A weekend of Semi interest!

Right another weekend on the road, doing it midland style!
SATURDAY 13th AUGUST
I started with another track I have yet to do, to be greeted by Sharon Blood (Ben Fund) and Matt Linfield (464) who both asked if I had a nose bleed coming this far north of the border. The border being of course, the Tamar, and lo I rocked up at Brandon at the infamous Coventry Stadium. I've never been, never seen the need being an arch tractor fan, but Startrax had the added attractions of being a good hype. However once again, through poor fixture planning on Startrax's part, the crowd at Cov was sparse. Maybe the added attraction of the Junior Bangers or the Monster 4 Wheel Drive SUV Bangers, would drag the crowd in. They were advertised, and didn't show, despite the big hype.
The Brisca Minis were entertaining, as when you look at the likes of Aldridge and Griffin, this is where are next generation of drivers are likely to come from. However, it was looking more at the next generation of Smiths and Wainman how had split loyalties along the A45, with the clashing NIR! The UK Mods looked like something out of Mad Max, and especially as the final ended in a 6 car pile up, despite only have 6 cars!
The racing was exciting, and to my non shale loving eyes. Random format again - top 14, (honestly its the new 10. Reggie Yates now has the UK Top 14 run down you know) Several drivers were up having a play on the shale who you wouldn't usually see. After heats for Andy Palmer (606) and Jack Thompson (330), and the consi went the way of John Davies (77), it was final time. Good to see the tradition of the final draw is still prevalent, as most venues north of Bristol have dispensed with it. It was a cracking conclusion, Andrew Palmer (606) spun early on, but recovered after Bradders tried to dispense with 4 cars in one corner, 5th to 1st and then he half spins with the momentum! This allowed Paul Wilson (925) took take the win from Palmer and Bradbury.
In the national, it was definately KerChing! as the 634 mobile took a rather good GN victory, holding off Bradbury in the later stages.
I'd definately go again, perhaps on a night when the 1's and 2's are on, but I do fear for the stadium's future. Despite probably having some of the best facilities in the country, it is brownfield and to the un-stoxed eye it looks like it either needs some investment, and the rumour is that local housing developments might curtail racing there. Hope not, 'tis a crackin' track!

SUNDAY 14th AUGUST
Now the Hednesford Hills haven't changed since my last visit in 2001, and you have to drive through the estate to get to it. It's vastness makes it an awesome sight.
Firstly, prices were extremely reasonable for a double semi day, £13 which isn't out of the way. Plenty of food facilities and toilets, and a rare thing- cover should the rains come. Fortunately none did come, although it did start spitting as current westcountry regenmeister Dan Moss (797) walked past.
However, the programme which we paid £1.50 for contained a paragraph on the intended semis, no profiles or previews, or even grids. To the casual fan that was there, total bewilderment. There was no driver parade, no geeing up, it was treated like a heat. Yes, we had "Gentlemen, Start Your Engines", but said with no passion, Paul Gerrard has a long way to go if he wants to take Michael Buffer's job, and it gave the fans, some of which had travelled quite a way not a chance to show there support. After a rather dull heat, which became follow the leader relatively quickly.

Semi Final number 1 was the one that everyone was waiting for - was it Speak, was it Bradbury or was it Moodie, after a semi warm up lap, to the strains of "Battle without Honour", and thankfully not the dirge of Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell" it was race on. Speak got the better, and Moodie looked quicker and was ready to pounce, but eased off at each corner. Moodie fans were clamouring for the hit, but it wasn't coming. Speaky even slowed down to say "come on, hit me". And thus how it finished. with Bradders some way behind hoping for a tangle. The post race interview had echoes of what was to come. Moodie started off the banter with "The front row is overated", to which Speak retorted "The paying public didn't come to see that", to cheers all round. Moodie took a fair bit of derision for that from the Speak fans, but it wasn't to end there!

So close, but no cigar, could these tactics cost Moodie dear? Pic courtesy of the excellent Martyn Robinson

Semi 2 was always on a hiding to nothing, Goldin didnt get the start, an early pile up further back brought out the yellows, with one lap done. Most tracks would have thrown a red, and restarted. Unfortunately for Goldin, with the restart came engine problems and evenutally he pulled off. Burgoyne (647) had disappeared in the distance taking Thackra (324) and Palmer (606) in the distance. Behind the scrap was between the latest hot shot Richard Stott (169), Graham Kelly (721) and Jon Palmer (24), who started 28th, Palmer getting the better and almost caught fellow south west man Neil Hooper (676).

The flag falls for Burgoyne as he now takes pole (Pic courtesy of Martyn Robinson)

Consolation was proper hectic, with loads of cars going for 10 places. 59 Lee Dimmick certainly kept his midland track form up. In between this we had the joys of Rebels and Stock Rods, including one of the biggest explosions of engines  I've ever seen, and if you were on that bend, you wouldn't have seen much but the sound of bending 1400's! Whilst on the East Bend, there was some contact of the cake based kind, however we don't talk about that on here.
Despite previously mentios of this on various forums and social networks, Incaworth seemed to forget about the flags for which semis people were in for the rule of what decides pole. It was something that worked at Taunton's semis. However coommentator Dave Goddard was constantly stating the state of play. It was Richard Stott who was leading, Adam Rubery being the next in line. It livened up with 5 to go, 169 led from 700, then behind them 218 and 7. This time 7 pounced on the 8 times champ, and only served to move him wide. Next corner, you can see below, on this video found on public video sharing website Youtube.

Thats what the paying public came to see, eh! Reds and Chequereds came out, which robbed us of a potential cracker of the last three laps, as as the flags came out Rubery had just taken over the lead...
Overall, I felt short changed by the choice of venue, as the track produced dull racing, Hednesford has never been good for F2's, the track is too long in the straights and it produced poor poor racing. If Speaky hadn't have done Moodie, the weekend would have been remembered for 2 rather dull semis.  An over ponderous approach to lining cars up meant that once again the GN was cancelled espeically as people wanted to see what the next chapter in the Moodie vs Speak.
In fact haven't I seen a battle like this before?


Questions must be asked of 1. the suitability of Hednesford as a major championship venue for the F2's. 2. If tracks cannot adhere to curfews, and the gravitas of a semis and the time taken to line it up, maybe its either given to tracks and promotions who don't have local curfews, or it's split over 2 days. One Saturday night, one Sunday, everyones a winner. 3. The lack of build up, and treatment when in comparision to previous years made it near on impossible to guarantee an atmosphere.

So this particular semi didn't progress into something that people could use, althought the end result is one hell of a grid.