GOODMAN AND DALGLEISH CONTINUE THEIR MINI BATTLE
Robbie Dalgleish and Toby Goodman continued their title fight in the Mini Challenge Cooper Pro category by claiming a win apiece during the latest round at Cadwell Park.
Goodman closed the gap to points leader Dalgleish with victory in the first race, which featured a five-way lead battle. Goodman led away from pole but his lead was shortlived, Dalgleish passing both Hannah Chapman and Goodman on the second lap to take first place. But Goodman then wrestled back the lead into Gooseneck corner as the race neared the halfway mark.
Dalgleish responded by setting the fastest lap but wasn’t able to find a way by, finishing 0.2 seconds behind Goodman. Chapman remained on the tail of the lead pair – with James Hillery and Dominic Wheatley in tow – but was denied a repeat of her podium finish from the previous round as Hillery snatched third on the penultimate lap.
Chapman edged reversed-grid polesitter Wheatley off the line to take the lead in race two, with Dalgleish moving up to second from fourth on the grid while chief rival Goodman remained in fifth. Dalgleish overtook Chapman to take the lead approaching mid-distance, going on to claim his fifth win of the season. Chapman made amends for missing out on the podium in race one by taking second,
0.9s behind Dalgleish, while Goodman passed Wheatley on the last lap to grab third.
Normal order was restored in the Cooper S category with Daniel Butcher-lord winning both races. Despite largely dominating the season so far, he had to settle for a pair of second places behind last year’s runner-up Rob Austin last time out and, when Austin took pole, it looked like Butcher-lord would have his hands full once again. Despite a close fight between the pair in race one, it was Butcher-lord who came out on top, beating Austin to victory by 0.2s.
Butcher-lord went on to dominate race two, finishing 9s clear of Austin to take his eighth win of the year.
Heritage Formula Ford 1600’s first visit to Cadwell
Park proved popular among the drivers, who relished the unique challenges of the Lincolnshire circuit.
With championship leader Oliver White – who has dominated the season thus far – choosing to skip the latest round there was a chance for others to shine, Jaap Blijleven taking advantage by scoring a big points haul to reduce White’s advantage. The Dutchman didn’t have things all his own way though, two-time Classic Formula Ford 1600 champion Mike Gardner providing stiff competition in his Crossle 32F. Gardner led for most of race one from pole but, after Gardner ran wide at Gooseneck, Blijleven pounced to take the lead with two laps remaining and claim victory.
A small set-up change paid dividends for Gardner in race two as he took a dominant win, taking the lead at the start with a sweeping move around the outside of Blijleven into Cascades. Gardner built a 7.5s advantage in the first few laps with Blijleven stuck behind
Scott Guthrie. Blijleven finally made his way by into Cascades but he wasn’t able to close in on Gardner, who pulled away further in the remaining laps to win by 15s.