STATS:
HIGHEST POINTS SCORER: 105 LOUIS WILLIAMS – 271 PTS
HIGHEST ATTENDANCE: 105 LOUIS WILLIAMS – 16 MEETINGS
MOST RACE WINS: 856 PAUL WEBB – 12
MOST FINAL WINS: 105 LOUIS WILLIAMS & 856 PAUL WEBB – 4
HIGHEST TURNOUT: STANDLAKE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP – 33
In total 85 drivers raced across 22 meetings. There were 23 different race winners, with 12 drivers winning a final.
** PLEASE NOTE ** Clicking on the green text at various points throughout the review will send you to Youtube videos of certain races from the season. The footage in these videos is not my own, I just intended to share it with those who may not have seen it. All credit on the videos goes to their original creators.
The 2020 season kicked off strongly for the southern F2 tracks following on from good turnouts in late 2019, with 107 drivers racing last season across the 4 tracks.
Ringwood were the first track on the calendar, with a sort-of-out-of-season
meeting on Saturday 1st February with a 20-car turnout - their
highest since the first meeting back in late 2018 when they re-opened their
doors to F2s. There were several new /
returning drivers out on track, including 88 Barry and 488 Owen Stringer and
212 Neil Soule. Newcomer 13 Gavin Ward
was to grab some early attention with an impressive performance from white
grade. No one could touch 797 Dan Moss
however – the ex BriSCA driver taking his Higman to a hattrick of wins.
The ‘regular’ season began on Sunday March 1st
with a 22 car Standlake meeting, which was pleasing to see as it equaled their
highest 2019 turnout, and this was achieved even with a number of regular
racers not in attendance. 716 Jim
Muckian showed his liking for a damp track as he took heat 1. Reigning track champion 856 Paul Webb opened
his 2020 account with a win in heat 2.
105 Louis Williams managed to improve on his pair of 3rd
place heat finishes to claim the final, with 797 Dan Moss taking the grand national.
2 weeks later and Saturday 14th March saw 18 cars
at Ringwood including 280 Pete Webb making his first trip over of the season
from Spain. Gavin Ward was uncatchable
in both heats, Dan Moss and 150 John Enright his closest challengers. Ward was a no show for the final however,
which left Moss to win his 2nd consecutive final at the track.
The following day 19 cars were at Swaffham’s opening meeting
under the new owners, competing for the Andrew Warne Memorial. An impressive effort by Pete, Paul and 421
Gary Webb along with 509 Jordan Butcher and Ringwood points champion 72 Chris
Langridge to travel overnight from Ringwood.
In heavy rain the races were chaotic, and 666 Sarah Rash was awarded the
heat 1 win despite it being likely she was a lap down. Pete Webb was rewarded for his travelling
effort with a win in heat 2 and nearly took the final too, just losing out in a
closing laps battle with son Gary.
Onboard 206 Michael Lee @ Swaffham
Due to the worldwide pandemic, it would unfortunately be
another 4 months before racing would resume.
Ringwood were the first to put on a full meeting, following a couple of
behind-closed-doors practice sessions at Standlake in the previous weeks.
On June 27th, the first track in the UK to run a
full meeting was Lydden Hill’s Rolling Thunder Show. Paul Webb made a surprise trip down to race
and as the only F2 in attendance, found himself sharing a track with the UK Pro
Grands and a couple of European Late Model (Nascar-style cars), where he was to
end up off track in a tangle with one of the ELMs. There was photographic evidence of this
unusual sight around at the time, but since then it seems to have disappeared
into the Facebook void!
A fantastic turnout of 25 cars were at the Hampshire venue on
Saturday 11th July and included some unusual names amongst the
entry. Farthest travelled was Warton
visitor 416 Chris Yeates. 876 Stuart
Moss was a surprise attendee, as were the former Arena Essex RTS pairing of 53
Tim Hall and 82 Steve Rickard making their first appearances since the closure
of the Essex track in 2018. Gavin Ward
continued where he had left off in March, racing away to a comfortable hattrick
of wins and ensuring a well-deserved move up the grades. John Enright managed a couple of second
places but was the only one who got close to Ward.
The following Sunday a restricted entry of 20 cars were at
Standlake. 713 Liam Cornish unveiled his
new car, there were 2 debutants in the form of 533 Stuart Pitson and 666 Liam
Reeney, while 710 Vince Stone was a surprising entrant considering he was
booked in for the BriSCA meeting at Taunton a week later!
563 Keith Walding took his first win from red grade in heat
1 and then followed that up with 2nd in heat 2 after leader 82 Keith
Richens spun on the last lap and left 352 Andy Webb to take the flag. Walding
then made it a double as he came through to also claim the final ahead of
Richens and 105 Louis Williams.
