Dagenham driver takes the World Final spoils at King’s Lynn
World Final fever came to the Adrian Flux Arena on Saturday when the 2L banger World showpiece was the feature event.
Interest in this year’s meeting was heightened with local star Keiran Bowman defending the title.
Bowman produced a brilliant drive last year from pole position to win the gold roof but would find things tougher to defend his title when he drew grid position 36 out of the 40 qualifiers.
Undeterred, he was still full of confidence before the big race and was a popular figure in the pre-meeting World Finalists autograph session.
Lynn’s Darren Fendley and Swaffham’s Ashley Garrod got a decent draw as they shared the fifth row whilst Troy Cobbett also had a lot to do from grid position 31.
Before the World Final there was a last chance race which was won by Swindon’s Hayden Hawes.
An entertainer award by Lynn’s Shaun Cooper saw him bag a spot in the big race whilst Jack Bailey just missed out on coming home in seventh place.
The excitement around the venue grew as the World Finalists were introduced to the crowd.
Bowman came out first as the defending champion and received a tremendous ovation from the crowd who recognised his efforts as a dedicated champion who had shown off the Gold Roof with pride.
Rocking all over the World by Status Quo – a song picked by Kieran – was pumping over the PA and getting the crowd worked up.
Once the 47 drivers had been presented to the crowd the atmosphere was fever pitch as the cars did two slow rolling laps and the green flag dropped.
Lancaster’s Connor Byram was the early leader before Saffron Walden’s Lee White hit the front.
Ashley Garrod’s race was sadly over after a couple of laps when mechanical problems saw him retire and a few laps later saw Fendley crash out after clashing with London’s Karl Douglas.
A thrilling race up front saw the lead change hands several times with Scunthorpe’s Jordan Sharpe, London’s Micky Maskell, Birmingham’s Shane Rawlins, London’s Tom Greenstreet all taking the lead.
Dagenham’s Alfie Lee led the race for a quarter of a lap but it was the most important quarter lap of the race as he took the chequered flag.
Bowman had been making good progress through the grid until hitting trouble around halfway when he was turned round and a later incident saw him with a buckled back wheel which impeded his progress but he still finished seventh.
Later in the night, All Comer race victories went to Alford’s Nick Ashbridge with the London pairing of Tom Greenstreet and Ricky Hutton also tasting victory.
Cobbett had a third-place finish in the second all comers with Garrod bouncing back to come second in the final all comers with Bowman finishing sixth before he went on to win the Destruction Derby.
Levi List was the best local finisher in the 2L stock car final coming home in eighth place – Diss ace Ryan Santry took the win.
Willie Skoyles had earlier taken a fourth-place finish in the opening heat with Austen Freestone having a disappointing night failing to pick up any points.
Yarmouth’s Michael Allard and Mildenhall’s Charlie Simes had earlier won the heats.
There was also a cheque presentation in front of the huge crowd from the 2L stock car ladies charity race which took place last month and won by Lynn’s Carly List.
The ladies raised an impressive £8322.15 for Cancer Research.
