Photos: 1 - 12 Dave Bastock, 13 - 20 Major Gilbert, 21 - 33 Paul Tully, 34 Major Gilbert, 35 - 44 Colin Casserley
Report: Mark Paulson
The BriSCA Formula One pre-World Final warm-up meeting served up a terrific night’s action at the Adrian Flux Arena, King’s Lynn, as the last two places on the World Final grid were decided. There were major trophies galore, with #55 Craig Finnikin taking the prestigious Trust Fund race and #445 Nigel Green winning the meeting final for the Allan Barker Memorial. There were plenty of talking points, with some brutal hits among some of the stars, and ongoing feuds likely to reach boiling point at the World Final on 14 September. BriSCA Formula Two stock cars provided strong support, with #124 Ollie Skeels coming out on top.
BriSCA Formula One
An amazing 74 cars were in the pits for a special night of action, with several historic trophies up for grabs. Before the main meeting, though, was arguably the most important race of all, the Consolation Semi-Final to decide the final two qualifiers for the World Final to be staged at the same track a fortnight later.
Twenty-six cars gridded in graded order, so it was always going to be a tough task for one-time world champion #445 Nigel Green and the six other red-tops to make it through. As it turned out, sole white grader #137 Sam Jacklin led from start to finish in his brother Rob’s car to achieve the rare feat of a ‘C’ grade driver making the World Final. It was a consummate performance out front, while the remaining qualifying place was hotly contested. #335 Mark Woodhull looked to be making good progress until he tangled with #216 Jack France, while Green overcame a slow start to carve through the field. Just before half-way, #169 Billy Johnson and #278 Paul Hopkins tangled from second and third, promoting the rapid #166 Bobby Griffin into the all-important position, with #415 Russell Cooper tracking his every move and Green a little further back in fourth. With Jacklin clear out front, Cooper thought he and Griffin were in first and second so did not risk an attack, a mistake that would prove costly as Griffin eased clear in the closing laps to secure second. Green picked up a puncture and retired from fourth, while #150 Mick Sworder overhauled Cooper in the closing stages to take third and be first reserve for the World Final. Among the other stars to miss out were #175 Karl Hawkins and #555 Frankie Wainman Jr Jr, who tangled together, and #21 Mark Gilbank who finished fifth.
Heat one proper doubled up as the annual Trust Fund race, the prestigious event’s first staging at King’s Lynn since 2003. A field of 23 stars and superstars drivers made for as high-quality an entry as in any race you will see this year. #37 Chris Cowley took the lead from polesitter Hawkins at the end of lap one, with #259 Paul Hines following through. But the man on the move, from mid-grid, was #55 Craig Finnikin. He quickly moved into second and then started reeling in Cowley, pulling Hines with him. With four laps to go, Finnikin used the bumper to push Cowley into H410 Jelle Tesselaar and take the lead from where he went on to win. Hines followed through and, although Cowley initially kept hold of third, he lost out to Green too before the flag.
“At one point Chris was pulling away,” said Finnikin. “He got caught with a few backmarkers. I saw one chance and I took it.
“It’s one I’ve never won before,” added Finnikin, who completed the grand slam of the formula’s four biggest titles earlier this year.
Heat two was for the Steve Froggatt Memorial trophy and featured a grid of King’s Lynn regulars. After France lost a wheel and crashed, causing a mid-race caution period, #302 Jim Bamford led the way from #215 Geoff Nickolls. The Loughborough veteran was giving Bamford a hard time, making full use of the bumper, and eventually got past, with Woodhull following through as #45 Nigel Harrhy got in the mix to unlap himself. Bamford might have thought the win had evaded him but he managed to spin Woodhull and then benefited when Nickolls hooked up with a backmarker. So Bamford won from #276 Mark Poole, #526 Finn Sargent and #211 Phoebe Wainman, as both Woodhull (11th) and Nickolls (unplaced) failed to qualify.
Heat three had a more eclectic mix of drivers including Anzacs NZ19 Malcom Ngatai and NZ971 Jayden Ward getting in some World Final practice. #5 Charlie Sworder relieved #83 Darren Clark of the early lead, but spun himself around, letting #127 Austin Moore through. Moore went on to win from Clark and #501 George Elwell, with Sworder recovering to fifth.
