Photos:  1 - 15 Dave Bastock, 16 - 28 Kevin Wickham, 29 - 40 Jim Harrod, 41 - 53 Colin Casserley 

Report: Mark Paulson

BriSCA Formula Two World Final weekend lived up to all expectations with a fantastic weekend of racing from the F2s themselves and the Saloon Stock Cars, which contested their ORC Championship. After two decades of trying, #38 Dave Polley finally claimed the BriSCA F2 title that had eluded him by lifting the World Championship, while #600 Barry Russell took the honours in a dramatic finish to the ORC Championship.

BriSCA F2

A wonderful turnout of 97 cars were in action for BriSCA F2’s biggest event of the year. Among them, a terrific total of 21 drivers had crossed the North Sea from Holland, while three made the even further trip from Northern Ireland.

Off-track, the chance to get up close to the World Finalists and their cars via a parc ferme walkabout proved very popular, with Trackstar providing free autograph books of the World Finalists for the occasion.

On-track action commenced with the time trials for the overseas World Finalists. All 13 cars contested a single five-minute session, from which two-time world champion H124 Wim Peeters emerged fastest, with H186 Ricardo Schmidt joining him in securing a third-row starting slot for the big race. With near-identical times, H131 Rutger Veenstra and H78 Jorrit van der Wal would make up row six, with H229 Tsjalle Greidanus and H447 Patrick Tersteeg also potential contenders for honours on row nine. Veteran campaigner H30 Toon Schut managed the seventh fastest time, but fancied runner H410 Jelle Tesselaar would have been disappointed to record only the tenth fastest time, slowest of the Dutch entries. With their extremely limited experience of racing on the loose, it was no surprise that the Ulstermen struggled to match their continental counterparts, but NI918 Shea Fegan and NI74 Jonny Stirling gave particularly good accounts of themselves and NI222 Jordan Wright picked up valuable track time ahead of the big race. 

H124 Wim Peeters	16.758		H325 Jelmer Plantenga	16.974
H186 Ricardo Schmidt	16.801		H154 Kay Lenssen	17.096
H131 Rutger Veenstra	16.850		H410 Jelle Tesselaar	17.120
H78 Jorrit van der Wal	16.851		NI918 Shea Fegan	17.506
H229 Tsjalle Greidanus	16.873		NI74 Jonny Stirling	17.602
H447 Patrick Tersteeg	16.881		NI222 Jordan Wright	18.706
H30 Toon Schut	16.895

The first race was the Consolation Semi-Final, from which the last seven qualifiers for the World Final would be determined. With the potential threat of showers, it was held on a dry and dusty track, with #905 Rob Mitchell converting pole position into the race lead from third-row starter #59 Lee Dimmick and teen sensation #880 Jack Witts, before an early caution was required with #488 Liam Bentham out of action.

In a car not best set up for the dry conditions, Mitchell lost out after the restart and it was all change at the front, with outside front-row man #226 Billy Webster taking over and building a healthy advantage from #9 Harley Thackra – who had initially dropped to the lower reaches of the top 10 from his second-row starting slot – as Mitchell and Witts battled over third. In the second half of the race, Thackra reeled Webster in and passed him with six laps remaining, going on to take a comfortable win and join his brother Jordon on the World Final grid. Webster was equally comfortable in second, while Mitchell held on to third ahead of #524 Michael Wallbank and local men #113 Pat Issitt and #149 Reece Cox who all passed Witts. The youngster held on to the final qualifying place ahead of Issitt’s younger brother Jack (#103) who would become the first reserve for the big race.

The support heat featured a packed field of 39 cars and brought a straightforward victory for one-time World Championship runner-up #662 Steve Wycherley, very under-graded from White. #795 Jason Clow gave Wycherley a good run for his money, with #393 Danny McCarthy and H418 Niels Tesselaar the next home.

