2023 A.C.U. / F.S.R.A. British F2 Sidecar Championship – Round One Review – Croft – 1st & 2nd April
Supported by :- A.V. Craine & Sons; Hegarty Plant Ltd.; Pagid Racing;
Whitby Cottages; Rowtec Engineering Maintenance & Tingle Windows
Words – Tim Langham (F.S.R.A. Press Officer) / Photographs – Bryan Gough
A new season began for the A.C.U. / F.S.R.A. British F2 Sidecar Championship at Croft over the weekend of the 1st and 2nd April with N.E.M.C..R.C.. Reigning Champions Pete Founds / Jevan Walmsley (LCR Honda) showed that they meant business from the outset, topping the timesheets in every session – landing pole, both race wins and a new F2 lap record in an unblemished start to their campaign.
Meanwhile, in the F2 Cup, whilst not taking championship points, wild cards Kieran Clark / Andrew Johnson (Windle Yamaha) put their thirty year old carburetted outfit way in front of the registered teams, mixing it with the top Super F2 teams in both outings, providing some excellent entertainment.
As with the optional Friday afternoon test sessions, Saturday’s free practice and qualifying outings were held under leaden skies. Intermittent rainfall ensured the circuit stayed wet for the large part of the day, and tyre choice was something of a lottery, particularly given the circuit was damper in some sections than others.
Qualifying got underway the teams sliding their way around the circuit, with familiarisation rather than outright speed seemingly being the idea in the early part of the session. One or two crews including Sean Hegarty / James Neave (Baker Honda); Steve & Matty Ramsden (LCR Honda); Charlie Morphet / William Reilly (LCR Honda) and Paul Riley / Jody James (DDM Suzuki) missed the early part of the session with a lack of functioning tannoy facilities in the far reaches of the paddock. On circuit, one or two machines had stopped with mechanical issues, and with a few teams recovering from spins, including F2 Cup newcomers Bob Dawson / Matt Sims (LCR Yamaha) at Sunny In, the red flags came out momentarily to recover a couple of outfits which had been left in vulnerable positions.
A restart over eight minutes on a drying track saw Founds / Walmsley take charge at the head of the timesheet, although briefly displaced by the Ramsdens with two minutes remaining, the current champions put in a time 1.4s clear to take their first pole of the season. The outgoing F2 Cup Champion Rob Atkinson (Bellas Honda) – this weekend with Shane Colbrook deputising for Mark Middleton – placed an excellent third, ahead of Manxmen Mike Jackson / Jake Roberts (DMR Suzuki). Just 0.1s in arrears were veteran campaigners Conrad Harrison / Andy Winkle (Ireson Yamaha), with Daryl Gibson / Rhys Gibbons (CES Suzuki) rounding out the top six. Clarke / Johnson were seventh, with F2 Cup team Brian Ilaria / Arlo Brown (DDM Suzuki) eighth, while 2015 championship victors Alan Founds / Jake Lowther (LCR Yamaha) bounced back from a disappointing 2022 season in ninth. The top ten was completed by Morphet / Reilly, with a further eleven teams qualifying to provide an almost-full grid for race one, which was held in much more favourable conditions in the late afternoon.
The Ramsdens took an early initiative from the start, with Founds / Walmsley dropping down to third behind Jackson / Roberts, with the father and son team beginning to stretch a gap at the end of lap one. Several teams who had endured slightly disappointing qualifying results were making their way through the pack and into the top ten, including wild-cards Gary Bryan / Phil Hyde (Baker Honda), and Hegarty / Neave, although they were clipped by a rival outfit on the exit of Hawthorne, putting them back a few places – leaving more work to do!
While Founds / Walmsley cleared the outfit of Jackson / Roberts on lap two, they then had a three second gap to close to the leaders. Meanwhile, an excellent battle was shaping up for the final podium step, with Atkinson / Colbrook; Bryan / Hyde; Clarke / Johnson; Founds / Lowther and Gibson / Gibbons all closely vying for track position.
Unfortunately, there were early retirements for wild-cards Maria Costello / Colin Smyth (LCR Kawasaki) on lap two, joined on the sidelines by the Cup pairing of Dave Schofield / Josh Smith (Bellas Yamaha) shortly after due to new leathers causing severe discomfort and restricted arm-movement for Josh.
At half distance, Founds / Walmsley took charge at the front, with the Ramsdens beginning to lose touch, whilst Founds / Lowther had progressed through to third, pulling a gap from the dualling pack behind them. Further down the order, Morphet / Reilly; Ilaria / Brown; Bruce Moore / Amy Dodd (Ireson Honda) and newcomers James Saunders / Sarah Stokoe (Baker Honda) were all in contention for Cup podium slots.
