1800, 1600, Moto 1400 and Moto 1000 Grid

Saturday started off with glorious sunshine and the weather held out nicely for qualifying for the 1800, 1600, Moto 1000 and Moto 1400 grid. This didn’t stop a number of incidents causing some stoppages though. A spin by Matt Walters on the second lap of qualifying brought out a red flag due to him being beached on the edge of Paddock Hill Bend, but that didn’t stop him getting pole for the first race in the 1800 class on the lap before his off. Qualifying got underway again but only for a few laps before the safety car came out. Overall pole in qualifying was taken by Bradley Hobday in the Moto 1000 class on the last lap, almost 2 seconds quicker than Jeremy Timms’ P2 time.

The first race got off to a good start with Bradley Hobday making a good getaway before Jeremy Timms took the lead of the race on lap 2. Bradley held 2^nd for the entire race and also set a new lap record for the Moto 1000 class, taking almost a second out of the previous record. Mark Reade pulled into the pits on lap 2 of the race, but later rejoined and managed  to catch the pack and climb up the grid to get 14^th place overall. Jason Timms unfortunately had his engine let go on lap 3 which put him out for the weekend and promoted Richard Gittings up to third overall and 2^nd in the Moto 1000 class. He was being pressured for most of the race by Andre Gordon-Colebrook, but managed to keep him behind. Meanwhile in the 1800 class, Matthew Walters led the class start to finish and had some close battles with cars from other classes whilst climbing the order, Julian Hoskins and Chris Lord were fighting for 2^nd in class for the whole race, with Julian eventually coming out on top. In the 1600 class, Geoff Fern ran away in the lead as usual, with Nigel Davers in 2^nd and Eddie Guest and Kevin Bottomley fighting for 3^rd, Kevin eventually came out on top to round off the 1600 class podium.

Sunday saw two races for each grid with the start positions for the first determined by the second fastest qualifying times from the day before. Race two of the weekend for grid 1 saw Jeremy Timms have a poor start and drop back a few places. He soon gained the places back and then took the lead after Bradley Hobday unfortunately had his engine give up which put him out for the rest of the day. Jeremy then promptly disappeared into the distance to win the race. Early in the race there was a good battle between 3^rd and 5^th place on the grid which saw Mark Reade, Richard Gittings and Richard Moorcroft swapping and changing positions at the top of the Moto 1000 class. Mark retired from the race on lap 5 and Richard Gittings went on to win the class and finish 2^nd overall after starting 13^th on the grid, with Richard Moorcroft 2^nd in class and Mick Kinghorn having an impressive drive from 16^th to 5^th on the grid to take 3^rd in class. A close fought battle in the 1800 class saw Matt Walters win again with Chris Lord bettering Julian Hoskins this time out to take 2^nd in class.

The final race for this grid started off well with a clean start, but didn’t stay that way for long. Kevin Bottomley and Nigel Davers had a coming together on lap 1 which put Nigel out, however Kevin managed to recover from the gravel and carry on to eventually get 2^nd in class. Mark Reade concluded a disastrous weekend by pulling off on lap 2, his team mate Morgan McCourt also had issues and finished last in the race. On lap 4 George Fowler and Geoff Fern had a coming together at turn 1 which put them both out of the race and brought the safety car out. Jeremy Timms led the race start to finish, Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke gained a place to finish 2^nd overall and Richard Gittings came 3^rd overall and won his class. Dan Levy had a change in fortune, after failing to finish race 1 and 2, by coming 4^th overall and 2^nd in class. Matt Walters again won the 1800 class for a clean sweep of poles, wins and fastest laps. Chris Lord came 2^nd and Julian Hoskins was 3^rd with Phil Davis and David Jones competing for 4^th further down the grid; Phil eventually came out on top. With the retirement of Geoff Fern and Nigel Davers from the 1600 class, Eddie Guest was promoted to leading the class and managed to hold position against Kevin Bottomley who ended up with 2^nd in class and Simon Pruce came in 3^rd. Jeremy Timms, as well as taking 3 wins over the weekend, broke the Moto 1400 lap record – three times! He took 0.3 seconds out of the record in each race.

