BLOSS BAGS BRITISH

Suffolk’s 371 Mark Bloss claimed his second 1300cc Stock Car British Championship in a meeting of packed grids at the Norfolk Arena, King’s Lynn on Saturday night, 18 October. All three formulas raised an entry of at least 40 cars, including the BriSCA Formula One Stock Cars in round 7 of their National Points Shootout where the majority of the main players had profitable nights and former World Champion 318 Rob Speak triumphed in the meeting final. The BriSCA Ministox completed the bill, with 242 Joe Nickolls scooping a heat and final double. 

1300 Stock Cars

The terrific 44-car turnout was right on the limit for the British Championship to be open to all. With last year’s third-place man 497 Alec Mortimer not unloading until later in the evening, the 43-car drawn grid lined up as follows:

	Inside	Row		Outside
	838 Ady Wales	1		444 Natasha Street
	781 Scott Sparrow	2		409 Carl Pears
	47 Chris Partridge	3		780 Simon Sparrow
	276 Stephen Walden	4		346 Anthony Warne
	235 Danny Rainer	5		125 Euan Mathieson
	653 Gemma Rainer	6		112 Kev Baird
	137 Curtis Tebbenham	7		371 Mark Bloss
	731 Barry Wade	8		341 Austen Freestone
	747 Liam Hard	9		42 Billy Wilson
	167 Jimmy Morris	10		385 Kevin Thurlow
	23 Lee Pearce	11		85 James Ellis
	60 Jack Mayle	12		67 Craig Haxton Jr
	22 Ian Cowern	13		713 Ian Beaumont
	400 Kevin Shinn	14		704 Stuart Henderson
	473 Dean Moat	15		171 Adam O’Dell
	44 Leigh-Anne Sedgwick	16		673 John Moat
	960 Ross Winsor	17		451 Jordan Spavins
	794 Chris Brown	18		447 Richard Hampshire
	30 Richard Dawson	19		71 Steve O’Dell
	121 Luke Morphey	20		340 Wesley Freestone
	702 Allen Cooper	21		377 Dean Whitwell
	323 Sam Rigby	22

In the frantic early laps, one of the pre-race favourites, Trackstar points leader 340 Wes Freestone, got caught up in a pile-up on the home straight after 747 Liam Hard had spun. That effectively ended his chances which had already been reduced by drawing 40^th on the grid. Another home hope, 473 Dean Moat who claimed the European Championship at the track two years earlier, also saw his hopes quickly evaporate, along with the contents of his engine, when it blew up on the third lap. Among the more spectacular incidents of the early laps, 731 Barry Wade rode up onto 42 Billy Wilson’s bonnet, staying there for sometime as they rounded the bend before eventually coming back to earth.

Out front, pole-sitter 838 Ady Wales had taken an immediate lead put was quickly passed by 781 Scott Sparrow before World of Shale Champion 409 Carlos Pears charged past, followed by 125 Euan Mathieson and 276 Stephen Walden. Walden then spun Mathieson but the young Scot quickly recovered to run fourth behind Pears, Walden and 780 Simon Sparrow. Walden got caught up in Moat’s smoky exit, while surprise package Mathieson fought his way into the lead just before Pears pulled off and retired – the race was barely four laps old and already three of the leading home contenders were out of contention.

By the five lap point, the race had begun to settle down, with Mathieson leading from 371 Mark Bloss and 23 Lee Pearce, up from rows 7 and 11 of the grid respectively. The 125 machine’s lead was looking healthy, but the car did appearing to be making harder work of clearing the backmarkers than those behind. Bloss caught and passed the erstwhile leader, with Pearce following through. Mathieson attempted to fight back before dropping further into the clutches of the chasing pack, headed by Steve Newman Memorial winner 167 Jimmy Morris.

Bloss reeled of the remaining laps to take an impressive win, surviving a scare when 323 Sam Rigby spun a still-running Freestone directly in front of him. Pearce never got quite close enough to mount a challenge for the lead and he himself was on the receiving end of a successful last bend lunge from Morris, dropping him to third at the flag. The leading Trackstar driver home was 85 James Ellis in fourth, while Mathieson held on to fifth and top-placed Scot. Outgoing champion 171 Adam O’Dell completed the top six.

