BriSCA F2 SEASON REVIEW 2005
BriSCA F2 continued to go from strength to strength during 2005, proving to be the most popular oval formula outside Bangers, despite some early season controversy over tyres. This failed to spoil what was a brilliant season, headlined by two names – 559 Bert Finnikin and 79 Gordon Moodie, who both enjoyed a year filled with success.
March
Bert Finnikin had the honour of the first win of the season in heat one at King’s Lynn’s World Qualifier on March 5, the shale superstar also taking the final – the 99th of his career. On the same evening yellow grader 175 Ian McLean held off Moodie take the final at Cowdenbeath’s opener.
The West Country season kicked off on March 6 with 667 Tim Farrell taking the final at St Day, while 154 Steve Green Jnr won at Skegness as part of a reduced 2005 programme.
On March 12th a huge 75-car field raced at Birmingham, including Dutch star H24 Willie Peeters. 732 Daz Kitson beat 152 Mick Sworder home in the final – a rare Birmingham final defeat for Sworder in 2005. 480 Garry Sime won Cowdenbeath on the same evening, after a heat three pile up took out almost the entire field!
Barford opened its season the next day, with 324 James Thackra beginning a successful year at the Northern venue by heading home 725 Paul Broatch in the final. Broatch also had to give best to Moodie in the Grand National. Further south at Hednesford 401 Barry Goldin and 101 Kelvyn Whalley were the form men, both taking a heat before Goldin took the final and Whalley the National. Down at Taunton former World champion 642 Dave Luscombe also took a heat and final double, with 243 Chris Esau winning a heat and the GN.
On 19 March Moodie took the first of many Cowdenbeath final wins having also won two heats, and he followed this up with a final win at Skegness the next day. The same day saw Whalley take the final at Northampton’s opener while heat winner 259 Simon Farrington rolled in the GN.
Ringwood held its traditional Good Friday World Qualifier on March 25, the only meeting of the year at the Hampshire venue. Luscombe took another heat and final double, with 530 Matthew Deeble taking the consolation and National after a day of typical hard-hitting Ringwood action.
The next day saw Moodie take another Cowdenbeath hat-trick, including the final and GN from the lap handicap. At King’s Lynn Plymouth’s 613 Ian Serpell made his long journey worthwhile by winning the final, heading home Finnikin who was looking for his 100th F2 final success.
Thackra made it two Barford finals out of two on Easter Sunday, while Farrell came out on top at Bristol’s World qualifier, taking the Gerry Dommett Memorial Trophy although 886 Chris Bradbury went top of the World qualifying points.
Whalley moved up to red grade with a final win at Buxton on Easter Monday, while on the loose at Belle Vue Finnikin’s bid for his century was thwarted again, this time by 377 Daz Shaw. Moodie raced at Buxton before making a dash up to Skegness, which proved worthy as he took a heat and final double. 231 Matt Clayton took his first win of the year in the National. At Taunton Bradbury had a great day, taking a heat and final double before making it up to second behind 717 Mike James in the National.
April
Moodie took another hat trick of wins at Cowdenbeath on April 2, leading home 281 Jim Harris and 82 Keith Brown in the final having also claimed two heats.
The next day at St Day the tyre issue was raised for the first time, with James being disqualified from his Final win after a test apparently revealed the presence of tyre softener. Farrell inherited the win with Luscombe taking the National.
The first Thursday night session at Skegness on 7 April saw 557 Andrew Spence move up to red grade by taking the final, with a big 58-car field taking part. Two days later Jim Harris stopped Moodie’s run of Cowdenbeath finals and made red grade as a result, while at Mildenhall Bradbury claimed his first ever shale win in the final at the World of Shale qualifier.
The next day Thackra took yet another Barford final after also taking the consolation, while up in the far north 155 Steve Maclachlan took his maiden final as part of a small 14-car turnout at Crimond, with 721 Graham Kelly taking the GN. Arena-Essex’s World qualifier on the same day saw Goldin come out on top in the final, with 628 Chris Stephens taking his first success of the year in the National.
