Photos: 1 - 11 Kevin Wickham, 12 - 21 Colin Casserley, 22 - 31 Dave Bastock, 32 - 41 Major Gilbert
Report: Mark Paulson
In the year that the BriSCA Formula One World Championship will be staged at the track, King’s Lynn hosted its world qualifying round on Saturday night (27 April). Rising star #20 Liam Gilbank marked himself out as one to watch with an impressive drive to victory in the main event. Sharing the bill was the English Championship for Saloon Stock Cars where #730 Deane Mayes claimed the title in dramatic fashion. Heritage Formula Two stock cars brought a taste of the past by completing the programme, with #763 Andy Bateman winning the final.
BriSCA Formula One
After a busy Easter weekend, there were 45 cars present to contest the world qualifier, including a very welcome return to his home track for #16 Mat Newson after a serious illness in the winter.
The non-points white & yellow grade opener was led by #495 Richard Howarth until a caution period with five laps to go. Teenage starlet #526 Finn Sargent pounced on the restart and went on to win from #93 Sam Makin and form man #364 Robert Plant, as Howarth got shuffled down the order to sixth.
After #254 Scott Wright led the opening couple of laps of heat one proper, #401 Mark Wareham played a starring role. He took the lead but then lost out to Wright after being delayed by a spinning backmarker, before fighting his way back through. Wareham was soon joined out front by #259 Paul Hines and Newson, who quickly charged past, with #515 Frankie Wainman Jr following through. But yellow-top Wareham wasn’t done yet. He hit back at Wainman, sending the national points champion into the road bend fence, before #278 Paul Hopkins got caught up and rolled onto his roof moments later, bringing out the red flags. Newson had passed Hines for the lead and had chance for a quick word on the microphone while the cars were being lined up. “It’s good to be back doing what I enjoy doing,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve lost it!” A quiet few laps followed the restart before the recovered Wainman got inside Newson for the lead with two to go. But both pushed wide into the fence and Newson cut back to resume the lead, with Wainman then slowed by a puncture. Newson went on to a very popular win from Hines, with Wainman able to drag his car home third ahead of his son Frankie Jr Jr (#555).
Heat two brought a spectacular incident when #215 Geoff Nickolls hooked onto the back of #12 Michael Scriven and was dragged up the fence and almost over it. The rest of the race was relatively quiet; early season high-flier #348 John Wright was passed for the lead by Plant but one-time world champion #445 Nigel Green was second by half-distance. The Leicester man made light work of Plant and pulled clear to win from #84 Tom Harris, who had had an early spin, and #212 Danny Wainman after Plant spun while still well placed.
The consolation included #4 Dan Johnson who had picked up damage in his heat. He passed Wright for the lead on half distance and went on to win from #150 Mick Sworder, who had been flying early on but was delayed by a backmarker while battling Wright for second.
All of the qualifiers but #11 Neil Scriven and #415 Russell Cooper returned for the 30-car final. FWJ, Newson and Green were all early spinners, while Johnson was also an early casualty. In the case of Green, he compounded matters by misjudging the available gap to rejoin and spinning himself into the path of #495 Richard Howarth, ending both drivers’ races. With Harris and Hines also sidelined, the door was looking ajar for a lower graded driver to seize the initiative. Young Liam Gilbank did just that after a terrific battle with Wright. The pair battled out front and, with Sworder also forced out by a puncture, the remaining stars weren’t really making an impression on the leading duo. Wright moved into the lead, but Gilbank stayed with him as FWJ turned around third-placed Plant but then got stuck behind the spun car. Gilbank moved inside Wright to regain the lead with three laps to go, with the lapped Newson now right behind them. Newson got inside Wright, which gave the teenaged leader a little breathing space and he brought it home for a maiden BriSCA F1 win. With dad Mark in third, sandwiching Wright – whose car is run from the same stable – it was a dream result. Sadly, Wright failed the post-race weigh-in, but that meant the 1-2 for the Gilbank family, with #372 Colin Goodswen third ahead of Danny Wainman, #335 Mark Woodhull and #463 James Morris.