The impressive performance of Clark / Johnson was certainly the major talking point of the race. Whilst it was clearly visible their older Thundercat motors lacked the straight line speed of their contemporaries, they were absolutely “riding the wheels” off their outfit, and some fine outbraking and overtaking maneouvres saw them move up to fourth place on the road. While Founds / Walmsley eased their pace at the front, team-mates Founds / Lowther caught and passed the Ramsdens in the dying stages to make it a perfect start to the season for the long-established “Team Founds”.
Clark / Johnson eased a margin of nearly 3s from Jackson / Roberts to take fourth, with Bryan / Hyde placing sixth.Atkinson / Colbrook were seventh, with Gibson / Gibbons holding onto eighth by 0.3s to deny Harrison / Winkle the place.Hegarty / Neave recovered to take tenth, hoping for better fortunes in race two.
Second in the Cup went to Morphet / Reilly (12th overall), but scoring maximum points due to the “wild-card” status of the race winners. Crossing the line next, albeit some nine seconds down were Ilaria / Brown who rounded out the Cup podium; whilst Saunders / Stokoe opened their account taking the championship points for third in class.
Sunday proved to be a far more pleasant day, with reasonably warm sunshine – although as always at Croft there was a long wait for action on-circuit to get underway due to noise regulations preventing activity before noon.
With the now traditional “top six reverse grid” for race two, pole-sitters Bryan / Hyde made no mistake and led the train of outfits on the opening lap. The Ramsdens made an excellent getaway from the second row, slotting into second, with Founds / Walmsley up to third at Tower. There was much movement in the mid-pack, with the likes of Hegarty / Neave and Gibson / Tom Christie (change of passenger) making several places in the early stages.
On lap three, Founds / Walmsley had made their way to the front and had their heads down establishing a commanding lead. Bryan / Hyde were still in contention for the podium, despite the Ramsdens finding a way through to second. Struggling slightly with setup on fast right-handers, Founds / Lowther were running fourth, but looked the most likely to make progress further up the field.
It was at this point we saw the only two retirements of the race – Shaun & Ben Chandler (CES Honda) who had been using the weekend to adapt to and set up their brand new machine – and Riley / James, who also brought a premature close to their meeting.
Again, there was a fascinating battle for sixth place, with Clarke / Johnson; Jackson / Roberts and Atkinson / Middleton all in wheel-to-wheel combat. Gibson / Christie pulled clear of this group at mid-distance, following Hegarty / Neave, with these outfits doing battle with Bryan / Hyde as Founds / Lowther had made their way into third.
Founds / Walmsley – despite at this point having to contend with passing backmarkers – put in a new Super F2 lap record on their sixth circulation, in a time of 1:26.484. Their fastest time of the race being over two seconds quicker than their nearest rivals! Having opened a ten second lead, they eased their pace in the closing laps with the Ramsdens also running in a safe second place.
Unarguably the closest and most unpredictable battle was going on for second place in the Cup, with the outfits of Morphet / Reilly; Schofield / Smith and Ilaria / Brown all racing line astern through the Jim Clark Esses on the final lap. A bold move between Barcroft and Sunny from Ilaria / Brown saw them pass both outfits making the move stick, and fending off further challenges to the finish line!
Founds / Walmsley took a dominant win to round off a perfect weekend, with the Ramsdens coming home second, 6s clear of Founds / Lowther. Hegarty / Neave placed fourth, with Gibson / Christie next up – both teams having done well to make numerous places from their initial grid positions. Bryan / Hyde were happy with sixth, having completed their aim of gaining signatures for their Mountain Course Licences, and had proved competitive despite being almost a year since they had raced their F2 outfit. The battle for seventh went the way of Jackson / Roberts who crossed the line just ahead of Atkinson / Colbrook and Clarke / Johnson – who had once again made some fantastic moves – riding round the outside and outbraking several teams numerous times. Harrison / Winkle took tenth in a consistent weekend as they prepare for another TT – 2023 being thirty years since Conrad’s debut! It was excellent to see that of the 24 teams that started the race, only two failed to finish. Let’s hope for similar entries for the remainder of the season!
On behalf of the F.S.R.A., I would like to express thanks to our loyal series sponsors, who have continued to pledge their support, despite the difficult times which the pandemic and increased operational costs for businesses over the last three years have brought about. The A.C.U. have again awarded the official “British Championship” title, and along with A.V. Craine & Son; Hegarty Plant Ltd; Pagid Racing (Breitenbach Rennsport); Rowtec Engineering Maintenance; and Whitby Cottages they continue their long partnerships with the F.S.R.A. We would also like to welcome our new series sponsor Tingle Windows on board for the coming season, and thank them for investing in the championship.
Finally, the F.S.R.A. would like to thank N.E.M.C.R.C. for hosting, and to all their dedicated officials, marshals, medics and all the other volunteers involved in running the event. Round two of the series will be held over the weekend of the 13th and 14th May at Donington Park, hosted by N.G.R.R.C..
