2021 SEASON REVIEW
After the end of the 2020 season was curtailed early, it was hoped that 2021 could start on time and a full season of racing would take place. Sadly, a handful of early-season meetings were lost and the racing would eventually begin behind closed doors in April.
Standlake’s Easter bank holiday Monday meeting kicked off the season and with it a huge turnout of 31 cars, which is even more
impressive when you consider that this was a restricted entry! Newcomers 210 Patrick Somerton and 714 Louis
Rayner were joined by a handful of Grimley visitors and in a 2/3rds format.
The returning 420 Ade Baker took victory in heat 1, 155 Carl Lewis won a lively 2nd heat before 509 Jordan Butcher took his first Standlake win in heat 3. The final was red flagged 2 laps early with 299 Will Jackson taking the win ahead of 109 Stuart Biddle and 563 Keith Walding. Lewis took his 2nd win of the day in the grand national.
2 weeks later and Ringwood opened its doors, 15 cars were in attendance including F2 debutant 356 Dan Plater and 42 Ash Greening from Grimley. 105 Louis Williams opened his account for the season with victory in heat 1, before Greening made the long trip worthwhile taking heat 2. 150 John Enright restored local pride with victory in the final.
The following Sunday saw Swaffham’s season get underway although disappointingly only 6 cars were in the pits – all Standlake-based visitors. Despite the low turnout the racing was even throughout the day, with 3 different race winners. 321 Maisie Emms claimed her maiden win in heat 1 before the red graders took over, with 105 Louis Williams taking heat 2 and 563 Keith Walding claiming the final ahead of Williams and 185 Jess Webb. The same day, Grimley’s practice day opener saw 7 cars out on track and featured a spectacular roll over for 242 Mick Jackson.
Just over a week later Standlake hosted their 2nd meeting of the season with 27 cars in attendance in another restricted entry. Banger racer 284 Justin Roff was amongst the field, along with a possible first ever Standlake visit for 394 Ken Edwards. With a day of rain and miserable conditions on track, it meant there were a few different names taking top spot through the day. 716 James Muckian showed his wet-weather skill with a heat 1 and final double. 776 James Trigg took his first ever victory in heat 2 before 744 Will Adams also achieved his maiden win in heat 3. 534 Tom Stoodley rounded out the day taking the win in the Grand National, another driver enjoying their first ever win.
Standlake f2 3rd May 2021 heat 2 - YouTube (ONBOARD JAMES TRIGG – HEAT 2)
A miserable Saturday night on May 8th saw the Rolling Thunder Show host its first Swaffham meeting of the year. Disappointingly only 3 cars were in attendance; former RTS racers 14 Rob Taylor and 82 Steve Rickard were joined by 61 Colin Lowbridge completing the line-up. Taylor took the flag in heat 1, before Rickard went on to take a heat 2 and final double.
Ringwood was the location for the first championship of 2021 where the Open Southern Championship was contested over 2 days. Amongst the entry was long-distance Warton-based visitor 416 Chris Yeates. 11 cars raced in 3 qualifying heats on the Saturday night with 105 Louis Williams taking heat 1, before 299 Will Jackson ensured a pole position start with wins in both heats 2 and 3. Sunday’s championship race raised 9 cars and Jackson claimed his first major win ahead of 856 Paul Webb and 150 John Enright. Enright then ensured the visiting drivers did not have it all their own way, as he took the win in both allcomers races.
The penultimate weekend of May saw the first clashing meetings of the season, as Grimley’s season opener ran alongside the 2nd Swaffham meeting of the year. The Worcestershire venue had the better attendance with 10 cars in the pits, including track debuts for Standlake racers 109 Stuart Biddle and 623 Rob Dobie and a first Grimley appearance by 505 Jason Masters, who in previous years has been seen on the shale tracks with the northern Outlaws. Track champion Ash Greening made the best possible start to the defence of his gold roof, as he won the opening heat. 716 James Muckian then took heat 2 before Greening came back to win the final ahead of Will Jackson and Muckian. An additional Grand National was run and brought a first win for 25 Ant Masters.
