Standlake F2 - Open Championship - 22/09/19

Despite injuries and holidays ruling a few out, there were still 20 cars present for Standlake’s biggest meeting of the season.  The entry included two from Grimley in the shape of 45 Will Adams and 115 Ben Farebrother. 422 Paul Quick made the long trip up from the South West for a first outing since last years Open meeting, while 7 Liam Cornish made his first appearance of 2019 and there was an F2 debut for 26 Steve Turner.

The format saw heat 1 drawn, with a reversed grid for heat 2 and then the Open final ran in points scoring order.  623 Rob Dobie drew pole alongside 352 Andy Webb and the pair headed a 20 car field for heat 1.

Unfortunately, due to the torrential rain little can be said about the first race.  Andy Webb took a flag-to-flag victory, despite a late challenge from 516 Andrew Cornock who closed Webb down with 2 laps remaining, but in challenging for the lead ended up spinning himself on the exit of turn 4.  He performed a 360 and did manage to retain 2^nd place, but this allowed Webb the breathing space to take the win.

Result: 352, 516, 105, 421, 508, 856, 776, 115, 509, 109

All cars were back out for heat 2 on a very slippery track, the front row this time made up by 421 Gary Webb and 509 Jordan Butcher.  Gary Webb got the lead into turn 1 as Ben Farebrother and 856 Paul Webb followed him through.  Farebrother then took the lead with a move on turn 3, but the race was almost immediately red flagged as Adams and Cornock had become tangled.

The 17 car restart again saw the 421 car in front as Quick spun on turn 2, which brought out the red flags again.  On the restart Andy Webb dived by Jordan Butcher and 109 Stuart Biddle to sit 5^th.  He would soon inherit 4^th however, after 776 James Trigg spun out of the position on turn 3.  A few laps in and Farebrother took the lead from Gary Webb into turn 1, while further back a fantastic battle for 5^th was occurring, with 82 Keith Richens, Jordan and Terry Butcher, 105 Louis Williams and 261 Roger Mountney all involved.

With 5 laps remaining Paul Webb passed Gary for 2^nd and from then the race started to settle down, save for Farebrother aiding 185 Jess Webb with a spin on turn 4.  The top 3 remaining unchanged until the flag; Farebrother leading home the 3 Webb brothers for his 9^th win of the season.

Result: 115, 856, 421, 352, 105, 508, 261, 509, 776, 82

With just Cornish missing, 19 cars gridded for the final on a rapidly drying track as follows:

352         421

105         856

115         508

516         776

509         261

138         82

109         623

716         185

422         45

26

Andy Webb took the lead from the off as further back Trigg and Jordan Butcher both spun before the line.  Gary took the lead on lap 2 but was then soon passed by Farebrother.  Williams briefly took the lead on turn 1, but immediately was repassed by the 115 car.  Paul Webb moved into 3^rd passing Andy as Cornock took 5^th from Gary Webb.

Paul Webb then moved into 2^nd - Cornock also coming through to relegate Williams to 4^th - however the former pair were to tangle and both dropped back a couple of places, allowing Williams back into 2^nd.  He made another move on Farebrother and took the lead but was hit hard by the former and rattled into the turn 2 armco – ending his race.  This saw Andy Webb inherit 2^nd ahead of Paul and Gary with Cornock completing the top 5.

The red flags were soon out however with just 7 laps remaining – 138 Steve Goldup and Quick had tangled and both come to a halt facing the wrong way on the start line.  In the melee Farebrother had lost the lead to Paul Webb and now found himself 5^th.

16 cars were still running as the restart saw Paul keep his lead as Richens battled with Farebrother for 5^th, the pair exchanging a couple of big hits.  Gary Webb dropped from 2^nd to 5^th in one move as Cornock, Richens and Andy Webb all came by.  Farebrother spun to the infield as Andy Webb and Richens tangled and ended both of their chances – Cornock also getting involved and dropping right down the order.

 With Paul and Gary Webb now a few cars clear, Terry Butcher managed to avoid the carnage ahead of him to climb to 3^rd with Trigg and 716 Jim Muckian now making up the top 5.  Over the closing laps Paul opened up a few car lead and was able to hold on to take the flag and his 2^nd title win of the season – having claimed the Swaffham Gold Roof title last month.  Gary Webb took 2^nd and despite getting close on the final lap, Trigg couldn’t best Terry Butcher, who rounded out the podium to finish a very fast and hard-hitting race.

Result: 856, 421, 508, 776, 261, 509, 716, 109, 623, 516

15 cars made it back out for the Grand National, which was also run in a closed grid format.  The top 3 from the final started at the front, with Jess Webb heading the rest of the field up in graded order behind. 

Adams got to the front of the lead cars into turn 1 but was pushed wide by Jess Webb allowing Dobie through temporarily.  He too was to lose out as Trigg got the drag out of turn 2, with Cornock coming through into 2^nd.  Williams and Farebrother came through the pack to sit 4^th and 5^th behind Dobie.

A couple of laps in and Cornock took the lead, getting the better of Trigg on the back straight.  Williams caught and passed Dobie for 3^rd, followed through shortly by Farebrother – the two battling hard for position.  Adams spun on turn 2 to drop out of contention as Mountney also retired.  With Farebrother charging hard to catch the leading duo, he went deep into turn 3 and drifted wide into Jess Webb, sending both cars into the fence.  Gary and Paul Webb were now running 5^th and 6^th but were a lap down to the flying Cornock, who had already lapped the entire field up to 4^rd place by this point.

Adams spun again on the home straight and was joined by Cornish, with Williams retiring from 3^rd which allowed Dobie back into the top 3 as the red flags were shown with just 2 laps remaining and the result called.  This gave Cornock his 3^rd win of the season in impressive circumstances, lapping the field apart from 2^nd place Trigg.

Result: 516, 776, 623, 421, 856, 509, 115, 508, 261, 7