The F2s were back at Standlake for the 4th meeting of the season and the first so far to suffer a clashing meeting, with Grimley also running on the same day. Despite this and the terrible weather forecast there were still 24 cars in the pits. This included a first visit of the season for Scotland’s 92 John Hogg, who made the long trip down with a view to getting some track time ahead of the Open Championship in September.
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| 92 JOHN HOGG MADE HIS 3RD TRIP TO STANDLAKE |
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| WITH A DAMP TRACK AND PATCHES OF STANDING WATER IT WAS A TRICKY TYRE CHOICE FOR HEAT 1 |
A 2/3rds format was again applied and heat 1 raised 15 cars, with 821 Linz Richens unfortunately not making it any further than scrutineering after suffering engine trouble. Pole sitter 38 Gavin Busby led the field into turn 1 ahead of 714 Louis Rayner and 521 Phil Trigg, while at the back of the field, 420 Ade Baker was slow away and lost out to 563 Keith Walding and 856 Paul Webb around turns 3 and 4 as the red graders came round to start their opening lap.
321 Maisie Emms was the first to be caught out by the damp
conditions as she spun on turn 4 before Paul Webb moved up the inside of
Walding on the same corner shortly afterwards.
509 Jordan Butcher snatched 4th from Trigg and then 3rd
from 185 Jess Webb as 352 Andy Webb slotted into 4th behind Butcher,
although the latter was then to spin out on turn 3 and dropped out of the top
10.
Rayner then took up the running as he passed Busby into turn
1, while the battle for 5th saw 534 Tom Stoodley put the bumper in
on 2 Craig Passey into the same corner, resulting in Passey hit the fence hard,
ending his race and slowing Stoodley in the process. Paul Webb snatched 4th from Jess
Webb, who then tangled with Walding as the pair came around turn 4. This slowed Jess Webb who dropped back while
Walding lost out to Williams and Hogg who moved up into 5th and 6th
respectively.
Stoodley was then another spinner as he went around on turn
3, as Walding took 6th from Hogg.
Jess Webb then spun on the home straight, allowing Trigg to inherit 10th
place. Andy Webb put the bumper in on
Busby into turn 1 and snatched 2nd as the pair came out of turn
2. Emms went into the fence on turn 4
before Busby was dropped down to 4th as Paul Webb gained. The following lap Williams and Walding then
dropped the 38 car back to 6th as they made the pass on turns 1 and
2 respectively, with Walding snatching 5th from Williams later on
that same lap as a result of Trigg coming to a stop on turn 3.
There was a second spin of the race for Stoodley, this time
on the home straight which forced those behind to take avoiding action. On the penultimate lap Paul and Andy Webb
swapped positions as the pair slowly reeled in Rayner out front, with Walding
right behind. Hogg snatched 6th
from Busby as they entered turn 1 for the final time, while the top 4 were
practically bumper-to-bumper went up the back straight. Rayner was able to hold on around turns 3 and
4 and crossed the line sideways to take his first ever F2 win with an
impressive drive ahead of Paul and Andy Webb.
Result: 714, 856, 352, 563, 105, 92, 38, 420, 155, 509
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| JUST HIS 4TH F2 MEETING AND 714 LOUIS RAYNER TOOK HIS FIRST WIN |
16 cars made the track for heat 2, with the previous drizzle
leaving the track again in tricky conditions.
Emms lead the field away into the first turn ahead of 542 Martin Chard
and 210 Patrick Somerton. 82 Keith
Richens lost out to Walding as the red graders came into turn 3 for the first
time. Chard took over at the front from
Emms with Somerton and 623 Rob Dobie the next to come through for 2nd
and 3rd respectively.
At the start of the 2nd lap Dobie moved to the
front around turn 1, with 776 James Trigg gaining several places in quick
succession and suddenly finding himself 2nd behind Dobie, before
taking the lead as the pair exited turn 2.
Dobie then spun into turn 3 but was able to rejoin and surprisingly only
dropped to 4th in the process.
Busby now took 2nd and Chard 3rd as Emms and
Somerton dropped back down the field.
Walding passed Rayner for 7th into turn 1 a lap later, before
also gaining on 535 Ryan Stoodley and 2 Craig Passey around turns 3 and 4 to
move up into 5th.
Dobie then came into the clutches of those behind him and
lost several places as Passey and Stoodley were amongst those to come
through. Stoodley retook a position from
Walding on turn 1 to move back into 5th, with the pair then reeling
in Chard later in the lap to sit 3rd and 4th respectively. Dobie spun on the home straight – his second
of the race – as Chard started to drop back and found himself down to 10th
as 421 Gary Webb and Williams were amongst those on the charge. Williams then moved ahead of Webb on turn 3
to now sit 5th, with Rayner and Passey the next in line behind the
pair.