The big race was next but sadly, as almost seems inevitable at King’s Lynn World Finals, it was preceded by a heavy rain shower that left a very wet track in its wake. It failed to dampen proceedings though, with the World Finalists’ parade led out by the first four qualifiers who each did a solo lap to their choice of entrance music. A pumped up #183 Charlie Guinchard was accompanied by Eminem’s Lose Yourself, while #7 Gordon Moodie appropriately chose the Seven Nation Army. #324 Jordon Thackra reckoned it was time to Let’s Get This Party Started (Black Eyed Peas); #647 Chris Burgoyne plumped for a Scottified version of Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’.

Once the parade was complete, the rain had pretty much stopped and the stage was set for the fourth BriSCA F2 World Final to be held at King’s Lynn. The whole stadium joined in with commentator Alistair Oxby’s call, “Drivers, start your engines,” and the first rolling lap was led by Mark Taylor’s #167 Bill Batten car. In tribute to the late four-time world champion, the inside line dropped back to allow the #167 car to take up the ‘pole position’ slot alongside former adversary Moodie. Sadly, a late grid reshuffle had been required when Cornishman #542 Steven Gilbert’s engine let him down and he was a non-starter. In a bittersweet moment, it promoted #103 Jack Issitt to the grid, making it three sets of brothers who would start the World Final.

Once the green flag dropped, Guinchard made a good getaway but Moodie slipped to fourth by the end of the opening lap behind Thackra and #38 Dave Polley, up from the fourth row. Burgoyne and Schmidt, who was fired up the wall and the collected, were both early casualties but Peeters managed to stay with the leading group.

Thackra was then shuffled back by the hugely experienced shale racers as Polley moved into second, chased by Moodie, #606 Andrew Palmer, #968 Micky Brennan (up from row seven already) and Peeters. Moodie briefly returned to second before being shoved wide by Polley, while at the same time Brennan passed Palmer for fourth.

Guinchard continued to stretch his lead over the opening laps as a dry line emerged on the shale. By mid-race, Polley had stemmed his losses and was dealing well with the multitude of traffic. The key moments came when a spinning #915 Jamie Jones forced Guinchard wide as he passed the pit gate. As Polley was able to take the inside line, he made inroads into Guinchard’s lead, and was again decisive through traffic as they rounded the roadside bend. Coming back into the scoreboard bend the following lap, Polley sniffed his opportunity.  The lunge came in and Guinchard’s Polley-built chassis was sent towards Jordan Wright’s stranded car. Guinchard showed remarkable composure to quickly get back under way but had dropped to fifth, his chances of victory gone barring any other major incidents.

With Brennan having just passed Moodie for what became second, Polley now had a significant lead of his own as the race hit half-distance. Palmer and then Guinchard demoted Moodie further in the second half of the race, the Scotsman struggling to get his car to turn as he negotiated traffic on what was becoming a dusty track on the racing line but still somewhat wet off it.

With his own chassis in the top four places, Polley was well clear and able to cruise to victory, fist pumping the air as he crossed the line. Brennan was second, while Guinchard hooked Palmer around on the final bend to secure a strong third, albeit one that still left him bitterly disappointed. Moodie and leading overseas finisher Peeters both also slipped past Palmer as the Peterborough man reversed across the line in sixth. Tersteeg, reserve Jack Issitt, #184 Aaron Vaight (in his tarmac car) and Webster completed the top 10 in an entertaining race that had run flag to flag and certainly sorted the men from the boys.

Two packed consolation races followed. The first was initially fought out between Clow and Dimmick until it went wrong for the pair and they dropped from contention. That handed the lead to #582 Tomson Streets but he was chased down by #195 Mike Philip. The long-distance traveller was in front when yellow flags were called, swiftly upgraded to a red-and-chequered after #43 Marcus Gilbert went in hard.

The second consolation was led for much of the way by #344 Luke Woodhull, who took the lead after a caution period, then retained it when another was required. But Woodhull lost out on the final bend to #992 Harley Burns, who was delighted to take a first win in his recently-debuted shale car, and Chris Burgoyne.

