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The first day of an all stock car speedweekend at King's Lynn had plenty on the line, as reigning BriSCA Formula One world champion #1 Tom Harris secured pole position for his title defence next month. Later in the night, #259 Paul Hines won the meeting final for the Wilf Blundell Bowl. Saloon Stock Cars were also in action, with the qualifiers and grid determined for the following day's European Championship.
BriSCA F1 Stock Cars
With nearly 60 cars in the pits, two heats took place before the World Championship Semi-Final, with eight qualifiers from each. The first was won by Dutch silver top H618 Wybe de Vries. #375 Craig Liddle led for a long way even after a caution period brought the superstars onto his tail, and the white top was still running second when forced to retire five laps from home. That gave #138 Dave Polley an easy run to second ahead of #175 Karl Hawkins. "I like this track very much and proved it today," said de Vries.
The Dutch made it two from two as British-licensed 410 Jelle Tesselaar won heat two. #82 Karl Mosley built a big lead at the head of the field as Tesselaar worked his way into second before half-distance. The Jellinator gradually closed the white-top down, taking chunks out of his lead in the closing stages. His last-bend lunge shifted Mosley wide and Tesselaar just pipped him on the line. Local man #16 Mat Newson was third ahead of #346 Ashley England. "We're not just here to make the numbers up," stated Tesselaar.
The World Championship Semi-Final doubled up as heat three, with all 24 qualifiers taking their place on the grid after a parade. To a crescendo of fireworks and the traditonal call of "Drivers, start your engines," the rolling laps commenced. From pole position, world champion #1 Tom Harris immediately hit the front, as front-row starter #217 Lee Fairhurst dropped back and then pulled off into retirement after a few laps with an ignition switch failure. #20 Liam Gilbank jumped into second from row two, ahead of #212 Danny Wainman and #5 Charlie Sworder. The hopes of former British Touring Car Championship racer #408 Ant Whorton-Eales took an early hit when #216 Jack France spun in front of him and Whorton-Eales himself was turned around in the melee.
Harris built a huge lead, untroubled by backmarking traffic, that stood at more than a quarter of a lap by half-distance. But the chasing pack were given some hope when yellow flags were called to allow #48 Shaun Webster's stranded car to be cleared from the track. Harris still had a buffer of four backmarkers to Gilbank though, who in turn had two backmarkers between himself and Wainman, with Sworder, #259 Paul Hines #526 Finn Sargent making up the top six. The restart only lasted a lap, as second-placed Gilbank was given a rough ride, picking up a puncture in the process, and then getting his car tipped over onto its side. Another stoppage immediately followed when #8 Catherine Harris was sent up the wall, ripping out a section of cabling.
Harris made light work of the remaining seven laps to win by a quarter of a lap, while Sargent came out on top in the scrap for second ahead of Wainman, Sworder and Hines. #446 Joe Booth, #166 Bobby Griffin and #525 Nigel de Kock came next, while #2 Paul Harrison claimed the last qualifyng place in his final season of racing.
"The track was so tricky, it was so slick and I drove like an idiot!" Harris said, making everyone wonder how much he'd win by if he drove well. "We've come here to win this race and we've done it. I didn't feel particularly quick but the car was still really good."
The all-important coin toss for pole position at the next month's World Final then took place on the centre of the track. Harris correctly chose tails, and selected pole position, consigning Newson to the outside of the front row at Skegness. "That sucks really, doesn't it?" the local man said with a wry smile.
The 23-car consolation was an entertaining race, eventually won by Fairhurst. Liddle and #93 Sam Makim had spells in front before France got past Makim with six laps to go. But France himself was passed a lap later by Fairhurst who showed he would have had the underlying a pace in his car to make a good race of the Semi-Final if he'd a bit more luck. #418 Niels Tesselaar and Whorton-Eales also passed France, with Whorton-Eales another showing what might have been in the Semi. Displaying a natural affinity for shale racing in the Ryan Harrison-supplied car, he made a successful last-bend lunge on Tesselaar to finish second in only his second race on the surface.
