The 6th running of the Standlake Open Championship raised a record turnout of 33 cars (beating the previous record of 32 dating back to April 2010) and included a fantastic visiting effort from the northern Outlaws, who were represented by 92 John Hogg, 258 Chris Hart, 289 Jamie Whittaker, 555 Josh Walton, 725 Paul Broatch, 747 Neil Pinkney and 888 Simon Edwards – with the majority making their Standlake debuts.
 |
| 258 CHRIS HART |
 |
| SCOTTISH VISITOR 92 JOHN HOGG |
 |
| RINGWOOD'S 138 GARY TWEDDLE |
42 Ash Greening was the lone Grimley visitor, Ringwood were represented by 13 Gavin Ward and track debutant 138 Gary Tweddle. For the local entry 776 James Trigg made his first appearance of the year sporting a new self-built car.
 |
A FIRST 2020 APPEARANCE FOR 776 JAMES TRIGG AT THE WHEEL OF A BRAND NEW SELF-BUILD |
The format saw 4 heats with every driver racing twice in reverse-grid races. The top 20 scorers would automatically qualify for the final, with a last chance race seeing just the winner take up the final position on the back of the grid.
Heat 1 raised 18 cars and gridded as follows:
289 713
155 82
47 38
534 137
13 747
623 7
508 888
321 92
725 185
713 Liam Cornish got the jump on Whittaker to lead into
turn 1 as the 289 car went wide, allowing 155 Carl Lewis and 82 Keith Richens
through before 47 Jake Perry also passed Whittaker on the back straight. Broatch had made a very strong start from the
rear of the grid and passed 5 cars within the opening lap as he looked to break
into the top 10.
Lewis reeled in Cornish and made a pass for the lead at
the end of lap 2 as 534 Tom Stoodley dropped Whittaker down another place to 6th before the latter was then under attack again as Ward, 508 Terry Butcher and
Pinkney all came through. Broatch
continued his way through the field as he now sat 9th, passing Hogg
into turn 1.
Up front the leading pair of Lewis and Cornish had now
built up a sizeable lead, with Richens still their nearest challenger a way
back in 3rd. Butcher moved
underneath Stoodley on turn 3, before also taking the place from Perry into
turn 1. Ward went wide on turn 1 and dropped back several places as Hogg spun on turn 4 to end their chances of top
10 finishes.
As the lap boards came out, 38 Gavin Busby retired and
Butcher was able to pass Richens for 3rd, getting the better exit
out of turn 2. By now Lewis was cutting
through the back-marking traffic and had lapped up to 5th placed
Perry. Broatch passed Stoodley for 6th
as 185 Jess Webb made some late progress and snatched 8th from
Pinkney, the latter then passed by 623 Rob Dobie on the final lap while Ward
spun to the infield. No one could stop
Lewis however as he came through to take his first win of the season in
dominant fashion.
Result: 155, 713, 508, 82, 47, 725, 534, 185, 623, 747
Due to slightly uneven heat splits as a result of a few
no-shows,15 cars took to the track for heat 2:
258 109
42 535
352 856
26 509
716 555
776 105
138
421
2
Despite his 2nd row start, Greening was the
leader as the pack approached turn 1 ahead of Hart and 109 Stuart Biddle,
although both latter pair were to lose out to 352 Andy Webb on the opening lap with 856 Paul Webb also passing Biddle to slot into 4th.
105 Louis Williams made good progress in the opening
laps, as he got the better of the 2 rows immediately ahead of him to slot into
7th with Trigg right behind.
A lap later and Paul Webb moved Hart wide for 3rd, which also
allowed Biddle and 535 Ryan Stoodley through as Trigg also got the better
of Williams.
As the bumpers went in Hart went wide into the wall on
turn 2 as Trigg snuck through, although the latter was to drop back shortly
afterwards. Paul Webb passed Andy Webb
for 2nd into turn 3 while Greening’s lead was now the length of the
straight. Biddle then lost 4th
as he came under attack from Stoodley and Williams, with the latter taking 4th
from Stoodley almost immediately. Biddle
pulled up a lap later as 2 Craig Passey passed Walton in the battle for the
remaining points places but was another to join the retirees with engine
problems.
With 3 laps remaining Greening had made his way through
the traffic and lapped the field up to 509 Jordan Butcher in 5th who
had been battling 421 Gary Webb for a number of laps. The position eventually decided as Webb made
his move into turn 1 on the final lap, while Trigg gained a couple of late
places as he passed Walton and Stoodley to eventually finish 7th and
Greening laid a marker down taking his 3rd win of the season ahead
of Paul and Andy Webb.
