8/12/2007

Stoneman Surges Into Championship Lead With Double Win

Alpine Motorsport’s Dean Stoneman (Southampton) came away from Norfolk’s Snetterton circuit leading the Formula Renault BARC Championship after winning rounds seven and eight on 11th/12th August. The 16-year-old leads the FR2000 Class standings by nine points from CF Racing’s Hywel Lloyd (Corwen) as the Welshman finished second and seventh.

Reon Motorsport’s Roberto Tirone (Amberley) collected a first victory in Club Class in round seven, adding second place in round eight. Reigning Club Class champion Ian Pearson (Didcot) bounced back from retirement in round seven to win round eight comfortably, finishing 13th overall.

Each day of the race meeting saw one qualifying session and one race, with Eurotek Motorsport’s David McDonald (Ewell) scoring a first single-seater pole position for Saturday’s round seven with a time of 1min 08.386s (102.75mph). His team-mate Sung Hak Mun lined up alongside him as Lloyd and Stoneman could only manage seventh and eighth.

On the green flag lap, an electrical problem ended Ian Pearson’s race before it began. As the race got underway, Mun got past McDonald at Riches to lead with Worswick Engineering’s Rossi (Blackburn) and Double M Racing’s Aaron Steele (Chatham) also making good starts. Problems arose at Riches as Steele spun, collecting the unfortunate Rossi and forcing him into retirement as Steele resumed with front-wing damage.

Lloyd and Stoneman each collected two further places to lie third and fourth when the red flag was deployed due to Russell Racing’s Mark Gillibrand (Manchester) retiring in a dangerous position at the Esses. The race re-started with the cars in race order but a spin at the Esses for the Club Class car of Bob Pearson (Didcot) on the first racing lap saw a second red flag in quick succession.

Following the two stoppages, the race distance was five laps at the second re-start as Mun led away from McDonald. On lap three, Mun made an error to drop to fifth and hand his team-mate the lead. Stoneman passed Lloyd on the same tour to claim second place, while Roberto Tirone led the Club Class from Heffernan with the FR2000 Class car of Robin Palmer (Yelverton) between them.

More drama came on the final lap as McDonald, on the verge of his first win in car racing, ran slightly wide at Coram curve and was unable to take his usual line through Russell chicane to drop to fifth. Stoneman took full advantage to move through on the inside to take the win ahead of Lloyd, while 3K’s Racing’s Kieren Clark (Tadlow) passed both Eurotek cars to clinch fourth and his best result of the season. Mark Burdett Motorsport’s Ollie Hancock (Hook) scored one bonus championship point for setting the fastest lap of the race at 1min 09.436s (101.20mph).

Bright and dry conditions continued into Sunday as the 30-car entry qualified for round eight, with Stoneman clinching his third pole position of the season with a time of 1min 08.350s (102.81mph). The first-year driver made a perfect start to lead away from fellow front-row starter Mun, who was passed by Rossi at Riches.

Starting from eighth on the grid, Championship leader Hywel Lloyd was squeezed onto the grass as McDonald and Kieren Clark battled, dropping the Welshman to midfield. Once again a red flag intervened at the end of lap two as Club Class duo Adrian Dixon (Harpenden) and Steven Durrant (Rayleigh) came together at the Bombhole hitting the tyre wall. The leaders were starting lap three at the time and McDonald retired at Sear after contact with Aaron Steele under braking.

At the re-start, Rossi threatened to pull alongside Stoneman but the pole-sitter held the lead through the first lap. Lloyd made his way up to 13th as he tried to limit the damage caused by his earlier excursion on the grass, while Hancock and Copeland touched wheels at the Esses on lap two dropping Hancock to 22nd.

Despite slight damage to his steering caused on the first start, Kieren Cl