Photos: 1-10 Dave Bastock, 11-20 Ant Jenkins, 21-30 Kevin Wickham, 31-40 Jim Harrod, 41-50 Colin Casserley

Report: Mark Paulson

The BriSCA Formula One stock car season kicked off at King's Lynn, with spring seemingly finally in the air. A decent opening-night field of F1s put on a good show, with #124 Kyle Gray taking the main honours. They were arguably outshone by the Saloon Stock Cars though, which produced non-stop action as #474 Michael Kent claimed an impressive hat-trick. A non-points meeting for Ministox provided support, with #99 Jack Clayton scoring a heat-and-final double.

BriSCA Formula One

Heat one doubled up as both the 2023 White & Yellow Grade Series Final and the Eric Graveling Memorial race, with 15 cars in action. Polesitter #548 Daniel Brooke immediately spun as #163 Mark Balmer briefly hooked on to his rear bumper. Balmer then also pushed past #469 Jonathan Davison. But #82 Karl Mosley was flying and went past both. He looked well set when Balmer ran wide trying to challenge a few laps later, but Balmer got back on his tail, and Mosley spun exiting the fourth bend with three laps to go. So Balmer took the lead, but had #268 Richard Woods, who passed #499 Marc Clayton when the latter ran wide, bearing down on him. After a couple of nibbles the lap before, Woods went in with a successful last-bend lunge to take the victory. Clayton - with a hastily fitted spare engine after his own had failed while shaking down his new car the day before - also challenged Balmer as they exited the bend, but Balmer held on to second with Clayton third.

A top-heavy heat two featured 23 cars including the three superstars present. But it was yellow top #95 Rob Mitchell who took the victory. The one-time BriSCA F2 World of Shale champion ran second almost immediately as three of the four white tops hit trouble. He then reeled in #295 Louis Goodwin to take a lead he wouldn't relinquish. #124 Kyle Gray and #335 Mark Woodhull were flying from the blue grade and soon moved into second and third, with an even more rapid #55 Craig Finnikin bearing down on them. Finnikin passed Woodhull with ease, then nudged Gray wide for second with a lap to go. But Mitchell kept out of reach, despite nursing a puncture in the closing stages, to take his maiden win in the formula in a car he built himself. Finnikin was second with Gray third, ahead of Woodhull, #5 Charlie Sworder, #175 Karl Hawkins and the very smart new Newson-built car of #463 James Morris. Car builder #16 Mat Newson himself struggled to ninth, while #515 Frankie Wainman Jr retired with a puncture.

Wainman made no mistake in the 17-car consolation, eventually winning at a canter. It was led initially by #580 Matty Allman until he spun out. That put Mosley into the lead, but #446 Joe Booth and #5 Charlie Sworder were on a charge and had reached second and third before a caution to assist #404 Danny Mitchell after just a few laps. Mosley had a backmarker cushion though and Sworder dropped back on the resumption. Wainman began to assert his authority, moving into third before overhauling Booth. He passed Mosley for the lead with five laps to go, then eased clear, winning from Booth and #166 Bobby Griffin, while Sworder pipped Mosley on the line for fourth.

Twenty-eight of the 30 qualifiers returned for the final. Goodwin was tipped into a spin immediately, as Mosley led and several of the yellow graders tangled out. Further back, Sworder and #73 Chris Cowley were two more to tangle, and while Cowley got going again, Sworder was clobbered by Goodwin, which brought out yellow flags. On the resumption, Balmer pushed past into a brief lead, with blue-tops #335 Mark Woodhull and #124 Kyle Gray following through. Woodhull demoted Balmer before the end of the lap but he soon lost out to Gray. The #124 car was flying and Gray pulled clear for his first final win at King's Lynn. Woodhull and Wainman were running second and third before hitting trouble late on, which gave Newson an easier run to second, with Spalding driver #326 Mark Sargent managing third in the provisional result which was subject to a review.

The grand national raised 30 cars and was a lively race punctuated by four stoppages. It began in spectacular fashion with plenty of cars getting turned around on the home straight. Debutant #352 Bradley Blyth managed to hold on out front through the first three stoppages, briefly building a margin as star men Wainman, Newson, Finnikin and Sworder engaged in an almighty scrap behind him. But after the third restart, Wainman got through into the lead. On a freshly watered track after the fourth restart, Wainman was absolutely flying on the outside line as he pulled clear to record his second win of the night. Newson was running second when he suffered an expensive-looking blow-up, while Finnikin tanged up with Bobby Griffin and retired. Griffin continued and managed to come through for second, with Sworder third, despite slipping back at one stage and seemingly stuggling with gremlins on his car. From the full-lap handicap, final winner Gray had risen to as high as sixth before being forced out.