F2 Outlaws Heats + Final + GN - Grimley 23 May 2021 - YouTube
Over at Swaffham 9 cars were in attendance, with 277 Billy Banwell making a return after a few years of shale racing on the BriSCA tracks. 64 Richard Shearing made a one-off appearance and there were track debuts for Standlake pair 82 Keith and 821 Linz Richens. Banwell showed his dominance from the yellow grade as he took the first maximum of the season, his final win coming ahead of Louis Williams and 421 Gary Webb.
Just 6 days later there was a double-header with Ringwood and Swaffham’s Rolling Thunder both running. The former raised 9 cars and included a debut for 242 Mick Jackson and first appearance of the season for 72 Chris Langridge, although only one race was run before the meeting was cut short due to a serious incident in another formula. The race was won by 105 Louis Williams. Over at Swaffham Rob Taylor completed a hat-trick in what was another hugely disappointing turnout with only 2 cars accounted for, the other being 288 Mason Hall who was making his F2 debut.
The final meeting in May saw 33 cars in the pits at Standlake’s bank holiday Monday meeting. This was a record-equaling turnout for a 'domestic' and only better by last year’s Open meeting. 47 Jake Perry and 508 Terry Butcher both debuted new cars, with the former making his first appearance of 2021. Grimley’s 42 Ash Greening, 242 Mick and 299 Will Jackson along with 246 Alex Broadway made up the visiting interest.
155 Carl Lewis continued his winning ways with victory in heat 1, with Greening opening his Standlake account for the year with the win in heat 2. 185 Jess Webb then took her first victory of the season in the final heat and became the first Webb-family race winner in 2021 in the process. Lewis made it a double with victory in a qualifiers-only final before 856 Paul Webb took his first win of the year in the Grand National.
June started with a rare ‘spare’ weekend. 352 Andy and Paul Webb took this opportunity to head north to Barford to contest the Open F2 Gold Cup. Just under 20 cars were in attendance with a mixture of Warton and Northern Outlaw drivers making up the entry. After 2 qualifying heats won by 92 John Hogg and 301 Charlie Whitfield, both Webb brothers found themselves on row 2 after a 2nd and 4th for Paul and a 4th and an 8th for Andy in their heats. Andy was an early retirement in the championship race, while Paul battled up front with the afore-mentioned Hogg and Whitfield along with Warton Gold Roof 282 Richard Ellison; eventually finishing 4th after losing the final podium spot to a last lap challenge from 250 Kyle Taylor. Ellison went on to take the Gold Cup win, ahead of Hogg and Taylor.
barford raceway off sunday 6th June 2021 - YouTube
Saturday 12th saw 4 cars in attendance at the
next RTS round at Swaffham. Former RTS
racer 72 Chris Langridge made his first appearance for the promotion since they
moved from Arena Essex. The races were
mixed in with the Classic Stox and as such no results are available.
The following Sunday saw clashing meetings, with Standlake and Grimley both running. The former raised 24 cars, which was the lowest turnout at the track so far this year. 92 John Hogg made the long journey down from Scotland to get some track time in in anticipation of challenging for the Open Championship later in the year. 714 Louis Rayner took his first F2 win in heat 1, 776 James Trigg made amends for his awful meeting last month to take his 2nd win of the season in heat 2. Paul Webb won heat 3, before the final saw another first-time winner as 535 Ryan Stoodley came through to take the flag ahead of Andy and Paul Webb. 185 Jess Webb then recorded her 2nd win of the season in the Grand National.
Standlake f2 20th June 2021 heat 2 - YouTube (ONBOARD JAMES TRIGG HEAT 2 WIN)
Over at Grimley 7 cars were in attendance, with 173 Paul Smith making his first appearance of the season. 299 Will Jackson continued his good form with a heat 1 and final double, with 252 Izzy Jackson taking the win in heat 2. Izzy and 681 Ollie Holford completed the podium places in the final.
