2008 CAMSO V8 SEASON REVIEW

Article by Melissa Wicks and photos by Xavier Verquin at TeufTeufteam.be 

The 2008 CAMSO V8 championship delivered exactly what was expected of it: fast cars, lots of noise and action all the way!

Frenchman Vincent Lehouck was the first driver to take a chequered flag in 2008 after fending off England’s Gary Ellis in his Roots V8 Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo and Belgium’s Kurt Dyjardyn in the Raptor Racing Dodge Charger. Dyjardyn demonstrated his pace in heat two, the final race of the day as the weather would dictate, taking the win from Tony Roots, with Xavier Vandermeersch in his newly rebuilt Dodge Intrepid taking third.

Round two turned everything on its head, as the rest of the field started to find their feet. American Bruce Andrews took heat one from Brit Kelvin Hassell. Vandermeersch drove the Intrepid to a win in heat two with Raptor Racing’s rapidly improving rookie, Jos “The Boss” Jansen in second. Dutchman Wim Moonen was on form for the third heat, holding off Jansen who was still looking for that elusive top step of the podium. Ellis won the final after moving around Hassell and Andrews, who finished second and third respectively.

Jansen’s race win arrived at the very next meeting when he beat Roots and Ellis to the flag in the opening heat. With Jansen moved to the back of the grid, as is the case with all CAMSO V8 winners, Roots and Ellis were both confident for heat two but 2007 champion Jean Vasseur upset their plans by beating both Roots V8 team members. The final saw Clyde Williams in an ideal position to take his first win. Once again it was the Roots/Ellis duo trying to take the prize but Williams held on and took the first victory of his CAMSO V8 career.

Vasseur won the first heat of round four from Ellis and Hassell. The Frenchman’s charge for championship honours coming a little late with Ellis and Roots rarely finishing outside the top three; a point that was pushed home in heat two when Roots took the win and Ellis came home second. Prospeed driver Franz Lamot finished third. Ellis then secured victory in the final with Roots just behind and Lehouck taking a much deserved podium finish.

The following meeting was CAMSO’s “Big One!” two 25 lap heats followed by a 75 lap final. Hassell kicked off proceedings by winning the first race from Vasseur and Ellis. Vandermeersch beat Roots and Ellis in the second heat. It was Dyjardyn who demonstrated his endurance racing expertise in the final, fending off Ellis. Andrews put in a fantastic drive for third.

Moonen and Vandermeersch took a heat each at round six with Bertrand Zore and Anton Gonnissen both making the podium for the first time this season. Hassell won the final comfortably from Ellis who was second ahead of Dyjardyn.

Round seven was business as usual as Ellis won both the heats from Vasseur but the Frenchman did manage to get to the flag first in the final. A disgruntled Dyjardyn finished third, the Belgian making it clear he expected better things to come in the Budweiser 200 race.

It rained heavy on the day of the Budweiser 200. The race cars sat in the paddock and for much of the day it looked as if the Budweiser might not happen. But the rain did clear and it was Vandermeersch who won the main event on the CAMSO calendar, fending of Vasseur and Christof Vandekerckhove for honours.

Heat wins at the penultimate round were shared between Wim Moonen and Kelvin Hassell but all eyes were on Tony Roots who needed some good points scores to keep his championship hopes alive. Roots scored a third in heat one and won the final to make sure he was still in the hunt for the title.

However, it was all in vain though. At the final round Gary Ellis won the first heat and cemented his championship by winning the final. Roots finished second in the final and the championship. A steady run of results moved Wim Moonen up to third in the final standings.

Congratulations to Gary Ellis and the Roots V8 Racing team, CAMSO V8 Champions 2008.

September 28^th 2008 CAMSO V8 Warneton Speedway, Belgium

Many thanks to Kelvin for the report and to  X, Verquinn and the tueftuefteam for the pictures.

