Photos: 1 - 12 Dave Bastock, 13 - 24 Matt Bull, 25 - 36 Kevin Wickham, 37 - 48 Jim Harrod, 49 - 60 Kieran Bonsall
Report: Mark Paulson
The stock car racing season opened at King's Lynn with terrific racing from the three formulas that traditionally come together on opening night. Track champion #38 Dave Polley proved that he will be the man to beat come World Final night as he took the BriSCA F2 final, while #319 Richard Regan claimed the honours in the Charlene Kingston Memorial for Saloon Stock Cars, and #149 Todd Payne scored a heat-and-final double in 1300cc Stock Cars.
BriSCA F2 Stock Cars
As is tradition, the Adrian Flux Arena hosted the first BriSCA F2 World Championship qualifying round, which of course has added significance this year, as the track will also stage the World Final itself in September. A large entry of 66 cars (of which two sadly failed to race) included three Dutch visitors and was split into three heats. The first was led from early on by #188 Aaron Patch after passing initial frontrunners #323 Alex Potts and #209 Kev Cope. Patch showed strong pace to hold on throughout, heading home #180 Courtney Witts and H78 Jorrit van der Wal after #790 James Waterfall was clobbered by a backmarker while running third late on. World champion #647 Chris Burgoyne, making a relatively rare appearance at the track, looked comfortable - despite the wet conditions - on his way to sixth.
As some of the more fancied runners suffered in the conditions, #147 Aiden Derry took a relatively untroubled win in heat two from H131 Rutger Veenstra, who had enjoyed a spell in front, and #129 Charley Tomblin. The third heat was the pick of the three and almost produced a fairytale result on his senior shale debut for National Ministox dominator #880 Jack Witts. He quickly hit the front as several spun, including track specialist #136 Kyle Taylor, and was joined up front by #941 Jamie Lane. The pair battled hard and Lane squeezed ahead as they took the Union Flag on half distance, only to collect a spun backmarker and delay himself, letting Witts back through. Multiple World of Shale champion #606 Andrew Palmer moved into second, and #38 Dave Polley shoved #149 Reece Cox wide for third. Witts was able to maintain a gap to the chasing Palmer and, on the final lap, it looked like he was out of reach of a last-bend lunge. But Witts ran too deep into the final bend and got caught in the deeper material, allowing Palmer through for a debut win in his Polley-built car. Witts just held onto second from Polley on the line.
The 28-car consolation was pretty chaotic, with plenty of spinners in the tricky conditions. Racing last year's Dave Polley car, returnee #58 Charlie England was the early leader, but from much further back, #113 Pat Issitt and #560 Luke Wrench were on a charge and moved ahead. Issitt briefly passed Wrench for the lead but ran in too deep and spun so Wrench went on to take the win (although he was initially declared out of the all-important top eight) from England.
Sadly, Wrench failed to grid for the final. As white tops Jack Witts and #929 Harry Hensby battled for the early lead, #142 Jonathan Hadfield spun on the first bend and caught out several more of the blues and reds including heat winner Palmer. The remnants of the pile-up then caught out the leaders next time around, with a train of the Witts siblings, Palmer and Taylor requiring yellow flags to clear up. Blue top #59 Lee Dimmick had already hit the front for the restart, ahead of Patch and Lane. That trio continued to set the pace, with Lane moving into second, but Polley gradually worked his way through, pushing past Patch and fourth-placed #183 Charlie Guinchard in one go. Polley then shoved a backmarker into Lane to take second but was struggling to catch Dimmick until the latter was delayed by a backmarker. Polley squeezed ahead with 4 1/2 laps to go, but Dimmick regained his composure and stayed close to the 38 car. His last-bend lunge only made contact in the second half of the bend, and Polley held on to win from Dimmick, #226 Billy Webster and Guinchard. #324 Jordon Thackra and Burgoyne completed the top six. "I think Lee was a bit quicker than me really," admitted Polley, "but [he had] a little bit of backmarker trouble and I sneaked through."
