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Day two of Trackstar's summer stock car speedweekend brought European Championship glory for #131 Timmy Barnes in Saloon Stock Cars, while #525 Wes Starmer won the Steve Newman Memorial. Dutchman #410 Jelle Tesselaar scored a BriSCA Formula One heat-and-final double.
BriSCA F1 Stock Cars
The afternoon's racing began with an 11-car race for white and yellow graded drivers. #375 Craig Liddle and #82 Karl Mosley had a good scrap for the lead before Liddle was forced to retire, allowing Mosley to escape to victory. Top yellow grader #453 Thomas Andrew looked the quickest car on track, and took second from #414 Harry Halton on the penultimate lap, but ran out of laps to catch Mosley. Halton himself then got roughed up and slipped to sixth as #31 Oliver Wadsworth took third in his new car.
Mosley came close to winning heat one proper too. He led until the final lap when #515 Frankie Wainman Jr got inside on the opening bend to take the lead and clinch victory despite a late puncture which held its air just long enough for him to take the flag. Mosley held onto second from #418 Niels Tesselaar and #555 Frankie Wainman Jr Jr. Further back, world champion #1 Tom Harris finished 11th - just outside the qualifying places - after getting spun by #16 Mat Newson, a non-finisher, earlier on.
Dutchman #410 Jelle Tesselaar took his second win of the weekend in heat two. Tesselaar had risen to third when yellow flags came out after six laps, then picked off #338 Chris Brocksopp and #346 Ashley England, who led for a matter of a split second, within a lap. He raced away out front, while #55 Craig Finnikin - who had lent his car to #67 Henry Robson the night before - climbed to second. But Finnikin could make little impression on Tesselaar and then appeared to suffer a front-right puncture which sent him into the wall on the first bend of the final lap. So #217 Lee Fairhurst snatched second ahead of Saturday's grand national winner #138 Dave Polley, while Finnikin dragged his car home ninth.
Newson and Harris bounced back to finish first and second in the consolation. The race looked like being #124 Kyle Gray's, having passed #268 Richard Woods for the lead before half-distance. But when second-placed Wadsworth collected the spun H194 Siebrand de Vries he couldn't get his car restarted and yellow flags were required with only four laps remaining. Newson and Harris had taken quick avoiding action to miss the incident and, upon the restart, Newson got past Gray for the lead. Harris followed but Gray hit back before Harris made the move stick. Gray then faced a similar attack from #526 Finn Sargent, an early casualty from his heat, but managed to beat him to third.
A mid-race pile up in the final, for the Ben Turner Memorial, came after a caution period when Finnikin and #120 Casey Englestone hooked up and several other cars got caught up. FWJ and leader Mosley were among those also eliminated. #93 Sam Makim took over, but was passed by Jelle Tesselaar on the restart, while Fairhurst took second, albeit with several backmarkers between them. Tesselaar lost some ground as Newson unlapped himself (having also been caught up in the earlier pile-up) and as he encountered other traffic. But he had enough in hand to complete a comfortable heat-and-final double. Fairhurst was second, with #175 Karl Hawkins third, holding off Harris. Makim had some consolation with the reward for best lower-grader in 11th, despite picking up a right-rear puncture. "It's my first final win round King's Lynn, and the memorial for Ben Turner makes it even better - it's very special to win," said a very happy winner.
The last race of the weekend was a Dash 4 Cash, with 25 cars on track for a quickfire clutch-start race. The first attempt was soon halted by a roll off the fence for #352 Bradley Blyth. At the second time of asking, #344 Alfie Tomlinson led away and was looking strong until a caution was called after a back-straight collision sent Harris into a marker tyre and he was then collected heavily by FWJ. The UK Modifieds man made a good restart but eventually gave way to the superstar onslaught as Newson won the £1000 prize ahead of Fairhurst, Finnikin and Tomlinson, with a host of other cash bonuses provided for grade awards.
