Cadwell Park - R2

2026 A.C.U. / F.S.R.A. British F2 Sidecar Championship Incorporating the F2 Cup

Supported by Pagid Brake Pads/Breitenbach Rennsport, Whitby Cottages, Hegarty Plant Hire, Freight Hub, Tingles of Warmfield and Power Tools Rentals Ltd.

Round Two – Cadwell Park – NG Road Racing. 19th-20th April 2026

Words – Josh Smith / Photographs – Simon Heath

Cadwell Park was the host of 2 brilliant days of racing over the 18th and 19th of April, with a

healthy grid of 20 turning up to get some valuable track time in their preparations for the TT.

4 wildcards, including Ben Birchall alongside new passenger Mark Wilkes, joined the 16

registered teams, strengthened by the inclusion of 2024 FSRA F2 Cup winners

Clarke/Johnson, and most notably Founds/Walmsley on their new LCF chassis, in need of

both time on circuit and TT signatures. Also joining for their first ever ACU/FSRA British F2

championship were the Morel/Morel pairing, the french team setting their eyes on Cadwell

Park for the first ever time in Friday's test sessions. Unfortunately, the challenge of the circuit

was too much for the passenger, leading to Greg Pymm stepping in for the remainder of the

weekend in the chair.

Saturday morning practice proved to expect more of the same at the front end of the grid,

with once again Ramsden/Stell topping the timing sheet followed by Holden/Lowther.

Clarke/Johnson and Dawson/Sims followed, both blowing away the cobwebs from the winter,

with Gibson/Stokoe in 5th and Fenwick/Roberts 6th, just a week after their impressive

performances at Olivers Mount where they won all 3 races.

Qualifying proved that the weekend's racing would be as competitive as it was at the season

opener at Brands Hatch. As we are coming to expect now, the session was a battle for pole

position between Ramsden/Stell and Holden/Lowther, the 2 outfits trading lap times

continuously throughout. On their 6th lap, Ramsden/Stell managed to put themselves

provisionally onto pole position, going over 2 tenths clear at the top of the pile.

Holden/Lowther still put up a challenge to the end, setting their fastest lap on their final lap of

the session, unfortunately for them it wasn’t quite enough, leaving them in 2nd position just

0.016 off of the pole time.

Saunders/Coppock put their new LCR chassis in 3rd, followed by Founds/Walmsley,

Holden/Knapton, Clarke/Johnson and Crawford/Hardie who were running the TT restrictor

plate, with the intention of removing it for the afternoons race. Further down the order, in the

battle for the cup positions, Schofield/Colbrook led Moore/Moore, Thomas/Sigsworth and

Schofield/Knapton, with the 4 outfits split by just 0.7 of a second. With the first 2 positions on

the Cup podium seeming all but sealed by the Ramsden/Stell and Saunders/Coppock outfits,

it was perfectly set up for a race long battle for the final podium spot.

The lights went out for the first race of the weekend, an excellent start from

Saunders/Coppock from the second row saw them pull 3 wide into the first corner, pipping

the 2 bikes in front to take the lead of the race. A missed gear coming into the bottom of the

mountain saw them lose their advantage with Holden/Lowther and Ramsden/Stell forcing

their way back through. Crawford/Hardie found their way by on the next lap, with the field

beginning to spread as the front 3 dropped the pace. After starting from the back of the grid,

Founds/Walmsley and Birchall/Wilkes were rapidly progressing up the field, with

Founds/Walmsley gaining 11 positions before retiring from the race on lap 4. We also lost

Birchall/Wilkes retiring to the pits 2 laps later, Riley/James pulled in due to being unhappy

with how their bike was behaving, and Schofield/Colbrook spectacularly losing their wheel

arch after catching a bollard on the inside of Coppice.

In the race at the front, Holden/Lowther, Ramsden/Stell and Crawford/Hardie were giving the

spectators an exciting race to watch, with overtakes being made around every corner of the

circuit. Crawford/Hardie made their move on Ramsden/Stell on lap 3 to take 2nd position,

but Ramsden responded the very next lap with a brave move into the bus stop chicane. The

battle between the 2 lasted another couple of laps, allowing the leaders to bridge a gap up to

over a second by lap 5, where Craford/Hardie finally managed to make a move without

response and set their eyes on catching the outfit out front. Crawford’s pace proved to be too

much, closing the gap and overtaking the Holden/Lowther team within 2 laps and going on to

stretch out a 2 second lead by the time the chequered flag.

2nd place went to Ramsden/Stell who also managed to close down and pass

Holden/Lowther finishing 3rd. Saunders/Coppock came over the line 4th, taking 2nd place in

the cup. 3rd place in the cup was once again taken by the Moore/Moore outfit, who had a

lonely second half of the race, after battling with Schofield/Colbrook until their retirement on

lap 6. The closest battle across the line was for 13th place, with Morphet/Wheeler finishing

half a second in front of the Currie/Sharp, struggling to produce power from their Honda

engine with the TT restrictor plate fitted.

Sunday warm up saw Crawford/Hardie put themselves on top by over a second, from

Ramsden/Stell, Clarke/Johnson and Birchall/Wilkes came in 4th, finally showing the pace

everyone expected coming into the weekend. Hegarty/Ludlow brought up the rear of the

field, having not competed on the Saturday due to work commitments, they had a huge task

to go from the back of the grid in the race to collect some points.

Race 2 turned out to be a race of attrition, 20 took to the grid, with only 13 seeing the

chequered flag. Of the 7 non-finshers, Hegarty/Ludlow pulled into the paddock on the warm

up lap, leaving the weekend with 0 points.

Ramsden/Stell led the field from Crawford/Hardie, who unfortunately succumbed to a

gearbox issue on lap 2, unable to get back to the paddock they pulled over at the bottom of

the mountain. From this point, Ramsden/Stell did not look back, going on to dominate the

race, winning it by 5 seconds over Holden/Lowther who managed to pass

Saunders/Coppock on the final lap, after spending the entire race stuck behind the yellow

and white machine, followed closely over the line by Birchall/Wilkes. Fenwick/Roberts

finished 5th, with Founds/Walmsley coming home 6th, picking up a much needed TT

signature. Dawson/Sims, Gibson/Stokoe, Moore/Moore and Schofield/Knapton rounded out

the top 10, Moore/Moore yet again taking the 3rd place on the cup podium, showing some

well deserved consistency to start the season.

The back of the field was brought up by Schofield/Colbrook, Handcock/Bevan and

Morphet/Wheeler, all too spread out to be able to battle for position.

After Round 2 the top 3 are

Supers				Cup
1st	Ramsden/Stell	90 pts		1st	Ramsden/Stell	100 pts
2nd	G. Holden/Lowther	81 pts		2nd	Moore/Moore	76 pts
3rd	Crawford/Hardie	57 pts		3rd	Handcock/Bevan	44 pts

On behalf of the F.S.R.A., I would like to express thanks to our loyal series sponsors, who

have continued to pledge their support. A.C.U, Pagid Brake Pads/Breitenbach Rennsport,

Whitby Cottages, Hegarty Plant Hire, Freight Hub, Tingles of Warmfield and Power tools

Rentals Ltd, we thank you all for investing in the championship.

Finally, the F.S.R.A. would like to thank NG Road Racing for hosting, and to all their resolute

officials, marshals, medics and all the other volunteers involved in running the event.