Report: Mark Paulson
National Series fever hit King’s Lynn on Saturday (23 September) as the venue played host to Round 3 of the BriSCA Formula One Shootout as well as the inaugural round of the BriSCA Formula Two National Series, the chase for the silver roof. F1 points leader 390 Stuart Smith Jr extended his advantage with a heat-and-final double, while shale maestro 905 Rob Mitchell took the early lead of the F2 National Series.
BriSCA F1
A 45-car turnout continued Trackstar’s string of healthy entries, even with the meeting coming a week after the World Final.
Twenty of those contested the opening White/Yellow/Dutch race which included the six drivers who had travelled across the North Sea. It was dominated from the front by 451 Martin Spiers who simply cleared off into the distance. Second home was 76 Aaron Cozens, while top yellow grader 45 Nigel Harrhy was third, clearly the quickest in his grade but unable to dent the impressive front two’s advantage.
Heat one proper was won by the third most successful driver at King’s Lynn of all time, 55 Craig Finnikin. He took over the running from H410 Jelle Tesselaar and then pulled clear. Tesselaar held onto second ahead of hard-battling ‘Shooters’ 4 Dan Johnson and 16 Mat Newson.
The top five Shootout contenders went in heat two, and it started badly for two of them. New world champion 445 Nigel Green and the man he deposed, 515 Frankie Wainman Jr, hooked up early on. Wainman retired as yellow flags were called to assist to 18 Richard Ahern, while Green was badly delayed and would also drop out a little later.
Spiers and Cozens again set the pace much of the way. They were split by 94 John Dowson Jr before he retired, then 249 Joff Gibson suffered a huge engine blow-up while well-placed in the top five. All the while, Smith was gradually picking off those in front with aplomb. He got all the way through, and was the only man to beat the flying white-graders, being wholesome in his praise of Spiers afterwards. “If I’d made one mistake, I wouldn’t have caught him,” said Smith. 212 Danny Wainman qualified for the final in sixth, but 217 Lee Fairhurst would join FWJ in the consolation after being another early retirement. However, both negotiated that hurdle with relative ease, Wainman heading Fairhurst home for the win, with Green fourth behind 463 James Morris.
The world champion just didn’t seem to quite have the pace of his Shootout rivals and that continued in the final where most of the Shooters were delayed on the first bend. But Smith was again making light work of those in front, scything through the field.
Out front, Spiers continued his fine form to build a decent lead, so much so that he didn’t lose it even with a quick spin. But Smith had risen to fifth by the time of a caution period, and was looking set for another win, even with the elder Wainman brother directly in front. The Rochdale man made short work of his Yorkshire rival, pushing both him and 335 Mark Woodhull wide to take third before passing 137 Sam Jacklin and Spiers to take the lead. Wainman followed him through into second, and then Spiers was put into the wall by Fairhurst who took third. Those three positions stayed the same until the end, with Newson, 422 Ben Riley and Danny Wainman making it an all-Shootout top six.
Smith was targeting a full house in the grand national and, despite the lap handicap, he didn’t come up too far short, rising to fourth at the flag, with the aid of two mid-race yellow flags. He effectively caused the second himself. A firm hit had dislodged the left-hand fixings on his wing which then folded over to the outside; either by accident or design – perhaps fearing a technical disqualification – Smith then clobbered the fence with it, ripping it clean off. So a caution was required to remove the wing from the raceway. Smith had risen to eighth by that stage, then – despite no wing – picked off a handful more to finish fourth.
In front, 45 Nigel Harrhy had taken an early lead and looked set for the win until the yellow flags proved his undoing. That allowed the Wainman brothers to come through, Frankie leading home Danny, with Harrhy holding onto third.
BriSCA Formula Two
The first-ever National Series round for the BriSCA F2s raised 56 cars, although 338 Warren Brocksopp didn’t make it past the first race for the Whites/Yellows/Dutch. That was won by H103 Chris van der Elst who chased down 276 Chris Sutton for the win, 235 Bradley Blyth completing the top three.
Thirteen of the 15 qualified National Series drivers were present and were split alternately between the two heats, in contrast to the F1 approach. Starting at the back, and behind the star-graded drivers who had declined places in the National Series, it was tough work for the contenders, 560 Luke Wrench’s third place their best result in the heats.
The first was won by 823 Sam Wagner after 111 Lewis Geach’s attack on the leading Blyth went wrong. Blyth held onto second from Wrench and Geach. NS-runners 618 Ben Lockwood, 700 Adam Rubery, 581 Dan Fallows and 527 James Riggall also qualified but only in the lower-reaches of the top 12.
It was a similar story in heat two as 277 Billy Banwell won from 464 Matt Linfield and 871 Mark Simpson. Defending silver top 7 Gordon Moodie was best-placed NS contender in fourth, ahead of 226 Billy Webster – who had declined due to an upcoming holiday – and 606 Andrew Palmer, who showed terrific pace after being delayed by an early tangle. 905 Rob Mitchell, 101 Kelvyn Marshall, 615 Josh Coleman and 38 Dave Polley also successfully negotiated the heat, and they were eventually joined by 817 Timothy Bailey who scraped through from the consolation in 11th. That was won by 770 Jay Lamb, his maiden win in the formula, with Sutton and 81 Mark Clayton following him home.
The final was punctuated by two yellow flag periods. Early leader 941 Jamie Lane gave way to 669 John Hindley, before Webster made the most of his red-grade start to take over. Similarly, Wagner followed him through into second, with Palmer the leading National Series runner in third. Somewhat surprisingly, over the closing laps, loose-surface expert Palmer couldn’t make any inroads into the front two’s lead, and was gradually caught and then passed by Moodie. The top four positions then stayed the same, with Mitchell and Polley following them home.
Moodie was satisfied with the result, having put a lot of effort into his shale racing this year. “It’s almost like a victory, getting third [behind two red-grade drivers],” he said. “These boys are racing at a good level. I’ve really enjoyed [racing on shale]. Without Chris Burgoyne lending me car, I wouldn’t have been able to perform at the level I have.”
On the National Series itself, Moodie continued: “I’m a traditionalist. I preferred the [old-style] National Points, but if this is better for the sport, I’ll take that.”
Moodie didn’t add to his score in the grand national, getting turned into the back straight wall and losing a lap. So he would end the night second in the early National Series standings, one point behind Mitchell, who managed third behind van der Elst and 298 Jake Walker in the curtain-closer. Webster climbed sixth from the full-lap handicap.