Tony Roots took a convincing victory in the CAMSO V8 final at Warneton on a surprisingly sunny Sunday afternoon. It was the first time championship leader and Roots V8 Racing team mate, Gary Ellis, had been under pressure for the whole year. The #77 Pontiac Grand Prix was on top form and Roots drove it faultlessly through the field and into a lead which never really looked challenged. Vincent Lehouck in the #66 Ford Taurus managed to hold off the challenge from Roots for a while but after several laps of side by side racing, Roots made the pass stick and began to pull away. Lehouck held on to second. Jean Vassuer came home third in the Profil+ Ford after Ellis spun out trying to get to the leaders. Roots now trails Ellis by 43 points as they go into the final round in October. A hard task for Roots but certainly not impossible. Wim Moonen affirmed his grip on third place in the championship with an exciting drive to first place in heat one, only to have his hard work undone by fourth place runner Kelvin Hassell who decimated his opposition in heat two. As we go into the final round at Warneton on October 12th there is still everything to play for.

The championship positions, Name, Car Number, Points

7th September Warneton Speedway, Belgium

Thanks to Kel of Kam Racing for the report. Pictures courtesy of Lolo from www.teufteufteam.be  on account that Xavier, the usual photographer was racing one of the cars!

CAMSO V8/ Round 8 the Budweiser 200

Xavier Vandermeersch took a well deserved victory in a race that many thought wouldn’t happen!

When the crowd rolled into the Warneton venue on Sunday, the weather suggested that the chance of seeing any CAMSO V8 racing was virtually zero. Fortunately, with the U.K Oval Legends on hand and the hard hitting Bangers, entertainment would still be coming thick and fast.
The V8s were scheduled to run four races but the rain only permitted the running of one. And what a race it was too! Photographer Xavier Verquin was back in the Roots V8 Ford Fusion and he took the early lead as the fighting in the mid field started getting a fraught. Wim Moonen ended up facing the wrong way down the track to bring out the first caution. Hassell had worked his way up to second and so would line up next to Verquin for the re-start. Ellis was just behind with Tony Roots on his outside. At the green flag Hassell Sped into the lead with Roots in second after boxing Ellis in behind Verquin.
With 17 laps to go Roots put a bump’n’run on Hassell, putting the Chevrolet sideways on the exit of turn 2 before diving around the outside. Vandermeersch passed along with Ellis. Hassell got the Chevy back into shape and headed for turn 3 with cars on either side. Something had to give and we were into our second caution of the day. Roots was sent to the back of the field. At the restart, the Chevrolet of Gary Ellis bogged down. Hassell was trapped behind Ellis, as the rest of the field threaded their way around the two cars. The pair eventually got going, but it would be short-lived for Hassell who later collected the Ford Taurus of Vincent Lehock in turn 3 retiring both cars from the race, much to the annoyance of the Frenchman. The restart saw Ellis challenge Jean Vasseur, who had made his way to second place behind Vandermeersch. The challenge was cut short when a puncture forced Ellis out of the top places and promoted Christof Vandekerckhove to third place with Roots now back up to fourth. Vasseur challenged Vandermeersch several times for the lead in the closing laps but eventually settled for second. Vandekerckhove filled the last step of the podium with Roots fourth and Raptor Racings’ Anton Gonnissen placing fifth.

Warneton Speedway / CAMSO V8 / Round 7 24 August

It has been a difficult season for 2007 CAMSO V8 champion Jean Vasseur, he has struggled to find pace from the #07 Profil+ Ford Taurus and a string of unfortunate incidents have left him an uncharacteristic 5th in the championship standings. This Sunday, however, he was flying finishing second in both heats and taking the final in style.

Kurt Dyjardin was going to be the man to watch this meeting with drivers trying to gauge the pace for the Budweiser 200 in September. Dyjardin took the third step of the podium for the final with Gary Ellis in the number 2 spot. Dyjardin made it quite clear afterwards that he intends to win the Budweiser race. Ellis also made it quite clear that he wasn’t going to allow that to happen. Expect a titanic battle at the next CAMSO V8 round! Ellis won both the heats and might have made it a hat trick had the race been a little longer. The yellow flags came out early when Anton Gonnissen got it all wrong on the exit of turn four Xavier Vandermeersch braked hard to avoid the collision but was collected by Xavier Verquin of the Teufteuf team. If the name Verquin sounds strangely familiar it’s because he is the official CAMSO V8 photographer! He delegated that job this weekend to take the wheel of the #5 Chevrolet Monte Carlo of Roots V8 Racing.
Vandermeersch continued with the bodywork of his Dodge Intrepid somewhat incomplete to finish 4th but Verquin, sadly, had to retire. Tony Roots fought his ill handling Pontiac around to finish fifth.

