Standlake F2 - 3/11/19

Another fantastic turnout of 20 cars in the pits for the Bonfire meeting in front of a decent crowd.  Among the entry were the visiting Grimley trio of 42 Ash Greening, 115 Ben Farebrother and 681 Ollie Holford – the latter making his first visit to Standlake.  There was an F2 debut for H1 Tracey Green in the Butcher hire car, a rare Standlake appearance for 797 Dan Moss and a surprise visit from 888 Simon Edwards from the northern Outlaws.

There was plenty of focus on the pair of 155 Carl Lewis and 856 Paul Webb – both of whom stood a chance at winning the points championship and the right to wear the Gold roof – with only 16 points separating them and a possible 30 to play for.

All 20 cars made it out for heat 1, with 185 Jess Webb getting the lead into turn 1.  623 Rob Dobie passed 521 Phil Trigg for 2^nd on lap 2, with 776 James Trigg making a fast start from the blue grade and moving into 3^rd passed 509 Jordan Butcher and Phil Trigg.

By lap 3 James Trigg had caught Jess Webb for the lead into turn 1 with Dobie also passing the latter for 2^nd.  A few places further back 563 Keith Walding passed Butcher, before Edwards got the better of Walding and Webb on the back straight.  The former pairing continued their battle into turn 1, with Walding coming off worst and spinning as Paul Webb also spun on to the infield and re-joined way down the order.

Leader Trigg then pulled off as Edwards passed Dobie and Butcher to take the lead, with Greening close behind in 2^nd.  Further retirements saw 82 Keith Richens in the fence on turn 4 while Moss also pulled onto the middle.  Walding caught Dobie to gain a place back as Lewis was making the best possible start to his Gold roof challenge, passing Greening for 2^nd.

Edwards’ lead was under threat as Lewis was closing fast while Farebrother was putting the bumper in at every opportunity, although a short while later he was to spin on turn 1.  Into the closing stages and Greening took the lead from Edwards, before Lewis jumped from 3^rd to 1^st ahead of both.  This is how it was to finish, with Lewis making the most of Paul Webb’s earlier spin to reduce the gap to just 11 points with 2 races left, by taking his 15^th win of the season.

Result: 155, 42, 888, 352, 421, 856, 509, 105, 623, 563

Some fantastic repair work in the pits – in particular a clutch change for Paul Webb which including a removal of the engine, with several drivers lending a hand – saw 19 cars make it back out for heat 2.

Jess Webb again led into turn 1 and held on until lap 2 when Phil Trigg took up the running.  Butcher passed Dobie and then Webb to run 2^nd, although he quickly had James Trigg for company to snatch the place.

Further down the field Lewis was involved with a couple of other cars on turn and slowed on the back straight, eventually retiring.  Greening passed Butcher and Walding as he made a strong charge from red grade, while up front James Trigg passed father Phil on turn 2 to take the lead – Edwards not far behind as he took 2^nd from Phil Trigg.

The race was then quickly red flagged, as Walding’s inside front suspension had broken at the end of the back straight and unable to stop or turn, he hit the fence square on at speed.  A crash which would end his day’s racing.

James Trigg led the restart and would hold off the chasing Greening until the final lap, when he spun on the entry to turn 1 allowing Greening through for the win unchallenged ahead of 105 Louis Williams and 421 Gary Webb.

Further down the order, Paul Webb’s 5^th place finish was enough for him to secure the points title.  With Lewis not finishing, the gap was 17 points with only 10 left available for the Final.

Result: 42, 105, 421, 516, 856, 352, 797, 115, 888, 681

18 cars made it back out for the final and as the lone white grader, Phil Trigg held the early lead.  Butcher slotted into 2^nd after getting the better of Dobie, while Moss had made a strong start from red and passed 261 Roger Mountney and then Dobie, who had lost a further place to Edwards just beforehand.  The latter then dropped back slightly a couple of laps later, as first Moss and then Greening and Gary Webb came through.

Greening caught and passed Moss before hitting the fence hard on turn 2, which brought out the red flags.  Lewis also retired at this point with running problems.

The restart saw Phil Trigg out in front with Butcher and Moss in 2^nd and 3^rd.  Butcher took the lead from Trigg on the restart, before Moss made a move on the pair to take over at the front.  Gary Webb was pushing hard to keep pace with Moss and he got the better of Trigg and Butcher for 2^nd.  The latter pair would then also be reeled in by Edwards and Williams, with the 105 car now looking the quickest on track.

As 352 Andy Webb retired Williams took 3^rd from Edwards and as the lap boards came out, both Webb and Williams were slowly reeling Moss in.  With 3 laps remaining, Williams took 2^nd on turn 2 as Edwards dropped to 5^th behind 516 Andy Cornock.  Although Williams got close and did stick the bumper in for a last bend attack, it wasn’t enough to dislodge Moss who took his 2^nd final win of the season ahead of Williams and Gary Webb.

Result: 797, 105, 421, 516, 888, 856, 115, 261, 509, 776