At Silverstone this afternoon, 16-year old American Connor de Phillippi
(Team USA Scholarship) completed an impressive weekend by winning the 2009
Walter Hayes Trophy despite coming under tremendous pressure from Robert
Barrable and Felix Fisher, both veterans of this event. The American had
started the event as one of the likely favourites, and didn't disappoint,
following in the footsteps of last year's winner, Connor Daly, even down to
driving the same car.
 |
|
Connor de Phillippi receives the Walter Hayes Trophy from Elizabeth Hayes. Photo by Stella-Maria Thomas.
|
 |
A brief explanation of the format may prove helpful before we start. From
each of the heats, the first 11 drivers were guaranteed a place in one of
the two semi-finals. Anyone finishing 12th to 16th would go into the Last
Chance Race and the top six from that race would get a semi-final place.
Anyone finishing 17th or further back would go into the Progression Race,
from which the top six would be promoted to the Last Chance race. Confused?
Hopefully not!
Heats:
Heat 1: Noel Dunne made a good start from pole and held the lead all the
way to the flag, trailed by David Grady, the pair of them dropping Patrick
McKenna as they tore into Copse for the first time. McKenna fought back,
eventually reclaiming 2nd just before the end, but not before he'd had to
fend off both Mark Donnelly, and Julian Westwood, the latter proving a
particularly tough proposition until he was sidelined by an electrical
failure one lap from the end. Meanwhile behind the front runners, there was
mayhem. The track was proving incredibly treacherous, with an oil slick
occupying most of the inside line at Luffield. One wrong move and you were
off in the gravel, from where, if luck was on your side, the burly marshals
would extract you and send you on your way.
Heat 2: This time all eyes were on Josef Newgarden, the youngster having
qualified on pole by a massive margin. However, it was Tom Bradshaw who
snatched the lead at the start. Newgarden set about trying to reclaim the
lead, getting his van Diemen RF92 all crossed up as he went on the attack.
On lap 4 it all went pear-shaped though. The pair of them got very
sideways, and spun out of contention, letting Adam Quatermain through into
the lead. Bradshaw was out now, while Newgarden was rescued by the stalwart
marshals and was able to set off in pursuit of the rapidly vanishing pack.
He would end up 16th, a long way back from what anyone would have expected.
Quartermain, meanwhile, was under pressure from Barrable, and would
eventually have to concede, finishing 2nd ahead of Jonathan Hoad.
Heat 3: With conditions steadily improving, life was a lot pleasanter for
all. Stuart Gough claimed the lead at the start, and would emerge as the
winner 8 laps later, despite the best efforts of Glynn Geddie and Marcus
Allen, the latter proving mightily impressive given his youth and
inexperience. Geddie got ahead for a while, but Gough wasn't having it and
barged back through, while Allen went out at the halfway mark, handing 3rd
to Scott Fraser. Further back there was a storming fight for positions
12th, which resolved itself when Stuart Kestenbaum fell off on the last
lap.
|
 |
|
Jordan Skinner. Photo by Stella-Maria Thomas.
|
Heat 4: Bret Smrz (Team USA Scholarship) was the runaway winner of this
heat, the young American getting ahead at the start and never being
seriously challenged. Morgan Dempsey gave it a go, but ended up crashing
out instead, and Oliver Bull (Wayne Pool Racing) Mike Bennett, and Jordan
Skinner were so busy fighting each other that Smrz was able to streak away
into the distance. The battle for 2nd eventually involved a whole gaggle of
cars, but it was Skinner who came out on top, the impressive young
Australian setting the fastest lap as well. Bennett was later disqualified
for a yellow flag infringement, promoting Bull back up to 3rd.
Heat 5: At the top of the order de Phillippi and Rory Butcher fought it out
for 8 laps. Setting a furious pace, and swapping positions frequently, the
pair of them took less than three laps to catch up with the man at the
other extreme of the talent spectrum, Kaiser Razzaq, who was 30 seconds off
the pace in qualifying and should probably not have been allowed to start
the race. It was lucky for the front runners that he did at least seem to
understand the importance of looking in his mirrors... De Phillippi missed
out on a win after a quick trip through the gravel, finally beating off
Matthew Parr, while the Fisher brothers, Josh and Felix, finished 4th and
5th respectively, Josh claiming fastest lap into the bargain.
Heat 6: Potential front runner and firm WHT favourite Joey Foster surprised
everyone by pulling into the pits as the rest of the pack lined up on the
grid. He would start last as a result. While the Cornish man played catch
up, at the front Neville Smyth, Ivor McCullough, Benji Hetherington and
Peter Barrable fought for the lead. Smythe (who was described as incredibly
unlucky - as in "if he became an undertaker, people would stop dying") was
the eventual winner, after the others all lost ground. Foster, meanwhile,
fought his way back to 11th, thus ensuring that he would go straight
through to the semi-finals.