F3, 2000, Classic and FR2000 Grid

After a lovely start to Saturday morning, there was a downpour just before the start of the F3, 2000, Classic and FR2000 qualifying which led to a frenzied panic of wheel changes just before the drivers left for the assembly area. Most opted for wet tyres with only Lee Cunningham, Bryn Tootell and Terry Clark staying on slicks, this proved to be the wrong choice for them. Robert Smith spun on lap 3 and retired from qualifying and Chris Hodgen stopped on track on lap 3 which meant that he was much further down the order for Races 1 and 2 than would usually be expected. A coming together of James Drew-Williams and Nick Catanzaro put the safety car out and meant that James was unable to take part in races 1 or 2 of the weekend. Chris Davison got pole in the end, with Kevan McLurg P2 and Ben Cater P3.

Peter Venn and Andrew Barron pulled into the pits on the green flag lap and unfortunately did not get out at all in Race 1. Kevan McLurg, after starting from 2^nd, stopped on track during the first lap but luckily didn’t cause a safety car. Ben Cater took the lead of the race on the first lap and Ashley Dibden stayed close behind in 2^nd, putting pressure on all race but not managing to get past Ben. Simon Tate and Neil Harrison had a great fight for 3^rd place which lasted for most of the race before Simon spun on the last lap and dropped back to 7^th. Lee Cunningham and Chris Hodgen finished 4^th and 5^th respectively after starting from 9^th and 8^th. Bryn Tootell managed to defend well from Kevin Otway to win the 2000 class, with Kevin 2^nd and Terry Clark in 3^rd. Hayden Edmonds and James Densley enjoyed an intense battle for the duration of the race, with James just pipping Hayden over the line and taking the win by 0.007 seconds. The classic class saw Jared Wood take the win ahead of Ian Hughes in 2^nd and Nick Catanzaro in 3^rd, with Marcus Sheard close behind in 4^th place.
Race 2 started with the cars in their second fastest positions from qualifying the day before, which again put Chris Hodgen well down the order, this time in 10^th. Ashley Dibden took the lead of the race during lap 1 after starting in 4^th place, he and Ben Cater then pulled away from the rest of the pack, before Ben had a spin on lap 3 which demoted him from 2^nd to 6^th. He then caught up to a very close battle between 2^nd to  5^th places which consisted of Simon Tate, Lee Cunningham, Neil Harrison and Chris Hodgen who all swapped and changed for most of the race. In the end Chris Hodgen came 2^nd with Neil Harrison 3^rd after starting 10^th and 8^th respectively. Peter Venn ran away with the lead of the Classic class but was in his own battle against the clock to break the lap record for the class, which he succeeded in doing. Further down the field, Ian Hughes took 2^nd in the class and Jared Wood came 3^rd, with Marcus Sheard beating Nick Catanzaro this time for 4^th place. In the 2000 class, Bryn Tootell for most of the race but lost the lead to Kevin Otway on the last lap. However a red flag on the last lap, when Mat Jordan spun and stopped on track, meant that the results went back a lap and Bryn ended up winning the class. A similar scenario occurred in the FR2000 class as Hayden Edmonds and James Densley battled hard again but James lost the win to Hayden after the results went back a lap to when Hayden was still leading. Richard Crisp came in 3^rd in the FR2000 class and set a new lap record for the class, bettering the one set by James the day before.
Race 3 had a clean start, but a poor getaway from Chris Hodgen meant that Neil Harrison got ahead of him for 2^nd place. Ben Cater, who had started 4^th, had a spin during the first lap which put him out for the rest of the race. Ashley Dibden again pulled a good gap to lead the race from start to finish. Chris Hodgen got past Neil Harrison on the inside of Paddock Hill Bend on lap 5 to take back 2^nd place and Neil again finished 3^rd. Lee Cunningham and Simon Tate had a good battle to eventually finish 4^th and 5^th respectively. In the 2000 class, Bryn Tootell and Kevin Otway fought for class honours, and again Bryn took them. Further down the field Paul Britten and Terry Clark had a close battle to end up 3^rd and 4^th respectively. Ian Hughes and Jared Wood both retired from the classic class during lap 5 of the race and Peter Venn disappeared into the distance again to take the win, with Nick Catanzaro 2^nd and Marcus Sheard 3^rd. In the FR2000 class, Hayden Edmonds and James Densley again swapped and changed positions during the race with Hayden eventually winning the class, James came 2^nd and Richard Crisp 3^rd. Chris Vosper came 4^th in the class after a very well driven first race weekend. He, Richard and James were all also fighting for points in the SUNBAC Nova award, along with Robert Smith in the 2000 class, as they are all in their first season of car racing. James Densley is leading the Nova award going into round 6 of the Championship at Silverstone.

