BriSCA F1 Stock Cars
A strong turnout of 45 Big League cars were swiftly back in action after the previous evening’s Mildenhall session. First up was a race for only lower graded drivers, in which returnee #499 Marc Clayton held off #268 Richard Woods for victory. Heat 1 proper was full of spectacular action and ultimately produced an important win for Shootout contender #515 Frankie Wainman Jr as rivals #212 Danny Wainman and #368 Callum Thornton tangled out. Norfolk man #349 Michael Allard looked set for victory after hitting H210 Peter Susan wide but tangled with a backmarker with four laps remaining. FWJ passed #166 Bobby Griffin to be the beneficiary and then rattled round the wall after a big last-bend hit from #55 Craig Finnikin. He held on to win, while Finnikin was spun by Griffin but went across the line backwards still in second. #97 Ryan Harrison took a dominant victory in Heat 2, nudging #216 Jack France wide to take the lead on half-distance after rapid early progress. Shootout contender #84 Tom Harris followed him through a lap later and looked set for second until caught out by a backmarker with a lap to go. While #217 Lee Fairhurst swept past for second, Harris recovered for third. Behind #138 Dave Polley and France, #418 Niels Tesselaar was second of the Shootout drivers, having exchanged hits with #16 Mat Newson earlier in the race. The consolation was led by Clayton until he spun just before halfway, which let #339 Ant Lee in for the win, a reward for plenty of hard work after snapping his rear axle at Mildenhall the night before. #289 Jake Walker ran second until a late puncture dropped him down the order, with #18 Danny Ford inheriting the position. Both Danny Wainman and Thorton ran well to qualify for the final at the second time of asking.
The Final took place after a heavy mid-meeting shower but it had little impact on the big V8-powered machinery which quickly dried the track. Harrison made light work of the field as he completed a heat-and-final double. Having reached third by half-distance, he picked off #151 Joelan Maynard and Jake Walker to win by around a quarter of a lap. Walker and Maynard completed the top three. Newson was best of the Shootout contenders in seventh overall, just ahead of a well-recovered Harris. The latter had looked well set for a much better result until the spun #53 John Lund mistimed his move across the track and wiped Harris out.
The Grand National, for the Ben Turner Memorial, began with a bang with a massive crash for Dutch visitor H28 Robert Dekker. Having been piled into the wall under the scoreboard, Dekker thundered down the back straight and into a marker tyre at unabated speed. His car was sent skywards and would probably have flipped onto its roof but for the big shale wing, which helped send it back to earth on its wheels. Having gathered his breath, Dekker was able to extricate himself before a precautionary trip to the medical centre. After a disappointing afternoon by his own lofty standards, Harris was hungry for success and made no mistake in the restarted race, scything through to victory and a successful defence of the trophy. Finnikin was second after trading bumpers with third-placed #345 Jake Harrhy, while Harrison came through to fifth from the lap handicap.
BriSCA F2 Stock Cars
There were 46 of the smaller stock cars present for their World of Shale Championship meeting. Heat 1 doubled up as the last-chance qualifier for the WoS. There were 24 cars on track but #99 Simon Young was a non-starter with raceiver problems. #116 Courtney Smith took the lead when polesitter #77 Tom Earl half spun on the opening bend. She led for several laps until slightly delayed by a spinning backmarker, which allowed #213 Tom Bennett to pounce. He cleared off to take a comfortable win from Smith and boyfriend #414 Josh Rayner. #155 Archie Grindey was fourth, while among those unfortunate not to make the top eight was local man #103 Jack Issitt whose car expired with four laps to go when in a qualifying position.
