Day one of Autospeed’s fourth annual Summer Take-Over Speedweekend at Skegness Raceway featured a busy evening of racing from five formulas. A strong turnout of BriSCA Formula Two Stock Cars were joined by good numbers of Stock Rods and Ministox, both categories contesting qualifying heats for the following day’s UK Championships. The cast was completed by a guest visit from Buxton’s Hot Fords and a fully-booked entry of BriSCA Micro F2s.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

Forty-nine BriSCA F2 Stock Cars were in the pits for their second of three meetings in four days at the venue, although 870 Bruno Farrell didn’t make it on track. Yellow flags were required in the opener after an aerial moment for 373 Charlie Dunne led to 976 Dan Kent and Scotsman 17 Paul Reid ending up in the wall. Blue-tops 335 Jake Woodhull and 101 Kelvyn Marshall had already climbed to third and fifth respectively and quickly overhauled leader 482 Dale Seneschall on the resumption. Marshall shadowed Woodhull for several laps before making his move with a lap to go and then keeping out of reach of a retaliation. Newly downgraded 931 Rebecca Smith was third ahead of Thursday night double race winner 569 Adam Langridge. Heat two served up plenty of bumperwork among the lower-graded frontrunners, and 939 Andrew Bentley held on out front until the second half of the race when 564 David Shearing took over. Blue-top Shearing had followed in 581 Dan Fallows’ wake as the pair climbed through the field before moving ahead in a mid-race sort-out as they joined the lead battle. By the time 390 Jessica Smith and Fallows had also passed Bentley, Shearing had made his escape. Good drives from Bentley and 359 Gary Wrench came to nothing when they tangled out in the closing stages. The lower-graded duo also went well in the consolation and were running first and second when a heavy home-straight clash between 925 Jake Wilson and Dunne who was coasting to an unintentional halt, brought out yellow flags. Wrench took over, chased by star men 155 Archie Grindey and 213 Tom Bennett, before Grindey made his move and motored to victory. Bennett, who’d been caught in an early pile-up in his heat, took second from Wrench but the 359-car hit straight back on the following bend. Next time through, Bennett left no doubt when he dispatched Wrench fencewards to clinch the position. 12 Craig Driscoll and 736 Josh Weare followed him home as Bentley fell to seventh. All except Jessica Smith among the 30 qualifiers, predominantly from the blue and red grades, gridded for the final. It began with a bang when bumping and boring among the rear half of the field led to 315 Charlie Fisher being lifted over rival cars and into the wall on the first bend where he was collected by others. Fisher and 776 Dan Roots were left with heavy damage and the incident claimed a number of other cars. Just enough ground had been covered before the race was halted to determine an order, and it was Seneschall who led the restart from Bentley and Langridge. The last-named quickly hit the front, followed by 46 Bradley Cooper and Rebecca Smith. As Smith challenged for second she half spun herself, dropping a few places and costing Cooper time too. Langridge was already looking comfortable but now had a significant cushion and he was untroubled thereafter en route to a maiden final win. Cooper held onto second despite pressure from 186 Kasey Jones and 355 Aidan Grindey after the latter pair had passed Driscoll. Shearing completed the top six ahead of 127 Matt Stoneman, debuting his self-built car on his return to racing. The Grand National provided the biggest field of the night with 36 cars but no final winner as Langridge hit gearbox trouble. Inevitably, early chaos led to a caution period. 881 Jamie Ward-Scott remained in front until almost halfway when Driscoll took over having shifted Rebecca Smith from second. In a fast-paced race under the lights, Driscoll took the win from 461 Tom Davison, with the Smith sisters split by Bennett in fourth.

Stock Rods

Twenty-nine Stock Rods had travelled almost exclusively from Scotland and the south-west to contest three from four qualifying heats ahead of Sunday’s UK Championship. Grids were drawn with drivers each starting from the front, middle and back across their allocated heats. A messy first heat with plenty of contact was won by Autospeed silver-top 944 Callum Hosie from row four of the grid, ahead of British champion 165 Jamie Dawson and 275 Jeremy Hatch. It was Hatch who took heat two from 522 Chris Mikulla and 914 Callum Faulconbridge, Hatch appearing to benefit from the star men getting delayed by the backmarking 287 Mark Hatch. Defending champion 83 Michael Bethune retired with a puncture having risen to second in the early stages, and there were further hard-luck stories for 913 Ben Faulconbridge and 51 Aiden Vincent who suffered front-end damage after the pair got caught in an incident with 911 Harrison Bryant. The first attempt at heat three ended with 617 Christina Sillifant getting collected by a couple of cars after being turned into a spin on the first lap. A complete restart was ordered and Sillifant took full advantage of her reprieve as she led a train of cars past 285 Martin Walker to take victory. 351 Stuart Wedderburn was second ahead of Mikulla, 77 Tom Larcombe and Dawson. Polesitter for the final heat was 835 Matt Westaway and he made no mistake in converting it to a dominant victory. Callum Faulconbridge got the best of a hard battle for second, with Bethune finally getting a good result in third ahead of Hosie and the man that trio had ambushed, 231 Simon Bassett.

Ministox

Like the Stock Rods, the under-16s in Ministox were each contesting three from four qualifying heats (in graded order) to set the grid for the following day’s UK Championship. Thirty-one cars were in action after 114 Charlie Lomas didn’t make it beyond pre-meeting practice. Star of the evening was 511 Lexi Crosbie. She won the first heat after chasing down 235 Kaitlin Harris to lead before half-distance. 505 Louie Herzig converted a quick start into second at the flag ahead of 136 Shaun Boyle and the flying 29 David Philp Jr Jr who came through from the very back of the field. Crosbie won heat two as well after trading the lead with 710 Louie Stuckey mid-race and then fending off 480 Ollie Sime’s challenge. Stuckey slipped to fourth behind Boyle while the lively 68 Charlie Burgoyne was first of the star-graders home after dispatching 644 Owen Marshall for fifth on the final bend. An entertaining battle between Stuckey and Sime for the lead of heat three ended with Stuckey rolling on the turnstile bend. Sime went on to take a clear win as 618 Stuart Shevill Jr Jr came through to second, with Philp and Burgoyne providing the fireworks further back. Crosbie was gunning for her hat-trick in heat four and she took the lead after a caution period. But Philp was on a charge; he reached second before half-distance then made light work of Crosbie before a caution was called with three laps remaining after Marshall was left hanging off the wall on the back straight. Some tit for tat between 920 Wayne Wadge Jr and 313 Charlie Weston ended with Weston on his roof, leading to another caution and a one-lap dash to the flag. Wadge Jr had his weekend’s participation ended as he was loaded up for the excessive attack of Weston. Fifth-placed Shevill was slightly slow away, which allowed the top four to break away and, surprisingly, their order remained unchanged. Philp took the win but Crosbie’s second place confirmed her pole position for Sunday’s big race. Stuckey, Boyle and Shevill followed them home.

Hot Fords

An 11-car field of Buxton-based Hot Fords made their annual trip to the east coast. 19 Luke Cowley took the opener before 1 Ayrton Mitchell produced a masterclass on the outside line to climb from the back and take a commanding and entertaining win in heat two. KA-mounted Mitchell looked set for a repeat performance in the final but, starting a couple of rows in front, the Fiesta of 270 Kieran Collis adopted a similar approach. Collis used the outside line to charge to the front and, by the time Mitchell had reached second, was far enough clear to be sure of victory. Cowley completed the top three.