The grand national was a very lively affair, punctuated by four caution periods and three heavy showers. Despite strong winds all night, the rain had held off until that point, but it only served to spice up the action further. Johnson, Sworder and Frankie Wainman Jr fought out a terrific scrap, with Sworder eventually prevailing with a last-bend lunge on Johnson, who held onto second from Wainman. Mark Gilbank completed a great night in fourth from Woodhull and Michael Scriven.
Two-litre Saloon Stock Cars
The Easter action took its toll on the Saloons, but there were still a healthy 33 cars in action, including West Country visitors #902 Brad Compton-Sage and #276 Ben King, who used the Sampson hire car rather than his own machine.
The grid for the English Championship would be set by three qualifying heats, with each driver racing twice, but the first reserved for white and yellow graded drivers only. That had a relatively thin field and was won by #316 Danny McCluskey, who shook off the early attentions of #552 Karl Douglas, to win from #389 Ryan Santry and the new British Under-25 champion #172 Jack Rust.
Local man #341 Austen Freestone raced clear in heat two after early leader #350 Tommy Parrin was spun by #192 Rob Heanes, causing a bit of a pile-up behind. Blue-top #399 Cole Atkins despatched #2 Luke Dawson for second, with #888 Shane Emerson following through and then taking the place himself. Emerson closed in and passed Freestone for the lead, with Atkins then also making second. Champion trio #306 Daniel Parker, #116 Diggy Smith and #730 Deane Mayes were all making rapid progress and further demoted Freestone in the closing stages but were unable to catch the leading pair.
Heat three featured plenty of early spins and was brought under caution when Douglas was collected by King. A second stoppage was required when #428 Lee Sampson took a big hit, and a third after #420 Ivan Street was spun by #26 Tommy Barnes and left stranded on bend four. McCluskey and Santry had had spells in front but one-time Banger World of Shale champion #148 Ian Redden had moved ahead by the time of the third stoppage and had Smith breathing down his neck. Smith quickly passed on the inside and was followed by Parker who then used the bumper to take the lead. As previous English champion #217Sid Madgwick staged a private war with #214 Tom Yould, Smith retook the lead and held it to the flag from Parker, #131 Timmy Barnes and Mayes. But Parker had been shown a black cross for jumping the final restart and was docked two places to fourth, ahead of #56 George Boult Jr and Irish Open champion #171 Adam O’Dell.
All that left Smith and Parker on the front row of the grid for the main race, with Mayes and McCluskey on row two, and Emerson and Santry completing the top six. After a slow rolling lap, Timmy Barnes spun and Smith rode the wall to take the lead from Parker, Mayes and Emerson. The latter briefly moved into third before exiting on the road bend, while the backmarking #570 Simon Venni was making a nuisance of himself among the leaders.
When Douglas collected #450 Luke Jackson by the pit gate, yellow flags were required, with Smith having the cushion of backmarker #391 Jake Banwell between him and Parker, and Venni providing Parker a buffer back to third placed Mayes. As the track dried, Parker was attacking Smith and made the move stick on the inside into the final five laps of the race. Smith stayed with him, biding his time, but the gap was probably more than he’d like going into the final lap. Still, Parker wasn’t safe and a huge last-bend lunge from Smith succeeded in clipping the back of the #306 and spinning it into the fence. Smith was taken wide too, but rode around the wall and crossed the line first to huge cheers for the crowd. Unfortunately, he had been shown a black cross after being judged to have jumped the restart, and the decision was upheld, meaning that Mayes, who Smith had just held off on the run to the flag, was promoted to victory from Boult, and leaving Smith a disgruntled third. #349 Michael Allard was fourth, with Parker recovering for fifth and Atkins sixth.
“This isn’t the way I’d like to win any race, let alone a championship,” said Mayes, who unfairly bore the brunt of many others’ frustrations. He is now missing only the World, National and UK titles to complete the set.
Heritage Formula Two
A very impressive 21 classics were in action and put on some entertaining races. The opener was won by F1 man Aaron Cozens, at the wheel of the #9 car he was racing in tribute to his late uncle Ian Skinner. An impressive drive on the outside line carried #271 Wayne Helliwell to victory in heat two, ahead of #763 Andy Bateman, who had carved through from the back of the grid. Bateman then went all the way in the final, taking the lead with seven laps to go and going on to win comfortably from #475 Andy Bell and Helliwell.