The main event also served as Heat 2, with a full 30-car grid. Polesitter #69 Ben Chalkley appeared to be slow away on the inside line as #129 Charley Tomblin and world champion #183 Charlie Guinchard powered around the outside into first and second. It took Guinchard only a couple of laps more to pass Tomblin for the lead, with defending champion #47 Greg McKenzie slotting into third after Chalkley got out of shape. As Guinchard extended his advantage, McKenzie shoved Tomblin wide for second and Chalkley followed through to take third. Tomblin took a hit into the wall in the process and soon slowed into retirement. Into the second half of the race, McKenzie’s car appeared to be getting loose on the drying track and he lost out to Chalkley, #7 Gordon Moodie and local man #149 Reece Cox. But although Chalkley began to nibble into Guinchard’s lead, none of them could get near enough to challenge the gold top who went on to make it a golden double in 2026. Chalkley was second and Moodie third, while McKenzie hit back to take fourth on the final lap.
The rain came down to cause chaos in the second half of the consolation. Courtney Smith withstood severe pressure from Earl for several laps before spinning out as the track went like ice. Earl also went hard into the wall but bounced out and took the win from #9 Harley Thackra and #226 Billy Webster. The Final took place on a much drier track and brought a win for long-distance traveller #195 Mike Philp, his first at King’s Lynn. Driving the Dave Polley machine, Philp made his trip from the north of Scotland worthwhile, surviving a couple of delays among backmarker traffic to take a comfortable win. #223 Toby Partridge came through to second ahead of Jack Issitt as a number of big names hit trouble. They included new WoS champion Guinchard who went around a couple of times, the latter after a clash with Grindey. Gordon Moodie was an early spinner and could only recover to 11th. The Grand National was led most of the way by #39 Tom Bradley. But with three laps to go, local man #715 Scott Aldridge dived past, only to be fired into the wall by Partridge who had chased the pair down. Partridge took the win from Webster and Bradley.
Saloon Stock Cars
With the ORC Championship on the line, all 46 drivers were eligible for two from three heats to determine the qualifiers and their grid positions. Nine of the 10 National Series drivers were present - #608 Gemma Russell having been injured a couple of weeks’ earlier – and were split evenly across the heats. New world champion #1 Lee Sampson led out the field before the opening race to display his hard-earned silverware at his local track.
#341 Austen Freestone reeled in #370 Rowan Venni over the closing laps of Heat 1 and unleashed a well-timed last-bend hit to take victory, with #161 Billy Smith third and #131 Timmy Barnes fourth. Smith was an early spinner in Heat 2, leading to a complete restart. In another very busy race, birthday boy #425 Boden Murfin held off a last-bend attack from #226 Bleu Barnes to win. Timmy Barnes kept his score ticking over nicely in third ahead of #525 Wes Starmer. British champion #389 Ryan Santry continued a strong afternoon as the leading National Series contender in fifth. A heavy shower left a treacherous track for Heat 3. Young star #657 Kenzie Pickersgill quickly built a huge lead but was gradually reeled in by #399 Cole Atkins in the closing stages. Atkins got ahead with two laps remaining and shook off Pickersgill’s attempted fight back. The youngster tried again with a last-bend lunge but only succeeded in taking himself into the wall and allowing #720 Archie Brown into second.
It was Timmy Barnes who had done enough to earn pole position for the big race, with Starmer alongside and #129 Will Morphey and Santry on row two. Barnes, Morphey and fourth-row starter Atkins made the most of the inside line to emerge in front as yellow flags were called to assist #151 Levi List who was among many early spinners. Barnes’s challenge lasted little longer as he was turned around by Atkins on the restart. Santry took advantage to move ahead and never looked back from there. A fine move from West Country visitor Archie Brown took him past Morphey and Atkins in one go but he didn’t have the pace to keep with Santry who made light work of the traffic to complete a largely untroubled victory. Behind Brown, #171 Adam O’Dell came through to third from 24th on the grid ahead of Billy Smith and Morphey.
The action finished with an allcomers race won by National Series contender #238 Alfie Aldous. The young gun chased down Pickersgill and stayed in front for a two-lap dash to the flag after a stoppage when Bleu Barnes was left broadside across the back straight. #151 Levi List was second, too far back for a final-bend lunge, with #116 Diggy Smith third.