A rainy evening was forecast at Skegness for our V8 & F1 British championship. However we arrived to sunny weather conditions.
As usual drivers had to qualify for the main race by getting the results in the heats.
Phoebe went out for heat 1. She looked quick straight away and soon made her way into first place and took her first race win of 2016! What a great start!
The V8s were running 2/3rds for tonight so she was back out in Heat 3, where she got stuck in and finished in second place, putting her in pole position for the British.
Quite a few heats for the F1s. FWJ went pretty well and he finished all 3 with a 4th, 6th & 3rd, putting him on the outside of row 3 for the Final.
Danny got fifth in his first race, followed by a 11th and 10th in his others. This put him on the 10th row inside.
Young Frank got sixth in his first race. He finished the other 2 but not in particularly great places. He was first reserve, and thankfully this was enough for him to get in after someone pulled out. He started off the back.
So Phoebe’s British was out first. She was a bit nervous strapped in waiting to go on the track. As soon as she got on the heavens opened so the track allowed the V8 drivers 10 minutes to change their tyres if they wished.
We changed just one and kept the others on. We weren’t sure if this was going to be the right choice, to be honest. But Phoebe’s start was perfect! And we can only describe her race as flag to flag perfection! She didn’t put a foot wrong and was smooth and consistent, dealing with back markers perfectly.
Phoebe went on to win her first major title and made history by being the first female to do so! Surely it couldn’t get any better than this??
Now it was time for the boys to make their mark. FWJ’s start didn’t go too well when another car climbed over his front wheel, bending his shocker and hitting the fence halfway down the straight.
After a caution, FWJ and Danny were more or less at the back of the grid and young Frank was sat behind his dad.
FWJ and Danny fought their way to the front, and on the last stoppage Danny was in second and FWJ in 4th. On the restart, FWJ passed 78, and Danny put a hit in on Mat 16.
FWJ hit Danny wide and with just 3 laps remaining Danny couldn’t get back onto FWJ. So Frankie wins his 8th British championship with Danny right behind him in 2nd.
Young Frank was positioned in fourth but was possibly a lap down after getting walloped into the wall earlier on. He wasn’t certain where he was and the flag man was giving him 4th, so he had a last bend dive on Mat and it almost paid off!
At the moment we are not 100% certain where he finished due to an enquiry taking place.
Nights don’t get much better than this! Wow!! We can not thank the team enough and everyone who helps out one way or another. Just brilliant.
Sam.
Thanks to the following people for these photos and memories of a truly fantastic night! Paul Greenwood, Colin Casserley, Paul Tully, Ant Jenkins, and Matthew Holland, and also Simon Antrobus for the video of the V8 British.
