with the three cars finishing first, second and third.
So, the final two races of the season produced some great races throughout the field during the difficult weather conditions. With Clark and Searles not finishing the first race and Chappell winning the second race, Chappell finished behind Cassar in the championship in second place with Clark and Searles finishing 3rd and 4th respectively. Although Clark was unlucky with some costly non-finishes this season and was disappointed with the end of season results when he was challenging for the outright lead throughout the season, he can still hold his head up high with his best championship finish to date. It all made for an interesting season and the count-down to the 2010 Cannons Tin Top Challenge now begins.......
| Results Race 1: | Results Race 2: |
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| FASTEST LAP: Danny Cassar Lap 7 |
FASTEST LAP: Gary Chappell Lap 10 |