The 2026 stock car racing season kicked off in time-honoured fashion with a triple bill of full-contact action at the Adrian Flux Arena, King’s Lynn.
Young gun Josh Wilson demonstrated his superb shale form with victory in the BriSCA Formula Two World Championship qualifying round, while Norfolk’s own Billy Smith won the 33rd running of the Charlene Kingston Memorial for Saloon Stock Cars. 1400cc Stock Cars provided entertaining support, with London star Jimmy Morris winning the main race.
BriSCA F2 Stock Cars
With the final stages of this year’s World Championship set to be on shale, the clamour for bookings at the season’s first world qualifying round was even greater than usual. A lucky 76 eventually made it on track, including a six-strong Dutch contingent, split into three heats.
Track champion #271 Alex Baker carved through to lead Heat 1 before half-distance but had silver-top #183 Charlie Guinchard looming in his mirrors in the closing stages. Guinchard got inside with a lap to go and kept out of range for Baker’s attempted last-bend lunge. F2 returnee #905 Rob Mitchell was third.
Local man #233 Rob Aldridge took Heat 2, having passed long-time leader #420 Mark Burroughs at mid-distance. Young gun #318 Jamie Osborne was second, with #77 Tom Earl getting the best of a rumbustious battle for third ahead of #47 Greg McKenzie.
Sophomore racer #910 Martyn Janes landed a maiden win in Heat 3, staying clear of #147 Aidan Derry in second. European champion #414 Josh Rayner looked set to challenge the leaders before tangling with #464 Matt Linfield and losing pace. Linfield finished third and Rayner still managed fourth.
A huge first-bend pile-up whittled the 41-car consolation down to 36 for the restart. #671 Ant Riley relieved #117 of the lead just before the midpoint, but had to work hard to stay in front after two caution periods in the final four laps. #925 Jake Wilson briefly got his nose in front before Riley hit back. Then, on the final bend, #186 dived inside to take the lead, only for Riley cut back and nick the verdict by 0.017s on the line. Wilson was third.
Thirty-four of the 36 qualifiers made it back on track for the Beechwood Contractors-sponsored final. They produced an entertaining high-speed race that ran flag to flag without stoppages. Janes again set the pace until he spun out after tangling with a backmarker. That put #118 Danny Wragg in front but he was soon passed by Derry who built a lead while those behind battled. #77 Tom Earl emerged in second, before getting shuffled back by #926 Josh Wilson and McKenzie.
Wilson gradually closed down Derry and passed him with three laps to go. But McKenzie was unable to shift Derry, and the latter even attempted an audacious last-bend lunge on the race leader. Wilson was, however, out of reach and went one better than he managed in the Christmas meeting to take victory. Derry was second and McKenzie third, ahead of Rayner, veteran racer #606 Andrew Palmer and #136 Kyle Taylor. World champion #7 Gordon Moodie could only manage seventh, just ahead of chief rival Guinchard.
Forty-two cars returned for a busy grand national in which Guinchard became the season’s first roller. Hometown man #43 Marcus Gilbert led at the time but then spun out of contention, handing Taylor the lead. The Cheshire man saw off the determined challenge of Derry for his first win since returning from injury, while Derry in turn just held off #226 Billy Webster.
Saloon Stock Cars
A 33-car entry ran all in for their opening meeting of the season, the Charlene Kingston Memorial, which carried World Ranking event status.
The opening heat, on a fairly heavy track, was led for several laps by ex-Banger man #662 Dalton Smith until he was punted wide by #214 Tom Yould, then clobbered again as he slowed to retire. Under-graded from yellow, #161 Billy Smith took over but was pitched wide by his uncle #126 Harry Barnes, and #399 Cole Atkins took over. Atkins extended his lead until yellow flags were required to assist Barnes, who was stationary on the home straight. World champion #389 Ryan Santry snatched the lead on the resumption. Atkins immediately responded by cutting back, only to run wide and lose out once more. As Santry eased clear, Atkins traded second with #171 Adam O’Dell. Atkins looked to have secured the position by spinning O’Dell on the final bend, only for #120 Luke Dorling to pip him on the line.
Heat 2 was just as entertaining, if not more so. It took two attempts to start after a huge home-straight track blockage. Billy Smith, eventually fifth in the opener, looked well placed once more as he picked off #274 Millie Kent for second but couldn’t shift leader #428 Hayden Sampson and had to start focusing on fending off #214 Tom Yould. A small mistake from Sampson brought Smith back within range with four laps to go, only for #561 Aaron Totham to throw his car inside both in one move. The Essex racer’s lead was short-lived as Smith thundered back past, only to lose out on the final bend to a hard-charging Atkins.
Billy Smith took full advantage of his starting position to pick off Kent and Sampson after an early caution period in the Charlene Kingston Memorial final. From there, he was untroubled en route to victory and the bumper £500 winner’s purse put up by the Kingston family in memory of Charlene who tragically lost her life at Wisbech’s South Brink Stadium in 1991. Totham charged through to second and pulled well clear of the squabbling pack behind. Atkins was third, ahead of a very lively #151 Levi List, who thundered Sampson into the wall mid-race and pulled off some spectacular lunges as he worked his way through the field. Kent, continuing her strong form from the Christmas meeting, won the award for best white-top in an eventual 15th place.
1400 Stock Cars
Newly relabelled to reflect the more modern engines that most cars now run, a strong entry of entirely Trackstar-registered drivers were split into a two-from-three heat format.
The opener, in tough conditions following morning rainfall, was won by #319 Conner Shinn after he chased down long-time leader #504 Danny Elbourn. The pace ramped up several notches on a much improved surface in Heat 2, where #790 Liam Waterfall made it consecutive white-top winners, ahead of #144 Jordan Godfrey.
#356 Tom Dove looked set to run away with Heat 3 until a caution with a handful of laps remaining. #401 Riley Shinn took advantage to spin Dove out after the restart but then got out of shape when he hit a hole in the soft track on Turn 2, letting #244 Edward Selby past. Selby went on to take his unique Mk7 Fiesta to a debut win, with silver-top #303 Jacob Bromley nerfing past Shinn on the last bend for second.
An action packed final was highlighted by a huge end-over-end roll for #144 Jordan Godfrey on the home straight in the second half of the race. #69 Alfie Slatter was ambushed after the restart, with #382 Joe Bamford initially surging ahead. But World of Shale champion #167 Jimmy Morris was the man on the move and snatched the lead with a lap to run. #584 Charlie Sime followed on the next bend, only to lose out to Bromley on the last turn, as Bamford slipped to fourth.