Stephen Bailey
Executive member
Bailey becomes fourth winner of 2008
Stephen Bailey made up for the slight disappointment of being pipped to pole, for the second time, by winning the first race of the day at Rockingham Motor Speedway. Dan Eaves made it a dream race for the TPM outfit as he completed the teams' first ever 1-2 finish.
Eaves led most of the race after Matt Neal and Tom Onslow-Cole, the VX Racing team-mates, got into eachother on the banking on the opening lap. Neal received only a very light tap from Onslow-Cole, but it was enough to send the former champion round with cold rear tyres. Onslow-Cole couldn't avoid the spinning Vectra and ran in to the back of it. Onslow-Cole then crossed the track infront of Darren Turner, who in couldn't avoid him, and sent the battered Vauxhall into the concrete wall. Neal and Turner managed to continue, but Onslow-Cole would retire.
After the safety car period, Eaves continued to lead from the now second placed Jason Plato and pulled away from the Leon TDI. Meanwhile behind them, Bailey had moved up to 4th after a poor start saw him drop right back down to 7th. He would soon be 3rd however as Tom Chilton ran wide and let the Leon through.
Chilton ended up falling into the scrap behind him, involving Adam Jones, Fabrizio Giovanardi, Colin Turkington, Stephen Jelley, Mat Jackson and Darren Turner. The group would all pounce on a struggling Giovanardi however, and he would end up only just holding off the Motorbase Performance pair of Steven Kane and Rob Collard for 10th and a solitary point. The others however continued to battle amongst themselves in the fight for 4th.
Adam Jones eventually made a break for freedom after getting by Tom Chilton. He then set about catching Jason Plato and was gifted 3rd place at one point after Plato ran wide in turn 4. A lap later though, Jones made exactly the same mistake and fell back down to 5th behind Plato and Chilton. He would go on to finish 5th.
The scrap behind them was still raging, but Stephen Jelley would came through and took a well fought 6th place finish for Team RAC. He was followed home by Mat Jackson, who took advantage of a mistake by Darren Turner to take 7th. Turkington, who at one point was all over the back end of Mat Jackson, had to settle for 9th come the end of the race.
Back to the battle upfront, and Bailey had now caught Jason Plato, and promptly sent a pass up the inside of the 2001 champion at the Deene hairpin. This left the TPM Leon's running 1-2, with Eaves keeping the gap steady at around a second. Eaves however, closing in on his first win since his return to the series made a series of small mistakes, which allowed his team-mate to catch up. With his team-mate right behind him, Eaves made another mistake coming off the banking into Deene which let Bailey by and into a lead he wouldn't lose. Although it was another good result for Eaves on his return, he was understandably disappointed at missing out on victory.
Bailey also secured the fastest lap of the race.
Race results
Other race pictures
Stephen Bailey made up for the slight disappointment of being pipped to pole, for the second time, by winning the first race of the day at Rockingham Motor Speedway. Dan Eaves made it a dream race for the TPM outfit as he completed the teams' first ever 1-2 finish.
Eaves led most of the race after Matt Neal and Tom Onslow-Cole, the VX Racing team-mates, got into eachother on the banking on the opening lap. Neal received only a very light tap from Onslow-Cole, but it was enough to send the former champion round with cold rear tyres. Onslow-Cole couldn't avoid the spinning Vectra and ran in to the back of it. Onslow-Cole then crossed the track infront of Darren Turner, who in couldn't avoid him, and sent the battered Vauxhall into the concrete wall. Neal and Turner managed to continue, but Onslow-Cole would retire.
After the safety car period, Eaves continued to lead from the now second placed Jason Plato and pulled away from the Leon TDI. Meanwhile behind them, Bailey had moved up to 4th after a poor start saw him drop right back down to 7th. He would soon be 3rd however as Tom Chilton ran wide and let the Leon through.
Chilton ended up falling into the scrap behind him, involving Adam Jones, Fabrizio Giovanardi, Colin Turkington, Stephen Jelley, Mat Jackson and Darren Turner. The group would all pounce on a struggling Giovanardi however, and he would end up only just holding off the Motorbase Performance pair of Steven Kane and Rob Collard for 10th and a solitary point. The others however continued to battle amongst themselves in the fight for 4th.
Adam Jones eventually made a break for freedom after getting by Tom Chilton. He then set about catching Jason Plato and was gifted 3rd place at one point after Plato ran wide in turn 4. A lap later though, Jones made exactly the same mistake and fell back down to 5th behind Plato and Chilton. He would go on to finish 5th.
The scrap behind them was still raging, but Stephen Jelley would came through and took a well fought 6th place finish for Team RAC. He was followed home by Mat Jackson, who took advantage of a mistake by Darren Turner to take 7th. Turkington, who at one point was all over the back end of Mat Jackson, had to settle for 9th come the end of the race.
Back to the battle upfront, and Bailey had now caught Jason Plato, and promptly sent a pass up the inside of the 2001 champion at the Deene hairpin. This left the TPM Leon's running 1-2, with Eaves keeping the gap steady at around a second. Eaves however, closing in on his first win since his return to the series made a series of small mistakes, which allowed his team-mate to catch up. With his team-mate right behind him, Eaves made another mistake coming off the banking into Deene which let Bailey by and into a lead he wouldn't lose. Although it was another good result for Eaves on his return, he was understandably disappointed at missing out on victory.
Bailey also secured the fastest lap of the race.
Race results
Other race pictures
I'm just going to write out what happened from my point of view, the race results and some pictures.