Walding regained the place on Ryan Stoodley with a move up
the inside on turn 4, while out front Trigg had slowly extended his lead to
almost ¼ of a lap. The following lap and
Busby lost 2nd to Walding into turn 1, while Tom Stoodley took 8th
from Passey and Butcher passed Chard to move into the top 10. With 5 laps remaining Busby was caught by
Ryan Stoodley and then Williams on the same lap to now sit 5th. Emms spun on turn 4 on the following lap and
in her desperation to re-join, Trigg was briefly slowed as his lead started to
decrease just slightly.
Gary Webb and Rayner then reeled in Busby, while Passey lost
out to Tom Stoodley and Somerton who moved themselves into 8th and 9th
respectively, having previously also gained on Butcher. As the 3-lap board was shown, Trigg’s lead
was down to a few car-lengths as Passey snatched 9th back from
Somerton.
Chard then spun into a marker tyre on turn 3, which put him
in the path of Tom Stoodley and the pair crashed out onto the infield. This also slowed Somerton who dropped out of
the top 10 as Butcher and Richens gained.
Trigg was able to maintain the gap back to Walding over the remaining 2
laps as he came through for his 2nd win of the season, with Ryan Stoodley
completing the top 3.
Result: 776, 563, 535, 105, 421, 714, 38, 2, 509, 82
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| REPAIRS FOR 563 KEITH WALDING AFTER HEAT 2 |
The full quota of 15 cars were back out on track for heat 3;
Phil Trigg was the leader into turn 1 ahead of Chard and Somerton while Jess
Webb moved up into 5th ahead of 47 Jake Perry. Dobie passed Somerton for 3rd at
the start of lap 2, before tangling with Perry on turn 2 and allowing Webb
through and up into 3rd with James Trigg and Andy Webb also gaining
on the 623 car.
Perry then moved back up into 7th as he passed
Ryan Stoodley on the back straight, while Andy Webb gained 5th from
James Trigg. With plenty going on behind
him, Phil Trigg was able to extend his lead out to the length of the straight
while Jess Webb went for 2nd as she tried to move Chard wide on turn
3. This ended with Webb spinning out
onto the infield and Chard spinning as he crossed the start line almost
immediately. The pack behind tried to
take avoiding action, but Dobie had nowhere to go and hit the stranded 542 car
which caused a chain-reaction behind with several cars getting hit hard and
others rattling the fence as they tried to avoid joining the incident.
The resultant red flag saw several cars retire, including
leader Phil Trigg along with Somerton, Dobie, and Chard. Perry was now the lead car, with Andy Webb
and James Trigg completing the top 3. On
the restart 155 Carl Lewis passed Richens for 8th on turn 2, before
Paul Webb moved up into 3rd as he passed James Trigg shortly
afterwards. Richens then lost out to
Baker, as Lewis gained on Gary Webb for 7th with Ade Baker also
coming through on the 421 car to sit 8th.
James Trigg then started to drop back as those behind put
the pressure on. Hogg and Stoodley were
followed through by Lewis around turns 1 and 2, before Richens, Baker and Gary
Webb moved ahead of the 776 car on the next corner. Hogg lost 4th to Lewis while Andy
Webb made a charge for the lead as he out-dragged Perry down the back straight
and into turn 3.
Richens retook a place from Baker in the battle for 8th
and with 3 laps to go Perry now lost 2nd to Paul Webb. Jess Webb now broke back into the top 10 as
she passed Trigg and then Baker within a lap of each other, before taking 8th
from Richens. On the penultimate lap
Lewis moved by Perry for 3rd as Paul Webb closed the gap on brother
Andy and was close enough for a last lap hit, just moving the 352 car wide
enough to squeeze underneath and just take his second win of the season, with
Lewis coming home 3rd.
Result: 856, 352, 155, 47, 92, 535, 421, 185, 82, 420
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| FRONT END DAMAGE FOR 623 ROB DOBIE |
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| 542 MARTIN CHARD WITH FRONT AND REAR DAMAGE AFTER HIS HEAT 3 CRASH |
Following some impressive work in the pits, all 23 available
cars made it out on track for the final; lone white-grader Busby led the early
stages ahead of Passey and Jess Webb.
Perry and James Trigg tangled on the back straight and the latter
rattled into the armco as a result, ending his race on the opening lap and
allowing Ryan Stoodley and Andy Webb to take advantage as they moved up into 5th
and 6th respectively.
