Photos: 1 - 17 Colin Casserley, 18 - 27 Damien Widdows, 28 - 43 Dave Bastock
Report: Mark Paulson
The stock car racing season began in style at the Adrian Flux Arena, King’s Lynn, on Saturday (2 March), with 140 cars providing non-stop action all night. Maximum points in the opening BriSCA Formula Two world qualifying round went to #12 Daniel Ford with an impressive heat-and-final double. In the Clive Grief Memorial double-header, #219 Luke Grief successfully retained his father’s memorial trophy with an emotional victory in the two-litre version, while 1300cc success went to #142 Jack Lower.
BriSCA Formula Two
Nearly 60 cars were in action in the first step on the road to gold, with plenty of smart new machinery on display and some new drivers too. Self-built cars seem to be back in fashion for use on shale, with #55 Courtney Finnikin, #142 Jonathan Hadfield, #282 Ant Riley and Cornishman #542 Steven Gilbert all debuting new examples – the first time each driver had gone down that route – while #995 Michael Lund did likewise, in his case a ‘mk2’. Lund’s old car was in the hands of Ministox graduate #202 Will Knight who was making his BriSCA F2 debut. There was also a debut for a familiar name, #69 Ben Chalkley emulating father Stuart by trying F2, after a very successful spell in Rebels.
The two heats and consolation race each offered 12 places in the meeting final and all were hotly contested. The opener was almost as good a race as you’ll see, full of action from start to finish. It looked set to fall to Chalkley after an impressive drive. He was perhaps shifting the backmarkers with a little too much enthusiasm though, sending #130 Emma Ford and Riley on rides around the fence on consecutive laps. The second time, it put Chalkley himself into a half spin. He recovered across the corner of the infield but rejoined with his pursuers right on his tail. #981 Ian Bailey used the bumper on the back straight to take the lead and, although Chalkley attempted to fight back, he got shuffled down the order to 11th. Bailey held on to win from European champion #788 Stephen Mallinson and Dutch starlet H229 Tsjalle Greidanus. “I had one chance to get him and I thought ‘Why not?’” Bailey told presenter Matt Black afterwards.
Heat two was led for some time by #88 Stefan Miller, but #12 Daniel Ford made rapid early progress from the blue grade to put himself in a good position. After Miller had lost the lead he was shoved down to third by running mate Finnikin and ended up slipping out of the qualifying places. Finnikin put the hammer down and closed in enough on Ford to attempt a last-bend lunge. She made decent contact but Ford held on in the scramble to the line. “Halfway through it dried out and I started to really struggle,” said Ford. “I saw Courtney coming really quick!” Behind Finnikin, #235 Bradley Blyth completed the top three, while Lund also gave his car a strong debut, finishing fourth as several of the stars delayed each other.
Miller again led much of the consolation, and this time he held onto a qualifying place, in fourth. He had no answer for the pace of #606 Andrew Palmer, who had picked up some damage in his heat, debuting a new TLF on his return to full-time competition. #26 Gary Ford joined his brother in the final, while #488 Liam Bentham completed the top three.
A near-full complement of 34 cars took to the track for the final which had an early stoppage after #298 Jake Walker was sent up the wall. Blyth continued to lead the race, followed by the impressive Chalkley and #233 Rob Alridge, while most of the star grade were nearly a lap down at half-distance due to the ferocious action in the pack.
A second caution was required after half-distance when #344 Luke Woodhull’s stranded machine was collected one too many times, having broken a wheel on the first lap. By this stage, Blyth still led and had the cushion of backmarkers H186 Ricardo Smidt and #259 Simon Farrington between him and the chasing #524 Michael Wallbank, with another pair of lapped runners before Daniel Ford in third, while the struggling stars were given a reprieve to regain some lost time, with less than 20 cars still running.
On the restart, Smidt unlapped himself and pulled clear and Farrington was shoved wide and up the wall. Blyth continued to lead until he and Lund spun on the home straight, allowing Ford into the lead from Mallinson and #124 Ollie Skeels. With three laps to go, Skeels nosed inside Mallinson for second but there was some margin to make up on Ford. As it turned out, Skeels’s car wasn’t up to it – it had been dropping fluid and sending sparks from a wheel guard for some time and was gradually getting more and more hobbled. Skeels managed to drag it across the line but plummeted to sixth on the final lap. When Mallinson crashed with two laps to go, Ford’s way was clear to secure his first King’s Lynn final win. Amazingly, through the chaotic final lap, it was track champion #226 Billy Webster who emerged in second, despite being well down the order only a couple of laps earlier. Gary Ford completed the top three, with Palmer and #488 Liam Bentham also beating Skeels to the line.