2 weeks later and all roads led to Swaffham for the Norfolk
Championship weekender. Despite a very
surprising lack of local entrants – only 12 Vince Foley and 221 Tom Sneddon
could be considered Swaffham drivers – there was a double-figure entry from
Standlake. The Saturday night saw 3
qualifying heats contested, the first 2 of these as drawn grids. Victory in heat 1 went to current Swaffham
Gold Roof champion Paul Webb, while Keith Walding continued his purple patch
with a flag to flag win in heat 2. The
final heat under lights was run in graded order and saw a first victory away
from home for sole Ringwood visitor Gavin Ward.
Sunday’s meeting started with 16 cars and the 4th
and final heat was again a graded order affair, this time for double
points. It was a 2nd win of
the weekend for Paul Webb, but he had to work for it after chasing down
long-time leader Walding, who was a victim of the Foley crash on turn 1 and
ended up outside the top 10. This left
Paul Webb and Louis Williams on the front row ahead of father and son pairing
508 Terry and 509 Jordan Butcher with Walding alone on row 3.
Williams took the early lead in the final, but was passed by
Webb who slowly disappeared off into the distance, while behind him a 4-way
scrap for the remaining podium places between Williams, Gary Webb, Walding and
Terry Butcher continued all race with plenty of bumpers going in. It would be the former pair that took the
remaining podium spots, with the top 10 positions locked out by Standlake
registered drivers. Paul Webb then
continued his weekend form by taking victory in the Allcomers race, to complete
a Sunday hattrick of wins.
The following weekend of 8/9th August saw another
double header, this time at Ringwood competing for the Southern
Championship. Approximately 12 cars were
in attendance each day, with 190 Darren Baker and 152 Shaun Simons making their
first f2 appearances on each day respectively.
The weekend was completely dominated by the Enright brothers with 150
John taking the title race.
Sunday 9th also saw Grimley finally open its
doors for the 2020 season with an 11-car entry.
Heat 1 turned into a battle between Louis Williams and 42 Ash Greening
but as the cars started the last lap, they were to spin in tandem on turn 2
allowing Terry Butcher through for the win.
Williams made up for this by taking a double in heat 2 and the final.
The August bank holiday weekend saw a double header of
Grimley on Sunday 30th with Standlake the next day. Grimley’s entry included several first-time visitors;
Ringwood’s Gavin Ward joined 8 Standlake-based racers - including 4 members of
the Webb family – and shale Outlaw racer 888 Simon Edwards in completing the 16-car
turnout. Ward took an instant liking to
the track with victory in heat 1 (and continued his trend for winning on his
first visit to a track), before Williams continued his Grimley form with a win
in heat 2. The final went the way of 299
Will Jackson with Williams claiming his 2nd win of the day in the
Grand National.
Standlake’s restricted entry the next day raised 24 cars (which
should have been 25, but Outlaw visitor Simon Edwards suffered damage the day
before at Grimley.) A 2 from 3 heats
format was used for the first time in several years. Ash Greening was the sole visitor from
Grimley, while Gavin Ward made his first outing at the track (but no win this
time!) and 534 Tom Stoodley made his F2 debut.
Heat 1 was to fall to the Grimley points champion, the 2nd
heat went the way of Gary Webb and Paul Webb then took a heat 3 and final
double ahead of 155 Carl Lewis and Keith Walding. Greening took his 2nd win of the
day in the Grand National.
Into September and Ringwood’s next Saturday night meeting on
the 5th. A total of 15 cars
were in attendance and Grimley visitor Will Jackson took his first win at the
track in heat 1, before the local contingent locked out the remainder of the
meeting. Andy Enright was victorious in
heat 2 while Gavin Ward continued his great form taking his 2nd
final of the season ahead of the Enright brothers Andy and John.
With a gap in the fixtures on the Southern tracks Sunday 13th
September saw 185 Jess, Andy and Paul Webb head up to Barford’s Open meeting
along with 2 Craig Passey and Terry and Jordan Butcher (although Terry wouldn’t
make it beyond practice), with Paul having the best of the day’s results with a
2nd place finish in the Grand National.
The following Sunday 20th saw all roads leading
to Standlake for the Open Championship.
A record-breaking 33 car turnout - including 7 from the Northern Outlaw
formula - saw heat wins for 155 Carl Lewis (x2), Paul Webb and Ash Greening as
everyone raced in 2 out of 4 heats. A
winner-takes-all last chance race was won by Gavin Ward (after another ‘nearly’
moment for Jess Webb) as he completed the set of wins at each of the 4 tracks and
cemented his place as Novice of the Year for the 2020 season.
