The national stock car racing season began in style with more than 150 cars in action at King’s Lynn. The BriSCA Formula Two World Championship qualifying round had a relatively surprise winner in Alex Butcher, while Scotsman Barry Russell won the Saloon Stock Car Charlene Kingston Memorial. 1300cc Stock Car honours on the night went to James Allsopp.
BriSCA F2 Stock Cars
The first BriSCA F2 World Championship qualifying round has taken place at King’s Lynn on opening night for many years, but this year it carried extra significance too as the inaugural round of the newly relaunched National Points Series.
A 68-car entry included six Dutch visitors and was split into three heats, with the top eight qualifying from each, plus 12 from the consolation. Heat 1 was dominated by #271 Alex Butcher, only to be denied by yellow flags for a smoky #336 Ben Cole with two laps remaining. That brought #147 Aidan Derry onto his tail, and Derry duly made his move on Turn 3 of the penultimate lap. Hometown man #233 Rob Aldridge also passed Butcher for second. Butcher was third, ahead of #7 Gordon Moodie.
It was a similar story in Heat 2. #344 Luke Woodhull held a commanding lead when British champion #47 Greg McKenzie had the dubious honour of being the first driver to roll his car in 2025, bringing out red flags with four laps remaining. #58 Charlie England had made rapid progress in his new Polley chassis to run second, and it was no surprise to see him canter to victory on the restart. #129 Charley Tomblin, #183 Charlie Guinchard and #346 Ashley England also came through to make it a 1-2-3-4 for the Cambridgeshire-built cars, as Woodhull slipped to fifth.
Heat 3 had the most action of the three. It began with plenty of cars ending in a heap on Turn 2, with yellow flags required to assist #776 Dan Roots. H477 Tijn Oudhuis traded the lead with #223 Toby Partridge before he was dumped out by #69 Ben Chalkley who had #103 Jack Issitt on his tail. Tarmac specialist #213 Tom Bennett was having his best run on shale to date as he rose to third and began nibbling Issitt’s bumper. But the pair got hooked up and Bennett thundered into a marker tyre, taking out Partridge in the process. Issitt escaped the tangle but was unable to remove Chalkley from the lead, the latter delighted to win first time out with his new car. Behind Issitt, #100 George MacMillan Jr took third on an outing in brother-in-law Dave Polley’s car, ahead of #715 Scott Aldridge and Dutch duo H139 Jarno van der Wal and H686 Klaas Jan Visser.
The consolation was packed with more than 40 cars on track. Inevitably there was plenty of chaos, but #113 Pat Issitt avoided the trouble to build a big advantage out front. After the demise of #62 Trevor Buckley, it was #606 Andrew Palmer who came through for second, some half a lap back. World champion #1 Luke Wrench was third, having been turned into the wall early in his heat. Bennett and McKenzie completed the top five.
Butcher might have been denied in his heat but he wasn’t to be in the final. In a race that went flag to flag without stoppages, the quickest white-tops were uncatchable. Butcher set the early pace before dropping behind Woodhull and #118 Danny Wragg. But Butcher gained a second wind and charged back through before pulling away to his maiden final win and a return to the yellow grade. Woodhull was equally comfortable in second while best of the stars was Scottish visitor 674 Steven Burgoyne, who managed to get a break, seeking world qualifying points with the World Final on his local track this year. Wragg just edged Jack Issitt for fourth, ahead of #801 Jack Cave and Tomblin. #992 Harley Burns, Guinchard and Bennett completed the top 10.
With more than 50 drivers seeking to boost their WQR points tallies in the last race, two grand nationals were run. GN1 was punctuated by a couple of cautions, the second when Jack Issitt and Tomblin thundered into the wall, with Tomlin’s car shedding a wheel in the process. Oudhuis had been leading but #647 Chris Burgoyne motored through to move ahead before half-distance. He went on to complete a good night for the family by winning from Guinchard and Bennett. GN2 was less eventful and yielded victory for Burns from Scott Aldridge and Pat Issitt.
Saloon Stock Cars
There were 41 Saloon Stock Cars in the pits to contest the Charlene Kingston Memorial. This year it was also a World Ranking event, carrying extra significance for World Championship qualifying ahead of the World Final that will be staged at the Adrian Flux Arena in August.
