Rivett Wins Opening Clio Race

**Craig** · 2 Apr 2002, 15:53 (Ref:249997)

Quote:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: TUESDAY 2ND APRIL 2002
WORDS: 471

RIVETT WINS, BUXTON STARS IN CLIO CUP THRILLER

Paul Rivett (Banstead) held on for a narrow victory in the opening Elf Clio Renaultsport UK Cup round at Brands Hatch, Kent, yesterday after overcoming early leader Andrew Kirkaldy (St Andrews) and then soaking up intense pressure in the closing stages from defending champion Daniel Buxton (Northwich).

Rivett shadowed Kirkaldy, who started on the NGK Laser Platinum Pole Position, for the first half of the 12-lap race, while Buxton had to work his way through the field after dropping from third to eighth at the first bend. In total, a massive 32 cars started the race – the biggest grid since the Clio Renaultsport 172 racers started in 2000.

Rivett’s Team Firstair car then moved past that of Bintcliffe Sport Racing’s Kirkaldy but during their battle they had held up one another, allowing Mardi Gras Motorsport’s Buxton – by now up to third thanks to a series of brilliant overtaking manoeuvres –to close in. He too was quick to move past Kirkaldy, setting up a terrific battle for the lead between himself and Rivett in the closing laps.

But despite annihilating his own lap record five times, Buxton, back to defend his crown in 2002, was unable to find a way past Rivett whose victory means he is undefeated in Clio Cup racing at Brands Hatch following his two race wins on the venue’s Indy circuit last year. His average speed over the course of the 12-lap race was a mighty 93.40mph, but Buxton’s Performance Friction Fastest Lap was an even higher 94.81mph. Buxton’s sensational comeback drive also earned him the Michelin Driver of the Day award.

Kirkaldy, suffering from tyre problems in the closing stages, was able to stay with Rivett and Buxton to the chequered flag to finish an excellent third on his Clio Cup debut, but needed to watch his mirrors as Z-Speed Racing’s Martin Byford (Sudbury) closed up to him in the final laps.

Defending champion team Tim Sugden Motorsport’s Michelin Renault Clio Scholarship winner Robert Huff (Cambridge) fended off a group of cars to bag fifth position, just ahead of Tracsport’s closely-following Alastair Lyall (Loughborough) – his result a superb reward for his team who rebuilt his car in 48 hours after a major accident in Thursday testing.

Total Control Racing team-mates Jason Templeman (Newark) and Jason Coffin (Shaftesbury) had figured in the hunt for a top six finish but unfortunately both crashed out of the race. This left the way open for Colin Stancombe (Upminster) to record a strong seventh place finish, just ahead of rapid privateer Mark Davies (Mirfield). Ninth place had looked set to fall the way of Holfeld F1 Components’ Eoin Murray (Dublin) but the Irishman ran wide at the very last bend, allowing BSR’s Ed Pead (Beckenham) and TCR’s Enzo Buscaglia (Milton Keynes) to outdrag him to the line in a dramatic blanket finish.

MORE …

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Result: Elf Clio Renaultsport UK Cup, Round 1, Brands Hatch Grand Prix

Pos/Driver Entrant Time
1. Paul Rivett Team Firstair 20m13.811s
2. Daniel Buxton Mardi Gras Motorsport 20m14.049s
3. Andrew Kirkaldy Bintcliffe Sport Racing 20m14.929s
4. Martin Byford Z-Speed Racing 20m15.877s
5. Robert Huff Tim Sugden Motorsport 20m26.043s
6. Alastair Lyall Tracsport 20m26.184s
7. Colin Stancombe Stancombe Vehicle Engineering 20m30.902s
8. Mark Davies Mark Davies Motor Racing 20m31.051s
9. Ed Pead Bintcliffe Sport Racing 20m37.691S
10. Enzo Buscaglia Total Control Racing 20m38.025s
11. Eoin Murray Holfeld F1 Components 20m38.067s
12. Bob Smith Crisps Garage Racing
with INS/Boardcraft 20m39.654s
13. Aaron Scott Tim Norton Motor Services 20m39.955s
14. Adam Sharpe Stancombe Vehicle Engineering 20m42.849s
15. Adrian Miller Boulevard Team Racing 20m46.900s
16. Vince Martin Martin Motorsport 20m48.062s
17. John Ingram Tracsport 20m48.983s
18. Enzo Mucci Atlanta Motorsport 20m50.938s
19. Peter Salter Peter Salter Motorsport 20m51.977s
20. Martin Johnson Boulevard Team Racing 20m52.421s
21. Rick Kraemer Bintcliffe Sport Racing 20m52.486s
22. Paul Wallace Tim Sugden Motorsport 21m03.338s
23. Spencer Griffiths Atlanta Motorsport 21m11.415s
24. John George Mardi Gras Motorsport 21m11.459s
25. Julian Griffin Team Griffin Racing 21m13.211s

Performance Friction Fastest Lap: Buxton, 1m39.586s (94.81mph) NEW LAP RECORD

Points (provisional): 1st, Rivett, 32; 2, Buxton, 30; 3, Kirkaldy, 25; Byford, 22; 5, Huff, 20; 6, Lyall, 18; 7, Stancombe, 16; 8, Davies, 14; 9, Pead, 12; 10, Buscaglia, 11, etc.

