Bushell came into the last two rounds with a 34 point lead ahead of Jordan Stilp, putting him in prime position to take the championship. Qualifying didn't go quite to plan for the 25 year old, with his Team Pyro machine only managing sixth place for the start of round 17, but was able to come home in fourth place behind the SV Racing trio of Josh Cook, Ant Whorton-Eales and Alex Morgan, who finished first, second and third respectively. With Jordan Stilp finishing 12th, Cook moved up to second in the championship, knowing that he would have to win the final race of the season if he was to stand any chance of taking the title away from Bushell.
With Cook starting on pole and Bushell lining up third on the grid, the stage was set for an epic showdown between the pair. The opening lap proved to be chaotic, with Cook and Westbourne Motorsport's James Colburn coming together at Paddock Hill bend, which saw the latter make an early exit from the race. As a result of the contact, WDE Motorsport's Paul Rivett took the lead, with Cook following close behind, while Bushell had dropped to seventh. Knowing that only a race win would give him hope of lifting the title, Cook made a late lunge up the inside of Rivett at Paddock Hill bend, but too much speed sent his Clio flying across the track and ended up in the gravel trap, and as a result ending any chance he had of winning the title. With his main title rival out, Bushell powered on and came home in third place, with Paul Rivett taking his first overall win of the season ahead of SV Racing's Alex Morgan.
At the end of yet another exciting season in the Courier Connections Renault UK Clio Cup, Bushell took the championship by an impressive 43 points on 415 points ahead of Cook with 372 and Stilp with 351. It's not just the driver's title that was decided that weekend; Jordan Stilp clinched the Graduate Cup with 419 points, just 11 ahead of Whorton-Eales and Cook, who finished joint second. Elsewhere, Paul Rivett took the Master's Cup crown on 481 points, 33 ahead of his nearest rival all season Lee Pattison, and SV Racing had done enough before the weekend's racing to take the Entrant's Trophy title, which they had sealed at the penultimate weekend at Rockingham five weeks prior to the finale.
Now that the season has finished, it will be interesting to see who will be out on the grid for next seasons Clio Cup, with BTCC teams such as AmD Tuning.com and Team BMR already expressing their interest in expanding to the series next season, as well as rumours of an expansion at Jam Sport.
Written by Alan Faulkner
Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Motorsport Photography
