BriSCA F1 Stock Cars - 2001 Championship of the World - Hednesford Hills Raceway - 15 September 2001
Pictures by Dave Carter & Dean Mayer - of THROTTLED magazine
|
BriSCA F1
Links 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|||||||||||||
| Hednesford
Hills Raceway - Saturday 15 September 2001 BriSCA F1 Stock Cars - 2001 Championship of the World There was a magnificent response from the drivers to make this a 100 car meeting - the first three figure turnout since the mid-1970s I believe. What a fantastic atomosphere this created, and both of the pit areas were crammed to overflowing. Two very full heats certainly whetted the atmosphere for 'the Big One' with these raced being won by #218 Derek Fairhurst and #327 Howard Davies respectively. The 5pm start meant that World Final would be run in daylight and the Grand Parade of drivers which as always was very popular with the massive crowd. The new Mark II Elite chassis of #180 Ray Witts and #97 Murray Harrison's very low new car were two of the big talking points. Once the cars had been gridded followed a very poignant minutes silence to pay respects to the tragic events in the USA earlier in the week followed by a solo rendition of Land of Hope and Glory. Once the World Final got underway everybody anticipated the front runners to embark on some ferocious bumperwork but it was not to be. Very soon after, however, an enormous pile-up unfolded on turn #1 and aprt from the track becoming almost blocked it soon became clear that #335 Mark Woodhull was in serious trouble, requiring immediate assistance. To cut a long story short there followed a long gap (at least 30 minutes) in which the roof of the #335 car was removed with Mark being flown by air-ambulance to hospital. From one the pictures that I took (not shown here) it appears that Mark was in trouble before Frankie Wainman Junior was pushed into the melee. I am sure that everyone will wish to join me in passing on best wishes to Mark and his family and friends. It was dark come the re-run and this time Frankie Wainman powered Andy Smith fencewards allowing Rob Speak to storm into the lead on turn #2. From this point Speak never looked back and it never really looked like he was going to be seriously challenged. On the day it was a well deserved and very popular victory. Thus Rob Speak takes up a very rare position in the history of UK Stock Car Racing, becoming the only driver to take the Gold Roof in both F1 and F2, an achievement only previously achieved by Dave Chisholm. Following the WF was the "Future 500", a race for Whites and Yellows for a large purse over a race-time of eight minutes. This worked very well with a large proportion of the field still running at the end. #327 Howard Davies picked his second win of the day. I, for one, hope this event becomes a regular feature of the WF event as it allows some of the limelight to fall on the lower graders without whom the sport would be very much the poorer. The Consolation event was taken by #10 James Potter and #391 Andy Smith powered his way home in the Grand Final. The last event of the evening - due to the late running and strict local authority curfew - was the Grand National which was won by Dutchmen #H217 Ron Kroonder. This was a very popular result, especially with the very large and noisy Dutch contingent. |
Results: Heat 1 218, 98, 39, 128, 65, 221, 34, 146, H46, 322, 283, 155 Heat 2 327, 117, 82, H15, 203, 489, 50, H74, 115, 61, 250, 8 2001 World Championship 318, 515, 391, 2, 247, 53, 51, 21, H27, 180, 338, 73 Consolation 10, H29, H35, H217, 33, 11, H32, 152, 250, 8, H525, C23 Final 391, 152, 2, 247, 53, 51, 203, 50, 34, H217, H32 Grand National H217, 53, NZ11, 51, 33, H240, 515, 2, H74, 391
All of the pictures in the gallery are of the World Final itself. Given sufficient interest I might be persuaded to produce a gallery featuring all the cars that raced at the meeting! |
|||||||||||||
Contents copyright. May not be reproduced without permission.