Round 8 is at Warneton Speedway on Sunday September 7th

Posterholt Speedweekend 2008.

Raceway Posterholt was the scene for the annual speed weekend on Saturday and Sunday august 9/10. Quite some Brits made the crossing across the channel and even further. On the Saturday there were seven of them namely Gary and Denver Grattan and Gary Chambers from Northern Ireland and the Chris Roots, Colin Smith, Graham Malings and Simon Farrington from England. On the Sunday they were joined by two more English drivers in the shape of Andrew Palmer and Allen Cooper. Downside of the weekend was the way the field was started, because it was just a matter of the blue and red tops jumping the start that promptly brought out the green flag. As this happened the white tops were only halfway down the back straight and a long way from the point where the green should actually come out. Jumpstarts went down unpunished as was overtaking under the waved yellows, although the drivers had been warned they would be punished for doing so. To top it all off, the last race of the F2’s was cancelled due to the time curfew, which they crossed anyway, so 10 more minutes wouldn’t have hurt. Notable absentee was Toon Schut who had a fire at his storage area, although I don’t know what went up in flames but word is that at least the RCE was in there but it could’ve been more.


German driver Uwe Krusekamp bravely chose the weekend to make his debut, which was short lived. 37 cars came out for the first qualifying heat on the Saturday, Ron Janssen stayed in the pit area with engine trouble. After two rolling laps the green dropped and it was Francois Damen who took the lead. This didn’t last very long as Malings took over until he was put in the fence by Frank van Riet. Malings spun and Milou Mets piled in, putting them both out of the race. Chambers race lasted just a few laps when he hit engine trouble and Tony Henraath took the lead. Damen and Danny Verelst tangled on the back straight bringing out the waved yellows. Henraath missed the restart completely and Christiaan Smidt shot of into the lead. The battle was on than because van Riet was chasing Smidt and Willie Peeters was slowly gaining on them. Peeters took advantage of the battle between Smidt and van Riet and took second. He then proceeded to push Smidt wide for the lead and took the win from Smidt and van Riet.

Heat two was a complete nightmare to get underway properly. There were 37 cars again, this time Chambers being the non starter. At the drop of the green Peter Baer climbed all over Robert Leenhouts and rolled bringing out the reds. After the complete restart it was Roy van Alphen who rolled his car in turn three and slid into the armco, bringing out the reds again. After yet another complete restart it was Smith who took the lead, when Henraath grounded to a halt in turn 3. In an act of brotherly love, Gary put Denver Grattan into the stationary Henraath car to bring out another red flag. After yet another restart it was van Riet who took the lead from Smith while further down the field Smidt was having a battle with Roy Leenhouts. It all turned into a roundy round affair after this and it was van Riet who took the win, once again from a too generous yellow grade start. Smidt came in second and Patrick Kessels was third.

Total points were won by van Riet from C. Smidt and W. Peeters.

The race for the Golden Helmet was the first on the program on the Sunday. Even I can’t recreate the grid they formed according to the Saturday results. There were driver further up the field than others who scored more points and the entire grid was a complete joke. One driver wasn’t even on the list although he scored points on the Saturday. A random draw would have been fairer to a lot of drivers than what went on here. It was van Riet on pole with Smidt on his outside, then Willie Peeters and Kessels on row two and Denver Grattan and Chris Roots were on row three. Just prior to the start of the race a shower wet the track and this would have an influence on the race as it was not nearly as spectacular as it could’ve been. At the drop of the green Smidt put the throttle down, started to slide and hit van Riet with the bumper in the rear tyre, thus ending van Riet’s race. Peeters and Denver Grattan took full advantage and took first and second. They started to pull away from the rest and Denver kept up with Peeters until a brake problem occurred and he had to let Peeters go. Peeters carved through the back markers and won the race from Danny Smidt and Henk Peeters. fourth and fifth were Jelle Kurstjens and Erwin Peeters who both started near the back of the grid.

