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The sun shone
at Warneton Autospeedway in Belgium last weekend (11/05/08) for the third round
of the CAMSO V8 Championship. The crowds piled into the stands to celebrate the
arrival of summer with cold beer, ice cream and the thundering sound of V8
engines!
The first
race saw Raptor Racing’s Jos Jansen on pole with Kelvin Hassell on the outside;
Vincent Lehouck and Wim Moonen both sat on the second row. As they reached the
first corner, Jansen had edged ahead of Hassell to take the lead; Moonen darted
to the inside, beating Hassell and Lehouck to second place. As they exited turn
four during the first lap, Lehouck squeezed down the inside into third place.
At the back of the grid Gary Ellis, who started
on row five, was picking off his opponents one at a time; he dived past Jean
Vasseur and Tony Roots, improving his position to sixth within the first three
laps. At the front of the field, Moonen was catching Jansen with Hassell
claiming back one place as he passed Lehouck on the exit of turn four.
As Ellis went to pass Andy Andrews into turn
one, he lost traction and slid up the track, allowing Roots to dart down the
inside. As Roots looked down the outside of Andrews, Ellis was back on the pace
and they both passed the #17 on the outside.
Moonen had closed in on Jansen and was just
nosing down the outside when the yellow flags were brought out for rookie
driver Clyde Williams. Williams, driving the #04, had spun in turns three and
four. No damage was done and the cars were gridded for the restart. Jansen took
pole with Moonen alongside; Hassell and Lehouck filled the second row.
 At the restart, Jansen and Moonen sped into
turn one side-by-side, but with Jansen having the inside line advantage, he
managed to edged ahead and take the lead. Midway down the grid Vasseur, Ellis
and Lehouck were fighting for position, heading down the back-straight
three-abreast. Roots was making the most of the restart and was cautiously
looking down the outside of Hassell. Vasseur, storming through the field,
caught up with Roots and took advantage of his hesitation, powering down the
inside in turns one and two.
As Moonen began looking down the outside of
Jansen for the pass, the #73 got loose on the exit of turn four and spun into
the path of the oncoming drivers. With nowhere to go, Vasseur, Roots and
Andrews all spun into a messy heap. Roots and Moonen suffered bodywork damage
but were able to continue the race. The #07 of Vasseur received more serious
wounds and was forced into retirement.
At the restart, Jansen remained on pole with
Hassell on the outside; Roots and Ellis filled the second row as Moonen was
sent to the back of the field. As the green flag dropped, Hassell slipped up
the track, allowing Roots, Andrews, Ellis and Lehouck through on the inside.
Andrews then got stuck on the outside line; Moonen, Williams and Hassell took
advantage of this and sped down the inside.
As the crossed the finish line, Jansen was in
the lead with Roots just snatching second from Ellis by an inch.
Race two saw Jansen pull back into the
paddock during the warming up laps after cutting the front right tyre on
debris. The cars were lined up with Williams taking pole and Lehouck on the
outside. Hassell sat on the second row on his own with Andrews and Vasseur in
row three.
As the green flag flew, Lehouck passed
Williams around the outside of turn one to take the lead. However, his stint at
the front was short-lived as Williams pulled back to the front of the field. As
they came around for the second lap, Lehouck slid up the track in turns one and
two, allowing the pack through, led by Vasseur. Vasseur began chasing Williams
for the lead; as he closed in on him, he took a wide line into turn one in an
attempt to drive around the outside but he was unable to complete the pass.
Vasseur edged back alongside the hard-charging #04 and as they exited turn
four, Vasseur managed to get his nose in front and pull away from Williams.
As Vasseur began to create a good lead from
the rest of the pack, Hassell, currently running in third place, was
black-flagged due to smoke caused by an oil leak. With Hassell out of the race,
Roots was promoted to third place and was soon on the tail of Williams with
Ellis not far behind. Roots attempted a pass in turns one and two but didn’t
have quite enough grip, but as they powered onto the straight, Roots managed to
get his nose in front of the rookie. With Roots past, Ellis drew alongside and
got through on the exit of turn four.
 Behind, Moonen was catching the #04 in fourth
place but couldn’t find enough grip in the corners to pass. With only two laps
left, Vasseur was coming up to lap back markers and as the chequered flag was
waved, he crossed the line first, followed by Roots and Ellis. It was a great
race for Vasseur who has been struggling with the handling of the #07 Profil+
car since the beginning of the season.
The final took place without the #88 of
Hassell, who had not managed to fix the Chevrolet Monte Carlo’s oil leak in
time to compete. Lehouck took pole with Williams on the outside; Andrews and
Moonen rounded off the top four. At the start, Lehouck took the lead. Roots
slipped down the inside of Moonen in turn two to take fourth place, followed by
Vasseur. However, Vasseur got loose in turn two on the following lap and Moonen
reclaimed his place in the field.
During all this, Williams had managed to slip
past Lehouck to claim the lead. Lehouck was holding second place with Andrews
in third. In the middle of the field a battle was taking place between Vasseur,
Roots, Moonen and Ellis. The four drivers were racing two-by-two around the
track when Vasseur spun in turn four, causing a caution.
At the restart, Vasseur was sent to the back
of the field. Williams took pole alongside Lehouck with Andrews and Roots
behind. As they ploughed into the first corner, Williams nosed in front of
Lehouck. When they entered turn three, Andrews tried to get down the inside of
Lehouck by couldn’t complete the manoeuvre.
Roots was steaming around the track and
passed Andrews on the exit of turn four to claim third place. Moonen was also
looking to pass Andrews but was still struggling with grip. Meanwhile, Ellis
has caught up with the #73 and nipped down the inside of Moonen in turn four.
At the front of the field, Roots had caught
Lehouck and was looking to the outside for the pass, managing to inch past on
the exit of turn two. He then began to claw towards the leader. He edged
alongside the rookie but could not find enough grip in the corners or grunt
down the straight. Roots and Williams continued to battle alongside each other
as Ellis caught the #66 of Lehouck. The front of the field saw two tussles for
position as Williams fought off the #77 of Roots and Lehouck battled to keep
his position from Ellis.
With four laps to go, Roots slipped back
slightly but then in a last ditched attempt, managed to claw back besides the
#04. Ellis had just managed to grapple his way around Lehouck, when with one
lap to go, Williams made his final lunge and pulled away from Roots to take the
win. Roots came home second with Ellis in third and Lehouck in fourth. For his
first round in the CAMSO V8 Championship, Clyde Williams didn’t do bad!
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