Report by Mark Paulson

Pictures by  Damien Widdows

SAMPSON SECURES BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP

Local driver 428 Lee Sampson achieved his target for 2013 by lifting the 2-Litre Saloon Stock Car British Championship at the Norfolk Arena, King’s Lynn on Sunday afternoon, 30 June. The Saddlebow Road raceway has always been his favourite track and was the scene of his one previous major title success, the National Championship in 2007. But he endured a nightmare at the track’s last big championship weekend, the European, last September and 2013 hadn’t started well either. A shock drop to the yellow grade for the month of June kick-started his season, however, and a good showing at the Mildenhall-staged National Championship earlier in the month was the prelude to major honours three weeks later. Having qualified on the front row, he took the lead after only a few laps and was never headed thereafter. Brother Jamie (149) joined him up front to make it a perfect day for the Sampson family with a 1-2 finish, while 570 Simon Venni completed the top three. Track Champion 499 David Aldous won the first staging of the Steve Newman Memorial later in the day, while 341 Austen Freestone took the 1300cc Stock Car version. Also in action were the rear-wheel drive 2-Litre Bangers who turned out in strong numbers and put on an excellent display.

After the previous evening’s qualifying heats (see separate report), Sunday afternoon’s first race was a last chance qualifier for the Saloons British Championship.  A very large 39-car field, including many star names – not least World Champion 1 Eddie Darby and the last British Champion 156 Darren Goudy – fought over just two available slots on the grid for the big race. Both Darby and Goudy were amongst many first lap spinners, effectively ending their chances. 417 Fred Powell was the early leader, until he got tangled in a pile-up, whereupon 220 Casey Englestone took up the running. The youngster drove a tidy race to bring the car safely home, with 131 Timmy Barnes doing likewise to secure their places on the grid, the unlucky 349 Michael Allard the first to miss out. All of the top 10 did however qualify for the afternoon’s meeting final – the Steve Newman Memorial.

The big race was next up, with the previous night’s sensation 318 Freddie Kinsella sitting on pole, and Lee Sampson alongside. He, along with 499 David Aldous, 116 Diggy Smith and 149 Jamie Sampson, on the inside of rows two to four, would surely start as favourites. Blown engine victim 389 Ryan Santry failed to take up his grid position, allowing a late reprieve for former champion 511 Craig Barnett, Saturday night’s 35^th best scorer. The full 36-car grid therefore lined up as follows:

	Inside	Row		Outside
	318 Freddie Kinsella	1		428 Lee Sampson
	499 David Aldous	2		591 Aaron Morris
	116 Diggy Smith	3		78 Jack Thompson
	149 Jamie Sampson	4		360 Carl Waterfield
	30 Barry Hollett	5		570 Simon Venni
	218 Jacob Downey	6		(389 Ryan Santry – DNS)
	641 Willie Skoyles Jr	7		214 Tom Yould
	184 Marty Colliver	8		130 Joe Gladden
	152 Chris Fountain	9		306 Daniel Parker
	219 Luke Grief	10		618 Stuart Shevill Jr
	120 Shane Brown	11		298 Ian Elms
	420 Ivan Street	12		512 Darren Barnett
	106 Jamie Stafford	13		186 Todd Jones
	607 Steve Honeyman	14		2 Paul Tuppen
	56 George Boult Jr	15		270 Matt Fuller
	18 Jamie Clayton	16		912 Andi Newman
	128 Craig Banwell	17		115 Scott Aldridge
	511 Craig Barnett	18		220 Casey Englestone
	131 Timmy Barnes	19

After two rolling laps, the green flag fell and Kinsella made a decent getaway. But the wily Aldous soon hit the front as he looked to emulate his triumph of 10 years earlier. Lee Sampson wasn’t going to let the leading pair escape though and charged up the inside of both in one move after six laps. Brother Jamie and 219 Luke Grief, from row 10, both followed soon after, as Aldous dropped to fourth, with Smith immediately behind and Kinsella dropping to sixth.

Smith was keen to add to his National Championship crown and passed Aldous and Grief in quick succession, the latter pair also swapping positions, allowing near-neighbours Diggy and Aldous to have a good ding-dong. But with 78 Jack Thompson stranded on the back straight a caution was called for and the race neutralised.

