Smith survives a last-corner assault for F1 victory
BRISCA F1: Mildenhall
Organiser: Spedeworth When: April 7 Where: Mildenhall Raceway Starters: 39
BRISCA F1 cars made their first appearance at Mildenhall Raceway since 2002 and an action-packed meeting left the huge crowd demanding it’s not another 15 years before they return to the Suffolk raceway.
Consolation winner Graeme Robson and Colin Nairn battled for the lead at the drop of the green flag, but the race was quickly brought to a halt when Chris Cowley rolled his machine going down the backstretch.
The dazed driver said: “I got squeezed into the outside wall and had nowhere to go, luckily there is not much damage.”
Robson and Nairn tangled shortly after the restart and that allowed Bobby Griffin to take the lead.
Will Hunter closed in on the leader but as he went to take the lead, the pair collided and retired from the race.
Mark Sargent assumed the lead but he was then baulked by a backmarker, which caused a multi-car pile-up that blocked the track causing a yellow flag to slow the race three laps from home.
Stuart Smith Jr escaped the chaos and was at the head of the pack for a short dash to the chequered flag with Mat Newson close behind. As the duo went into the final turn Newson barged into Smith and the pair raced side-by-side for the line. Smith held on and took the win by half a car length.
Smith said that a car problem worked in his favour.
“I had a front tyre going flat, which caused me to get off-line in Turn 2 of the last lap, which worked to my advantage because I slowed down and it caught Newson off guard. To be fair, he has been the faster driver tonight.”
The disappointed Newson said: “[Smith] was clever, he cut me up coming out of Turn 2 on that last lap and I could not get a run on his back bumper so I just had to try and barge in the side of his car. It was close, but that is racing.”
Ben Hurdman came home third. He said: “That was fun, it’s a great track. To be honest I had no idea I was in third: there was so much going on.”