In King’s Lynn 2L Banger World Final, National Points champion Ashley Garrod dealt a blow after grid position

Local drivers did not have the best of luck in the 2L Banger World Final which took place at Lynn last Saturday.

It is a title which National Points champion Ashley Garrod has worked his season around winning for years.

Garrod was dealt a blow though when he was drawn in grid position 37 out of the 40 qualifiers which put him at the back of the grid and left him with an uphill track from the drop of the green.

Things looked even worse for Jon Cooper who drew grid position 40 although it looked promising for Keiran Bowman who drew grid position 11.

Bowman made a promising start when the green flag fell, although his progress was quickly interrupted with an early stoppage after Luton’s Lee Middleton rolled his car over.

Bowman continued showing well but his race was ended before halfway when he was spun out and he picked up damage which saw him retire.

Further back in the grid Garrod made good progress to come home in seventh place by the time the chequered flag fell – which was great progress from his starting position – but he was nowhere near challenging eventual winner Max Stott for the lead.

Bowman did get some good news as he picked up an entertainer award and out-scored entertainer league rival Taylor Pratchett to claw back some of the deficit at the top of the points.

Before the world final took place, West Winch’s Sam Hildon qualified for the big race through the last chance race with a great runner up finish in what was one of his best performances in the 2L Bangers.

Ross Cooper also picked up a couple of top 10 finishes throughout the afternoon.

Austen Freestone had a good night in the 2L Stock Cars.

Freestone has performed well on the tarmac tracks in the formula and his points scoring on the hard surfaces had elevated him to star grade.

He has struggled to reproduce that form on shale though but had two great races in his heats which netted him a third and second place finish which shows Freestone is now also hitting good form on shale and this could be coming at the right time with Lynn set to stage its big 2L stock car meeting of 2022 – the ORC Championship.

Racing returns to King’s Lynn this Saturday (5pm) with the annual pre-1980 meeting which as the name suggests will feature a variety of classic cars which had to originate before 1980.

Plenty of local names are booked to race and, with 1300 stock cars also on the bill, promises to be another great night of action.