Photos: 1-10 Dave Bastock, 11-20 Matt Bull, 21-30 Kevin Wickham, 31-40 Andy Crayford - Crayford Media, 41-50 Colin Casserley, 51-60 Kieran Bonsall
Report: Mark Paulson
The national stock car racing season opened at King's Lynn with three contact formulas providing plenty of action. Spalding man #103 Jack Issitt drew first blood in the opening BriSCA Formula Two World Championship qualifying round, while #214 Tom Yould won the Charlene Kingston Memorial in Saloon Stock Cars. Also in action were 1300cc Stock Cars, in which #167 Jimmy Morris took the main honours. As the 1300s emerged for the first race of the night, rain began to fall, but thankfully it was never heavy and only really served as natural watering for the track which provided a good racing surface all night.
An excellent turnout of F2s contested three heats in the first step on the road to gold in Northern Ireland. The opener was hard fought between white tops #443 Dale Blake and #582 Tomson Streets throughout. The pair traded the lead for most of the race but eventually neither would win, as they tangled with the backmarking #116 Courtney Smith in the closing stages. That allowed Northampton veteran #445 Mark Dorrill to take the win from #180 Courtney Witts and #3 Liam Rennie. Street recovered to fifth behind #618 Ben Lockwood, and ahead of West Country visitor #542 Steven Gilbert.
An early caution in heat two helped the star men gain ground, but #7 Gordon Moodie and H186 Ricardo Schmidt had already made rapid progress. It took Moodie little time to relieve #543 Connor Blake of the lead, and Schmidt shoved #247 Ricky Castell wide to take third before also passing Blake, who dropped further back with a half spin. #801 Jack Cave followed through into third and the leading trio remained unchanged to the chequered flag. "I was surprised how well the car went," Moodie said, having only been able to spend two days working on it. "Some place this, I just wish it was closer," added the Scotsman. #188 Aaron Patch, #69 Ben Chalkley and #78 Henry King completed the top six, while two-time world champion #647 Chris Burgoyne scraped into the final in 10th place.
#414 Josh Rayner took his new car to victory in heat three. He and #59 Lee Dimmick were battling for second behind #707 Dan Vaughan when Dimmick and Rayner hooked up and Dimmick was sent into the infield tyres. That allowed Vaughan a buffer and he remained in front until spinning under pressure from Rayner with five laps to go. #103 Jack Issitt ran out of laps to challenge Rayner, while a group of star men in Polley chassis filled the next five places, headed by #606 Andrew Palmer and silver top #183 Charlie Guinchard.
The 33-car consolation was unsurprisingly lively, with Connor Blake and Vaughan setting the early pace. They remained in front, with Vaughan ahead, when yellow flags were called on half-distance. Blake went into the Turn 3 fence on the restart, letting #247 Ricky Castell and #113 Pat Issitt through. Issitt then picked his way ahead to open his account for the season, with Vaughan holding on to second ahead of #393 Danny McCarthy and Thackra brothers Harley (#9) and Jordon (#324), both making it through at the second attempt.
Likewise, 38 cars for the final made for a packed raceway. Guinchard had some airtime when he hooked onto the back of Moodie's bumper but both survived, just before #43 Marcus Gilbert rolled on the back straight, bringing out red flags and a complete restart. That didn't last long either, as the hard hitting in the pack took its toll. Moodie spun, while Schmidt was turned hard into a marker tyre and Palmer lost a wheel on the back straight, causing a caution. Another stoppage was required soon after when Burgoyne's car also shed a wheel after a trip into the wall.
The next big casualty was world champion #1 Dave Polley who pushed hard into the pack under the scoreboard and came off worst, pulling off into retirement. The incident also appeared to knock Guinchard's steering out and meant he struggled for pace for the rest of the race. Meantime, out front, Vaughan was leading from Castell and Jack Issitt. Local man Issitt fought his way through into the lead, followed by red tops #880 Jack Witts and #968 Micky Brennan. Thereafter the race settled down, and while Brennan managed to pass Witts he could make little impression on Issitt, who took his first final win at the track despite damaging his exhaust. #527 James Riggall, Castell and Vaughan completed the top six as Guinchard struggled home ninth.