Saloon Stock Cars
With the top 26 qualifiers for European Championship decided the night before (after #349 Michael Allard's withdrawal), there were 10 places up for grabs from the last-chance qualifier. #631 Peter Low led from start to finish, while #341 Austen Freestone worked his way forward to second, with #192 Rob Heanes third. A big battle at the lower end of the top 10 ended with two of the furthest travelled drivers - Northern Irishman #811 Kieran McIvor and Dutch driver H321 Heni-Durk Vellema - both making the cut, while 2022 champion #600 Barry Russell, reigning world champion #730 Deane Mayes and hometown star #641 Willie Skoyles Jr were all non-qualifiers.
Ahead of the big race, all 36 qualifiers took part in a parade and received their momentoes for making the grid. A crescendo of fireworks greeted the call of "Drivers, start your engines" ahead of two rolling laps led by front row men #720 Archie Brown and #120 Luke Dorling. From row two, #570 Simon Venni and #151 Levi List looked dangerous, while defending champion #131 Timmy Barnes was a major threat from row three, alongside top Scot #122 Zak Gilmour. Brown and Dorling ran side by side through the opening bends before Brown edged ahead, while Barnes quickly jumped into third and then got inside Dorling too. Barnes managed to get inside Brown on the second lap and, from there, he never looked back. A yellow flag for debris brought Brown, #116 Diggy Smith and Dorling back onto his tail, with Venni and #525 Wes Starmer also running well in the top six. But Barnes simply drove away from his pursuers and had no real trouble dealing with backmarker traffic en route to successfully defending his title.
The action came behind: Dorling nudged Smith wide for third, and then Venni charged in on them both, jumping past and letting #389 Ryan Santry follow through. But Venni's challenge was short-lived as he pulled off to retire. Up to third, Santry then closed up to Brown before getting delayed in traffic. That brought the others back to play, with Starmer and Dorling both managing to get through and past Brown too. Starmer was looking strong but could not catch Barnes, leaving the top two the same as in last year's race at Mildenhall. "I [saw] the gap and I had to take it," said the victor. "Obviosusly the luck went my way today." When it was pointed out to him that he wouldn't need to repaint his roof, Barnes added: "Result!"
Dorling completed the top three, having worked hard over night to build a new front bumper onto his car, while Brown could be pleased with fourth, having still only got limited experience on shale. Santry was fifth, with Gilmour the top Scot in sixth. Smith recovered from a quick spin to finish seventh, ahead of #126 Harry Barnes, #902 Brad Compton-Sage and McIvor.
Starmer managed to go one better in the prestigious Steve Newman Memorial race which, surprisingly, went flag to flag without a stoppage. On his first appearance of the afternoon after picking up heavy damage the night before, #137 Shaun Chaplin spun #98 Kalin Bryson to take the lead, before Scotsmen #124 Andrew Mathieson and #136 Harry Bruce joined the battle. Both had spells in front, with Austen Freestone getting stuck in too. While Mathieson's car expired, Freestone was able to build a gap over Bruce, as Starmer's charge had taken him to third. Starmer picked off Bruce, who then crashed out, closed down Freestone and got inside to lead. Starmer sped clear to take an emotional victory, with Freestone second and Santry third. Fourth, and winner of the Owens Horseboxes-sponsored award for leading non-Englishman was McIvor, a fine reward for his travelling efforts and his team's work in replacing an engine that morning.
A busy weekend ended with a Dash 4 Cash race, with a clutch start and closed-up grades. Freestone continued his rediscovered strong form by scooping the £500 main prize. Freestone benefited when backmarker Santry spun out leader #350 Tommy Parrin to take the lead. He was briefly passed by McIvor but got back in front as a hobbled Santry got in the way. McIvor was second from Simon Venni, while other grade awards of £100 went to #515 Ashley Gretton, Parrin, #329 Kegan Sampson, #697 Jordan Cassie and #902 Brad Compton-Sage.