Full Meeting - Grimley 20 June 2021 - YouTube
After a gap in the fixtures, it was back to Grimley on July 11th with 13 cars giving the track its highest turnout of the year so far. Amongst the entry were first-time visits in 2021 for Standlake visitors Louis Williams, 321 Maisie Emms, and Jess and Andy Webb. Williams and Jess Webb’s appearances making them the first to visit all 4 southern tracks in 2021. There was also a return for 42 Ash Greening, now at the wheel of the ex-Gavin Ward RCE and a first appearance of the year for 502 Ryan Weston.
Williams took victory in the opening heat ahead of Will Jackson and 716 Jim Muckian after a lively race which saw a turn 3 and 4 incident earlier in the race that involved almost the entire field after 681 Ollie Holford and 246 Alex Broadway spun in front of the pack. Muckian just held off a late charge from Holford in heat 2 to take the win with Williams in 3rd.
Holford then went one better in the final, taking what was surprisingly his first ever feature race win. Will Jackson and Williams completed the podium after a good mid-race battle between the pair and Andy and Jess Webb. A non-points Grand National rounded out the days action, with Will Jackson holding off Williams for the win with Greening getting his best finish of the day in 3rd.
F2 Outlaws Heats + Final + GN - Grimley 11 July 2021 - YouTube
Next up was Standlake’s fourth meeting of the year, with a 25 car turnout. 669 Lee Hall made his debut and 214 Stella Lacey made a first appearance in a Steve Turner hire car. Andy Webb took his first victory of the season in heat 1 while Carl Lewis continued his winning ways in both heats 2 and 3. 420 Ade Baker won his first final at Standlake in several years ahead of Lewis and Webb, with Keith Walding rounding out the days action by taking the flag in the grand national – his first Standlake victory of the season.
The following weekend saw all roads leading to Swaffham, who were staging the Gold Roof weekender for the first time since 2019. 20 cars were in the pits for the Saturday night qualifying heats, with 92 John Hogg and 138 Gary Tweddle putting in the most miles to be there, from Berwick and Lancashire respectively. There was also a debut for 3rd generation racer 88 Ross Innocent (son of 1991 Superstox World Champion Darren Innocent and grandson of 1969 BriSCA F2 World Champion Ron Innocent). Louis Williams made the strongest possible start as he took victory in both opening heats, while Jim Muckian completed an impressive track debut with a win in heat 3.
Sunday saw 3 further arrivals with debutant 33 Dan Milne joined by Billy Banwell and Keith Walding, while 12 Vince Foley had loaded up overnight with engine problems – leaving 22 cars to contest the remaining 2 heats and final. Jess Webb won her first race away from Standlake in heat 4, with 72 Chris Langridge securing pole position with a win in heat 5. The final took place without fellow front-rower Williams, whose throttle cable snapped as he made his way onto track. Unfortunately, the race turned out to be more of a procession than was probably expected. It ended up being a comfortable 2nd victory of the day for Langridge, ahead of Paul and Andy Webb. Innocent and Jess Webb collected prize money as the top white and yellow grade finishers respectively. The grand national rounded out the weekend’s action, with Jess Webb winning the Andrew Warne Memorial shield, in what was her most successful meeting to date.
August began with Grimley playing host to a 9-car meeting, which included a debut for Standlake 1600 Prod racer 101 Zak Moores, who was joined for a track debut by 210 Patrick Somerton. Louis Williams continued his road towards defending his Southern Points title with victory in heat 1, before 42 Ash Greening took his first wins in his RCE with a heat 2 and final double. Will Jackson rounded out the days action with victory in the Grand National.
A week later and a rain-sodden Swaffham RTS meeting raised 2 cars, with Steve Rickard and Mason Hall sharing the track with the debuting classic GP midget class. At Ringwood a 10-car entry for the Saturday night meeting included a debut for 44 Lewis Geraty. The 3 races saw an Enright shut out, with 150 John winning claiming heat 1 and the final, with brother 151 Andy taking his first win of the season in heat 2. Louis Williams and Andy Enright completed the podium places in the final.
The Sunday meeting saw 594 Dan Boddington join those in attendance and Terry Butcher leave to keep the turnout at 10 cars. Andy Enright doubled his tally with victory in heat 1 before Williams took over with a heat 2 and final double, with John and Andy Enright his placemen in both races respectively.