The 20-car championship final was red-flagged a lap in after
a tangle between Andy Webb and 713 Liam Cornish. The restart turned into a battle between the
3 previous heat winners and 725 Paul Broatch, with very little to separate them
on a fast, dry track. In the end it was
Paul Webb to become the first person to retain the Open Championship as he took
the win from Greening and Broatch. The
day’s action was rounded out with a Grand National win for 109 Stuart Biddle,
his first on the independent tracks.
The final weekend of September featured clashing meetings at
Swaffham and Grimley. A damp and cold
Swaffham saw a 12-car turnout with Carl Lewis and 534 Tom Stoodley from
Standlake making their track debuts.
After Louis Williams won the opening heat, the rest of the day belonged
to Ringwood’s 72 Chris Langridge as he opened his account for the season with a
heat and final double.
Over at Grimley they were unfortunate to welcome the lowest
entry of the year so far as only 5 cars were in attendance. Ash Greening took victory in heat 1, which surprisingly
was his first win at his home track this year.
25 Ant Masters then stepped up to the mark and recorded a heat and final
double, which were his first wins of the season.
October started with Ringwood on Saturday 10th
and an 11-car turnout. After Chris
Langridge won the first heat, it was Louis Williams who then dominated from
there as he won heat 2 and the final, keeping his form going as he extended his
lead at the top of the Southern points chart ahead of Paul Webb, who had chosen
to head north to Barford instead alongside Gary Webb and Jordan Butcher. Paul had the better of the day’s results,
with a 2nd place in the final his best result. Unfortunately, Gary ended the day with a
potential write-off for his TMR chassis after some unnecessary bumper action
from 241 Andrew Carter-Waller saw both the 421 and 509 cars in the turn 3 fence
with damage.
A week later and there were clashing meetings at Standlake
and Grimley. The former raised 21 cars
include a fantastic travelling effort from 92 John Hogg from Scotland. There was also a debut for H2 Stephen Bailey
in the Butcher hire car. Hogg instantly
made his trip worthwhile as he took victory in heat 1 ahead of long-time leader
Jess Webb. Jess finally took a popular
first win in heat 2 after coming close on several recent occasions. Surprise Grimley visitor Ash Greening took
the final ahead of Stuart Biddle and 535 Ryan Stoodley. Craig Passey also took his first F2 win in
the Grand National to round out the day’s action.
Over at Grimley 47 Jake Perry made his track debut and 502
Ryan Weston made his F2 debut in an 8-car meeting. Ant Masters took full advantage of Greening’s
travels to complete a hat-trick and 40 point maximum.
The final weekend of October featured a Ringwood / Swaffham
double header. 9 cars were at Ringwood’s
rather wet Saturday night event where Louis Williams continued his charge
towards the Southern Points title with victory in heat 1 and the final. The recent trend for first-time winners
continued in heat 2 as Jordan Butcher took his maiden victory.
Over at Swaffham’s final meeting of the season the next day
and a disappointing attendance of only 4 cars, which included 394 Ken Edwards
making his first appearance in over a year.
Paul Webb completed a hattrick of wins to round off a successful season
at the Norfolk track and with it the Swaffham points title, ahead of Gary and a
joint 3rd place for Louis Williams and Keith Walding.
With the country again in lockdown in November, it unfortunately
brought a premature end to the shortened 2020 season and left the Ringwood,
Grimley and Standlake points championships decided 1 meeting earlier than
planned. Gary Webb reclaimed the gold
roof at Standlake from Paul Webb, while Ringwood’s battle between the Enright
brothers was decided in 151 Andy’s favour, by just 3 points! Grimley’s season ended with reigning gold
roof Ash Greening in a tie with Ant Masters, although I believe officially the
track was not running a points championship due to the much-shortened season,
so it remains to be seen who will be wearing the gold in 2021.
The overall Southern Points title was won by Louis Williams,
ahead of inaugural champion Paul Webb and Gary Webb. Andy and John Enright rounded out the top 5
respectively.
While the season might have finished on a bit of a whimper, there are plenty of positives that can be taken from the racing that did happen this year. Standlake saw every meeting pass 20 cars, with their driver base seemingly growing all the time. Ringwood are now starting to gain a few more local drivers, bringing their attendances up from a point last season where they had begun to stagnate. Several different drivers paid a visit to Grimley during the season to boost their turnouts, while some positive discussion around planning fixtures to not clash with Standlake, should only see this further increase in 2021. Despite some teething problems with the new promotion at Swaffham, there were 4 meetings held at a track that was, this time last year lost to us, including the August weekender which should hopefully see some northern visitors next season.
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