Archive
Radical European Masters: Dijon Races 1 & 2, 10-11 October 2009
13th October 2009
The final round of the Radical European Masters went down to the wire, with Derek Johnston and Stuart Moseley eventually reigning supreme to add the 2009 European Masters title to their rapidly-expanding prize haul.
Only a fortnight after scooping the 2009 Radical UK Cup honours, Johnston battled though challenging weather conditions to the slenderest of winning margins. In the end, it was only brief contact between rivals Jamie Patterson and Cameron MacDonald, the latter also in title contention, which gave Johnston the upper hand.
RACE 1
With the first race only hours after qualifying, all drivers were careful to avoid any first-lap incidents. Only seconds before the start of the race, the heavy rain began to fall, but all drivers made it through the start unscathed. Nigel Greensall made an early break for the lead, passing James Swift and Alex Kapadia in a brave outside move. Roger Bromiley briefly held third, before being repassed by Swift just before the pit window opened.
The order remained the same after the pitstops, with Cameron MacDonald maintaining a 15-second lead over Jeff Collier, replacing Kapadia in the driving seat. Stuart Moseley worked his way through the field from 13th to fifth overall, teammate Johnston driving cautiously to preserve his championship lead.
MacDonald brought his car home some 15 seconds ahead of Kapadia, with Stanley following closely. Tom Stubbe Olsen drove well to finish seventh overall and fastest Supersport in his SR3, chased by Vincent Nicolet’s SR5. Don Patterson finished 23th overall and fastest in the Prosport class.
RACE 2
Sunday saw very different racing conditions for Race 2, with a much drier track for a thrilling championship showdown. Stuart Moseley started from pole, bunching the pack tightly before the long drag up the straight towards the green light. Moseley made a clean start, but was side-by-side with MacDonald into the first corner, barely retaining the lead. Jamie Patterson capitalised on the move, leapfrogging Jeff Collier for third before setting his sights on MacDonald.
MacDonald needed to chase Moseley all the way to the line to keep his title hopes alive, but on lap 7 it was all over. A brief touch between Patterson and Cameron forced the latter to pit for a new tyre, dropping out of contention. This allowed Collier to relax his pace for the class title, before handing over to co-driver Kapadia.
Behind him, Roger Bromiley was calmly working his way through the field to third, driving solo all weekend at Dijon, and resisting a late charge by John Stanley. Giorgio Rosa took the Supersports class win in his SR5, finishing sixth overall.
As a result of the weekend’s results, Derek Johnston was crowned the 2009 Radical European Masters overall champion, also winning the SR8 class. Jeff Collier and Alex Kapadia share the SR8 LM honours, Collier’s first-ever championship victory. The 2009 Supersports victors are AUH Motorsport’s Bassam Kronfli and Christopher Hissette, whilst the Prosport class was wrapped up by Don Patterson and Nigel Morrison in their PR6.