By this time, Lee Sampson had managed to put four backmarkers between himself and his second-placed brother, with Aldous, Grief and Kinsella next in the queue after Smith pulled off. Local favourite 641 Willie Skoyles Jr had already retired with brake failure and 120 Shane Brown, the last man to win a major at Lynn, was also out.

Sampson used the backmarker cushion to full effect on the resumption, pulling an immediate gap, while Aldous briefly dropped back behind Grief. He soon got back ahead but then tangled with the lap-down Barnes, getting delayed for almost a complete lap and destroying his title hopes. The Diss man eventually managed to escape the tangle just ahead of the leaders and might have been out to cause trouble but instead showed his pace by slightly widening the gap until pulling off.

If sight of the man he considered to be his biggest threat just in front of him had alarmed Sampson, a worse fright was to come. The spun 2 Paul Tuppen pulled across his path and a collision was only narrowly avoided with just over two laps to go. Then the lapped 18 Jamie Clayton showed his speed by sticking right with the leading 428 machine and keeping its driver on his toes. Sampson calmly avoided any potential hazards though to bring the car home and claim the British Championship. His delight was all the more to see brother Jamie in second, the pair emulating the Barnett brothers’ 1-2 at Taunton three years earlier. 570 Simon Venni overhauled Grief to take third with a couple of laps to go, while Darren Barnett was the only other finisher on the lead lap. Only 14 survived the bruising encounter, all qualifying the Newman Memorial.

The last 12 places in that race were decided by the consolation in which a massive 44 cars took part. After 391 Jake Banwell and 192 Robert Heanes had spun out of first and second, and Aldous had also suffered an early spin, the yellow flags came out to assist Heanes. Fred Powell again headed the field and had three backmarkers between himself and nearest challengers 257 Timmy Aldridge and 591 Aaron Morris. The latter pair quickly cleared them though and Morris hit the front as another period of waved yellows was called for, this time due to three cars stranded on the exit of bend four. Powell again expired before 30 Barry Hollett was spun out of second by a backmarker. That allowed Craig Barnett to take the position ahead of the recovered Aldous but neither could catch Morris who was long gone.

Steve Newman’s children, Billy and Charley, pulled many a heart-string as they lapped the track in scaled-down replica stock cars that had been built by their father before the race in his memory. The hard-hitting action that followed was a fitting tribute to the much-missed racer. With so many cars on track in every race, the trend of heavy hitting contests punctuated by caution periods continued. A pile-up on the back straight caused the first and involved many of the champions, including the new British title holder, although Craig Barnett came off worst, taking a pounding. On the resumption, Jamie Sampson passed Downey for the lead before more yellows, this time to assist Englestone. With another caution called soon after for debris on the track, it was beginning to feel like a Nascar race! Venni moved into second and began to challenge the leader, with Aldous not far behind, in the race’s fourth segment, before 131 Timmy Barnes’s stranded car caused yet another suspension. When the greens flew Aldous pounced, moving straight past Venni and then spinning Jamie Sampson from the lead before a massive crash and rollover for Venni and 158 Shane Davies caused the final caution period with just two laps to go. This time we went to the end, with Aldous holding off Skoyles and Jamie Sampson for a popular win.

A final all comers race rounded off proceedings with Jamie Sampson once again leading before being spun out by the lapped 360 Carl Waterfield. The impressive Thompson took up the running and held a big lead from Aldous going into the final lap. But he clipped the fence on the back straight to give the King of Lynn the faintest sniff of victory. The former multi-champion needed no second invitation and attempted a last bend lunge from a long way back, successfully spinning the leader out to take the victory with Sampsons Jamie and Lee coming through for second and third. On exiting his car, the sporting Aldous went to check on his stranded victim. That is stock car racing – dished out and received in the right spirit; it was a fitting end to a special weekend’s racing.

Also competing for their version of the Steve Newman Memorial were the 1300cc Saloon Stock Cars. A healthy 28-car field included 23 Lee Pearce and 46 Paul Aylward in more familiar machinery, yet another visit from Scotland for 67 Craig Haxton – his travelling efforts are much appreciated – and a return to the formula for former Skegness Gold Roof Champion 807 Chris Murfin, wishing to pay his respects to a former rival.

