With the 2011 staging of the BriSCA F2 Stockcars English Championship now just a little under one month away at Mildenhall Stadium on Saturday, October 1 we have now confirmed the proposed meeting format for the final F2 meeting of the season at the Suffolk shaleway.
As the meeting also plays host to the 2011 White and Yellow Grade Series Final we have somewhat disappointingly agreed that our best option for a meeting format is one, which does not feature a programmed Grand National.
The English Championship has a somewhat traditional format in that the qualifiers are determined by a regular heat and consolation format (the championship grid is somewhat unusual though as the drivers line up in reverse national points average order) which essentially left us with two options.
The first was to have the white and yellow grade series double up as heat one (which would usually be the case with this race when not held as part of a championship meeting) with the top drivers qualifying for the English Championship. While this would allow us to programme a Grand National it would have come with many disadvantages. Firstly it would mean almost all the red and star grade drivers competing would be racing in heat two (we don’t expect sufficient cars to run three heats although of course will run three if required) as well as many of the evenings blue grade drivers and so the qualifying heats would also be very uneven between the grades. Furthermore as the white and yellow grade series final is a points order grid it would mean many white grade drivers would start towards the back of the grid.
Put simply we felt that having the white and yellow grade heat as the first qualifying heat for the English Championship would have proved very unfair for the majority of racers on October 1.
Therefore the confirmed programme will instead be the white and yellow grade series (which will this year not count for track or National points as it is not an ‘official’ part of the meeting format) followed by (at least) two qualifying heats and a consolation for the English Championship and the title race itself.
While we believe this is a much fairer format for all racers it does mean that we cannot guarantee a Grand National race and therefore while all white and yellow grade series finalists will have the chance of three races on the night, the majority of those not in the race will only have the chance of two.
Of course if time permits we will add a Grand National to the programme. However this would not only require additional time for another stockcar race but also for an additional National Banger race as well and with three trophy presentations (the meeting also features the National Banger RDC RWD Series Final although we hope to do the majority of the F2 White and Yellow Grade Series Final (which is race one) presentation before start time) there is a lot more to get through than five stockcar and four National Banger races which are originally programmed.
Also this format will allow us to conclude the BriSCA F2 Stockcar programme and their 2011 season at Mildenhall with the biggest race of the season at the raceway this year, the English Championship which we feel will be a fitting end to the season for the formula at Mildenhall.
We are sorry for any disappointment this format may cause drivers and fans and hope that you can understand the reasons why with the details we have given. Drivers are reminded that while they are welcome to book in either by phoning RDC on 01268 412299 or 07850 683953 or e mailing wastedmc@btopenworld.com all drivers will be welcome to race on the night.