The BriSCA Formula One season opened at the Adrian Flux Arena, King’s Lynn, with the old master Frankie Wainman Jr taking the first honours of 2025 in his 39th season of racing. Saloon Stock Cars were also in action, where Timmy Barnes scored a heat-and-final double, with Ministox completing the bill.
BriSCA F1
A 44-car field was a decent turnout for opening night, although engine failure prevented #82 Karl Mosley from racing. First up was the 2024 White & Yellow Grade Series Final, with the Eric Graveling Memorial Trophy up for grabs, doubling up as heat one. In an 18-car field, #375 Craig Liddle converted pole position into the race lead, but he was caught and passed by #453 Thomas Andrew, who effectively inherited pole yellow after #82 Karl Mosley was unable to start with a blown engine. The man on the move was #345 Jake Harrhy, who shot through from the blue grade in rapid order. Liddle tried to come back at Andrew, but half spun in the process, with Harrhy riding over the front of his car. That promoted Harrhy into second but at the expense of bent tracking. He was therefore unable to make significant inroads on Andrew, who held on to take the trophy. Third, and closing rapidly in on the lead pair, was #352 Bradley Blyth on the debut of his brand new Newson-built car.
A top-heavy heat two featured the balance of the cars, including all the stars and superstars. Sadly, eight-time world champion #53 John Lund was an early casualty due to coil-pack failure, while #515 Frankie Wainman Jr also retired with a puncture, having been ‘helped’ onto the centre by his fellow superstars. #364 Robert Plant led when an early caution was called, but #463 James Morris took the opportunity to blast ahead on the restart. When Plant attempted to hit back on the next lap, both spun, and #212 Danny Wainman collected the pair. That handed #16 Mat Newson the lead and he held off #418 Niels Tesselaar for victory, ahead of #525 Nigel de Kock, #166 Bobby Griffin and #175 Karl Hawkins. On his return to the formula, #445 Nigel Green managed eighth place, but did not reappear after encountering power-steering problems.
Only 14 managed to get back on track for the consolation, and most of the bigger names hit trouble early on. Saloon Stock Car multi-champion #349 Michael Allard retired with damage, while #526 Finn Sargent pulled off with a puncture. Wainman had already pulled off with his car cutting out, and then when he got it going again broke a half-shaft, continuing his dreadful start to the night. But, seeing so many others retire, he rejoined several laps down and cruised to ninth and – crucially – a place in the final. Out front, #268 Richard Woods dived inside Liddle to take the lead and motor to victory, having being hampered by carburettor problems in the W&Y Final, with #127 Austin Moore and #212 Danny Wainman completing the top three.
There were 31 cars on track for the final. Woods quickly took up the running, but Harrhy was flying again as he charged into second ahead of an early yellow flag. FWJ was taking full advantage of making the grid by carving through the traffic into fifth and continued picking off those in front on the resumption. He got inside Harrhy for second and then they both passed Woods before the #268 car spun from third. Another caution was required on half-distance, after which Newson dived inside Harrhy for second. But Wainman found the grippier line first and stretched a lead that Newson could not manage to overhaul fast enough. He tried a big last-bend lunge but couldn’t connect, as Wainman won a final at King’s Lynn for the first time since 2020. Behind them, #457 Callum Gill shoved Harrhy wide for third, while Karl Hawkins and Danny Wainman completed the top six.
Multiple cautions punctuated the grand national, which boiled down to a cracking battle between Newson and #166 Bobby Griffin. They traded the lead multiple times over the last few laps but Newson held the advantage on the final lap. He ran deep into the last bend, anticipating Griffin’s lunge, but while there was no contact, Newson was slightly baulked by a pair of backmarkers in the fence. Griffin sneaked up the inside and won a drag race to the line by inches. #526 Finn Sargent was third ahead of Jake Harrhy. FWJ had risen to fifth from his lap handicap before pulling off at the final stoppage.
Saloon Stock Cars
An excellent turnout of 41 Saloons included German brothers #153 Nick Antwerpen and #303 Kevin Loeff, although sadly Antwerpen had a fruitless night.
A two-from-three heat format was adopted, with the first reserved for white and yellow grade drivers only. It was dominated by #302 Jack Smith, who took his maiden win in the formula since graduating from 1300s. He powered through from the yellow grade to pass #885 Dylan Petters for the lead and never looked troubled thereafter. As Petters slipped further back, #214 Tom Yould came through for second, while #178 Kieran Bowman recovered from a slow start to take third.
The blues and reds joined in from heat two. One-time silver top #641 Willie Skoyles Jr showed that he won’t stay at blue for long by taking a commanding victory. #844 Zack Button led the early stages before #130 Joe Gladden pushed past, with Skoyles following through. It didn’t take Skoyles long to push past Gladden into the lead at around half-distance. Gladden held onto second, while #131 Timmy Barnes came through to third.
Heat three exploded into action in the closing stages as the Heavy Metal Brigade put on the liveliest display of the night. #178 Kieran Bowman built an early lead but was chased down by Jack Smith. When #161 Billy Smith spun in front of Bowman, it allowed his cousin Jack to power past into the lead. Billy then rejoined in front of the #302 car and was swiftly pushed aside. He appeared to take a disliking to that and absolutely thundered his cousin into the fence, with the #302 rolling on impact. That allowed Bowman back in front for a two-lap dash to the flag. He lost out immediately to #120 Luke Dorling before Skoyles got underneath the pair. But #570 Simon Venni then shifted all three cars in one go, to take the lead with only one lap remaining. That put Skoyles out of the race, but the action was far from over. Timmy Barnes had nipped into third and then pushed both Dorling and Venni wide on the final bend to snatch victory. Bowman also benefited to take second, from Venni, Dorling and #760 Joey Reynolds.
Thirty-two cars returned for the final, which was punctuated by a couple of stoppages. The first was for a loose wheel on the back straight which launched #301 Luke Smith onto two wheels and #137 Shaun Chaplin into the air before the cars could be brought to a halt. When action resumed, Timmy Barnes quickly hit the front and motored clear while a monumental battle for second raged with plenty of big hits traded between the likes of #129 Will Morphey, Dorling, #525 Wes Starmer and #389 Ryan Santry. Another stoppage brought them back onto Barnes’s tail but, again, he simply cleared off to his second win of the night, making up somewhat for being controversially removed from the lead of the final a fortnight ago. Santry pushed through to second and Morphey third ahead of visiting world champion #720 Archie Brown.
Ministox
A decent showing of 26 under-16s contested three straight races. The first was led from start to finish by sole white grader #18 Sarah Tomlin. She was chased home by #754 Daniel Nicholson-Howden. Leading the star grade was #507 Dara McInerney in third but he was unable to catch the lead pair. Nicholson-Howden caught and passed Tomlin early in heat two to take the victory. Tomlin held on for second, with #103 Charlie Hardwick third. A great battle among the red-tops was headed by #174 Finley Kew, who showed he has got to grips with shale racing this year by pipping #183 Mason Whittle and #425 Boden Murfin for fourth.
The final required two complete restarts after #532 Taylor Kitson was collected by the pack on the first attempt, and then #5 Harry Sworder went for a roll in the second. Third time lucky, Nicholson-Howden quickly chased down Tomlin for the lead, but the star drivers were coming. Kew demonstrated his new-found liking for the loose again as he led the charge, with Murfin and #642 Alfie Smith in tow. The trio took up the running and Kew held on to win, as neither Murfin nor Smith could quite connect with their last-bend lunges.