Photos: 1 - 12 Dave Bastock, 13 - 24 Colin Casserley, 25 - 36 Jim Harrod

Report: Mark Paulson

For the third time in six weekends, BriSCA F1 Stock Cars were in town as the Adrian Flux Arena, King’s Lynn, played host to Round 5 of The Chase for the Rainbow Roof. Track specialist #55 Craig Finnikin took the main event for the second time running. Providing support were 1300cc Stock Cars, in which local man #391 Jake Banwell came out on top.

BriSCA F1

The 37-car entry, including a return to the formula for #191 Josh Smith, ran in a 2/3 heat format, with the first reserved for white & yellow graded drivers without a win to their name this season. Someone had to break their duck and it was #339 Ant Lee who took his maiden win in the formula with a commanding performance as he led from start to finish. #215 Geoff Nickolls used his experience to work his way through to second. He passed shale F1 debutant #120 Casey Englestone to move to the front of the yellows, then picked off #234 Terry Pearce and #389 Tom Dayman after they delayed each other, but was unable to chase down Lee. #541 Willie Skoyles Jr was third ahead of #302 Jim Bamford.

Heat two almost produced a white-top winner as well, as Terry Pearce led until the penultimate lap when he ran wide, allowing #5 Charlie Sworder onto his tail. Sworder duly used his bumper to take the lead and go on to win, his second win in two races at the track, having won the grand national last time out. Pearce fended off #532 Daz Kitson’s last-bend attack to take second, with Kitson spinning back seventh. Lynn form man #326 Mark Sargent was third after losing out in his scraps with Sworder and Kitson earlier, while world champion #1 Tom Harris was fourth having made rapid progress in the second half of the race. The superstars had earlier held each other up in the first couple of laps, with #515 Frankie Wainman Jr retiring with a puncture as a result, and #16 Mat Newson joining him on the infield shortly afterwards.

In a race punctuated by a couple of stoppages, the last a red flag when guesting BriSCA F2 man #68 Ben Lockwood rolled, Wainman hit the front of heat three before half-distance and went on to take a comfortable win from Newson, who nerfed Sworder aside in the closing stages. Sworder held on for third from #259 Paul Hines. Lee again impressed but lost the lead to Sargent – who then straightened up mid-bend and slowed thereafter – and slipped to seventh in the closing stages. Earlier, #55 Craig Finnikin had tried to ride the wall on the freshly-watered track after a restart, and climbed into the top three as a result, but sustained damage in the process, and did not finish the race.

Twenty-eight cars returned for the final, with no Tom Harris, enduring another night of maladies at King’s Lynn having also missed his second heat. An early caution was required for a bend two pile-up which included Sworder riding up over the front of #463 James Morris’s car. Lee was again impressing in front at the time of the stoppage after two laps and continued to lead on the restart. But Finnikin was already up to seventh in the queue and easily picked off those in front, moving ahead before half-distance and pulling clear for the win, his second consecutive final win at the track. A full barrel roll for #34 Mal Brown - after his liberal use of the bumper didn't quite pay off - on the final lap brought out red flags but not before Finnikin had crossed the line. Lee held on to a superb second from Newson and #175 Karl Hawkins as Wainman dropped back to eighth in the closing laps carrying an issue aboard the 515-machine. Cambridgeshire man #415 Russell Cooper managed a creditable fifth, ahead of #12 Michael Scriven.

The early stages of the grand national were led by #389 Tom Dayman, who exchanged places with Cooper and Skoyles before returning to the front. Skoyles would make the place his own after a few laps and build an advantage. Meanwhile, Wainman and Newson were carving their way through the traffic. Wainman was into second by half-distance and made his move stick on Skoyles with five laps to go. While victory might have looked his, Newson had other ideas. He demoted Skoyles a couple of laps later, then reeled in the leader. He was with Wainman with a lap to go, and used a perfectly weighted nudge on the final bend to move ahead and take the win, from Wainman and Sworder, who pushed Skoyles down to fourth. Finnikin came through for a very creditable seventh from the lap handicap without the aid of a stoppage.

1300cc Stock Cars

The 1300s also ran a 2/3 heat format for a strong entry of 44 cars. Heat one, for white and yellow graded drivers, was led initially by #517 Ben Sanders but he had his big lead wiped out by a yellow flag, then was slow away on the restart. That let #185 Polly Reade into the lead before #412 Jordan Gay took over. When Reade spun out it promoted #421 Chris Taylor into second, and he then bumped past his Sheffield colleague Gay into the lead, with #390 Karl Morris following through. Morris then took advantage of Taylor getting half spun by a backmarker to move ahead, and he survived Taylor’s last-bend lunge, which only made light contact, to win from Taylor and #537 Tom Alsop.

#880 Anthony Kerr was in the thick of the action throughout heat two. Having relieved senior debutant #311 Billy Newman of the lead, he stayed out front until the closing stages when he was gradually reeled in by one-time European champion #473 Dean Moat and #391 Jake Banwell. Moat dived inside to take the lead but Kerr hit straight back to retake the advantage. As Moat went in again with the bumper with three laps to go, Banwell seized the opportunity to pass both on the inside. He went on to win from Kerr, who bested Moat, and top star-graded man #137 Curtis Tebbenham, the Spedeworth visitor. Newman was spun across the line by world champion #23 Lee Pearce, but just got the nod for fifth.

Veteran campaigner and sometime gold roof winner #673 John Moat suffered a very big roll in heat three, after being tipped into a spin on the back straight. In the restarted race, #229 Caine Parnell, #241 Beau Southgate, Taylor and #690 Jack Wilkins put on a show with a terrific scrap for the lead. Parnell eventually emerged in front, after Wilkins was turned into the home straight wall, and went on to win from Banwell, Southgate and Taylor.

A packed field of 33 cars made the final which began with plenty of hard hits flying in. #236 Stuart Sharpe came off worst, rolling on Bend 4, and with less than a lap run, a complete restart was ordered. After an early caution, Kerr was shoved into the wall by Newman. That let Alsop into the lead from #144 Jordan Godfrey and #241 Beau Southgate. Multiple lead changes ensued before Godfrey was spun out by Alsop and Banwell pounced into the lead. A fantastic scrap then developed between Banwell, Southgate and Alsop with all taking turns to lead on multiple occasions. Eventually, Banwell managed to eke out a slight advantage with three laps to go and he went on to win, with Southgate beating Alsop to second by a whisker. #142 Jack Lower was fourth, ahead of Pearce and Newman.