Heat 1 was for white and yellow graded drivers only. #178 Kieran Bowman and #333 Daniel Weavers fought out the lead in the early laps, but their battle allowed #631 Peter Low to close in. The Scotsman got inside both in one move and proceeded to pull clear for victory. Weavers then spun Bowman out but could not prevent #214 Tom Yould coming through for second.
Thirty cars made for a busy Heat 2, which was led for several laps by #226 Bleu Barnes. One-time National Points champion #641 Willie Skoyles Jr was flying as he worked his way through from the blue grade to second, but #177 Chris Masters fought back, and they were then joined in battle by #570 Simon Venni and #116 Diggy Smith. When the latter pair were turned around on the home straight, yellow flags were required. #131 Timmy Barnes pounced to pass both his nephew and Skoyles on the restart, with Skoyles then spun by Scottish star #600 Barry Russell. That caused chaos as they all piled in under the scoreboard, with #349 Michael Allard and #329 Kegan Sampson both ending on their sides. Timmy Barnes controlled the resumption, as track champion #389 Ryan Santry had to focus on fending off #151 Levi List. They traded second but Santry withstood List’s last-bend lunge, with #561 Aaron Totham completing the top four.
Heat 3 began with a bang as the blues and reds piled into the wall on the scoreboard bend. Diggy Smith was rolled onto his roof, while #525 Wes Starmer climbed up onto #129 Will Morphey’s car to create some auto-sculpture. A complete restart was required, and was dominated by one-time Banger world champion Bowman who took his maiden win in the formula.
The Saloons lived up to their uncompromising reputation with an action-packed final for the Charlene Kingston Memorial Trophy. Bowman closed down early leader Bleu Barnes and had just moved ahead when a caution was called. With a big push on the resumption, Russell managed to fire himself from sixth into the lead, with Timmy Barnes following through. Barnes then got through on the inside to lead before another race suspension was required when #422 Martin Taylor was dispatched heavily into the wall. A final caution was needed, with Barnes still leading, when #238 Alfie Aldous was left broadside across the track with four laps remaining. Again Barnes had little trouble in maintaining the lead and pulling away. But he was to reckon without Allard. The Yarmouth driver was out of contention but appeared to wait for Barnes before firing him into the wall on the scoreboard bend with just over a lap remaining. Russell gladly picked up the pieces to win the CKM for a second time, some 18 years after the first. #120 Luke Dorling and Starmer completed the top three to earn themselves a pocketful of prize money and complete another entertaining night from the Saloons.
1300cc Stock Cars
A cracking turnout of 45 1300s were in action on opening night with each racing in two of three heats. First up was the white-top whirlwind, doubling up as Heat 1. #401 Riley Shinn quickly hit the front from mid-grid and shook off the attentions of former Banger racer #328 Ben Nichols for victory. Debuting in the formula on his return to racing, one-time Junior Banger national points champion #999 Louie Cottrill gradually picked his way forward from the very back, and dived inside Nichols with two laps to go to secure second place. Nichols held third, while the all-action #904 Reece Crane provided entertainment elsewhere, eventually ending up on his roof after a contretemps with #412 Jordan Gay.
With 32 cars on track for Heat 2, the action soon kicked off. #209 Barty Ketteringham was flicked heavily into the wall at the end of the back straight, bringing out red flags and a complete restart. The second attempt was surprisingly quiet, with #517 Ben Sanders dominating from the front to take victory from #244 Ed Selby and #28 Thomas Grief.
Heat 3 featured a massive barrel roll for #191 Luke Leedell on the roadside bend. #887 Scott Lake and Nichols then resumed their battle for the lead, with #197 Richard Brown soon joining in before Lake slipped back. But silver top #303 Jacob Bromley caught and passed them both in one move with two laps to go. As he went on to victory, #167 Jimmy Morris repeated his move for second position a lap later. Morris, Brown and Nichols then all thundered in together on the final bend, with Brown coming out in front to take second, and Morris spinning Nichols from third on the run to the flag.
Despite a 33-car field, the final was relatively quiet. After enduring gremlins galore last year, it all came good for #53 James Allsopp who led from start to finish. #671 Leo Moore dived inside shale debutant #887 Scott Lake for second on the final bend, while Selby held off Morris for fourth.