Walding passed Richens for 10th into turn 1 as
Chard was an early retirement. Butcher
then lost 3rd to Jess Webb and dropped back several places to 9th,
with Stoodley coming through to snatch the place from Webb almost
immediately. Walding was hit wide by
Webb into turn 1 who claimed 8th as a result while Walding was
another to retire because of damage.
Jess then lost 3rd to Andy Webb as Hogg and Gary
Webb gained on Rayner. Hogg then hit
Perry wide on turn 1 and moved through for 6th, as Ryan Stoodley
took 2nd from Passey before Busby spun out of the lead on turn 4 and
dropped out of the race. This now put
Stoodley in the lead ahead of Andy and Jess Webb. Hogg continued to battle with Perry and this
allowed Gary Webb and Lewis to gain on the pair as a result, dropping them to 6th
and 7th. The former pair then
exchanged places twice more on the following lap, before Paul Webb moved in and
gained on Perry as Hogg managed to get clear of the 47 car.
Gary Webb then tangled with Dobie on the back straight,
riding over the wheel of the 623 car and forcing both cars out of the race as a
result. As the 5-lap board came out,
Lewis clipped a marker tyre on turn 2 and was reeled in by Paul Webb on turn 3
as a result and dropped back to 5th.
Williams moved ahead of Perry for 9th before Lewis retook the
position from Webb.
With 2 laps remaining Webb and Hogg dived under Lewis on
turn 4 dropping him to 6th.
Lewis then managed to regain on Hogg on the final lap as Butcher and
Perry tangled and both went into the pit gate hard on the home straight. Paul Webb gained ground on Jess Webb on the
last lap and managed to move the 185 car wide on the last bend just enough to
dive through for 3rd, while Andy Webb wasn’t quite close enough to
make the same challenge to Ryan Stoodley, leaving the 535 car to come through
for his first ever F2 win.
Result: 535, 352, 856, 185, 155, 92, 420, 105, 2, 534
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| FINAL WINNER 535 RYAN STOODLEY, ENJOYED HIS BEST EVER MEETING |
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| HASTY REPAIRS FOR 421 GARY WEBB BEFORE THE GRAND NATIONAL |
Despite the fast turnaround between the final and grand national, some quick repairs meant 20 cars made it back out for the last race of the day. Emms took advantage of her pole position start to lead into turn 1 as Phil Trigg snatched 2nd from Somerton, while further back Walding lost out to Baker and Richens after a slow start. Walding then pulled off with a puncture as Jess Webb and James Trigg passed Somerton on turn 3 for 3rd and 4th respectively. Dobie spun on turn 4 and suffered further damage in the process, which brought out the red flag.
The complete restart left 18 cars and again Emms took the
lead with Phil Trigg and Passey slotting in behind. Butcher passed Somerton on turn 3 before
Passey moved into 2nd ahead of Trigg shortly afterwards. Lewis gained on Baker, while Phil Trigg was
reeled in by Jess Webb and James Trigg around turns 3 and 4.
Phil Trigg was then caught by the red grade pack as Hogg and
Lewis gained on turn 1, before Baker and Gary Webb came by down the back
straight, dropping the 521 car down to 9th. Passey lost his 2nd place to Jess
Webb on turn 3 while Lewis out-dragged Hogg on the back straight for 6th,
as Gary Webb and Richens were both forced into retirement with car trouble.
James Trigg made a move on Passey for 3rd on the home
straight as Lewis was now 5th after besting Butcher into turn
1. Emms then threw away her race lead as
she spun on the exit of turn 4, although she was able to re-join back in 6th
place. This now gave Jess Webb the lead
ahead of James Trigg and Passey. In the
battle to make the top 10 after their handicap start, Andy Webb passed Ryan
Stoodley for 12th as the pair fought to try and earn a points
finish.
Lewis made a move on Passey for 3rd before the
latter came under attack from Hogg and found himself now down to 5th. Williams and Paul Webb gained on Tom Stoodley
for 9th and 10th respectively after they made moves on
the entry into turn 3. On the final lap
James Trigg lost his 2nd place to Lewis and Baker made several
attempts to pass Emms for 6th in the closing stages, before losing
out himself as he dropped back 3 places to 10th behind Butcher. Out front Webb had enough of a gap to hold on
and take her 2nd win of the season ahead of Lewis and James Trigg,
while those starting from the handicap just missed out on breaking the top 10.
Result: 185, 155, 776, 92, 2, 321, 856, 105, 509, 420
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