Swaffham were next on the calendar as they held a meeting a week later, with a pleasing 14 cars in attendance. The entry featured the usual Standlake invasion with 109 Stuart Biddle and 669 Lee Hall making their track debuts amongst another 8 from the Oxfordshire venue, while 253 Charlie Heffer made his first non-RTS appearance since crossing over from Spedeworth. Louis Williams completed a double with victory in both heats, but he was bested in the main race by Billy Banwell who took his 2nd final win of the year.
August was rounded out with visits to Grimley and Standlake respectively over the bank holiday weekend. Grimley’s 9 car entry included a first visit of the season for Gary Webb, who became the 3rd driver to race at all 4 tracks in a single season. The meeting was dominated by Ash Greening, who completed a hat-trick of wins, only beaten on the day by a Grand National victory for Will Jackson.
Bank holiday Monday saw the joint-highest turnout of the season with 33 cars in the pits at Standlake. John Hogg again made the long trip down from Berwick, 12 Vince Foley made his first Standlake appearance in several years and there were returns for 516 Andy and 688 Alan Cornock. Carl Lewis dominated the opening 2 heats while Hogg made the miles worthwhile as he took his first win on the southern tracks in 2021 in heat 3.
The qualifiers-only final saw plenty of action and a first ever final win for Jess Webb, ahead of Greening and 542 Martin Chard in 3rd. The grand national saw 4 red flag restarts and only 9 finishers from a field of 25 cars. Greening took the win from the handicap to end a meeting full of action and damage.
A 3 week gap in the fixtures left the next action at Swaffham over the weekend of the 18th & 19th of September, where the Norfolk Championship was up for grabs. Unfortunately, this meeting came only a week before Standlake’s Open championship which hurt the attendance and as a result only 7 cars were in the pits with Andy Enright making his first appearance at the track for a couple of years. Andy’s brother John, Vince Foley and Gary Tweddle the other notable visitors.
Saturday’s opening heat saw a first ever victory for Anthony Warne before Louis Williams racked up his 6th Swaffham win of the season in heat 2, with Andy Enright making the most of his visit as he took the flag in the final heat of the night. Sunday’s action saw a final heat which again left Williams victorious. The Norfolk Championship final fell to John Enright, who took his 3rd final and first win at Swaffham of the year. His placemen in the final were Williams and Andy Enright. This weekend would end up being the final Swaffham meeting of the season with Williams wrapping up the track championship in comfortable fashion, his total of 163 points almost double of 2nd placed Billy Banwell who finished on 88.
Sunday 19th also saw Grimley hosting a meeting with a 9 car turnout. With Ash Greening not in attendance, Will Jackson took full opportunity to extend his lead at the top of the track points and leave him unreachable in the race for the gold roof. His heat and final wins and return to 3rd in the grand national left him top scorer on the day and the 78 point gap he ended the day with means he will be wearing the gold roof for 2022. The other races on the day saw wins for Jim Muckian in heat 1 and Ollie Holford in the grand national.
F2 Outlaws Grand National - Grimley 19 September 2021 - YouTube
One week later and all roads led to Standlake for the 7th running of the Open Championship. The 30 car attendance was down on what was expected, with several travellers not wanting to risk the journey due to the fuel crisis. Despite this John Hogg made his 3rd visit of the season, while northern Outlaw 132 Dean Mawson made a track debut from his Lincolnshire base. Ash Greening and Will Jackson made another of their frequent visits from Grimley and 101 Zak Moores made his first outing at his local track.
Each driver raced twice across 4 heats with reverse grids in place in the second pair of heats. Double defending champion Paul Webb made a strong start to his defense with victory in heat 1. Heat 2 went to 82 Keith Richens – a first victory since 2018. Carl Lewis went flag-to-flag in heat 3 and with it secured pole position for the final. The 4th heat went the way of Louis Williams, who finally broke his Standlake duck for the year and with it, repeated the feat of 13 Gavin Ward from 2020, by taking victory at all 4 southern tracks within the same season.
