MOTORSPORT: Tansley back in the hunt (From This Is Wiltshire)

MOTORSPORT: Tansley back in the hunt

9:30am Thursday 19th April 2007 in

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CRICKLADE driver David Tansley kept his championship campaign on track with a fine second place podium finish in the first race of the Caterham Roadsport B challenge at Silverstone. But his luck changed in the second race when he was forced to retire.

Tansley had some problems during qualifying and lined up seventh on the grid at the start of the first race. This was compounded by a poor start which dropped him down to 11th in the opening laps.

But he quickly carved his way through the field to run in fourth as the race reached its second half. A thrilling wheel to wheel battle ensued between the leading four cars before Tansley made a final charge to take second place and a well deserved podium.

The second race was to be even more dramatic. Tansley started from second on the grid and this time got away cleanly.

During the opening laps he battled with the eventual race winner Gareth Thomas, the two drivers trading first and second places lap after lap until Tansley's car was hit in the rear on the approach to Luffield corner, dropping him to fourth place.

Worse was to come. After overtaking another car to retake third through the fast Copse corner, the other driver tried to hold the outside line, lost control of his car, and spun into Tansley, causing significant damage which forced him to retire from the race.

n Swindon-based racer Oliver Bull enjoyed mixed fortunes in the Evo Caterham Eurocup races at Hockenheim in Germany, finishing second in one of them but bowing out of his other event.

The 30-year-old was sharing his Caterham CSR with Kent-based racer Ed Morris, 18. Bull elected to drive in race one, up against his arch-rival, Clive Richards.

Bull and Richards quickly broke away from the pack to pursue a private battle for race victory. They exchanged the lead on a dozen occasions, but it was Richards who pinched it for good at the hairpin on the final lap, leading Bull across the line by 0.3 seconds.

The two-driver feature race saw Bull take the lead on the opening lap when his engine misfired and then died completely.