Coastal Racing - Clio Cup 2008

Renaultsport Clio Cup - Rockingham Rounds 3 & 4

Both Coastal Racing's Clio Cup drivers were entered for rounfs three and four of the Clio Cup at Rockingham Motor Speedway. Stephen Tyldsley was making his debut in the championship.

In qualifying on Saturday the heavens opened after around five minutes. Most of the drivers only managed two flying laps. In this time Carl put in two excellent laps and found himself starting in thirs position in the first race, and second position for the second race. This was Carl's best qualifying session in the Clio Cup to date. Stephen had not had chance to get to grips properly with the car and circuit and found himself starting in twentieth position for race one, and in a much improved tenth position for race two.

Carl had a good start in the first race holding fourth place approaching the second corner running four abreast! He was pushed out wide by Richard Cannon and relegated to sixth position behind Rob Boston. Over the next four laps he chased down Boston and Cannon before he executed two excellent manoeuvres to get back fourth place. Unfortunately he was too far behind the leading three drivers and had to settle for fourth position.

Unfortunately Stephen was being held up by slower drivers after that start but couldn't get past them. With 6 laps to go he was involved in an incident with Niki Lanik causing a suspension problem and had to retire in the pit lane.

Race two was a good race for both drivers. Carl had an excellent start pulling away from pole-sitter Ben Winrow, but Paul Rivett and Richard Cannon both had blistering starts and pulled in front of Carl going into the harpin. Stephen managed to consolidate his tenth position on the first lap before a major accident brought out the safety car for a long period of the race. The race was reduced to 25 minutes. After the restart Carl chased down Richard Cannon and decided it was best to stay in fourth place and gain some valuable championship points rather than going for the win.

Stephen had an excellent battle with Phil Glew and Derek Pierce in the closing stages of the race and came across the line in a very respectable tenth place.

Renaultsport Clio Cup - Brands Hatch Rounds 1 & 2

Carl Bradley was not joined by Stephen Tyldsley for the first rounds of the clio cup because of Stephen's Euromax karting commitments at Salbris in France.

Early on in Saturday's qualifying session Carl had been putting in consistent times and was in the top 5. Towards the end of the session Carl changed the tyres on the car to do a couple more hot laps. This was to no avail as the tyres did not perform and Carl finished a respectable 10th in the session. This left Carl starting in tenth for race one and ninth for race two.

Carl had a good start in race one but dropped back into twelfth going into Paddock Hill Bend. Carl held twelfth for the first 5 laps until he was involved in an incident with David Dickensen causing substantial damage to the car and being unable to carry on.

In race two Carl had another great start following Alex McDowall going down Paddock Hill in ninth place. Carl was to stay here for most of the race catching Alex McDowall and Phil Glew as they were concentrating on their own battle. Carl pulled away from Mike Robinson and in the closing stages of the race was right behind McDowall and Glew looking to make a move. However the red flag was show after an incident involving Gavin Pyper and Carl was to finish the race in a respectable eight place.

Both Carl and Stephen will be in action at the next round of the Clio Cup at Rockingham in two weeks time. Carl will be looking to build on his eighth place at Brands and Stephen will be wanting to make an impact on his Clio Cup Debut.

Renaultsport Clio Winter Cup –Donington & Croft

Rockingham Carl Bradley was joined by Stewart Lines of www.maximum-solutions.co.uk in the 2007 Winter Cup. This was both drivers debut in the popular end of season shoot out.

Carl had a year to forget in the main 2007 Championship so wanted to be able to secure some solid results in the Winter Cup.

Stewart has never raced a Clio Cup car before and it was interesting to see how well he adapted to the car compared to the MINI Cooper S he raced last year.

At Donington both drivers had solid results. In race one Carl finished 5th and Stewart came home in 8th place. In race two Carl went one better to finish in 4th place with Stewart coming home in 9th place.

Croft was a much better weekend for both drivers. Carl wanted to build on his solid performances from Donington and Stewart felt he could really push for a top finish now he had acclimatised himself to the car.

In race one, both Stewart and Carl got excellent starts. Stewart gained 5 places on the first lap and was comfortably sat in 4th place behind Carl who had another good start and was following the leaders around in 3rd.

Half way through the race Carl's car started to go off and Stewart was able to reel him in by the last lap. Carl was only just ahead of Stewart going into the hairpin. They were alongside each other racing to the finish for that last podium place. It was a photo finish and it was judged Stewart beat Carl to the flag by 0.008 seconds. Stewart was over the moon with his first ever Clio Cup trophy in only his 3rd ever Clio race.

Rockingham In race two both drivers had solid starts with Carl in 5th place tucked in behind Aron Smith. Smith proved to be a rolling road block and no matter how hard Carl tried, he could not get past him.

Stewart had another good start and made a couple of places up on the first lap. Unfortunately Stewart was involved in an incident with another driver and spun off. He limped round to the pits to retire with a damaged radiator.

Renaultsport Clio Cup – Rockingham

Carl was hoping to building on his strong performances at Brands Hatch and gain his first championship points of the season. The team were struggling with the setup of the car during testing but found a good setup for qualifying. He put in some solid times but had to come into the pits mid session due to a fuel system fault.

In the qualification race, Carl was gaining places and was hoping for a top 8 result. A couple of laps into the race, the car was having suspension problems. Carl had to bring the car home gently to prevent retirement from the race. Carl finished 13th in the Qualification race and the fault was determined and rectified for the Championship race. Carl got a good solid start but 4 laps into the race, the suspension fault reoccurred again and caused him to lock up and collide with Finlay Crocker to put himself out of the race.

Another weekend to forget. Hopefully we will have some luck at Thruxton in 2 weeks time.

Renaultsport Clio Cup – Brands Hatch

This was a weekend to forget for Carl Bradley. On his debut in the Clio Cup he put in a solid performance both in free practice and qualifying. In the qualification race, Carl finished a strong 7th which put him 13th place on the grid for the championship race.

Carl got a good start in the championship race but Dean Gaffney collided with him sending him sideways and he lost a couple of places. A couple of laps later, James Williams left a gap going into druids. Carl had the inside line but Williams turned into him causing them both to retire.