Ash Greening joined Lewis on the front row for the final, with Hogg and Paul Webb behind on row 2. The final itself was a race of attrition, with Greening taking the early lead and despite a red flag at the halfway point looked on for victory, before tangling with Paul Webb who was re-joining after a spin and picking up damage that ended his race. Hogg then took over and looked on for victory before a puncture ended his chances late on.
Williams was next to lead, before he too tangled with back markers and crashed out of a comfortable lead. Ryan Stoodley took over and lead until the final lap when Andy Webb moved him wide and held on for victory and his 2nd Open title. Jackson just pipped Stoodley over the line for 2nd in a race that saw less than half of the 26 starters make it to the flag.
The day’s action was rounded out with a closed grid grand national in graded order. Keith Walding took his 3rd win of the season after a good battle late on with Jess Webb saw the former gain enough of an advantage to hold on for the win.
After a 2 week gap, Grimley held their final points meeting of the year (with the November Skylighter classed as non-points). 6 cars were in attendance as Jim Muckian swept all before him with victory in both heats and the final. Will Jackson continued his best ever Grimley season with a win in the grand national and 502 Ryan Weston left it late, but finally claimed his first points of the season after some bad luck earlier in the year.
6 days later and Ringwood’s penultimate date raised an
improved 13 car turnout. 214 Matt Coburn
and 441 Lewis Eagles made first F2 outings, while 669 Lee Hall paid his first
visit to the track. Andy Enright
continued his winning form with victory in heat 1, as did Louis Williams with
his heat 2 win. 681 Ollie Holford took
the win in the final ahead of 595 Jack Boddington and Andy Enright.
It was then Standlake’s turn to host their penultimate meeting of the year on Sunday 24th. 609 Josh Campbell made his F2 debut (although it would only last 1 heat unfortunately with a blown engine), while 418 Robert Casey made a first appearance in over 12 months and 586 Adam Walding-Kelly a first in 4 years.
534 Tom Stoodley claimed the opening heat after a good late battle with Carl Lewis and James Trigg. Lewis went better with a win in heat 2 and Jim Muckian won heat 3. Paul Webb’s final win was surprisingly his first of the season ahead of Trigg and 421 Gary Webb on what was a very damp and greasy track. Andy Webb rounded out the day with victory in the grand national and ended the day 2nd in the track championship – 27 points behind leader Lewis – with the final round taking place on November 7th.
Street Banger Open 2021 - Best of the Action from the Non-Contact Classes - YouTube (includes F2 footage)
Saturday 30th saw the final RTS meeting of the season with 4 cars in attendance; with the semi-regular Rob Taylor joined by 72 Chris Langridge, 82 Steve Rickard and 221 Tommy Sneddon. Langridge was a race winner, but no full results are known.
The same night saw 47 Jake Perry head north to Scunthorpe to join the ranks of the northern Outlaws for a night. A 2nd place in heat 3 being his best result of the night in what was a first shale outing in an F2.
Outlaws | Scunthorpe 30th October 2021 - MKJ Vids - YouTube
The final weekend of the season at the beginning of November saw 3 tracks running, with Ringwood on first up on Saturday 6th. 10 cars were in the pits and included 2 racers making their first appearances in 2021. 205 Michael King made his F2 debut while 797 Dan Moss was back out for the first time in 12 months. The heats went the way of Andy Enright and Moss, while the final featured only 3 finishers after some dropped oil put paid to many of the field. 44 Lewis Geraty was the main benefactor as he took his first ever win, with King and Moss the only other finishers.
John Enright will be sporting the silver roof next year after wrapping up the track points. His 31 point lead ahead of the final meeting would have left Williams needed a 32 point maximum and a nil score from Enright, but will Williams not in attendance (surprisingly missing an available meeting for the only time this season), Enright finished the night with a 38 point lead over Williams, Will Jackson rounding out the top 3.
Grimley’s season ended with a non-points meeting and a
first chance for Will Jackson to show off his new gold roof as points champion. 68 Andy Holford made a first appearance in
several years after son Ollie’s gearbox problems at Ringwood the night
previous stopped him racing, while 222 Ash Farebrother was another returnee in
brother Ben’s BriSCA car.