Moodie was back to winning ways at Cowdie on 16 April, taking both heats and the final before finishing second to 647 Chris Burgoyne in the GN. At Northampton 210 Chris Lindsay flew to his first final of the year as part of a huge 78-car entry, with Thackra beating Goldin to the GN win after Goldin had also finished second in the final.
The next day Moodie took the final at Buxton’s World Qualifier having also won his heat, while 226 Mark Moon won his first final of the year at St Day, with 393 Chris Cuming taking the consolation and National.
An interesting event preceded the meeting at Birmingham on 23rd April, with England defeating Scotland 38-28 in a speedway-style team match. A big 72-car field contested the main meeting, with 69 Stewart Chalkley taking the Final. A World of Shale qualifier at Mildenhall was won by yellow grader 609 Brandon Davies, with Finnikin and Clayton winning the night’s two GNs.
Hednesford held its World Qualifier the following day, with Kitson taking a good heat and final double, the final being halted after a rollover for Whalley. 297 Paul Bailey suffered a big crash in his heat when he ran into the stranded car of 872 Davie Bowler. Thackra’s presence at Hednesford left 909 Matt Heap free to take the final at Barford, while 871 Mark Simpson came out on top at Skegness. Moodie rounded off the month with another hat-trick at Cowdenbeath on 30 April.
May
Goldin took two heats and the final at Barford on 1 May, with newcomer 501 Jason Ward taking the National. On the same day Farrell took another final victory at St Day, with 467 Rob Batten winning the GN.
On Bank Holiday Monday Finnikin finally took the 100th F2 final of his career at Sheffield’s World of Shale qualifier, adding to his 100 already scored in BriSCA F1 – an amazing achievement. Rob Batten won his first final of the year at Bristol the same day, while shale driver 702 Allan Cooper took a surprise final win on tarmac at Skegness, with 103 Carl Issitt taking a heat and the National.
On 7 May the F2s’ first Coventry fixture of the year, another World of Shale qualifier, saw Finnikin keep up his record of final wins at the Midlands venue, after 606 Andrew Palmer, 798 Mark Sargent and 748 Jason Irving won the heats. Up at Cowdenbeath Moodie took the track’s World Qualifier ahead of 353 Rob Newall and Brown, the latter also winning the National. On the Sunday Brown won the final having also taken a heat, as did GN winner Burgoyne.
On May 8 Sheffield’s World Qualifier saw another final win for Finnikin who also took a heat, while there were wild celebrations for white grader 975 Gwyn Miller who took a rare win in heat one. At Arena-Essex the same day 676 Neil Hooper won the final with local driver 464 Matt Linfield taking the National, while Buxton saw Thackra take a heat and final double.
Knockhill’s season opened on May 11 with Moodie taking another hat-trick before lady driver 321 Holly Glen won the GN.
It was Brown’s turn to win a Cowdie final on 14 May, with Moodie striking back to take the National despite Brown making it up to second. The final at Birmingham saw a thrilling finish between Lindsay and Goldin, the former just getting the verdict by 0.019 seconds after video evidence was consulted! 362 Dave Harley won the National in a three abreast finish with Goldin and Sworder.
The next day saw Moodie take his first Barford final, finishing ahead of Broatch and 72 Paul Jones.
A Wednesday night session at Taunton on May 18 saw reigning World champion 167 Bill Batten finally take his first final of the year, with Rob Farrell taking his first success of the year in the National.
At Northampton on May 21 yellow grader 706 Andy Butler beat the big names in the final after also coming second in his heat. Mildenhall’s World Qualifier the same night saw Finnikin pick up an almost inevitable final win, the large field seeing a number of tarmac specialists in action on a tricky track. Brown took another Cowdenbeath final after Burgoyne had won both heats, the latter second in the final and also in the GN behind Glen.
The next day saw the tyre softener controversy come to a head at Buxton’s English Open Championship. After the main race four of the first five finishers were disqualified after softener tests showed positive results, including winner 15 Steve Green Snr and runner-up 315 Justin Fisher. This handed Moodie the title but various protests and counter-protests saw the title eventually declared withheld.
Moodie was back to his usual Cowdenbeath form on 28 May with another three wins including his thirteenth final of the year, while the next day 685 Adam Deeble followed up his win in Bristol’s consolation by taking his first ever final. Barford saw a heat and final double for Broatch, with Moodie taking second having won the consolation and GN.