Saloon Stock Cars

Before racing began for the Saloons, a moment was taken to mark the sad passing of John Farrow, who had been Trackstar's clerk of the course for many years as well as supporting wife Marion, the long-time Saloon Stock Secretary, in latter years. The two will now be reunited. After some very eloquent and poignant words from Alistair Oxby, the stadium observed a minute's applause to celebrate John's life.

Ninteen cars took part in the opening race for white & yellow-graded drivers. #192 Robert Heanes quickly hit the front but was then spun by #474 Michael Kent. The newcomer led most of the rest of the race, surviving the attentions of a couple of backmarkers. But with #177 Chris Masters looming in his mirrors, Kent ran deep into the final bend. The ploy didn't work as both Masters and #370 Rowan Venni slipped up the inside. Unbeknown to Kent, Masters had spun early on so was a lap down, so Venni won from Kent, with a hard-charging #151 Levi List coming through to third.

Heat one proper was a busy race of 34 cars, producing action throughout. But through it all, Kent led from start to finish. Despite running in backmarker traffic from early on, Kent belied his white-grade status to drive an assured race and stay clear of second-placed #350 Tommy Parrin.

Kent continued his fine form in heat two, another fast and furious race with action all around the raceway. Heanes initially gave him a run for his money before spinning, which left Kent well clear from #333 Dan Weavers and Parrin. Parrin moved into second, while Weavers lost out under pressure from the lap-down #116 Diggy Smith. But #40 Jake Stringer needed assistance, which brought out yellow flags with just a lap to go. So Kent had Parrin and #341 Austen Freestone on his tail for a one-lap dash. Parrin managed to get inside Kent on the final bend, but Freestone tipped him into a spin, which allowed Kent to secure another victory. Freestone was second, ahead of debutant #993 Jake McCarthy, early spinner #389 Ryan Santry and #131 Timmy Barnes.

Kent completed a superb hat-trick in the final, which was another fast-paced race on the smooth shale. Sixteen-year-old #226 Bleu Barnes led much of the way, resisting incessant pressure from Kent for many laps. Kent eventually found a way through and again drove a stylish race as many of his pursuers came unstuck in the typical rough-and-tumble action. Young Barnes's strong run was derailed by a spin and it ended up being his uncle Timmy who came beat #760 Joey Reynolds to second, with Bleu's dad Tommy fourth.

Ministox

With no star-graded drivers for this non-scoring meeting, there were 19 Ministox present including a couple of well-known stock car names in the novice grade: #5 Harry Sworder and #532 Taylor Kitson. #369 Ruby Lomax led most of the first heat until spun by a charging #220 George Englestone in the latter stages. Englestone went on to win from #24 Jacob Adkins and Junior Banger regular #455 Lexi Finney, guesting in the Joelan Maynard car.

#99 Jack Clayton passed #115 Tommy Madden for the lead of heat two after a caution period. He then withstood Madden's attempted fightback, but that brought the rest of the pack back onto their tails. Lomax got into second but lost it when she clobbed an infield marker tyre. That handed Clayton a big lead which he duly converted to victory from #244 George Woodcock. Finney looked set for another third place but Sworder had other ideas. The pair ended up in heap on the final bend, with Sworder's car on its side and balanced on the front of Finney's. #158 Harry Clement was the main beneficiary, grabbing third place.

Clayton secured his second win of the night in the final. Adkins had led but got spun across the bows of Lomax after Clayton had moved in front. As Clayton streaked clear, Lomax was resisting everything thrown at her until before eventually getting dispatched to the infield, with yellow flags required for her to exit safely. Clayton had no trouble easing clear of #18 Sarah Tomblin to take his second win of the night, with #55 Freya Finnikin taking second and looking at one stage like she might challenge for the lead. #848 Archie Brookes took third as Tomblin slipped to fifth behind #158 Harry Clements who had suffered a heavy trip into the wall earlier in the race.

 

This meeting is on Speedhive/ MyLaps

 

BriSCA F1 Stock Cars	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th
W&Y Final (Heat 1)	268	163	499	554	345	372	120	352
Heat 2	95	55	124	335	175	463	295	216	16	326
Consolation	515	446	166	5	82	73	545	63	375	350	453	443
Final	124	16	326	515	95	73	463	175	499	55	295	352
Grand National	515	166	5	463	95	335	381	469	350	580	175	453
Saloon Stock Cars	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Whites & Yellows	370	474	151	40	350	167	422	311	777	226
Heat 1	474	350	177	116	760	902	399	525	40	993
Heat 2	474	341	993	389	131	120	902	329	349	26
Final	474	131	760	26	993	525	349	238	902	389
Ministox	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Heat 1	220	24	455	848	158	5	263	113	369	18
Heat 2	99	244	158	18	115	263	113	411	532	nof
Final	99	55	848	158	18	118	263	24	411	353