The most prestigious meeting of the year was taking place at Ipswich and we made the short journey from Mildenhall to play our part in the meeting. We already had 4 cars in the world final, Frankie, Danny, Karl and Mitch Vickery (NZ3), with both Phoebe and Frankie JJ hoping to qualify via the consolation semi. We also had James Hall-Morton with us in his tarmac car.
First up was the overseas time trials, and Mitch managed the 4th fastest (of the 12 taking part) and got himself onto row 6 of the grid for the world final.
Heat 1 (consolation-semi final, closed grid)
Both Phoebe and Frankie JJ went out for the consi-semi, however it didn’t work out well for either, with neither qualifying for the feature race. The heat was won by Bradley Harrison (25) with Luke Davidson (464) taking the other spot on the world final.
Heat 2
James Hall-Morton went out for heat 2 and lined up with the whites, and what a race he had, as he broke clear of the chasing pack and led flag to flag for the 2nd win of his BriSCA F1 career, winning from Luke Wrench (560) who was 2nd and Eddie Collins (147) who finished 3rd.
Heat 3 (2022 World Final)
The big race was next, and with Frankie on row 2, Mitch on row 6, Danny on row 7 and Karl on row 8 it promised to be an exciting race.
From the off it was a battle between pole sitter, Paul Hines (259) and reigning champion, Tom Harris (1), and they had a first lap battle, with Frankie sandwiched between them, until a big pile up on turns 3 and 4 caused the race to be stopped, and a complete restart ordered.
From the restart we had a brilliant battle for the lead between Paul Hines, Tom Harris, Wesley Schaap (H77) and Frankie, and after Frankie moved the 1 and H77 cars aside he was leading the race with Paul Hines now down to 4th.
But at the halfway stage, with Frankie having a substantial lead, the engine on Simon Traves (47) car let go and turn 3 became an oil slick and first on the scene was Frankie and he slid to the fence followed by a few other cars. There was a stoppage to clear up the track and from the restart it was Charlie Sworder (5) leading from Bobby Griffin (166) and Tom Harris 3rd, with Frankie now back in 5th.
Charlie made a great start and Bobby managed to get past Tom which allowed Frankie and Wim Peters through too, and Charlie build up a good lead and in the end it was his world final, with Bobby 2nd and Wim Peters 3rd,. Frankie managed to finish 5th in what was one of the best world finals for years.
Consolation
There was a bumper turnout for the consolation, which included both Phoebe and Frankie JJ, and in a race with only one stoppage it was former NMS European Champion, Tyrone Evans (381) who led from before half distance to take his 6th win in a BriSCA F1, and hit first away from Skegness. Phoebe finished 7th but Frankie JJ retired before the end.
Final
The final race of the evening (due to the grand national being cancelled due to the local curfew), was the Harry Smith Memorial race, and Harry Smith’s son, James, was there to witness it too.
There were 32 cars on track when the green flag went down and it was a brilliant race to watch, with the eventual first 3 hitting the front just after halfway, with Joshua Spiers (452) having a fair lead over the chasing two of Wesley Schapp and Frankie, but as the laps counted down the two red tops passed Spiers and with a lap or so to go Frankie hit the front and stayed there to take a memorable win on WF night. It transpired that Schaap was a lap down so the first three were Frankie, Lee Fairhurst (217) with Josh 3rd. Danny finished in an excellent 6th and Phoebe 12th.
Grand National (cancelled)
Off on the road again now for the World Masters at Northampton tomorrow, see you there!
#wainmanracing #BriSCAF1
And finally, massive congratulations to the 2022 BriSCA F1 World Champion, Charlie Sworder!
Photo’s ©Ian Bannister