The grand national was punctuated by a couple of caution periods which helped Webster take the lead from #43 Marcus Gilbert before half-distance. He was tracked by #905 Rob Mitchell but the Lancashire man couldn't make any impression on his Yorkshire rival so Webster took the win with Mitchell second. Polley was on a mission from the full-lap handicap and took no prisoners on his way to third ahead of #968 Micky Brennan and Gilbert.
Saloon Stock Cars
A field of 28 Saloons (with two further cars in the pits but not making it out on track) put on a terrific race for the Charlene Kingston Memorial which was won by #319 Richard Regan in fine fashion. Early chaos allowed #10 Frank Little and #351 Lewis Byron to escape at the front, chased by Regan. Little spun himself out and Regan took up the running as #370 Rowan Venni spun Byron from second. Regan was then delayed on the home straight, which allowed #525 Wes Starmer onto his tail. Starmer dived inside Regan for the lead, as #349 Michael Allard closed in. When Allard got through, some might have thought the result inevitable, but he clipped a marker tyre while in traffic and spun, letting Starmer back ahead. It still wasn't over though, as Regan spun Starmer from the lead and #570 Simon Venni nipped ahead. Venni was then shoved wide by Regan and further demoted by Starmer after suffering a puncture. While Starmer was shown the chequered flag, a check rightly revealed Regan as the true winner of the prestigious race. Even more impressive, it was his first in the formula.
Two allcomers races followed. Down to 20 cars, the first was quieter and was won in consumate style by National Banger star #188 John Reeves on a guest appearance in the formula. #120 Luke Dorling and #399 Cole Atkins followed him home. The second allcomers was led for much of the way by another driver on a temporary licence, #627 Daniel Melluish, but a similar win wasn't to be on the cards. He got caught out by a backmarker with four laps to go, just as red flags came out for a flash fire onboard Atkins's car. That handed Allard the lead after he had shoved long-time second place man #270 Matt Fuller wide, with Simon Venni following through. Allard made a good restart and had the pace to hold off Venni in the closing laps, with #26 Tommy Barnes taking third.
1300cc Stock Cars
Nearly 40 1300cc Stock Cars were in action for their season-opener, necessitating a two-thirds heat format. The first doubled-up as the 2021 White & Yellow Grade Series Final in tricky conditions on a wet track after plenty of afternoon rain. #623 Mark Bessant led either side of an early yellow flag after back-straight spins for #13 Sonny Wright and #185 Polly Reade. #322 Tom Fox then moved ahead but he was chased down by the pacy #690 Jack Wilkins who went on to take the win. Fox was spun from second by #537 Tom Alsop with a lap to go, with Alsop taking the place but crossing the line with a blown engine as the conditions took their toll. #144 Jordan Godfrey completed the top three.
Heat two brought the stars into play but it was an old stager who came to the fore. Former Gold Roof champion #673 John Moat quickly carved through from his yellow grade start and shoved #53 Luke Needs wide for the lead. He didn't look back from there, going on to win from #142 Jack Lower and #149 Todd Payne.
Early yellow flags in heat three brought the blue and red graded drivers into contention at an early stage. Needs led the way from #84 Josh Mace, but with Lower, #473 Dean Moat and Payne looking ominously placed next. As some big hits went in, Mace came off worst, as Moat and Payne quickly cleared Needs. It looked like Moat might emulate his father but Payne put the bumper in to take the lead and then survived an attack from Dean's backmarking brother Shane (#573) as they came through traffic to take the win.
The final produced a cracking finish after Mace had led much of the way, before being passed by John Moat and the rapid #600 Carl Waterfield. Moat and Watefield then traded the lead before Waterfield spun Moat out with three and a half laps to go. It looked like the one-time Saloon Stock Car world champion was set for victory until he got tangled with a backmarker on the home straight and was then heavily collected by English champion #303 Jacob Bromley as he tried to recover. That put Mace back ahead, with Payne chasing him down. Payne went in with a last-bend lunge and the pair crossed the line side by side, with Payne getting the verdict by a whisker. #391 Jake Banwell completed the top three, and was full of praise for the improved track surface afterwards.