Knockhill - F2 Review - Season 2011

The five meetings staged at the Knockhill during 2011 once again produced some great racing on the unique tri-oval, providing a great alternative to the Saturday sessions at Cowdenbeath.

The first of them on April 27 saw drivers from the north of Scotland come to the fore with 980 James Yule and 721 Graham Kelly the heat winners before 339 Stuart Kelly took the meeting Final.  Whilst the Kelly brothers have seemingly long since given up racing at Cowdenbeath, they had been regulars at the Knockhill meetings in recent years as well as their home venue of Crimond but with regret this was to be their only trip to Knockhill in 2011.

A month later on May 25, 647 Chris Burgoyne took a hat-trick of wins, which was to be the start of his quest for the track championship.  However, as with Cowdenbeath, the nature of the points means that running away is easier said than done.  7 Gordon Moodie was never far behind and took the meeting Final at the next meeting on June 22, which was also the track’s World Championship qualifying round.  With hindsight, the format deployed was well outside the box.  But nevertheless, trying something different in an effort to shake things up and give others a chance at times is not all wrong.  As it was, Burgoyne’s heat win was followed up by a rare win for 810 Ian Forster in heat two and then 72 John Broatch, the young driver in his first season of BriSCA F2 the consolation, and with it he was to become the only Englishman to win at the track this season.

The July meeting saw a real dip for Burgoyne, as a bad evening saw him with a low score whilst a good one for Moodie brought the pair very close for the remaining fixture of the year.  795 Alan Kirkaldy took a hat-trick of wins – heats and Grand National that is – whilst Moodie won the Final.

The last of the season on August 6 was wet, very wet.  The conditions were hardly conducive to great racing but for Burgoyne it was a night to remember as he went totally undefeated.  Both heats, the Final and then the Grand National were his and not only did he secure the track championship in this comprehensive style but also became the first driver to have secured a maximum 50 point score at Knockhill.