Result: 42, 856, 352, 105, 421, 509, 776, 535, 555, 716
16 cars made it out for heat 3, with the group splits
tweaked slightly to mix things up but still reversed from the earlier heats:
185 92
725 138
321 623
105 534
13 856
47 42
535 109
713 258
Hogg made the better start to lead into turn 1 as Broatch
put the bumper in on Jess Webb to take 2nd as Ward went wide and
allowed several through on the opening lap.
Heat 2 winner Greening was again quick off the start and by lap 2 had
progressed from his 12th place start up to 6th behind
Williams and Paul Webb.
Jess Webb lost out to Williams, before Paul Webb and
Greening were also through on turn 3.
Liam Cornish was another looking to gain in the early laps as he found
himself up to 7th from the very back of the grid, while Hart and
Dobie battled over 10th.
The 105 car was then under attack as Paul Webb and
Greening both gained, with the former of the pair then making a move on Broatch
for 2nd as they went into turn 1; Greening being able to get the
better exit to move past on the back straight.
Ryan Stoodley then spun on turn 3 while Tom Stoodley was
forced to retire with damage as Hogg was to lose his lead to the flying Webb
and Greening. Williams slowed and was
another to retire as Jess Webb and Cornish got through on Broatch to sit 4th
and 5th respectively.
Greening made his move and snatched the lead on turn 3, although Webb
immediately came back at him on the next bend while Ward claimed 7th
from Hart as the lap boards came out.
Things settled down for a couple of laps before Perry was
yet a further retirement and as the final lap began Hogg snatched 2nd
from Greening while Cornish went for a move on Jess Webb into turn 1, causing
both cars to tangle and not make the finish.
This promoted Broatch up to 4th with Tweddle now up into the
points in 10th. Paul Webb
held on for the win ahead of the impressive Hogg and Greening.
Result: 856, 92, 42, 725, 258, 109, 623, 321, 13, 138
With a few drivers struggling with repairs, only 13
grided for the final qualifying heat:
776 421
716 888
26 352
508 38
7 289
747
82
155
Pole sitter Trigg lead the field away from Gary Webb and
716 Jim Muckian in 3rd, although the latter lost out to Andy Webb a
lap later, while heat 1 winner Lewis started his chase from the back by passing
Busby and Pinkney on the opening lap.
Gary Webb was able to take the lead a couple of laps in,
moving Trigg wide into turn 3 as Edwards took 4th from Muckian while
Lewis had already progressed up in to 8th.
The 716 car was then to lose further places as first Terry Butcher and
then Richens came through. Trigg was
moved wide by Andy Webb on turn 3 as Butcher also gained on Edwards. The following lap Andy passed Gary Webb for
the lead as Trigg lost out to Butcher and Richens as the red flags came out for
Whittaker who had rattled the home straight fence.
The restart saw Gary Webb reinstated to the lead ahead of
Andy Webb and Trigg. Pinkney got a great
start and passed Muckian while Andy Webb came under attack from Trigg and
Butcher and found himself down to 4th. A lap later and Lewis moved by Richens as
Butcher took 2nd from Trigg, the latter then also losing out to Andy
Webb into turn 1.
Lewis’ progress continued as he passed Edwards on turn 1
and then Trigg later in the same lap for 4th, as Busby retired. Gary Webb had built up a sizeable lead by
this point while the rest battled behind him.
Butcher lost 2nd to Andy Webb as Lewis also gained and then
went on to take 2nd later in the lap, allowing Butcher to pounce and
take 3rd back from Webb.
Trigg spun on to the infield and out of 5th place and
although he did briefly re-join, he was to retire in the closing laps.
Lewis had managed to close the gap to the leading 421 car
and looked close enough for a last bend lunge as the cars approached turn
3. Webb slowed to try and hold the
advantage, but Lewis was able to make his move and out-dragged Webb to the line
to take his 2nd win of the day with Butcher holding off Andy Webb
for 3rd.
Result: 155, 421, 508, 352, 82, 888, 716, 747, 289, 7
With the top 20 scorers automatically qualifying, this
gave the remaining drivers a chance to battle in the winner-takes-all Last
Chance race, which saw 10 starters in graded order.
7 185
26 321
38 138
289 535
13 555
Jess Webb got the jump on 7 Josh Cornish for the early
lead as Ryan Stoodley and Whittaker slotted into 3rd and 4th
respectively, before both passing Cornish on the second lap. Ward made some places up early on and passed
Busby and Cornish on the same lap to take up 4th, while Walton sat 7th
after passing 321 Maisie Emms and 26 Steve Turner.
Emms then battled with Cornish as the pair exchanged
positions several times, while Walton took 5th after passing Busby
into turn 2. The race then settled down
as the front four of Webb, Stoodley, Whittaker and Ward all looked to be evenly
matched. As Webb caught the backmarkers,
Emms spun on turn 3 which forced Webb to dive underneath. A lap later an attempt to lap Busby saw the 2
cars tangle and leave the 185 car stranded on the infield out of the race.