Round 2: Oulton Park, Cheshire, Sat/Sun, 20th/21st April 2002

ENDS

Paul Rayner · 2 Apr 2002, 16:09 (Ref:250020)

It was a great race, got the crowd on their feet more than anything apart from Touring Cars once they saw 32 of those things coming round Paddock Hill Bend for the first time. Some good quality crashes (ie spectacular but no-one hurt), but my prediction of the Laguna being up the front in Clios and Formula Renaults was completely wrong. Words eaten. Yum.

Gonna be a great season!

MrTTraces · 2 Apr 2002, 16:18 (Ref:250035)

Yes it is going to be a great season.

Roll on Oulton.......

**Craig** · 2 Apr 2002, 17:00 (Ref:250090)

We were on the outside of Dingle Dell and the Clio were very well behaved at first, though they did get quite lively towards the end - hopefully some good photos to come from that! Good stuff

Les · 2 Apr 2002, 19:43 (Ref:250215)

Kopydopy - whatever was a bit rough though. He didn't half punt Jo Kraemer off.

**bella** · 2 Apr 2002, 20:13 (Ref:250256)

Quote:

Originally posted by MrTTraces
Roll on Oulton.......

strangely appropriate

jo herself was going slowly enough to be caught by him (kopolol...), she was fair game for a good punt

paulzinho · 2 Apr 2002, 21:58 (Ref:250384)

Quote:

Originally posted by bella

strangely appropriate

jo herself was going slowly enough to be caught by him (kopolol...), she was fair game for a good punt

I'll agree with that, she was definitely holding him up and was quite strong in her defense of position. Still she's a tryer I suppose!!

Craig do you have anywhere where you post your photos?

**Craig** · 2 Apr 2002, 22:16 (Ref:250407)

I was taking photos for www.BandQsi.com but the Clio race was just too good an opportunity to miss seeing as I had the necessary pass to get me out the other side of Dingle Dell - awesome! When I get the piccies back maybe I'll scan a few...

paulzinho · 2 Apr 2002, 22:23 (Ref:250410)

I look forward to seeing them!! And it was nice to finally meet you, thanks for making me feel welcome too!!

DavidStHubbins · 2 Apr 2002, 23:26 (Ref:250446)

Sounded like a great race, I could have gone but had to work..... i thought Rivett would win the title but then Kirkaldy and Buxton are on the scene its between those three now, god knows who will win, I suspect Buxton as he is the canniest as well as very fast. He should be in Touring cars though....

**bella** · 3 Apr 2002, 09:56 (Ref:250709)

daniel was very impressive, but then again, he should be, he's the defending champion....

Jonny Apex · 3 Apr 2002, 10:35 (Ref:250748)

It could well be that Buxton's greatest race in three years of Clios - for I am sure he will be in BTCT next year where he belongs - might just turn out to be the one he didn't win.

We really saw a true master at work on Monday - super, super fast, overtaking in impossible places - that move on Templeman at Stirlings was just insane - and still has the capacity to keep the car good until the end of the race. His telemetry after the race showed his speed through Paddock when he overtook Kirkaldy - bear in mind this was off the racing line - was well over 90mph and higher than he'd managed in qualifying.

That boy has got talent to throw away.

rick vaux · 3 Apr 2002, 13:21 (Ref:250894)

Poor old jo, the two of them were having a right old ding dong coming onto the GP circuit, you couldn`t have slid a fag packet between them, but it was clean,there wasn`t any cutting across each other on the way down to pilgrims drop
, just good clean racing....
Agree to, Buxton had a screamer...

danielbuxton · 8 Apr 2002, 10:25 (Ref:254673)

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the kind words, Brands was exciting just a shame not to win! Clio's seemed like a good idea once the BTCC chances had gone, i think its better to be racing than sitting on the sidelines waiting for people to forget you!

I'm going to give it everything this year and just hope that if we can win it again, a chance will present itself in the BTCC for 2003.

Here we go again, all guns blazing!!

**bella** · 8 Apr 2002, 10:31 (Ref:254679)

and there's absolutely no shame in being a double clio champion. better than than running in a shifty production car...

have a good one at oulton

danielbuxton · 8 Apr 2002, 13:02 (Ref:254832)

Thanks very much, could do with a win there. Will be hard though as the competition will no doubt be fierce!

All the Clio's tested at Thruxton last week & that went really, really well, tomorrow testing at Silverstone, should be good!

paulzinho · 8 Apr 2002, 13:03 (Ref:254833)

Nice to see you here Daniel! Great pass into Paddock too!

Great racing all the way to the end, shame you couldn't get that final pass but it was fun to watch!

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