Click Here for the current Championship Standings after Brands Hatch GP.

Cadwell Report

Saturday – F3, 2000, Classic and FR2000 Grid

The Monoposto season kicked off on 22^nd and 23^rd April with a trip to Cadwell Park in the Lincolnshire Wolds. The weather was unusually sunny and reflected the happy atmosphere of the paddock, most of whom were glad to be back racing after the winter break.

An early start for the Mono F3, 2000, Classic 2000 and FR2000 grid saw a tense 15 minute qualifying where the fastest lap continually switched between Chris Hodgen and Ashley Dibden, with Chris eventually getting pole. Bryn Tootell led the 2000 class field, with a time 2 seconds faster than Terry Clark and Kevin Otway who qualified 2^nd and 3^rd respectively. Heading into the race Bryn looked like he would manage to better Terry and Kevin after reportedly doing “nothing to the car all winter… except change the engine”, he led them well until unfortunately a slipping clutch meant he ended up third overall and finished his weekend earlier than hoped. Kevin Otway went on to win the 2000 class battle with Terry Clark second. Kevin bettered his lap record for the class from last year, taking 1.7 seconds off the time.

After the throes of qualifying, a great start from Ashley Dibden saw him ahead of Chris Hodgen by the first corner, he quickly gained a sizeable lead over Hodgen, but in the closing stages of the race Chris started clawing back the gap, but didn’t have enough time to challenge for the lead. Simon Tate gained third place from Neil Harrison early on in the race and an impressive battle between Robin Dawe and Neil Harrison saw Robin take fourth place, on his first race out with Monoposto in his Tom’s Toyota. Robin very nearly didn’t make it out on track in the race after it became apparent that he had no clutch whilst sat in the assembly area. Luckily, as is typical of the Monoposto spirit, members of rival teams joined forces to make sure that he got out on track.

Hayden Edmonds was the sole representative for the FR2000 class over the weekend after an unfortunate moment during Friday testing put James Densley out for the weekend. Hayden enjoyed his racing though and set a lap record for the class, which he went on to break the following day.

Saturday – 1800, 1600, Moto 1400 and Moto 1000 Grid

A hectic turnaround with back-to-back Monoposto races saw teams running up and down the hill between the assembly area and the pit wall, but fortunately the race was able to start on time. Jason Timms bogged down off the start which meant that Mark Reade, over from Ireland with his Leastone 1000, got past for second place in the race. Mark almost didn’t make it out in time for the race, but together with Team Boss, Paul, he managed to get the car fixed in time for the race. Jeremy Timms quickly disappeared into the distance and Mark Reade held P2 for a few laps until being caught and passed by Jason Timms. Jason later lost a few places after “a moment on the grass” – as the post marshal put it – and finished the race 7^th overall and third in class. Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke came second in the 1400 class and second overall after climbing up from fourth.

Dan Levy also gained two places in the race, coming third overall and winning the Moto 1000 class after getting past Mark Reade towards the end of the race. Peter Lague was going well in his Speads after a run of bad luck last year. It looked like his luck was finally turning until he pulled in on lap 7 with a poorly engine. Peter has subsequently decided to retire the Speads, but will be back with us at Brands in his Van Diemen. Mick Kinghorn came third for the Moto 1000 class, with Kyle Cutts in fourth.

