A very warm afternoon and evening welcomed drivers and fans to Skegness Raceway where Autospeed had taken over the reins for the weekend to provide two days of racing for the ORCi Stock Rods and Ministox as the BriSCA F2 Stock Cars competed for their Nostalgia Trophy whilst the Bangers were also in action.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

With just shy of 30 cars in the pits a two from three format was adopted for the fifth F2 meeting in ten days at the track.  Heat one saw 926 Josh Wilson lead until two laps to go when he was caught and passed by newly crowned UK Champion 183 Charlie Guinchard.  In the second heat, 564 David Shearing took a relatively straightforward win leading from early on in the race.  Heat three saw Wilson again leading, and this time he looked all set to take victory as he rounded the third and fourth bend for the final time.  However, what looked like a momentary lapse of concentration saw the car slide around into a spin on the exit of the last bend, and that allowed Shearing through for his second win of the evening.  A disconsolate Wilson failed to make it into the top ten by the time he had reversed his car over the line and worse was to follow when he lined up for the meeting final, as he suffered a clutch issue which prevented him from taking part.  In his absence, 376 Daz Seneschall made a good break from the white grade, but he was duly reeled in by the pacy 390 Jessica Smith.  As she hit the front, Shearing and 142 Jonathan Hadfield emerged as her main pursuers, whilst Guinchard’s threat ended mid-race when he encountered a fuel pump problem.  Smith safely navigated a way through a busy field of backmarkers and ran out a conclusive winner to secure an impressive win.  It was her second Final win in a row at the track, and landed her the huge Nostalgia Trophy, as presented by former racer Mick Whittle.  Shearing and Hadfield rounded out the top three, with 992 Harley Burns home in fourth as the first star grader to finish.  Guinchard eased to victory in the Grand National, but the story of the race was the gallant youngster, Wilson.  He bounced back from his earlier misfortune to grab second place, and the points he duly earned were enough to see him finish the night as the top points scoring white grade driver, which netted him the hamper of Cornish goodies.

ORCi Stock Rods

The formula returned to the track after an absence of more than two decades and attracted a fine entry from both Scotland and the south west.  Two half car heats within grades commenced the qualification process for Sunday afternoon’s UK Championship.  The opening heat saw Scotsman 46 Stewart Paterson take a relatively comfortable win from the yellow grade, as both 272 John McAllister and 29 David Philp Jnr set out their stall by making it from the rear of the grid through to third and fourth respectively by the flag.  There was further success from the yellow grade in heat two, with 351 Stuart Wedderburn winning from 79 Sean Devine, although it was the return of former English and European Champion and Skegness specialist 669 Eddie Trofer who caught the eye with an impressive drive through to third in his Tigra.  The remaining heats saw the drivers split into three groups, each racing twice, and grid positions from their first heat reversed for their second.  This resulted in World Champion Philp starting from the front row on heat three and despite a mid-race suspension which bunched the field up he took a flag-to-flag win, with 83 Michael Bethune and Trofer coming through from the back of the grid to finish third and seventh respectively.  Heat four saw Trofer starting at the front of the pack, and he took a comfortable win. The fifth and final heat of the evening began in frantic fashion, as Paterson spun in a tangle with 231 Simon Bassett.  Philp and Bethune also joined the incident at speed, ending the ORCi Champion’s race.  A further yellow flag was required with a hefty impact against the tyres for 338 James Halkett as he tangled with 916 Luke Thomas.  Regrettably, that ended Halkett’s weekend’s racing.  Wedderburn had been well clear at the time, but on the restart McAallister applied pressure and started to make use of the outside line, the top two side by side for lap after lap, both being reeled in by Philp who had miraculously incurred little damage in the lap one incident and had fought his way back through from the rear of the grid.  Heading on to the back straight with a lap and a bit to go, Philp looked to create a gap up the inside but as turn three approached the gap disappeared and the Philp car clipped the kerb and infield marker tyres ending his race and delaying the other two Scots sufficiently to allow 275 Jeremy Hatch through the middle and to take a thrilling victory.

ORCi Ministox

A fine entry of youngsters gathered for their third meeting in three days with drivers contesting three out of the four qualifying heats.  A frenetic heat one saw multiple stoppages and at one point a six way battle for the lead.  A late yellow flag for a stranded 388 Cole Ford saw 84 Robbie Armitt survive a one lap dash to the chequered flag.  Heat two was also punctuated by yellow flags, first for 911 Alex Thomas and then for 368 Emily Santry, who was the innocent bystander as British Champion 202 Cody Bradford and ORC Champion 178 Scott Allardyce set about one another.  Once the race got going, 42 Jake Wilson sped off for the win as behind 7 Charlie Hardie and Armitt enjoyed a fine battle for second with a similarly close contest for fourth between 680 Bobby Brandon and 167 Sam Cavanagh.  White top 27 Robbie Scott led the third heat until a lap to go when he lost out to 290 Alfie Tomkins who moved the lower grader aside for the win.  7 Charlie Hardie claimed the fourth and final heat to conclude a busy evening’s racing for the young drivers.

Rookie Bangers

With numbers perilously low, the move was made to switch to local rules, but that failed to attract much of an influx, and thus it was only a modest entry of Bangers that featured.  90 Joey Holmes went through the evening unbeaten, winning all three races, with 551 Brett Jackson the runner-up on each occasion.  The second heat was notable for an entertaining battle for third between 26 Ricky Hodgson, 190 Daniel Rice and 225 Taylor Overton in particular being encouraged by the former’s enthusiastic supporters in the crowd.