Jim Muckian was able to hold off Jackson for victory in heat 1, with Jackson taking heat 2. The final saw Jackson on pole with Muckian behind him, the latter seizing the opportunity right from the off as he fired Jackson into the fence on turn 1. This slowed his own progress and allowed 252 Izzy Jackson into a lead that she was never to relinquish as Muckian chased hard but had to settle for 2nd, 173 Paul Smith completing the podium.
F2
Outlaws Heats + Final - Grimley 7 November 2021 - YouTube
In the remainder of the meeting 6 Tyler Newman made his debut in an ex-James Trigg car while there was a one-off return for 710 Brett Townsend. 488 Owen Stringer took his first win in dominant fashion in heat 1, before 254 Harry Heffer also scored a maiden win in heat 2 and then managed to follow it up with victory in heat 3. Unfortunately, a misfire would stop him making it a hattrick in the final which went to new track champion Carl Lewis ahead of Ryan Stoodley and Keith Walding. The final race of the year was a grand national won by Louis Williams as Heffer rounded off his best meeting with 2nd place and Owen Stringer came home in 3rd.
FACTS AND FIGURES:
A total of 84 drivers raced across 32 meetings.
Highest attendance: 33 at Standlake (31st May
& 30th August)
Lowest attendance: 6 at Swaffham (25th April
& 19th September) and Grimley (10th October)
Average attendance across all meetings: 15.56
Standlake average: 28.33
Swaffham average: 12
Ringwood average: 11
Grimley average: 8.87
WINS:
In total 29 different drivers won a race in 2021
Of those, 9 drivers won a race at more than one track
Most overall race wins: 105 Louis Williams (17)
Most final wins: 299 Will Jackson (4)
Most Standlake wins: 155 Carl Lewis (11)
Most Grimley wins: 299 Will Jackson (8)
Most Ringwood wins: 105 Louis Williams & 150 John
Enright (6)
Most Swaffham wins: 105 Louis Williams (7)
TITLES:
105 Louis Williams – Southern Points Champion / Swaffham
Points Champion
155 Carl Lewis – Standlake Points Champion
299 Will Jackson – Grimley Points Champion / Ringwood
Southern Open Champion
150 John Enright – Ringwood Points Champion / Swaffham
Norfolk Champion
72 Chris Langridge – Swaffham Gold Roof Champion
352 Andy Webb – Standlake Open Champion
WINS BY TRACK:
STANDLAKE
155 Carl Lewis - 8H 2F 1GN
856 Paul Webb - 2H 1F 1GN
716 Jim Muckian - 2H 1F
185 Jess Webb - 1H 1F 1GN
352 Andy Webb - 1H 1F 1GN
42 Ash Greening - 1H 1GN
105 Louis Williams - 1H 1GN
254 Harry Heffer - 2H
420 Ade Baker - 1H 1F
534 Tom Stoodley - 1H 1GN
563 Keith Walding - 2GN
776 James Trigg - 2H
299 Will Jackson - 1F
535 Ryan Stoodley - 1F
82 Keith Richens - 1H
92 John Hogg - 1H
488 Owen Stringer - 1H
509 Jordan Butcher - 1H
714 Louis Rayner - 1H
744 Harry Adams - 1H
GRIMLEY
299 Will Jackson - 3H 2F 3GN
42 Ash Greening - 4H 3F
716 Jim Muckian - 6H 1F
252 Izzy Jackson - 1H 1F
681 Ollie Holford - 1F 1GN
105 Louis Williams - 2H
25 Ant Masters - 1GN
RINGWOOD
150 John Enright - 4H 2F
105 Louis Williams - 5H 1F
299 Will Jackson - 2H 1F
151 Andy Enright - 2H
681 Ollie Holford - 1F
42 Ash Greening - 1H
SWAFFHAM
105 Louis Williams - 7H
277 Billy Banwell - 2H 2F
72 Chris Langridge - 1H 1F
185 Jess Webb - 1H 1GN
563 Keith Walding - 1F
321 Maisie Emms - 1H
716 Jim Muckian - 1H
150 John Enright - 1F
151 Andy Enright - 1H
346 Anthony Warne - 1H
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