All things headed to Odsal for the 2022 British Championship, and with its unique format, a busy night was in store for all at Wainman Racing as we had 6 cars in attendance and all vying for the black and white chequered roof. Frankie, Danny, Phoebe, Frankie JJ, Karl and Lewis were all at Odsal.
The format was as usual in that there are 7 heats and each driver competes in 3 of them to earn points for a grid position in the final.
There was a setback before racing started when a problem developed with Frankie JJ’s car (broken cam shaft) on the parade lap ruling him out of the meeting.
Heat 1
Frankie, Danny and Karl were out on heat 1, and after some inclement weather the track was wet, but a dry line appeared after a few laps.
Frankie started on the front row of the superstars alongside Rob Speak (318) who was in Tom Harris’ (1) spare shale car, which ironically used to be Rob’s, his 2015 world final winner in fact, with Danny and Karl towards the back of the reds.
After a stoppage for the recovery of Daniel Ford’s (18) car the race ran through to the end with Frankie hitting the front before halfway and taking the chequered flag with Ryan Harrison (197) 2nd and Mark Gilbank (21) 3rd. Karl finished 10th and Danny a place behind in 11th.
Heat 2
Lewis was our only representative in heat 2, and this was a dominant display from Lee Fairhurst (217) who, after a few lapt trying to pass Jelle Tesselaar (410) got to the front and stayed there to take his first win of the evening, winning from Jelle who finished 2nd and Craig Finnikin (55) 3rd. Lewis pulled off before the end.
Heat 3
Frankie, Danny and Phoebe were on track for heat 3, Frankie at the back alongside Ryan again, Danny at the back of the reds and Phoebe at the front of the blues alongside Daniel Ford.
There weren’t any yellows in this race surprisingly, and it was won by Tom Harris (1) who won from Ryan Harrison 2nd and Jake Walker (289) 3rd. Danny finished 8th whilst Frankie drove the last few laps with a flat outside rear tyre.
Heat 4
We didn’t have any cars racing in heat 4 ………… well actually we did as the race was won by Jelle Tesselaar in his FWJ built shale car with Ryan Harrison getting his 3rd 2nd place of the evening and Lee Fairhurst coming home 3rd.
Heat 5
Frankie, Danny, Phoebe and Lewis were all back on track for heat 5, and after a couple of stoppages, firstly for recovery of Chris Farnell (32) and Mick Haworth (235) who were stuck on turn 2, and then for an incident when Daniel Brooke (548) hit the turn 1 fence hard, Sam Makim (93) had the lead. Then Lewis retired and from the restart Tom Harris took the lead and the flag for his 2nd win of the evening, with Craig Finnikin 2nd and Frankie 3rd. Phoebe was 5th and Danny 11th.
Heat 6
Phoebe and Karl took to the track for their final heats, Phoebe on the front row of the blues alongside Rich Bryan (238) and Karl at the back of the reds with Paul Harrison (2).
Again it was Tom Harris who took the win, his 3rd of the evening which would certainly give him pole position for the final, with Mark Gilbank 2nd and Matt Newson 3rd. Phoebe finished just behind Matt in 4th,
Heat 7
Lewis went out for the final heat of the evening, and lined up as one of the two yellows alongside Ben Howard (544).
And for the 2nd time tonight the car was won by a Tesselaar in an FWJ built car, this time is was Niels Tesselaar (418) who won from Matt Newson 2nd and Lee Fairhurst 3rd. Lewis finished 11th.
Final (2022 British Championship)
The final was a very entertaining race, and we had representation through the grid with Frankie on outside row 4, Phoebe inside row 7 and Danny inside row 14.
There were several leaders in the early stages of the race, this was after an initial red flag for Mark Sargent (326) who rolled on lap 2, and when things settled down it was Jelle Tesselaar who was in front followed by Lee Fairhurst, Mark Gilbank and Tom Harris.
Just before half distance there was a huge hit on leader Jelle Tesselaar resulting in him, Tom Harris and Chris Brocksupp all stuck, but Tom managed to get free and the 410 car had to be recovered to the infield.
From there Ryan Harrison was in the lead with Niels Tesselaar 2nd and Tom Harris 3rd.
Ryan never look troubled after that and both Matt Newson and Frankie managed to pass the number 1 car in the closing stages to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively behind Ryan.
Congratulations to Ryan on retaining the British Championship, and to all the drivers who made the meeting what it was.
Just to note that Franks car was 180kilo heavier (because of shale) after the final!!!!!
Next up for Wainman Racing is King’s Lynn, see you there
#WainmanRacing #BriSCAF1
Photo’s ©Ian Bannister