The massive entry made for a 32-car consolation with only six places in the final up for grabs. As most of the stars had gone in heat one, there were 12 red-tops in the race, including superstars #515 Frankie Wainman Jr (who had a puncture in heat one), #217 Lee Fairhurst and H618 Wiebe de Vries. It wasn’t to be for Fairhurst, who pulled off immediately, while a big bend-four pile-up claimed half the field and led to yellow flags. #275 Terry Hawkins led them away on the restart but #244 Mick Rogers quickly pushed through from fourth to take the lead, followed by #313 Karl Roberts and H525 Nigel de Kock. Woodhull made his way into second before dropping back as Rogers held on to win. Griffin was second until demoted on the final bend by Wainman brothers Danny (#212) and Frankie, with Woodhull and Sworder claiming the last two qualifying places.
The meeting final was for the Allan Barker Memorial. With Austin Moore and #22 Will Yarrow not making it, de Kock and Frankie Wainman Jr Jr sneaked onto the packed grid as reserves. The race was to feature three separate rollovers. The first was Phoebe Wainman, who tipped onto her side, as Clark led the early stages until #345 Jake Harrhy took over. The second rollover came when Mick Sworder reignited his feud with #84 Tom Harris, following him into the scoreboard bend fence at full chat. The impact rolled Sworder onto his roof and pulled Gilbank on top of his inverted car. Interviewed during the stoppage, Sworder explained: “He ran me up the wall and there’s no need for it. We can race cleanly. If he wants to play this game, every race now we’ll have him on his roof.” With Harris also on the receiving end of some attention from #4 Dan Johnson (who was not at this meeting) in recent weeks, it could lead to some fireworks in the World Final.
Local superstar #16 Mat Newson was the third to go over when he collected Woodhull on the final lap. The race was declared there with a win for Green, who had charged through to pass Harrhy for the lead soon after half-distance.
“It’s a bit of a low blow that I’ve not made it into the big race because it was motoring then,” rued Green. He was followed home by #463 James Morris and FWJ, with Woodhull classified fourth ahead of Danny Wainman and #2 Paul Harrison, the World Finalist on his first Lynn outing of the season in a hire car.
The grand national, for the Richard Ahern Memorial, was another hard-hitting affair, with the stars trading blows. A fairly quick turnaround from the final meant some didn’t make it out in time but, among the 23 who did, was Harris whose team had repaired his car. The ‘Hitman’ declared to the crowd: “Mick Sworder has started another war. I don’t care if I don’t finish another race – they’re having it!”
It finally came good on the night for Fairhurst, who avoided the battles and flew through the field to victory from Karl Roberts and #20 Liam Gilbank who had both had spells in front. Harris motored home fourth, ahead of FWJ and Finnikin.
BriSCA Formula Two
Fifty-two F2s were in action, although one only raced in the white-grade race that preceded the full-format meeting and was won comprehensively by #414 Josh Rayner on a track made fairly treacherous by a couple of showers just before start time.
Heat one proper went to World of Shale champion #38 Dave Polley, who passed #55 Courtney Finnikin for the lead shortly after half-distance. Finnikin was also overtaken by European champion #788 Stephen Mallinson before the flag, but she held on to third.
Rayner ran well again in heat two, but was passed by eventual winner #977 Dave Massey with five laps to go, while Dutch visitor H186 Ricardo Smidt also demoted Rayner two laps from home.
Novice driver #69 Ben Chalkley led much of the consolation before dropping back to seventh in the closing stages. Superstar #606 Andrew Palmer passed #124 Ollie Skeels with a lap to go to take the win, with Skeels also losing out to #142 Jonathan Hadfield and #59 Lee Dimmick on the final bend.
Ahead of the following week’s World Final, in which he would start third on the grid, Peterborough man Palmer said: “We’ve been having a purple patch for the last six weeks/two months. We know it’s going to end soon and I thought it was there,” referring to his heat-two retirement.
After #209 Kevin Cope spun, Chalkley led the 36-car final either side of an early caution period. But blue-top Skeels was charging through and had taken the lead before another caution to assist H54 Axander van Wilick who was broadside across the track. The stoppage also allowed West Country entertainer #24 Jon Palmer to get some assistance after an incredible incident where his propshaft ripped off the bottom half of his trouser leg, luckily without inflicting serious damage to Palmer’s leg.
On the resumption, Skeels held off a determined challenge from Dimmick to win, with Mallinson completing the top three, and Polley, returnee #225 Tony Blackburn and Andrew Palmer following them home.
Mallinson then completed a good night by prevailing in a scrap with Polley to win the grand national.