The 36-car grand national - the first ever to count for world qualifying points - had a chaotic opening couple of laps, with the track getting almost completely blocked on the roadside bend, leading to a stoppage to assist #925 Jake Wilson and clear up. Sadly 10 cars were unable to take the restart on which Streets got the jump to build a significant cushion as the rest squabbled. But his lead didn't last long after getting clipped and breaking a half-shaft. That let through #588 Mike Kingston, in the ex-Tristan Claydon WRC, but the star men were making ominous progress with some hard hitting once more. Brennan led the chase of Kingston and #344 Luke Woodhull, with Schmidt, Guinchard and #129 Charley Tomblin just behind. As Guinchard and Tomblin piled into the fence, the silver-top's car got stuck under Tomblin's and, with McCarthy also stranded facing the traffic on the home straight, yellow flags were called. Brennan had just moved into the lead from Woodhull, #226 Billy Webster and Schmidt, with Kingston slipping further back. Though the race was less than half run, Brennan reeled off the remaining laps relatively untroubled to win from Webster and Schmidt as Woodhull dropped further back.
2L Saloon Stock Cars
The big Saloons ran all-in and so contested the main event, the 30th running of the Charlene Kingston Memorial, as their opening race. Returning driver #24 Richard Skeels led the way until being passed by #214 Tom Yould with five laps to go. With the action going on behind, Yould pulled clear to win by some margin. Skeels was sadly forced into retirement, and it was #570 Simon Venni who came out on top of the big scrap for second, ahead of #131 Timmy Barnes, in his smartly refurbished car, and #26 Tommy Barnes.
Two allcomers races followed and produced the pick of the action. The first had to be restarted after a marker tyre was shoved on to the line and, with the blue grade all deemed to have jumped the original start, they were relegated to the back of the grid. That allowed leading red tops, and former world champions, Timmy Barnes and brother-in-law #116 Diggy Smith to make hay with a clear track in front of them in th early stages. They charged through to third and fourth but #52 Stuart Tointon and Skeels had built a big advantage out front. While Smith spun from fourth, Tointon also lost out on the home straight. So Skeels raced to his first win at the track, ahead of Barnes and #341 Austen Freestone.
Tointon led the early going in the second allcomers but it was Timmy Barnes and Smith who were making rapid progress through the pack once more. #333 Daniel Weavers pushed Tointon wide to take the lead, but Barnes was soon chasing him down before spinning the #333 car out to move ahead. Weavers then unwittingly played a further part in the lead battle as he tangled with #100 Cain Harding in front of the leaders. Barnes was delayed, which allowed Smith ahead, but Barnes quickly retaliated and spun Diggy out. Weavers was then heavily collected, leading to a red-and-chequered finish as Barnes crossed the line to complete a fine start to the season for the Dereham driver. His elder brother Tommy followed him home ahead of world champion #349 Michael Allard, #399 Cole Atkins and the recovered Smith.
1300cc Stock Cars
The smaller saloons' opening heat doubled up as their 2022 White & Yellow Grade Series Final. It was dominated by #888 Jeff Larke who led from start to finish and was delighted with his win, a reward for his unstinting efforts over the past couple of years. #13 Sonny Wright broke clear of a battle with #421 Chris Taylor to take second, while #229 Caine Parnell was third. #53 Luke Needs enlivened proceedings with a full roll on the scoreboard bend, from which he carried on with no stoppage required.
Debutant #74 Mikey Whitehall, son of former star driver Ben, charged to heat two victory in the ex-Beau Southgate car. Fellow Junior Banger graduate #319 Connor Shinn initially led the way before the pair traded places and then Whitehall pulled clear. Shinn held onto second from Wright and #535 Conner Sheldrake.
Heat three produced a spectacular finish between a quartet of drivers. After a mid-race stoppage to assist Connor Shinn, who had gone backwards into the fence hard, #244 Ed Selby led from Whitehall, #441 Reece Legrice, #537 Tom Alsop and Sheldrake. Whitehall was shoved wide into the fence and out of the race, leaving the other four to exchange bumpers on every corner in the closing stages. Legrice pushed past Selby with two to go, but was blasted into the fence on the next bend. The action continued and it was Selby who came out of the last corner first, albeit being pushed into a spin. He just managed to cross the line first as he was spun to the infield, ahead of Sheldrake, Alsop and Legrice.
The 31-car final produced plenty of action too, with #623 Mark Bessant getting spat out of the early lead battle and #401 Riley Shinn moving ahead after #136 Richard Brown was bullied back. The battles briefly allowed Shinn to escape but the man on the move was #167 Jimmy Morris. The former Spedeworth man charged into third, then picked off #7 Daniel Bitson and pushed past Shinn for the lead. As Morris pulled away, #673 John Moat and Selby worked their way into second and third. Morris saw his advantage wiped out with three laps to go when #41 Daniel Maltby took a big roll on the back straight. The Londoner needn't have worried though, as he made light work of the restart and escaped to victory. Points champion #303 Jacob Bromley, who had suffered mechanical trouble earlier on, pushed past Moat for second on the final bend. Behind Moat, #391 Jake Banwell, Selby and #584 Charlie Sime completed the top six.