Driving Standards had been the main topic of conversation after Hockenheim, and the chief steward greeted all in the paddock with a set of revised regs for the season, that seemed to get support from most.  A few drivers were missing, although we had a few returning, one being WeeBilly in his Honda NSX.  The decision was to run the races in the late afternoon, with the race finishing under near darkness.

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The Clio cup was the support race, and Pronag proved last season at Lime Rock, that he is a little handy in the iconic French cars, as he stormed through from a lowly grid slot to win the race.  Posh Rob tried hard to keep up, but had to settle for second and Elite class honours, whilst RangersRick filled out the podium places.  It was a hard race for Bradderstig, who lost time early on, and finished behind Devil Lord, in 5th place.  The AM class went to Badbeat, who led the race outright early on and finished 9th overall after a great late dice with CelticFox.

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The Thunder cars looked fantastic with their lights ablaze, and the Ferrari of Robraceruk made a blinding start to lead the field into turn one, PMR Plato also getting the drop on pole sitter JRush to grab second place as they headed up the hill.  The opening couple of laps were a little fraught, both JRush and Plato losing time with a coming together in the esses that slowed them and a few others down, whilst leader Robracer got the chicane all wrong and lost his lead to the second KRR Honda of RangersRick.  The end of lap two may prove to have a big bearing on the destiny of this seasons title.  On the run down to the final corner Posh Rob was having a look at the Ferrari, whilst Bradders sensed an opportunity, and the three cars headed into the fast bend side by side.  Although he had the inside line, Robracer sensed it could end in contact and lifted, but the title rivals didn't and the two cars ended up making contact, the Mazda hitting the wall hard, spinning across the track where it made slight contact with Devil Lord.  That slight contact was a disaster for the following, an unsighted CelticFox behind, who may have got through if the Mazda took its natural path, but instead the Lamborghini hit the Mazda hard and both cars were heavily damaged.  Rick wasn't comfortable out front, as through the mayhem, WeeBilly had been picking off place after place and now found himself amazingly in second place.  With the lower Pi, the KRR version wasn't in a position to withstand the Monster sponsored version, and Billy was soon through into first place.  For the rest of the race, Billy lapped superbly without mistakes and took the victory, his first since Le Mans in Season 2, by 38 seconds.

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Rick had looked the favourite to grab second, and held the position until lap 20 when he made a mistake and went off, luckily with no damage, but the time lost dropped him to 4th which he was unable to recover from.  Had he not made that mistake, he would of left Sonoma as the Championship leader.  CQR Posh Rob was keen to take advantage, but he was in a right old scrap with Pronag and the big tank of the Camaro.  This was not a track expected to suit the Horizon run car, but Pronag was in inspired form all day and managed to take the second place, his best ever Thunder Enduro result.  Posh Rob ended up third, but he and Bradders had to survive a protest to the incident that happened at the end of lap 2.  Both avoided further penalty, the Mazda driver blaming himself, but some in the stewards office believe they should have shown the same caution as Robracer had.  Bradderstig could only come 17th, whilst Robraceruk fell to 14th.  The Ferrari seemed to lose pace as the race went on, but it wasn't all bad for the team.  Mad drove well to take 8th place and the first all wheel drive car home, whilst the sister car of Penfold took second in that class as well as in AM.  The battle in AM this season has been a highlight and Penfold and Badbeat were at it again, but for the second race on the bounce they were battling for second in class.  RGreenwood had returned in the Team Hard Porsche, and he like Billy took advantage of some of the mayhem in the first two laps.  The Porsche looked a real handful, but as the race went on the driver seemed to get a real hang of the German car, and was driving really well.  Although he started to slip back down through the top 10 and out of it, he was keeping the gap constant to the battle AM pair behind, and fully deserved to lift the class honours.  Penfold was initially behind Badbeat, but an extra stop for the Honda helped to give the Ferrari the advantage, and another bonus point for fastest lap put the Ferrari level on points with the SMEG Racing Honda.

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The 4th driver showing championship form, Kidders came home in tenth place, an achievement as he is still feeling the effects of a leg operation just over a week ago, and at a track the little Alfa's seemed to struggle at.  The lone Cerberus Camaro of Devil Lord came home 5th, followed by the brilliantly tail happy BMW of Maj, who entertained all with some fantastic angles that he had the car in over the mountain.  The 6th place was a massive lift for the team.  JRush came home 7th, a little disappointing after his pole position, he was in a mighty battle for the first half of the race with the second KRR Honda of Plato, but showed real podium pace once clear.

So this was a complete disaster for Bradders, who now needs both Posh Rob and Rick to have a bad round to bring him back into the title fight.  5 different winners, this season is proving really hard to predict, and the first two heat race next week at Laguna Seca, will surely add to that unpredictability and excitement.

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Teams & Drivers:

AV Motorsport: Xray Energy DNE

Did not enter.

BTC Honda Civic: AtomStew DNE

Did not enter.

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Cerberus  Chevrolet Camaro 02:  Devil Lord – 5th,           Kinkycowboys DNE

Good result for the Camaro, Devil Lord always within the top 6 and withstood great pressure from Maj late on to secure 5th place.  Second car for Kinkycowboys was missing and did not enter.

Cerberus R&D Mazda MX5: Bradderstig 17th

Complete disaster for the Championship leader going in to Sonoma.  Thought the Mazda would be stronger here, but contact with title rival ended his hopes and the damage was to much to allow him to recover.  Now needs some luck to go his way to get himself back in the title hunt.

DARE Alfa 4c: Wambogini 15th

Like the sister team, DARE opted for the lighter engine and car, but it made little differnce as the Alfa struggled here.  Showed similar pace to Raver, he managed to hold off Penfold to grab the last Championship point.

DART Alfa 4c: xKidders 10th,           Major Raver 11th

Kidders and Raver took the 3.7ltr engine out, and although the car was faster, it wasn't fast enough.  Both struggled with low grid slots, Kidders did well to take tenth, although he was holding on at the end.  Team mate Raver acted as rear gunner and had a great late dice with RGreenwood and the recovering CelticFox.

DMB34 BMW M2: Devilsboogeyman 19th

Showed good pace early on, Devilsboogeyman lapped within a second of the class leaders.  A few problems later in the race left him down in 19th place, but he is getting closer to that class podium.