Progression Race: The progression race contained a number of drivers who
had been unlucky in the heats, mostly lined up behind a handful of drivers
who were just plain slow. This explained how it was that Allen came
charging up from the mid-field to claim the lead early on, where he
immediately came under enormous pressure from Westwood and Bradshaw, the
team-mates following him through. Bradshaw led briefly but Allen came back
at him, and he then had to concentrate on holding off Westwood. He was
given some respite when Westwood decided he'd better not try anything too
robust on the grounds that Bradshaw's family had helped him to get into the
race. However, "if we both get to the semi-final, then all bets are off".
The remaining places in the top 6 went to Nelson Rowe, who had missed
Saturday's heats altogether, Cormac O'Neill and Ed Moore.
 |
|
The line through Luffield was awash. Photo by Stella-Maria Thomas.
|
|
Last Chance Race: 36 cars and only 6 of them would go through. This had the
potential for being great fun! And so it was. Starting from row 13 was
Newgarden, who was definitely one to watch, and so it proved. By the end of
lap 1, Newgarden was in front, clearing 26 places in less than a minute,
and he wasn't the only one to get a rocket-powered start. Westwood and
Bradshaw were right up there too, as was Rowe. While Westwood set the
fastest lap, Newgarden simply pulled ahead anyway, and was never challenged
in what he deemed a very dull race. The other two going though were
Jonathan McMullan and Moore, after Allen's impressive run came to an abrupt
halt on lap 5.
Semi-Final 1: After a relatively incident-free morning, this was a race of
attrition, the trouble starting early on when a host of drivers ended up in
the gravel, among them Westwood. Foster was involved but managed - as he
did last year - to drive back out again, though he was almost last as a
result. Avoiding it all was Newgarden, the American beginning his second
recovery drive of the day by finding himself 15th when the dust settled. At
the front it was all change too with Smrz, Robert Barrable, Neville Smyth,
McCullough and Skinner all scrapping for the lead, Smyth snatching it from
the American teenager, only to have Barrable come past both of them before
the end after McCullough went off. Newgarden continued to push hard,
meanwhile, eventually ending up 5th after he got the better of Quartermain
a lap from the end. He wasn't the only one to managed a last ditch charge -
Foster had recovered from his gravely moment and was pushing hard, knowing
he had a lot to do if he wasn't going home early, a prospect he really
didn't care for. A couple of mistakes by other drivers finally promoted him
to 15th, just enough for him to go through. It wouldn't really seem right
for the three times winner of this event to go out before the final, after
all.
Semi Final 2: Taking a lead from Semi-Final 1, there was trouble at the
start again in this race when de Phillippi and Gough tangled and Gough was
launched into a terrifying roll, ending up upside down on his roll bar deep
in the gravel trap. The marshals sprang into action and soon had him out of
the car, and he looked OK but shaken as he was ushered into the medical car
and taken away for a quick check up. What followed once the yellow flags
were taken back in was a titanic battle for 3rd. While de Philippi edged
away by degrees from Butcher, behind him the Fisher boys, Grady, Parr and
Dunne were trading places, the pack only breaking apart a little towards
the end when Butcher went out, leaving Felix Fisher to claim 2nd, from
Grady, Parr, Josh Fisher and Dunne. Meanwhile, Bradshaw was another who was
out of the event, despite a great run to get as far as the semis.
|
 |
|
Josef Newgarden, Connor de Phillippi, Brett Smrz and Connor Daly. Photo by Stella-Maria Thomas.
|
Final:
Having got the hooliganism out of their systems, the main event was
still fiercely fought but apart from two retirements all the drivers
finished. De Phillippi got away well, but Barrable and Felix Fisher went
with him, and when he made a mistake at Luffield they both went through.
The youngster kept his calm though and set about regaining the lost places,
driving with a maturity beyond his years to get back ahead of the more
experienced pair. Behind them initially, but soon on their tails, were
Smyth and Grady, the battle intensifying as more people got involved. Smrz,
meanwhile, had a small flying lesson that left him with damaged suspension
and a less than perfect car and meant he ended up a somewhat disappointed
9th. That helped Newgarden and Skinner, the two of them having a race long
fight for 6th, swapping places over and over again. Eventually they too
found a friend to join them, in this case Ben Norton, but in the end it was
all about the two of them. Newgarden finally came out ahead, but Skinner
appears to be equally talented. Certainly anyone who can give Newgarden a
run for his money in Fords should be taken very seriously indeed. The day,
however, belonged to de Phillippi, the youngster taking an impressive win
from Robert Barrable and Felix Fisher. Whoever is responsible for choosing
the Team USA drivers clearly recognizes talent when they see it.
Weather: Horrible.