The 1800 class battle saw Chris Lord out-qualify Matt Walters by 0.032 seconds, however Matt got the better of him on lap 2 of the race. Chris stuck with him for most of the race, but was unable to get past. Phil Davis retired from the race on lap 3 with a broken push rod which meant David Jones came third in the end, with Doug McLay in fourth. Geoff Fern dominated the 1600 class ahead of Eddie Guest, but both drivers managed to better a couple of the 1800 class drivers, gaining them 9^th and 11^th place respectively overall in the race.

Sunday – F3, 2000, Classic and FR2000 Grid

Ashley Dibden qualified on pole for Sunday’s race and had another great start, but an accident further back in the field, which saw Taylor Macvean and Kevin Otway retire from the race, meant that the race was red flagged and the drivers lined up again for the restart. Ashley managed to replicate the start though and led the race from start to finish. Chris Hodgen was again closing in on Ashley in the closing stages of the race, but again did not have enough time to challenge for the lead; he came second and recorded the fastest lap, which was only 0.015 seconds off the lap record held by Robbie Watts from last year. Simon Tate had an issue in qualifying which say him start 12^th on the gird, he clawed back the places during the race, finishing 4^th overall and battling with Neil Harrison for third place. This saw Simon earn the ‘Driver of the Day’ accolade in the prize-giving.

With Kevin Otway out of the race, Terry Clark led the 2000 class field and won it overall which sees him take the lead in the 2000 class championship. Mat Jordan finished the race second in class and Robert Smith came third in class in his first ever race. He was sharing the car with his father, Mark Smith, over the weekend and now leads him in the championship standings. Marcus Sheard was the sole Classic class representative in the race, after Ian Hughes had withdrawn due to a cracked brake disc.

Sunday – 1800, 1600, Moto 1400 and Moto 1000 Grid

The final Monoposto race of the weekend saw Jeremy and Jason Timms again qualify 1^st and 2^nd respectively with Dan Levy behind in 3^rd overall and 1^st in class for the Moto 1000 class. However, Dan was unable to get first gear on the green flag lap and due to a delayed departure from the grid he had to start the race from the back. He had a brilliant race though which saw him gain 3 places by the first corner and was up to 4^th place by lap 4. Jeremy Timms again disappeared into the distance with Jason Timms behind in second and Mark Reade in 3^rd after Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke had an issue on the start and ended up last. Mark was then promoted to 2^nd overall and Dan Levy to 3^rd after Jason Timms retired with a broken throttle. Mark and Dan had a good battle for 2^nd place, with Dan taking 2^nd on the first corner of the last lap, but lost the place to Mark again whilst negotiating a backmarker. Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke fought his way up to 4^th overall and 2^nd in class. Jeremy Timms not only won the race overall, but he also broke Jason’s lap record and came within 0.8 seconds of the overall lap record.

Further down the field, the results were much the same as the race the previous day, with Matt Walters winning the 1800 race ahead of Chris Lord and Geoff Fern winning the 1600 race from Eddie Guest. Phil Davis had better luck for this race though and came third in class ahead of David Jones and Doug McLay. Kyle Cutts cam 4^th again the Moto 1000 race but improved on his best lap time by over 3 seconds from the previous day and cam 8^th overall on the grid, ahead of Geoff Fern who had bested him the day before.

Feedback from the Weekend

“Please pass on my appreciation to the Mono competitors for their co-operation and understanding of the situation especially with the timetable adjustments / delays on Saturday due to the barrier repairs prior to commencing their sessions and for their excellent driving standards once again.” – Terry Scannell, Clerk of the Course

“Myself and Paul would just like to thank you and the club for a great weekend. Great bunch of people everyone helping us out on Saturday was a nice touch after I crashed. Looking forward to the rest of the season. Thanks again.” – Mark Reade #45, Moto 1000

“Just want to say a huge well done one the weekend, it all ran like clockwork… Already looking forward to the next one” – Matt Walters #76, Mono 1800

“I thought the atmosphere in the paddock was typical Monoposto, relaxed, helpful and friendly just as it should be” – Eddie Guest #57, Mono 1600

2017 Cadwell Grid 1 Results Book

2017 Cadwell Grid 2 results book