For Bloss, it was a second British title, coming 11 years after his first, having been just beaten into second at last year’s Wimbledon-staged event. Already the English Champion, and third in last season’s Spedeworth National Points, he is proving himself as the man to beat – on both surfaces. He enthused: “It’s fantastic. The work that’s been put in over the last year or so to keep the car as good as it is – it makes it all worthwhile,” adding this tantaliser: “You might see me a bit more now.” 

Result

1	371 Mark Bloss
2	167 Jimmy Morris
3	23 Lee Pearce
4	85 James Ellis
5	125 Euan Mathieson
6	171 Adam O’Dell
7	447 Richard Hampshire
8	121 Luke Morphey
9	71 Steve O’Dell
10	235 Danny Rainer

Three allcomers races rounded off proceedings for the little stox. The first was won by 447 Richard Hampshire from Pearce after Scott Sparrow and 704 Stuart Henderson, in only his second appearance in the formula, had led early on. In third was 44 Leigh-Anne Sedgwick, scrapping hard all the way, including a good tussle with Pearce.

Scott Sparrow then took both the last two races. The first came after the leading 794 Chris Brown tangled with Segdwick who this time was a lap down. Henderson and Pearce, who had followed Brown in earlier in the race, completed the top three. Further action was provided by the Freestones, who appeared to think they were back in Bangers, Wes blasting Rigby after the latter had fired in 341 Austen.

Sparrow held off a fast-closing Pearce for his second win, with 121 Luke Morphey completing the top three.

Formula One Stock Cars

A season-high 44 car turnout meant a full format meeting could be deployed, but the action began with a pre-meeting race for whites and yellows. That was led from start to finish by 444 PJ Lemons, with leading yellow top 326 Mark Sargent moving into second with four laps to go. 207 Ben Hurdman completed the top three.

Heat one saw another flag to flag victory, this time for 428 Richard Regan, who said: “We’re starting to get the hang of this. We’re just trying to do the car some justice, what with the pedigree of it.” 318 Rob Speak was the leading the Shootout contender throughout and made it up to second at the flag. For the final few laps he was put under pressure by 212 Danny Wainman but the latter was unable to find a way past. British Champion 2 Paul Harrison was the final qualifier in eighth, while 515 Frankie Wainman Jr and 259 Paul Hines didn’t make it.

The early stages of heat two were led by 415 Russell Cooper until a caution period was called to allow Lemons to remove his car from facing the traffic on the back straight. Second in the queue Hurdman then hit the front, but 84 Tom Harris powered past at the start of a hectic couple of laps. 4 Dan Johnson had been the leading Shootout contender but ran wide before fighting back into the lead, with 150 Mick Sworder and 16 Mat Newson following him past Harris. Newson then got through into second, only for Harris to fight back past the local, having already deposed Sworder. World Champion 55 Craig Finnikin and 390 Stuart Smith Jr also passed that pair after which the race settled down. Johnson had built a comfortable lead, which he held to the flag from Harris, Finnikin, Smith, Sworder and Newson, as all the big names made it through to the final.

The 26-car consolation was led away by Lemons with seemingly most of the field spinning on the first bend. They almost all managed to clear themselves, but 307 Tim Warwick was left stranded, necessitating a caution. Lemons then pulled clear but with a marker tyre shifted onto the racing line, and 499 Dave Allen and 152 Neil Scothern in the fence, yellow flags were required once more. Frankie Wainman had made it to third by this stage, behind Lemons and 280 Colin Nairn, who then spun at the restart and was t-boned, requiring another caution period. Wainman and 22 Will Yarrow quickly moved ahead on the resumption, surviving a scare when 445 Nigel Green and 335 Mark Woodhull hooked up and gyrated as one several times, clearing themselves just as the leaders were hurtling towards them. Wainman’s clear lead evaporated as he picked up a puncture with two laps to go, but gamely held on for third behind Yarrow and 174 Paul Poulter. Hines qualified in fourth but would be unable to take his place in the final, which went to reserve Green. Yarrow admitted he would have had to settle for second without the leader’s misfortune. “It was a bit unfortunate for Frankie,” he said. “I thought I was keeping him honest but he probably had the edge on me.”