The opening race for white, yellow and blue graded drivers was dominated from the front by 341 Austen Freestone on a track made tricky by pre-race watering. Freestone also won first heat proper, but not before he had some good battles, first with 177 Chris Masters, before the latter pulled off, continuing the poor run of form in his new car. Freestone then managed to spin out the lap-down World and English Champion 79 Barry Radcliffe, before engaging in a heavy battle with another lap-down Spedeworth driver, 121 Luke Morphey. He survived that, taking the win when the race was called a lap early after Morphey had clobbered the parked machine of 10 Chris Crissell-White. National points leader 344 Ross Fisher also suffered a big coming-together, his with a marker tyre, causing retirement, while recent form-man 350 Rob Jackson found life tougher starting from the blue grade, as he seemed to be a magnet for the Moat family.

The heavily watered track again caused problems in heat two, with a number of spinners leading to a caution period. Freestone was once again out front, but lost his lead on the restart. He soon returned to the head of the field but was hunted down by 473 Dean Moat. The 2012 European Champion pushed his way through on the inside of the final bend, claiming victory by a matter of inches.

It would be Freestone’s only defeat of the day as he once again dominated from the front in the Steve Newman Memorial Final. He survived several skirmishes with backmarkers on his way to the win from 450 Luke Jackson. 838 Ady Wales – in a smart new Honda – and 573 Shane Moat made good progress from the rear of the field to come home third and fourth.

The annual all rear-wheel drive session for the 2-Litre Bangers raised a very pleasing field of 36 cars, including an outpouring of Mk3 Granadas. There were an amazing 15 in action, of which four were limousines! As well as a smattering of 3-Series BMWs there were also a handful of Sierras plus a trio Cortinas and two Capris – particularly impressive given the big Cortina/Capri meeting taking place a few miles down the road in just a few weeks’ time. Also more than noteworthy were the Datsun SSS of 557 Paul Bowen, a Laurel for 125 Roy Preece, what looked like an A60 for 902 Tony Lowther, a Triumph estate for 293 Nick Houghton, 212 Richard Maryon’s Mercedes C-Class and a Toyota MR2 for 280 Simon Goodale.

An almost immediate stoppage occurred in heat one, when form man 572 Paul Scully’s used Capri shed a wheel, just as Bowen turned Roy Preece into the fence. The restarted race saw the latter pull out a half-lap lead as others were delayed, but he picked up front-end damage and eventually spun himself out. A good battle ensued between 791 Nicky Young (Mk3 limo), recovered from an early spin, 170 Dave Rust (Sierra) and 247 Lee Clarke (BMW). Rust pulled clear to win from 427 Dave Johnson (Mk3) and the sideways style of 85 James Ellis (Mk3 limo).

There was more crashing action in heat two, with 89 Joe Barratt (Mk3) following in 370 Mark French (Capri) while Scully went hard into the back of 411 Daniel Pegg (Mk3 limo). 390 David Gibson (Mk3 limo) gave Lowther a massive jacking before Pegg and 137 Jay Chilton (Mk3) joined the wrecking train. 433 Ben Smith (BMW) went in hard over the rear wheel of Chilton while the leading 673 Darren Fendley (Mk3) took in Bowen and got delayed behind Rust. That allowed Clarke into the lead and he went onto take the win from 148 Ian Redden (Mk3), equally as stylish as third-placed Ellis.

We were down to just over 20 cars for the final, where Chilton was dumped hard into the pit gate, before the late-arriving 337 Ashley Garrod (Mk3) was blitzed by 89 Panda and then 390 Gibbo. 888 Lloyd Stark (Mk3) then did Gibbo, before backing out and allowing 790 Nathan Young (BMW) to also deliver a package to the Mad Hatter. Out front, 212 Richard Maryon dominated to win by half a lap in his smart Mercedes from Clarke, Johnson, 597 Andy Ashman (Cortina) and 396 Graham Hyla (Mk3). As is traditional, an entertaining destruction derby, in which all were quick to get stuck straight in, rounded off proceedings.