Skegness Stadium - Sunday 17th July 2022

The second day of Autospeed On Tour at Skegness took place with both the weather and on-track action heating up for those in attendance.

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The opening event provided a last chance for eight drivers to make it onto the rear of the UK Championship grid.  9 Chris Drake broke free from the pack to take a relatively comfortable win as behind there was an enthralling five way battle for second over the opening stages with novice Scottish racer 74 Logan Tweedie trying to fend off the advances of a quartet of drivers from the West Country.  The UK Championship was up next and saw the front row shared by former British Champion 272 Jon McAllister and Englishman 669 Eddie Trofer, with World Champion David Philp Jnr on the outside of the row behind, alongside fellow countryman 351 Stuart Wedderburn.  Autospeed Points Champion 909 Justin Washer and English Champion 944 Callum Hosie were on row three.  Some of the other notable contenders, including 83 Michael Bethune and 216 Cameron Doak, starting further towards the rear of the grid given their poor qualifying results the previous evening.  Trofer slipped down the field early on, with bodywork fouling a rear wheel, and he subsequently retired with smoke billowing under the wheel arch.  McAllister built up a strong early lead but as the race progressed into the second half it was notable that Philp was slowly closing in on the race leader.  There was also strong progress by Bethune who was edging into the top six, such was his advancement from a lowly start grid.  As the cars entered into the final quarter, Bethune was on the tail of third placed Hosie.  At the front, the rear view mirror of race leader McAllister was filled by the gold roof.  Philp looked to the outside line but was unable to find a way round and hence he opted as they went down the back straight on the final lap to try to force a gap on the inside.  However, McAllister read the move well and was prepared for the attack.  McAllister defended his position and as he crossed the line, Philp’s cut back in the final bend saw him up to his driver’s door on the run to the line, but the UK title was McAllister’s.  Benefitting from a robust challenge, Bethune made it past Hosie for an excellent third place.  Two half car heats followed with the first being won by Wedderburn.  New UK Champion McAllister made it up to second place by the chequered.  46 Stewart Paterson won the second heat.  The Final saw Bethune incredibly suffer a fourth puncture of the weekend to end his race.  A stoppage was needed after 612 Leon Stewart found himself sideways on the seaside bend with the melee behind amongst the chasing pack resulting in Doak ending up on his roof.  On the resumption Paterson sped off with Wedderburn in second, capping a fine weekend for the two Scottish yellow graders with 728 Kris Woods coming home in third in his trusty Toyota Starlet.

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617 Christina Sillifant made up for a disappointing qualifying campaign by winning the last chance qualifier race, spinning out 388 Cole Ford from a qualifying spot in the process.  There was drama as the grid formed for the English Open Championship with 42 Jake Wilson suffering a mechanical issue which prevented him from taking up his grid spot on the outside of row two.  From the off, a very close battle for the lead bubbled away between 7 Charlie Hardie, 84 Robbie Armitt and 290 Alfie Tomkins which saw the cars swap places for lap after lap.  Eventually they were joined by British Champion 202 Cody Bradford until a yellow flag was caused for 911 Alex Thomas who was stranded facing oncoming traffic.  On the restart Armitt broke free and began building a lead only to find it wiped out by a second race suspension this time for 136 Shaun Boyle who had ground to a halt on the home straight.  When the race got back under way, Armitt’s cause was helped by Hardie spinning out Bradford which delayed the Open Scottish Champion and whilst there was a few moments of concern on the closing two laps for the race leader with 88 Kyle Rogerson spun on the back straight as he approached and 870 Bertie Farrell appearing to try to hinder the leader from his lap down position, the Scotsman celebrated as made it to the finish line first to take his first major title in the formula from Hardie and Tomkins.  The sole heat saw Boyle lead the opening stages until a stoppage saw Tomkins move through to the front on the restart.  Further back there was a splendid battle for fourth between Farrell, Hardie, Farrell, 627 Andrew Scott, 917 Troy Hemmins and Armitt, the drivers eventually finishing in that order behind 165 Jamie Dawson and 913 Ben Faulconbridge.  Thomas led the Final for several laps until a stoppage closed the pack and Hemmins moved though into the lead and Tomkins demoted the white top to third.  Thomas then had to withstand in the closing lap a late challenge by Scott, but the novice racer managed to hold on for a fine third after an eventful three days for the young driver.

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A disappointing entry of just four cars did their best to entertain with 90 Joey Holmes continuing his domination with victory in the opening heat.  The drivers were asked to race heat two in the opposite direction, and it did have the desired effect on closing the pack up with the set-up of the Holmes car hampered by the anti-clockwise racing direction.  Nonetheless, Holmes did make it through into the lead.  Behind him, there were some antics between 26 Ricky Hodson and 190 Daniel Rice until Rice’s day ended with an engine blow up at the flag.  Holmes took a quiet Final to end the weekend unbeaten.