The grand national was another chaotic race, requiring a number of caution periods. #212 Jak Hall led much of the way but it was #905 Rob Mitchell who came through to win, turning around an otherwise disappointing night for the one-time World of Shale champion, from Mallinson and Webster, with Hall slipping to fourth.
Two-litre Saloon Stock Cars
Thirty-nine cars were present to contest the Clive Grief Memorial, although returnee #450 Luke Jackson failed to race. Among the many new or smartly refurbished cars was a terrific effort from European champion #116 Diggy Smith, while the nation’s most committed driver, #399 Cole Atikins, also debuted a very tidy new machine. At the other end of the scale, #219 Luke Grief’s warhorse looked like it had seen better days, but then this tends to be about the only shale meeting that Grief does these days – and it’s how the car goes that really matters.
After a whites and yellows race dominated by #552 Karl Douglas, the main event was up next. A typically chaotic opening few laps featured cars spinning and crashing in all directions, with a marker tyre brought onto the middle of the track before a suspension was called, with Scottish visitor #125 Euan Mathieson leading the way from Atkins and, amazingly, from the back of the field, Grief. From there, Grief needed no second invitation, and quickly moved inside Atkins and then Mathieson. But he couldn’t shake them off and the three proceeded to enjoy a good battle, passing and re-passing until Mathieson spun on the home straight.
Grief then managed to pass Atkins – who in fact was a lap down – once more and started to stretch his car’s legs over the second half of the race. As some of the other stars, including Smith and #349 Michael Allard in particular, hammered into each other, Grief pulled clear for a comfortable win. It took him nine years to win the most important race to him, and now he’s won it twice in a row!
“Thankfully I avoided the crashes,” he said. “Luckily enough it all went my way and I’ve won it again. I wanted to take my time – it’s so easy on shale to mess up.”
Shale-loving Scotsman #600 Barry Russell was second, with #131 Timmy Barnes third in his new car. Timmy’s brother Tommy (#26), track champion #306 Daniel Parker and Smith completed the top six.
Two allcomers races followed. The first looked set to be taken by #888 Shane Emerson but he was reeled in by Timmy Barnes in the closing stages and passed with three laps to go, before losing out to Parker and Allard too.
When #525 Wes Starmer spun from third in the second allcomers, it left #172 Jack Rust and #428 Lee Sampson well clear in front. Sampson used his experience to bide his time and pass the youngster for the win, with Rust beating #730 Deane Mayes to second. Fourth place went to #570 Simon Venni who was named entertainer of the night – a reward for his sore neck, he laughed afterwards.
1300cc Stock Cars
A terrific 44 of the smaller stock cars were in action, requiring heats to split by grade. The first, for whites & yellows, brought a career-first win for #977 Patrick Fitzakerley after being flagged early for a fire onboard #880 Anthony Kerr’s car.
Heat two also had to be red-flagged after a massive crash in which #191 Luke Leedell came off the worst. He was shunted from pillar to post, and carried around by the pack for a half a lap, before being rear-ended into the fence and then unavoidably blasted head-on by English champion #23 Lee Pearce. It left Pearce’s car with heavy front-end damage, and Leedell seeing stars. Thankfully he was able to get out and walk away after medical treatment. Charging superstar #303 Jacob Bromley worked his way through the pack and had a good battle for the win with #400 Kevin Shinn and #473 Dean Moat, the trio finishing in that order.
Heat three was a quieter race won by #769 Ben Englestone from #681 Dan Moore, with Bromley flying once more up to third.
A first lap pile-up delayed many in the final, allowing one-time Gold Roof champion #76 Jonathan Upchurch to escape from the white grade, and he continued to lead for a while after a mid-race stoppage. It was #216 Dan Booth, who’d retired from his first race with a misfire, who relieved him of the lead and looked set to repeat his 2010 CGM triumph. But a charging #142 Jack Lower caught and passed him with three laps to go. Booth attempted to fight back, only to be spun out by the backmarking #92 Charlie Morphey. That left Lower in the clear to take the win, with Bromley managing to snatch second on the line from #131 Callum Anderson.