All but two of the 36 qualifiers made it on track for the final, with the Wilf Blundell Bowl up for grabs. Two-thirds of them were stars and superstars, making for some hectic action, including a pile-up on bends three and four. That delayed the likes of Polley and Sworder and led to yellow flags. Harris had also been slightly delayed in the incident and was then turned into the back straight wall on the restart. That heralded another caution period, with a puncture putting Harris into retirement. Hines had reached second by this point and then forced his way past leader #372 Colin Goodswen. At the same time, H141 Richard Falkena squeezed past both to unlap himself so that at the next restart it was Hines leading from #555 Frankie Wainman Jr Jr and Goodswen. Fairhurst quickly demoted Goodswen, then reeled in FWJJ for second, but Hines was clear and had too much pace for Fairhurst to make any impression. "If anyone needed a win it was me," said a delighted Hines. "I've had a really bad year, my confidence has been low. The car is far quicker than I am!" Behind Fairhurst, Jelle Tesselaar got the better of Wainman on the final bend for third. Danny Wainman recovered to fifth after an earlier tangle with his elder brother, who limped home with a puncture in seventh behind Niels Tesselaar.
The early stages of the grand national, for the Wilf Blundell Trophy, were stop/start, making it easy pickings for the superstars. Polley came through for a dominant win over Fairhurst and #175 Karl Hawkins. Harris was fourth, having been delayed in some of the earlier action, while Hines managed ninth from the full-lap handicap. "Really pleased with that," admitted Polley, who hinted that a world title bid next year is on the cards.
Saloon Stock Cars
The qualifying heats for the following day's European Championship programmed each of 51 drivers in three races out of five, making for a busy track of around 30 cars in each heat. Heat one was led from start to finish in impressive fashion by #98 Kalin Bryson. Not only was the Scot making his track debut, it was his first-ever race on shale. #573 Marty Lake ran second until demoted by #26 Tommy Barnes and his younger brother #131 Timmy Barnes, the defending champion. Barnes Sr came close to catching Bryson as they worked their through traffic in the closing stages but never got close enough to challenge. "Buzzing!" grinned Bryson. "Absolutely brilliant. I had an absolutely wonderful time out there."
Another Scotsman set the early pace in heat two. Regular visitor #631 Peter Low led the way until after a stoppage to retrieve a significant chunk of #341 Austen Freestone's front bumper from the track. Sixth in the restart queue, #370 Rowan Venni was deemed to have gone too early as he jumped into third before working his way into the lead a lap later. But #120 Luke Dorling was carving through the field, chased by #641 Willie Skoyles Jr. While Skoyles found himself spun out by #122 Zak Gilmour, Dorling climbed into second, then took the lead with three laps to go. Dorling held off Venni in traffic for the win, while Gilmour inherited secod and #329 Kegan Sampson - on his return from suspension - third after Venni had been docked two places.
Venni's elder brother Simon (#570) also incurred the steward's wrath in heat three. Venni Sr worked his way through to take the lead from #192 Robert Heanes, who then tangled out of second in the closing stages. The race boiled down to a one-lap dash after yellow flags were called to clear #715 Kyle Hegg's car from a dangerous position. But Venni took off before the green marker tyre, and was docked from victory on the road, handing the win to #156 Darren Goudy from #389 Ryan Santry who had charged through the field, taking no prisoners.
An action-packed heat four required a couple of stoppages, with hard hits aplenty. #349 Michael Allard's tough night continued as he had a heavy crash with World of Shale champion H321 Hein-Durk Vellema, with Sampson piling in for good measure. While #124 Andrew Mathieson led the way, a terrific scrap for second involved #177 Chris Masters getting spun into the wall on the back straight and then #126 Harry Barnes spinning on the home straight, clipping #730 Deane Mayes in the process and turning the world champion into the wall. Mayes was collected by a couple of cars and yellow flags came out to assist Masters and #121 Kai Gilmour. Five laps were left on the restart, with #38 Barry Glen spinning second away as Mathieson sped to victory. #116 Diggy Smith pushed through to second ahead of Dorling and south-western visitor #720 Archie Brown, the English champion.
The action continued in the final heat of the night, which produced a grandstand finish. #151 Levi List and #238 Alfie Aldous were trading the lead in the closing stages, with List leading on to the final lap. Inevitably, Aldous went for a last-bend lunge, while List went in deep in anticipation. Both cars thundered into the wall, with Aldous bouncing back into an infield marker tyre and List taking the win. "It's rattled me, but it was worth it," admitted List. Timmy Barnes beat long-time leader #5 Tam Rutherford to second.
A consistently strong night for Archie Brown earned him pole position for the following afternoon's European Championhip, despite a best finish of only fourth, with Luke Dorling set to start alongside, and local drivers Simon Venni and Levi List locking out row two.