The first of two days remembering Stock Car royalty featured BriSCA Formula Two Stock Cars contesting The Master Trophy, in memory of Bill Batten, for the third time. Saloon Stock Cars also paid tribute to the four-time World Champion, while a strong field of Ministox competed for the British Championship crown.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

Fifty BriSCA F2 Stock Cars arrived at the track, although 458 Layton Mush did not race. As on this occasion in previous years, the cars were split by grade to contest four heats. Last year’s The Master Trophy winner, 844 Jack Prosser, won the opener (for white tops), fending off 881 Jamie Ward-Scott’s last-bend lunge. 605 Richard Andrews continued his fine form to win heat two (for yellow tops), shifting 654 Harley Soper from the lead. Soper was second ahead of 454 Ryan Gardiner. 235 Alfie Brimble secured the final qualifying place by passing 259 Daz Purdy in the closing stages and withstanding Purdy’s retaliation on the final bend. A busier heat three (for blue tops) was won by 578 Mark Gibbs after passing fellow front-row starter 315 Charlie Fisher with three laps remaining. Some way adrift in third was 126 Jamie Avery. There was a fitting win for Bill Batten’s great-nephew 667 Tommy Farrell in heat four, crucially pulling away from 127 Matt Stoneman on the final lap to prevent a last-bend challenge. Behind 155 Archie Grindey and 83 Sy Harraway in third and fourth, there was a tremendous battle for the fifth and final qualifying place, which 184 Aaron Vaight eventually made his own. The action stepped up a gear for the 27-car consolation. 979 Paul Moss took the lead after half-distance before a stoppage was required. He then traded some big hits with 186 Kasey Jones over the closing laps, including planting the hapless 207 Alfie Flecken into Jones to retake the lead. Moss led into the final corners but, in a big last-bend sort-out, lost out to both Jones and 27 Kieren Bradford. Flecken managed fifth behind 542 Steven Gilbert. Sixth across the line was 418 Ben Borthwick, who’d briefly been involved in the lead battle before being shoved wide, but he was docked two places for jumping the restart. A ‘B’ Final offered a third chance for two more drivers to make the grid for the main event. After yellow flags when Purdy and 262 Charlie Cocks tangled, 976 Dan Kent dished out a thunderous fencing on 121 Vinnie Neath-Rogers, before claiming his throttle had stuck open. 736 Josh Weare went from fourth to first at the restart and took the chequered flag, whilst 895 Ben Goddard was also adjudged to have anticipated the green flag and thus both were docked two places. 324 Jordon Thackra inherited victory, with 856 Jamie Cocks taking the crucial second place.  Ahead of The Master Trophy final, the now-traditional rendition of Hey Jude was a poignant reminder of the man the trophy is named after. A pile-up among the rear half of the field cost several a lap as Ward-Scott made the early running ahead of 206 Matt Brewer. Both Stoneman and Farrell avoided the early chaos and broke into the top 10 within just two or three laps. It took them little longer to depose the likes of Soper, Brimble and Avery as they climbed to third and fourth and set about chasing down the lead duo. Into the second half of the race, Stoneman caught and passed Brewer, with Farrell doing the same a lap later. Ward-Scott offered little resistance to Stoneman as he took the lead with six laps remaining, and Farrell took second from the erstwhile leader on the following lap. As the laps wound down, Farrell made some progress into Stoneman’s advantage but he could not get close enough to mount a challenge. So it was Stoneman who took the flag and the £667 prize money, his first feature final since returning to action in his new self-built car. He celebrated in style with tyre-smoking donuts and was joined by customer Farrell for further nose-to-nose burnouts – the photos of which will be looked back upon fondly some years down the line. Ward-Scott held on to third, ahead of 980 Charlie Lobb, Jones and Avery as Brewer was shuffled back to ninth, surviving a self-destructive attack from Flecken on the final bend.

Ministox

The 29-car entry of Ministox (of which two didn’t make it beyond pre-meeting practice) included nine who had travelled from Scotland for the event. They were divided into four groups, each contesting three heats. Defending champion 475 Mason Sealy set out his stall early on to win heat one from Scots 879 Caitlin Mitchell and 29 David Philp Jr Jr. While Philp worked his way into second in heat two, he could not catch 511 Lexi Crosbie for victory. 257 Kieran Hibberd built an unassailable lead to win heat three, as Crosbie slipped from second to fourth in the closing stages, behind Sealy and 618 Stuart Shevill Jr Jr. Sealy earned his second victory – and, with it, pole position for the big race – in heat four. He got the better of arch-rival Philp in the early stages as they scythed through the field. Philp managed to climb to fourth but could not catch 522 Jacob Mikulla or 480 Ollie Sime.  Twenty-six cars gridded for the British Championship race, with Sealy and Philp on the front row, Shevill and 874 Ben McLellan on row two, and Crosbie and Hibberd on row three. After plenty of creeping was stamped out by Mr Starter, there was a somewhat farcical start when Philp slewed sideways into Sealy and shoved him onto the infield before they’d even reached the first corner. Sealy slammed into a marker tyre and red flags were shown at such a highly unsatisfactory start. Philp was slow away at the next attempt as Sealy established a lead with Shevill slotting into second. A couple of stoppages were required when first 235 Kaitlin Harris was left stranded facing the traffic and then 710 Louie Stuckey disgracefully piled Sime into the wall on turn four, leaving Stuckey on his roof. Sensing it was now or never, Shevill attacked on the first bend of the restart. It took both cars wide and McLellan pounced on the inside line, spinning Sealy as the pair met exiting the second bend. A pile-up behind them led to more yellow flags, with McLellan leading from Philp, 27 Leo Rabone (up from 10th on the grid) and Shevill. The action continued with Philp using his bumper to take the lead. Shevill followed him through but McLellan’s retaliation, half-spinning his Scottish rival, only allowed Philp to scamper clear. Yet another stoppage was required when Shevill and 920 Wayne Wadge Jr clashed.  Wadge Jr took exception to the incident and exited his car uninvited before stomping around the track on foot in an irrational display. On the resumption, McLellan shifted Philp from the lead. But Philp was straight back on his tail and ahead again a lap later. The top two were now well clear and while McLellan attempted to shove Philp into backmarking traffic on the final bend, the latter held on to add another honour to his glittering CV. Rabone was a comfortable third, while 644 Owen Marshall came out on top of a close battle for fourth, ahead of Caitlin Mitchell and 182 Mickey James. Sealy, who had performed his own arm-waving histrionics and gestures after his removal from the title race, claimed a third win when he took the chequered in the BB Van Hire Trophy Allcomers ahead of McLellan, Rabone and 858 Rhys Anderson.

Saloon Stock Cars

Despite enhanced prize money, there was a disappointingly thin entry of 15 Saloon Stock Cars, including a guest outing from ex-BriSCA F2 racer 475 Leah Sealy. 277 Jack Grandon made the most of his Blue grading to dominate proceedings and win all three races by a margin. Grandon made light work of the lower-graders to hit the front and stretch his legs in heat one, 577 Harry Darby and 902 Junior Buster following him home. Grandon took heat two by the length of a straight as World Champion 720 Archie Brown – whose progress was hampered by a quick 360-degree spin in heat one – got the better of Darby for second. Darby’s hopes of breaking Grandon’s monopoly in the final were dashed immediately when he was tipped into a spin. So it was Brown who again proved to be the Southampton man’s closest challenger, albeit still unable to prevent him scoring a hat-trick. 382 Corey Hunt was third, ahead of white-top 162 Bradley Fox, who went well all evening.