The meeting final was for the Alan Benson Memorial Trophy, as is tradition on World Final night, and fielded 32 cars. It began with a bang when a pile-up on the scoreboard bend ended with Moodie performing a rare roll. #929 Harry Hensby led the restart from Wycherley and Pat Issitt before another stoppage was required. Wycherley’s immaculate car was looking a little worse for wear when it got thundered in by #180 Courtney Witts, who appeared to suffer a stuck throttle or similar. Witts herself also came off badly as she clattered around the fence into the parked car of Jorrit van der Wal, inflicting heavy damage to the rear of the Dutch driver’s car.

After Witts received some attention, the race resumed with Issitt relieving Hensby of the lead and #136 Kyle Taylor following through. That pair managed to reel off the remaining laps unchallenged, as Jack Issitt worked his way through to third on a very good night for the Spalding-based family.

Hensby again led in the grand national, before being passed by Niels Tesselaar, Marcus Gilbert and Rob Mitchell. Showing rapid pace, Mitchell demoted Gilbert then passed Tesselaar for a lead he would hold to the flag with three laps to go. Webster also got through into second, with Tesselaar holding on to third.

Saloon Stock Cars

An excellent 52 Two-Litre Saloon Stock Cars arrived to each contest three of four qualifying heats for their ORC Championship, with the main event itself set to be held on Sunday afternoon alongside the Steve Newman Memorial and Jack Dain Trophy. The entry included six Scotsmen, three Dutch drivers and one from Northern Ireland, plus a number of visitors from the further reaches of England. The format made for four very busy races packed with action.

Heat one coincided with the rain shower, so the race started under spots of rain but finished with heavy rain falling that made for treacherous conditions. Yellow flags for #328 Michael Boswell wiped out the huge advantage that H40 Krin de Vries and #13 Robert Heanes had built themselves among the chaos. De Vries then immediately lost out before Heanes was shuffled back down the order, with #389 Ryan Santry coming through to win from Scottish duo #670 Ross Watters and #600 Barry Russell.

A major grading of the track took place between the BriSCA F2 World Final and heat two, leaving a fine racing surface. In another action-packed race, #261 Dom Davies relieved #350 Tommy Parrin after a caution to assist #214 Tom Yould. But a charging #730 Deane Mayes caught the pair and, in one move, managed to get inside Parrin and spin Davies out. Parrin gamely fought back but it was Mayes who prevailed, with #26 Tommy Barnes also then getting inside Parrin for second.

Heat three was a high-speed race led from early on by Yould. He held on under pressure from #184 Lizzy Crowden and was still in front when red-and-chequered flags flew after a roll for #631 Peter Low. Other action included Watters running in world champion #131 Tommy Barnes.

A couple of cautions were required in heat three when a stranded #48 Brad Dyer was clobbered by #62 David Hearst on the home straight and then spinner #697 Jordan Cassie was collected by #232 Gavin Anderson on Turn 4. Taking advantage of his downgrading to Yellow, one-time British and English champion #156 Darren Goudy had worked his way into the lead from Parrin and #428 Lee Sampson. Defending ORC champion #349 Michael Allard was flying through the pack and made it to second but was unable to catch Goudy. Both secured themselves places on the front three rows of the grid for the following day’s big race, along with the previous heat winners and Watters.

 

BriSCA F2	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th
Consolation Semi-Final (Heat 1)	9	226	905	524	113	149	880	103	377	180
Heat 2	662	795	393	H418	995	597	H239	929	H129	H126
World Final (Heat 3)	38	968	183	7	H124	606	H447	103	184	226	618	905	524
Consolation 1	195	582	414	136	H78	888	790	374	H29	H154
Consolation 2	992	647	344	5	H131	801	127	H325	732	H99
Final	113	136	103	H418	195	149	647	618	9	524
Grand National	905	226	H418	995	H126	H447	127	560	149	606
2L Stock Cars	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Heat 1	389	670	600	341	349	902	126	131	677	156
Heat 2	730	26	350	670	349	561	H300	156	399	677
Heat 3	214	184	697	420	26	670	341	126	428	730
Heat 4	156	349	428	902	350	26	677	600	525	399