There were 35 cars out for heat two and it was Erik Mets, who was out in the Sander van de Heuvel car that hit the turn 4 fence and Damen. There was a pile up in turn four and C. Smidt, Peter Baer and Henraath piled in as well. Damen, Janssen and Baer were left stranded on the race line, but there were no waved yellows. It all took a turn for the worse when another car went into the Janssen car but no yellows. C. Smidt, who got his car going quickly after the pile up was in the lead and managed to hold on and take the win from Maurice Verstappen and W. Peeters. The aftermath of the pile up and the refusal to bring the yellows out, even with cars left stranded on the race line was bad. Janssen had his car totaled in the crash, while Damen and Baer were left with a lot of work. The only good thing was that nobody was injured, which could have easily happened with the cars being into the places they were. There still is a difference between spoiling a race with the yellows and putting peoples life in jeopardy.

30 cars came out for the last race of the Tooz and that race was red flagged right away when Robert Leenhouts hit the back straight fence, before Maurice Verstappen climbed all over him and rolled. Verstappen got out of his car but Leenhouts was in need of help. Eventually Leenhouts climbed from his car and was seen walking around the track later. With 25 cars left it was Mets who took the lead and went into the distance. Roy Hendriks went out very hard taking Peter Schut with him. W. Peeters was slowly closing on Mets, the latter not giving Peeters any trouble when he took over at the front. Peeters went on to win from Mets and H. Peeters.

Total points were won by Willie Peeters from Henk Peeters and Christiaan Smidt.

Edwin Clout.

Posterholt 13-7-2008.

Many thanks to Edwin Clout for the report.

26 cars came to the Posterholt Raceway for the last meeting prior to the big speed weekend in august. There were several drivers who got into trouble on Saturday during the training session. Piet Huussen who was out in a 2008 Randall with a brand new engine had problems with the flywheel. Erwin Peeters stroke of bad luck continued with a broken gearbox and Frank van Uden had his share of engine trouble. All three of them were out on race day however, with Huussen having a car loaned to him by Willie Peeters. Notable absentees were Jan and Sjors Bekkers and Jelle Kurstjens, who were all at the Skegness speed weekend. Former 1300 and Saloon stox driver Frankie van Riet brought the Emiel Janssen owned car out for the first time, as Janssen now seems to be retired.

All 26 cars came out for heat one which had a chaotic start to it as several drivers jumped the start. Once the green dropped van Riet took the lead from his far too generous white grade start. Peter Schut and Christiaan Weyenberg hooked up and went into the fence. Hans Gielen went flat out into the turn 4 fence hitting Roy Maessen along the way. Maessen rejoined the race just behind van Riet and the two engaged in a battle, both of them putting the bumper in allowing Milou Mets to close in and have a go at the lead. Van Riet however managed to hold on to the lead but he now had the big guns to deal with. The waved yellows came out for Helmut Laumen who had his rear bumper rubbing on his tyre. After the restart it was Willie Peeters who took the lead only for van Riet to have go at Peeters, which didn’t affect the latter at all. Henk Peeters took second and Danny Smidt third, with van Riet again trying to put in a hit, on Smidt this time. Willie Peeters took the win from his brother Henk and Danny Smidt.

26 cars out for heat two with once again a jump start which produced a crash on the rolling lap. Once again the offenders got away unpunished and in doing so this problem will never be solved. It was van Riet who took the lead again and this time the waved yellows came out for no apparent reason. After the restart it was van Riet who took the lead but the Peeters train was already on its way and they moved their way up towards the leader. Just as Willie tried to make his move on van Riet the latter’s engine broke down, causing him to retire for the rest of the day. Willie Peeters went on to take the win from Henk Peeters and Roy Maessen.

Only 21 cars came out for the third and last heat with van Uden retiring from the rolling lap. After the green flag it was Peter Schut who put the bumper in hard and shunted Jan Vervuurt into Christiaan Smidt. On the back straight there was mayhem when Toon Schut ended up partly on the safety fence and partly on the roof of the Sander v/d Heuvel car. The reds came out immediately and there was called for the medical team, but by the time they were in there van and at the scene the drivers were already out of their cars. After figuring out how to untangle the cars it was a complete restart and v/d Heuvel was allowed to take part in it as well. Willie Peeters climbed all over Roy Maessen and retired while Henk Peeters also retired. The race turned into a roundy round affair with Danny Smidt taking the lead and the win from Milou Mets and Patrick Kessels. Erwin Peeters took a good fourth, hoping his stroke of bad luck comes to end now.

