A feast of short oval racing was to be had as the annual Autospeed On Tour weekend at Skegness Raceway took place. The meeting commenced with a tribute by the BrISCA F2 and ORCi Stock Rod drivers in memory of Northern Irish racer 924 Jack Morrow whose life was tragically claimed in a car accident just a week before, the minute’s silence led by members of Jack’s family at the track where Jack had won the ORCi Stock Rod UK Championship a year earlier.
BriSCA F2 Stock Cars
Car numbers were sufficient for a full format with heat one seeing 200 Amy Webster take the lead early on which she held onto until the chequered flag, fending off 564 David Shearing in the process. Heat two featured a good scrap between 183 Charlie Guinchard and 7 Gordon Moodie for the minor positions, but once again it was a yellow grader who held on for the win, this time 335 Jake Woodhull. The lower grader stranglehold of the race wins continued in the consolation with 926 Josh Wilson taking up the lead early on, and despite 213 Tom Bennett closing to within a car length by the last lap, Wilson took victory. The Final saw an early yellow flag with Webster, 654 Harley Soper, 727 Jake Syrett-Barsby and 931 Rebecca Smith ending up in a heap on turn four. On the restart Wilson once again took up the running but heading onto the last lap Woodhull and Guinchard were also in contention, with Wilson starting to struggle as smoke billowed from his car. The last bend challenge led to Woodhull scrabbling to the line for his first feature final victory with Guinchard and Moodie completing the top three, as Wilson just missed out in fourth. Syrett-Barsby was again part of an early yellow flag stoppage in the Grand National, this time when meeting a spun 315 Charlie Fisher. Smith scraped into the lead, but she was eventually chased down and passed by 560 Luke Wrench for the only star graded win of the evening.
ORCi Stock Rods
The format drivers compete in three out of four heats to determine the grid for the UK Championship, the headache inducing grid draw rules ensuring each driver saw their grid position towards the front, rear and middle in each of their three races. Scotsman 46 Stewart Paterson took a flag to flag win in heat one with 197 James Gray and 944 Callum Hosie scything their way through from the back of the grid to finish fourth and fifth respectively by the end. 909 Justin Washer led the opening laps of heat two, however Gray and Hosie were quickly into contention and passed the English Champion. They finished the race in that order with 83 Michael Bethune up into third by the conclusion. Heat three included a rollover for 476 Vic Wadling having drifted out wide when being passed by Hosie. The remainder of the race was a scrappy affair, with 862 Darryl Cocks spun to the tyres on the entry to the back straight and 165 Jamie Dawson and 231 Simon Bassett in a heap on turn three. Up at the front, Hosie led Bethune home with British Champion 612 Leon Stewart in third. The final qualifying heat saw 522 Chris Mikkula take a flag to flag win as Bethune took another runner-up spot with Gray up to fifth, ensuring the two Scottish stars would start near the sharp end of the grid for Sunday’s championship race.
ORCi Ministox
A large field of cars contested three out of four qualifying heats to amass points to secure a spot on the UK Championship grid. The opening heat was a harbinger of things, as it featured a number of attempts to get going. A stoppage was required after 78 Nicole Allardyce was met head on by 550 Callum Herzig, the damage to Allardyce’s car being such to end her weekend’s participation. On the restart, 339 Rhys Kelly had a spectacular roll on turn two, the driver managing to quickly pull the car off the raceway as it bounced back onto its wheels. Eventually the race settled down with 27 Robbie Scott leading home 7 Charlie Hardie at the flag. 621 Reubens Millar took up the running early on in heat two where he remained unchallenged to the end, as behind him 88 Kyle Rogerson and 484 Dean Heeps enjoyed a fine battle, the cars swapping places lap after lap until Hardie intervened and fired his way through to the runner-up spot. The third heat was subject to a complete re-run, with a large part of the field ending in a pile-up on turn three. Millar and Scott featured in another close battle for a fair chunk of the race until Scott rattled off the home straight fence with such force that he dropped down the field as 475 Mason Sealy came through to become the first winner from the South West. The final qualifying heat again saw a tremendous battle, this time with 922 Kaydi Butcher and 267 Robbie Batten swapping places for the lead over multiple laps. First 879 Caitlin Mitchell and then 511 Lexi Crosbie found themselves spun facing the wrong direction on the home straight in separate incidents and in both cases the drivers managed to get their cars clear of the raceway. Butcher just managed to hold on from Millar and Batten for the win.
Hot Fords
The Buxton based non-contact formula joined the line-up for the second year in succession and provided some close and competitive racing over the weekend. 378 Mark Meakin took a flag to flag win in the opening heat, his progress being urged on by his friends and family from the terracing as behind 76 Richard Pearce made good progress through from the rear of the grid to finish fourth. Pearce and 100 Ayrton Mitchell contested most of heat two side by side around the track. 19 Luke Cowley and 306 Craig Bennett dropped out of contention, and 067Marc Walker eventually overhauled Meakin for the win. Meakin again dominated the final. Behind him, Walker and Bennett inadvertently clash, with Walker recovering for second and 292 Lee Cosgrove finishing third.