POINTS LEADER WOOD GETS HIS MOJO BACK ON TRACK
Despite finishing no higher than fourth in the heats, Billy Wood did enough for the second row of the final grid. That was a position he turned into the win once he’d got the best of a dice with Gordon Alexander. Alexander had earlier taken one of the heats, while Terry Hunn lifted the other.
Although the heavy rain had finally petered out by the start of practice the track was still very wet until the commencement of the second heat. Poleman Karl Baker made the most of it to take an immediate lead in the opening race with Barry Limer chasing him once he’d by-passed Brett Collison. Limer looked quite at home in the dicey conditions. He caught and passed Baker as they exited Turn 4 and might well have led all the way but for a caution thrown when Lance Bowen spun to a stop on the kerbs.
With the field now closed right up, Alexander in third spot definitely looked the danger man. He made fairly short work of Baker and finally overhauled the leader going down the back straight five laps from home.
A drier line had appeared by heat two. Collison got away first this time but swiftly lost out to Joey Palmer, Palmer’s new
Fiesta having been perfectly repaired after his practice night shunt. But Palmer was also going to be denied what had looked an almost certain win (he was nearly half a lap up at the time) when the yellow flags got another airing for Shaun Taylor, whose spin had involved several other cars. One such was Rob McDonald, the impact putting the World champion on the infield.
It was Fiesta vs Fiesta for the restart, with second man Terry Hunn able to get the jump on Palmer and then clear off for the win. A last-minute scramble for the places finally put Chris Aldridge over the line in second just ahead of Carl Waller-Barrett and Chris Haird.
With some decent results expected from Aldridge this year it wasn’t that much of a surprise that he’d wound up on pole for the final. But, with the merest suspicion that he was forced to hold back slightly by the pace car, it was outside front row man Alexander who just led the charge into Turn 1. Aldridge fended off Wood’s attack for a few laps but eventually the 2018 World champ was able to duck under him. Piling the pressure on Alexander, Wood was then rewarded with the lead at Turn 2, although Alexander, Haird and
Waller-Barrett became glued to the leader’s bumper for a long time, suggesting that maybe he was still beatable. That impression was immediately dispelled when they encountered a knot of backmarkers, Wood suddenly creating about a fourcar gap and then continuing to inch away. Despite their best efforts (and swapping places) Waller-Barrett and Haird could not dislodge Alexander who took a sterling runner-up spot. All of which enabled Wood to leave the meeting as he entered it – leading the points – and now with double the margin. That’s still only 10 points though…
Results
Organiser: Spedeworth When: March 5
Where: Foxhall International Raceway, Ipswich Starters: 29
Heat one: 1 Gordon Alexander (Vauxhall Tigra); 2 Barry Limer (Vauxhall Tigra);
3 Chris Aldridge (Vauxhall Tigra); 4 Billy
Wood (Vauxhall Tigra); 5 Jack Blood
(Vauxhall Tigra); 6 Karl Baker (Vauxhall
Tigra); 7 Paul Trimmer (Peugeot 206).
Heat two: 1 Terry Hunn (Ford Fiesta); 2 Aldridge; 3 Carl Waller-Barrett (Vauxhall Tigra); 4 Chris Haird (Vauxhall Tigra); 5 Dick Hillard (Vauxhall Tigra); 6 Alexander; 7 Trimmer; 8 Gavin Murray (Vauxhall Tigra).
Final: 1 Wood; 2 Alexander; 3 Waller-Barrett; 4 Haird; 5 Rob McDonald (Vauxhall Tigra); 6 Jason Kew (Ginetta G40R); 7 Murray;
8 John Sibbald (Vauxhall Tigra); 9 Perry Cooke (Vauxhall Tigra); 10 Aaron Dew (Ginetta G40R). Points: 1 Wood 280; 2 Waller-Barrett 270; 3 Alexander 237;
4 Cooke 233; 5 Paul Wright 227; 6 Haird 225.