Well, we all thought we’d enjoyed a superb championship so far, we just hoped for a finale to fit. But nobody could have written the script for the final race of our season. The headlines read, ‘Gary Bryan and Jamie Winn, 2014 British F2 Sidecar Champions’ but behind that phrase lies so much drama. But to begin at the beginning……
Qualifying took place in wet conditions, wildcards Lee Crawford and Stuart Ramsay were fastest and looked smooth with it, Conrad Harrison and Lee Patterson second. Championship leaders Gary Bryan and Jamie Winn were third but title rivals Carl Fenwick and Ashley Moore along with Alan Founds and Tom Peters were (only) in sixth and eighth places. No luck for the Lowthers, their weekend ruined by an oil cooler problem, also Rob Fisher and Rick Long, a misfire plaguing their hopes while the Ramsdens were also homeward bound after ‘doing’ another engine. The weather improved marginally by race time, it wasn’t actually raining but it had poured since qualifying had taken place till just before the race start and subsequent lap times were averaging 1m 53, around 12 seconds down on a normal dry race.
For once the Cadwell grid positions didn’t dictate the early order as is often the case. After the opening lap, Fenwick led from Crawford, Harrison, Roy Hanks and Kevin Perry in fourth – Roy is ALWAYS good in wet conditions. Bryan was fifth from Founds with Ian and Carl Bell in seventh. Lap two saw that Bryan-Founds-Bell order reversed. Oh dear, this wasn’t part of Gary’s raceplan! The top four remained unchanged while 8
th to 10
th were Matt Dix and Shaun Parker, Dean Lindley and Rob Bell, and Thomas and Tom Quaye.
By lap six, both Bell and Founds had moved ahead of Hanks, but up front Fenwick and Crawford had opened a gap on Harrison. Another three laps and both Bell and Founds had got past Harrison, with Hanks and Bryan following a couple of laps later. Up front, both Fenwick and Crawford were having to work hard, but it’s all relative, the pair each two seconds per lap quicker than the rest of the field. By the flag just 0.86 seconds separated Fenwick and Crawford but third placed Bell was 36 seconds down. Founds was just a quarter of a second behind with Hanks, Bryan and Harrison in 5
th to 7
th. Lindley and Quaye had both moved up a place when Dix went-a-spinning and Gordon Shand/Phil Hyde got through to 10
th, Gordon having started 17
th after qualifying. Dix was 11
th ahead of Tony and Fiona Baker, Dave Atkinson and Mike Aylott, Scott Parnell and Dean Kilkenny and then Howard Baker and Mike Killingsworth. Howard and Mike had had a spin early on and must have enjoyed it as they repeated the move later in the race. So, what did all that do to the points? From five possibles for the title, we were down to three, Bryan on 173, Founds on 167 and Fenwick on 158. If Gary finished………..Bill Barraclough presented Carl and Ashley with a superb ‘Performance of The Day’ award, Ashley’s first British Championship win.
Sunday was always supposed to be dry but we got a bonus with sunny conditions from the start. Our second race was just after the lunchbreak and boy, were we in for a dramatic twenty minutes or so. Viewing from the commentary ‘tower’ it was obvious that Gary Bryan got a flyer and he led going up to Charlie’s.
Coming down from Mansfield, Harrison and Crawford suffered from ‘2 into 1 doesn’t go’ with Lee and Stuart going off onto the grass, Stuart coming out and the outfit on its side, both ok but disappointed. Harrison took the lead from Bryan on the next lap with Founds, Fenwick and Bell in close attendance. And then the race director announced that No 3, Gary Bryan and Jamie Winn had been given a 5 second time penalty for a jump start. That transformed the spectating from watching everybody to looking at the top five and the computer screen! It meant at that stage, Bryan and Winn were second on the road BUT fifth on corrected time. Founds got past Bryan to take second and began to hunt down Harrison, while Bell took fourth from Fenwick. Neither of those moves actually changed affairs re the destiny of the title. Bryan on corrected time was fifth, Founds was second – Founds would win the title. But Pam Bryan down in pit lane had hit on the way to get Gary to react. Regardless of actual time gaps, she just put +00 and waved Gary on FRANTICALLY every lap!! It worked, the visual gap between Harrison and Founds was consistent, the gap from Founds to Bryan was reducing, while the gap between between Bryan and Bell increased. On lap 7, the gap from Bryan to Fenwick (in 5
th) went to over 5 seconds, so with the time penalty Gary was now fourth on corrected time but the title was still Founds-bound, he was on course for 20 points to Gary’s 13, the seven point difference here would give him the championship by one point. If Founds could get past Harrison, that would help him, if Gary could get closer to Alan and further away from Ian Bell in fourth, that would obviously help Gary. On lap nine, the gap from Gary on the road to Ian on the road was now OVER five seconds, so Gary/Jamie were now both third on the track AND on corrected time – that would mean 16 points instead of 13 and instead of a one point deficit for the title, they now had a two point advantage. Gary/Jamie had most definitely responded, their lap 9 was the fastest of the race. Following all this? Of course you are…lap 10 is completed, no change except the leading three had stretched the gap to 4
th and then…..RED FLAG!!
Dean Lindley had overturned it, both Dean and Rob we learned were ok, but with 10 laps completed out of 14, that was sufficient to declare the race over, the order being Harrison, Founds, Bryan, Bell and Fenwick, the title going to Gary/Jamie on 189 points with Alan/Tom second on 187, Carl/Ashley on 169. Outside of the top five, Shand battled through to 6
th (and kept hold of fifth in the championship), Dave Wallis and the returning Steve Wareham were 7
th with Atkinson, Dix and Hanks completing the top ten. The remaining points scorers were Tony Baker, Dave Lillie/Ben Chandler (second in the Cup class), Rob Handcock/Carl Morgan, Howard Baker and Parnell. The top ten in the championship: Bryan 189, Founds 187, Fenwick 169, Harrison 157, Shand 135, Bell 124, Lindley 82, Wallis 73, Lowther and Reeves 70 In the F2 Cup, Founds 280, Lindley 159, Quaye 127, Ramsden 114, Reeves 98, Lillie 93.
Two points which I have been advised on: The latest ruling on ‘How far do you go back on the laps when a race is red-flagged?’ The answer is as the results sheet which is I think the best soloution. When this race was red-flagged, four had crossed the line, so their times are for 10 completed laps, but for all others the race is nine laps. Secondly the ‘5-second’ penalty. That is consistent with Derby Phoenix policy. I understand other clubs may do it differently. Whatever, Sunday was always going to result in two competitors being ‘over the moon’ while four would be disappointed. Congratulations to Gary and Jamie, Jamie was third in 2004, second in 2006, Gary was third in 2009, together they’ve been second in 2012 and third in 2013. They finished in the top six in every race this season. So did Alan and Tom, 13
th last year they achieved six podiums from the 12 races with that stunning win at Oulton the highlight. Carl has shown huge potential for some time now, but coming back from a year out was never going to be easy. Scored his first two wins, at Oulton and at Cadwell, he’ll continue to be there or thereabouts.
Report from John Newton, Pics from Derek Donsworth.