Back at Skegness again today for the UK Open Championship tomorrow. Our drivers today are Frankie, Danny (again using Karl’s tarmac car), Phoebe, Frankie JJ and Karl (in the Carl Pickering car) and also a hire car for Roland Lamb (505) to use.
With 52 cars it was a 2 from 4 format for the heats with the top 32 cars going to the closed grid for the UK Open (meeting final).
The meeting started with some demonstration laps paying tribute to Willie Harrison, with Will Yarrow driving the restored 2 car, Paul Harrison driving a newly restored 22 car of his and Bradly making up the 3rd generation driving his current 25 car.
Heat 1
All 6 of our cars were out in heat 1, with Roland starting from the back of the grid.
It was a frantic race with no yellows and within 2 laps former NMS driver Callum Thornton was at the front, and he stayed there till the chequered flag, pressing through the field though was Tom Harris, moving everyone who got in his way aside.
But he wasn’t able to catch the top 3 with the youngster taking the win with Jason Wilkinson 2nd and Finn Sargent 3rd. Karl finished 6th, Danny 10rth and Frankie 12th.
Heat 2
We didn’t have any cars in heat 2, but after a red flag and complete restart following a clash between Kyle Gray and Nigel de Kock it was youngster Thomas Rogers who won his first BriSCA F1 race since stepping up from NMS.
Heat 3
Frankie, Danny and Phoebe went out for heat 3, and it was spicy from the off with Dutchman Colin Schutter firing drivers out of the way as he came across them, and by half way it was Josh Spiers who was leading the way with many of the drivers who started at the back struggling to find a way through the pack, and in the end it was the 452 car that took the win with Drew Lammas 2nd and Courtney Finnikin 3rd. Frankie finished 11th and Phoebe was 14th.
Heat 4
Frankie JJ, Karl and Roland went out for the 4th and final heat, and it was a straight forward race for the reigning UK Open Champion Tom Harris, as when he eventually managed to pass his sister Catherine he went on to win, with Catherine 2nd and Callum Thornton 3rd. Karl finished 10th and Frankie JJ 15th.
Final (UK Open Championship)
The final was the UK Open and it was a closed grid where Kark was on row 2 of the blues, Danny on row 3 of the reds and Frankie on the back row.
The race was barely a lap old when we had yellows for the recovery of Finn Sargent’s car after a coming together with H318, and at the restart it was Chris Worral leading. Two laps later and more yellows to allow Josh Spiers to be recovered from turn 2, and then the big gund made their way through the pack, and with no further stoppages or incident it was Tom Harris who took the chequered flag and retained the trophy with Danny 2nd and Frankie 3rd. Karl came through to finish 7th.
Grand National
The grand national was a tribute to the late and sadly missed Des Chandler, and was organised by the team at Skegness Raceway and Paul Tulley.
Richard Kaletta took to the rostrum for the race and managed it very enthusiastically.
Again we had all 6 cars out for the gn, and it was another great race in full sunshine now.
Neil Scriven, Kyle Gray and Danny were the drivers that all made headway from their initial grid positions, while Tom Harris quickly overcomes the lap handicap to join the back of the field.
Kyle Gray leads the race by half way and with all sorts of action going on behind, he kept his cool to take the win with George Elwell finishing 2nd, Frankie 3rd and Danny 4th. Karl crossed the line in 6th
Next up it’s King’s Lynn, hope to see you all there!
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Photo’s ©Ian Bannister