Total points were won by Danny Smidt from Willie Peeters and Patrick Kessels.

Edwin Clout.

8th June Warneton Speedway CAMSO V8

Many thanks to Kelvin Hassell KAM Racing for the report (as Melissa is busy elsewhere) and Xavier at the TeufTeuf Team for the pictures.

Gary Ellis made the 60 lap CAMSO cup his own with a victory despite a shootout to the flag bought about by a late caution period!

The first caution period of the day came in heat one when Clyde Williams from England and American Bruce Andrews had a coming together. Both were able to continue. Kelvin Hassell led the cars away from the restart but was shuffled back to third by Frenchman Jean Vasseur and Ellis late in the race.

Former Superstox racer Tony Roots won the second heat despite the best efforts of Ellis, who was second. Porsche GT racer Franz Lamont was third.

The 60 lap final saw a cautious start for the front end of the field with nobody wanting to risk the high line so early in this marathon of a race. Before the race Ellis had said “I don’t want to win this race, I want to win the 75 lap race in July!” But Ellis was first to move his Dodge Charger to the high line and start picking off the opposition. Three Caution periods broke up the race. The first was Rookie driver Dirk Vervecken who spun on his own. Later Vasseur would collect Belgium driver Jos Jansen in turns three and four. Five laps from the end the yellows flew again for debris on the track possibly left from the previous accident. This gave Roots who was in second place, another chance to beat Ellis as he moved his Pontiac to the outside in the final laps but couldn’t find the drive off of the turns. Ellis strengthened his championship lead with Roots a valiant second. Lamont was docked one place for driving conduct which promoted Vincent Lehouck to third place.

Posterholt 8-6-2008.

Many thanks to Edwin Clout for the report.

27 cars raced at the third meeting at Posterholt Raceway. Notable absentee was Willie Peeters who was over in England with his F1 stock car to race at the Peter Falding testimonial meeting. Dirk Albrecht brought his new Randall out for the first time.

All cars came out for heat one in which lady racer Milou Mets had a brief spell in the lead before Christiaan Weyenberg took over. Jelle Kurstjens climbed onto Sjors Bekkers. The yellow flags came out for a brief period of time, but before the whole field had slowed down the greens came out again and the confusion that followed allowed Henk Peeters and Toon Schut to close in on Weyenberg and relegate him from the lead. Whether it was by a sideswipe from Roy Hendriks or his own mistake but Randy Wederfoort brought the race to a premature end when he rode the home straight fence and rolled the car on its side before sliding along the Armco for quite a distance. Randy was ok but the car can be deemed written off as the chassis was all bend. Henk Peeters took the win from Schut and Danny Smidt.

24 cars came out for heat two and it was Weyenberg who took the lead. Schut spun Danny Smidt, before the race turned into a procession. The only driver making up a lot of ground was H. Peeters but he got caught underneath the Helmut Laumen car when he tried to shift it wide, the Laumen car lifting his wheel of the ground under braking which caused the mishap. This all gave Weyenberg enough breathing space to take the win from Mets and Patrick Kessels.

Also 24 cars for heat three which started with Christiaan Smidt following Jan Bekkers into the turn two fence, which put them both out of the race. A good battle for the lead developed between white graders, Mets, Wyenberg and Tony Henraath, with the bumper going in on occasions. The three of them traded places for quite some time, until Weyenberg managed to open up a gap. Kessels arrived and took second before the train of Schut, Henk Peeters and Danny Smidt arrived. Mets got caught up in the fight between the three of them and had to give way. Smidt was trying to force Schut wide but couldn’t quite shift him and it was Peeters who took advantage of this by spinning Smidt. For some reason the reds came out for Smidt, which actually saved Weyenberg who had just spun and with the race being over, he was the winner from Kessels and Schut.

Total points were won by Weyenberg from Schut and Henk Peeters.

Edwin Clout.