On May 30 Adam Deeble took his second final in as many days, this time at Taunton. Meanwhile at Belle Vue, 156 James Joyce followed up a heat win by beating Finnikin and Shaw home to take the World of Shale qualifying final. 560 James Rogers returned to red grade status with a final win at Skegness, with Steve Green Snr adding to a heat win in the National.
June
Knockhill specialist 258 Ryan Walker took the final at the tri-oval on 1 June after Burgoyne had won both heats, while 350 Gareth Taylor won the National ensuring a rare winless night for Moodie. He was back to form the next evening at Skegness, however, where he took the final with Green Snr winning another GN.
Moodie went onto take another Cowdenbeath final two days later, before taking second from the handicap in the GN behind 854 Robbie Dawson. The same evening saw Coventry’s World Qualifier, with Harley taking a good final win to move back to blue grade.
The next day another World Qualifying round at Northampton, with an entry so large four heats and two consolations were needed. Stewart Chalkley came through to win the final. On the same day 111 Lewis Geach took a hat-trick at St Day, with 940 Dan Holloway and Tim Farrell winning the other two races.
The action then moved across the water to Ireland, with Bill Batten taking the Irish Open title at Nutts Corner on 8 June, leading home Moodie and local star 998 Graham Fegan. Two days later, white grader 964 Tony Loftus surprised everyone at Ballymena by winning the UK Challenge Cup ahead of 600 Bryn Tootell and the Kelly brothers, 721 Graham ahead of 339 Stuart.
Birmingham staged its World qualifier on 11 June, with Goldin coming out on top in the final after finishing second to Palmer in his heat. Brown was back at Cowdenbeath to take the final, with 282 James Harris Jnr winning the GN.
The next day 511 Martin Coles took both heats and the final as the all-in format was used at Arena-Essex, with Linfield winning the GN. Up at Barford Boatch took his second final of the year, holding off the vastly improved 816 James Docherty before going on to win the National from the lap handicap. The World of Shale qualifiers continued at King’s Lynn, with 977 Dave Massey holding off Palmer to win the final, although Palmer came back to take the GN. At Knockhill it was Moodie once again despite 309 Bryan Forrest and Walker’s best efforts, the latter taking the National.
Mildenhall staged another World of Shale qualifier on 18 June, with Finnikin taking a declared final after 645 Richard Shearing rolled and was collected by 495 John Cayzer. Finnikin had just taken the lead from 81 Mark Clayton when the reds flew, with 744 Tom Smart third.
The same weekend saw Taunton’s biggest weekend of the year – the British Championship. Eight qualifying heats staged on the Saturday put Goldin and Luscombe on the front row, with an explosive start seeing Luscombe roll on the first turn, and the restart seeing four front runners go hard into the wall resulting in Moodie and 717 Mike James ending up on their sides. Goldin led the third attempt until a monster attack from Tim Farrell saw him slammed into the fence while his attacker continued. Bill Batten passed Steve Green Snr to take the title for the sixth time in his long career in a race of attrition, before Bradbury won the meeting final.
Another Skegness Thursday nighter on 23 June saw Palmer take his first ever tarmac final, while Moodie took a heat and the GN.
Two days later Bill Batten took another big championship by winning the Nationals at Bristol. The yellows were out early after Goldin buried Tim Farrell in revenge for the British incident. Bradbury led for some time but Batten eventually got through to win from Luscombe and Goldin, before Batten also added the meeting final. The GN, won by Linfield, was stopped early after a floodlight failure! On the same day Cowdenbeath was the stage for yet another Moodie hat-trick.
The next day two World qualifiers were staged, with the Belle Vue round being won by 833 Rob Kaye ahead of 252 Rick Irving and Finnikin, the latter taking the GN as well as a heat. Just 20 cars contested the Crimond qualifier with Graham Kelly leading home brother Stuart in the final. A Barford domestic on the same day went to Thackra ahead of the well-travelled 38 David Polley, while 726 Ian Forbes took a rare win in the National.
July
July began with another Coventry World of Shale qualifier, this one attracting over 75 cars. Finnikin took yet another final after spinning Brandon Davies on the last bend.