This gave the lead to Stoodley, who was then under
pressure from Ward as he passed the former and Whittaker to take up the
lead. This is how it would finish, as
the closing laps ended without further incident and allowed Ward to come through for his
first win at Standlake and as a result, become the first driver to win at all 4
Southern tracks in the same season.
Result: 13, 535, 289, 555, 7, 321, 138, 26 nof
 |
| 155 CARL LEWIS & 856 PAUL WEBB HEAD THE OPEN GRID |
The Open final saw 20 of the 21 qualifiers take to the grid, as Williams was side-lined with gearbox issues. With the highest scorer on pole, the grid was as follows:
155 856
42 508
352 421
82 725
713 92
105 47
623 258
509 888
109 747
534 776
13
Lewis took the lead as the race got underway; Greening
diving underneath Paul Webb for 2nd with Terry Butcher and Andy Webb
tucked in behind. Gary Webb had made a
slower start and lost out to Richens, Cornish and Broatch in the opening laps.
Greening made his move early on and took the lead from Lewis, sending the 155 car wide and allowing Butcher and Paul Webb to also come through. Richens lost out to Cornish and Broatch and as Cornish challenged Andy Webb for 5th the two cars collided on turn 4, becoming stuck together on the racing line, which brought out the red flag as the pack desperately tried to avoid the stricken cars.
 |
With only 3 laps gone, the race restarted with the top 10
as:
42, 508, 856, 155, 725, 82, 421, 47, 509, 92
Lewis was caught out on the restart as Broatch snatched 4th
while Hogg passed Jordan Butcher for 9th at the same time, before
Richens spun on the turn 4 oil patch left by the previous crash. Paul Webb put the bumper in on Terry Butcher
and moved him wide to take 2nd as Jordan Butcher was an early
retirement.
Hogg made further progress as he gained on Perry for 7th
with Hart following him through. Trigg
had also made it into the top 10 from the back of the grid as he passed Tom
Stoodley. Broatch reeled in Butcher on
turn 4 and Lewis took advantage to also dive under the 508 car, while last
chance winner Ward was another to retire.
Paul Webb went for the lead on Greening as the pair went
into turn 1, taking up the running and leaving Greening exposed to a similar
move from Broatch a lap later. Biddle
and Dobie passed Stoodley and Trigg for 9th and 10th
places before Greening came back at Broatch with 6 laps to go. As the laps ticked away, Greening was keeping
Webb honest and his lead with 3 laps remaining was down to just a car length.
Gary Webb moved Butcher wide for 5th as Hogg
spun on turn 4 and Butcher slowed to a halt.
Stoodley and Perry got the better of Dobie to drop him out of the top
10, as Pinkney made a late charge for the lower places. Up front Webb was able to slowly edge away
over the last couple of laps and although Greening did try for a last bend
attack, he was unable to connect and had to settle for 2nd - leaving
Webb to become the first to successfully defend the Open Championship - with
Broatch taking an impressive 3rd.
Result: 856, 42, 725, 155, 421, 747, 109, 534, 258, 47
With a few loading up after the final to make a start on
the long journeys back home, it was pleasing that the Grand National was still
able to raise 19 cars – this time running in graded order with minimal gaps
between the grades.
Perry beat fellow front row starter Emms into turn 1
while Richens made rapid progess up to 5th within the opening lap
before spinning on turn 3. Biddle
snatched 2nd from Emms on turn 2 as Ryan Stoodley came through on
137 Steve Goldup for 4th, with Tom Stoodley also passing the latter
on the next bend.
Terry Butcher moved himself into 6th as he
passed Passey and Goldup on turn 1, with Andy Webb not far behind him. Biddle closed the gap down on Perry over the
next couple of laps and then snatched the lead into turn 1 as Tom Stoodley and
Emms both spun. Andy Webb reeled in
Butcher to now find himself in 4th with Gary Webb tucked in behind
Butcher in 6th.
Greening broke into the top 10 from the handicap and
moved by Edwards and Jordan Butcher, before claiming 7th from Passey
on turn 3. As Gary Webb looked to pass
Terry Butcher on the back straight, he was spun by the 508 car, ending his race
while Richens was another to retire.
With 5 laps remaining his promoted Greening to 6th
with Paul Webb behind in 7th after taking a place from Passey. The latter was to spin on turn 3 a lap later
as Ryan Stoodley moved by Perry for 2nd and Emms spun on turn
4. Perry was then caught by Andy Webb
and Greening, with the 352 car making a last lap move on Ryan Stoodley to
eventually snatch 2nd, but they were a few car lengths behind Biddle
who came through unchallenged for his first Standlake win.
Result: 109, 352, 535, 42, 47, 856, 508, 509, 555, 888
Comments
Post a Comment