Round-up of the stock car action from the Adrian Flux Arena at King's Lynn
A reeling Kieran Bowman bounced back from being trounced by ‘The Beast’ Ant Bailey in the Big Van Bangers over the Platinum Jubilee weekend to have a great night in the Unlimited Bangers last Saturday at King’s Lynn.
Bowman started off well by placing in third place in the World of Shale wild card race which was won by Coventry’s Luke Holdsworth.
Things continued to get better as the night went on as he came home in second place in the first All Comers race before taking the chequered flag in the second outing.
In between that he found time to deliver a good hit on Ipswich’s Dave Osborne to take home an entertainer award and see him gain a hatful of points.
Failure to take part in the Destruction Derby did see an opportunity to score more entertainer points squandered though.
With arch rival in this competition Taylor Pratchett having a brilliant night in the 1500cc Bangers and both of the top protagonists only competing in one of the two banger formulas in action, Bowman did lose more ground in the battle for the entertainer league.
Darren Fendley was also in the results in the Unlimited Bangers with a third place finish in the first all comers.
Things started off well for Dersingham’s Harry Cobb with a third place in the opening white top race but his night then finished quickly when he was on the receiving end of a big follow in.
Ashlun Woods and Kevin Cooper were also in the results through the night while Jake Burgess and Ross Cooper both put in some fantastic drives but had little to show for their efforts.
Ryan Leeks helped to steer his Team Havoc to a fantastic runner-up finish out of more than 20 teams, with the Birmingham-based Scrapyard Screamers winning the event.
A heat victory for Ashley Garrod was the main reason his Crunchers Crew came third overall. Ricky Garrod was also among the places for Team Jackpot.
Perry Williamson was outstanding in the Junior Bangers as he took his first ever win at his home track.
Joining Perry in the Junior Banger final were Jamie Steele who qualified with a fifth place finish in his heat while Morgan Bailey and William Cartwright joined him later with seventh and eighth place finishes respectively in the consolation.
Crawley’s Harry Andrews won the meeting final which was also a race that saw Morgan Bailey produce his best ever drive in the formula.
With a confidence which had yet to be seen in his ability he found himself well on the pace and battling in the top 10 with some very good drivers throughout the race, eventually coming home in sixth place as the best local driver with Steele finishing 10th.
Bailey could count himself unlucky in the 36-car All Comers when the confidence he displayed in his final drive moved up another notch and he forced his way from sixth to take the lead.
He was extending his advantage when disaster struck with a handful of laps to go and a near full track blockage left him with nowhere to go and he ended up crashing out.
Stock cars take centre stage at the Adrian Flux Arena this Saturday (5pm) with BriSCA F2s in action with 2L stock cars and 1300 stock cars.
The F2 stock cars are racing in the People’s Trophy.
This event is to commemorate the 60th anniversary of BriSCA F2 stock cars and should have taken place in 2020 but was postponed twice due to Covid.
Fans have raised an incredible amount of money to sponsor two events – one on tarmac and one on shale - with drivers voting for which track on each surface they wanted the events to be held on.
The super smooth shaleway at Saddlebow Road is always a firm favourite with drivers and it was no surprise King’s Lynn was picked as the shale choice with Taunton in Somerset holding the tarmac version a couple of weeks ago where Huddersfield’s Ben Lockwood won a tremendous event.
A large number of local drivers will be in action and will be hoping to take home the big prize.
Ryan Leeks will be swapping his banger and getting back into the F2 he debuted in over the Platinum Jubilee weekend.
Coming home in second place in the final at that meeting was Marcus Gilbert and he will be looking to improve. Other local drivers in action include Scott Aldridge and Ben Cole.
Jake Banwell will be in action in the 1300 Stock Cars and will be full of confidence after coming home in fourth place in the British Championship at Lochgelly in Scotland last weekend.
Father and son duo Lee and Kegan Sampson will be looking to uphold local honour in the 2L Stock Cars.