Lemons once again led the early stages of the final but a big pile-up between ‘Shooters’ Finnikin, Sworder, FWJ and Newson required a caution to clear up. Sworder was out on the spot, along with Harrison, while the others would be playing catch up for the rest of the race. The impressive Scothern – on his first shale outing in three years – soon moved ahead, while Frankie Wainman managed to unlap himself before the next yellow flag period, which saw the demise of Harris and Johnson.

Scothern, Speak and Yarrow soon broke clear from the rest, as Finnikin tangled with Poulter while in the top five, although he still managed to recover to sixth at the finish. Speak pushed past Scothern when the latter overcooked the first bend with two laps to go, but the 152 machine held on to finish second, ahead of Yarrow, Newson and Danny Wainman. After having his own puncture rob him last time out at the Norfolk Arena, Speak was pleasantly surprised at his car’s pace in all conditions, stating: “It’s never [usually] that quick when it dries out, but it was quick at the start and quick at the end.”

A big 32-car field contested the grand national. Cooper led the early laps until Hurdman hit the front, with Johnson the leading Shootout runner in fourth place when yellow flags flew for an incident which left 53 John Lund’s car perched on the bonnet of 135 James Bailey’s machine. Hurdman raced clear at the resumption but Johnson immediately moved into second, followed by Frankie Wainman, followed by most of the other Shootout contenders, in the order of Harrison, Finnikin, Harris, Speak and Newson. They soon overcame Hurdman, with Johnson hitting the front before halfway. From there he reeled off the laps, with Finnikin bumpering past Harrison for second with two laps to go.

Speak’s big points haul lifts him back into contention in the Shootout standings. He is now joint second with Finnikin, 12 behind leader Newson. Harris and the Wainman brothers also remain firmly in contention, while Sworder and Johnson are a little further back but still far from out of the running.

BriSCA Ministox

There was a superb turnout of 40 under-16s for the first day of their speedweekend, with a two-thirds heat format used, before an all-in final fielded a massive 36 cars.

Heat one was won by 242 Joe Nickolls, with 1 Frankie Wainman second after he put the bumper in on 411 Ryan Fairburn on the final bend, which slowed both and allowed 226 Any Webster to also sneak past Fairburn into third.

Heat two saw a good battle between 391 Jessica Smith and 8 Catherine Harris, racing side by side as they came through the pack. Smith, who had been hooked out in heat one before eventually recovering to seventh, prevailed with Harris coming home second ahead of 269 Ben Chalkley.

Harris was a spinner in heat three, which was won by Wainman after he hit the front before halfway. He had a clear margin over 60 Matthew Venables at the flag, while 180 Courtney Witts relieved Webster of third position on the final bend.

Both Wainman and Webster were early spinners in the action-packed final, with the former then blotting his copybook by trying to unlap himself during a caution period. 45 Jake Harrhy led until Nickolls took over, going on to take his second win of the day, even surviving a caution period with three laps to go. Smith and Venables completed the top three.

F1 Stock Cars	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
White & Yellows	444	326	207	415	237	499	330	308	280	428
Heat 1	428	318	212	321	53	463	237	2	45	135
Heat 2	4	84	55	390	150	16	338	244	306	207
Consolation	22	174	515	259	152	207	45	444	293	335
Final	318	152	22	16	212	55	515	53	334	444
Grand National	4	55	2	390	318	207	259	515	338	220

1300 Stock Cars	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
British Championship	371	167	23	85	125	171	447	121	71	235
All Comers 1	447	23	44	121	85	653	171	340	409	704
All Comers 2	781	704	23	409	121	447	71	653	125	838
All Comers 3	781	23	121	71	385	33	713	653	451	409

MiniStox	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Heat 1	242	1	226	411	183	21	391	269	45	302
Heat 2	391	8	269	242	180	21	45	411	134	262
Heat 3	1	60	180	226	134	152	165	262	798	331
Final	242	391	60	8	411	331	183	134	269	202