Day two of the Autospeed On Tour weekend at Skegness saw dry and warm weather mixed with nice coastal breeze and none of the forecast rain.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

The BriSCA F2 entry raised 42 cars with 213 Tom Bennett an extra having done the National Points Series round at Cowdenbeath the night before.  This contrasted to 50 Ethan Jack Gemmell who made the 400-plus miles journey home to race at Crimond.  Heat one saw 533 John Whittaker lead the early laps before 931 Rebecca Smith took over for a while.  727 Luke Syrett- Barsby was too quick for her and nudged past as the lap boards came out for another win.  560 Luke Wrench was quick from the back for third, even passing track specialist 355 Aidan Grindey on route.  Heat two saw white graders 111 Charlie Payton and 454 Ryan Gardiner lead for a fair while before 992 Harley Burns appeared in time to grab the lead and go on to win from 411 Reece Winch and the impressive Payton and Gardiner.  Plenty of battling further back included Bennett only just making tenth.  All 22 eligible cars came out for the consolation which was a 238 Lewis Smith masterclass.  He hit the front early and easily held off 128 Jake Ralfs who was docked for an impressive jump start that may not have impressed the steward.  There was a great battle for the lower qualification spots with 890 Paul Rice shunted out of the top ten late on as 811 Kai Rushby seemed to be involved in every tussle but still managed to qualify.  All thirty qualifiers gridded for the Jones Biomass Grand Day Out final which was stopped after a seaside bend incident left 931 Rebecca Smith and 315 Charlie Fisher stranded, and 926 Josh Wilson up on the back straight tyres.  Smith was luckily only winded, and when the race resumed, it was Burns who took advantage of the carnage to time his ascent up the order.  Burns made it to the front at the right time to secure the £1000 first prize courtesy of Jones Biomass with Aidan Grindey and 101 Kelvyn Marshall filling the podium.  There were plenty of battles once again lower down the field as drivers fought for positions.  25 survivors appeared for the Grand National which started with a turnstile bend pile up which left 569 Adam Langridge minus a wheel and various bits of debris strewn around turn four.  Rebecca Smith soon passed Whittaker to lead after a complete re-run, and although Marshall got to within three car lengths of her, he never looked like being in a position to challenge, and likewise Aidan Grindey in third.  As an occasional Skegness visitor, I certainly noticed how evenly matched the field was and how hard it was to catch other cars without them being delayed in traffic.  It certainly meant the reds worked hard for any rewards they got!

Stock Rods

Day two of the weekend saw 27 Stock Rods available for more action, and 25 of them gridded for a fraught UK Championship.  216 Cammy Doak got the drop off pole and was never headed despite plenty of pressure behind him.  914 Callum Falconbridge managed to sneak past 83 Mikey Bethune for second when they encountered backmarking traffic, but whilst matching Doak, he was not ever close enough to launch a telling attack.  Bethune lost pace as the race progressed and was struggling to hold off 51 Aiden Vincent at the end with 165 Jamie Dawson a subdued fifth.  The biggest incident of the race was 640 Jordan Dignan spinning on the home straight with help from 911 Harrison Bryant and the unsighted 671 Ross Graham clipping the 640 car as the yellows came out.  Graham then got out of his car, uninvited, to inspect the damage which finished his weekend’s racing as per ORC rules.  The Allcomers raised 22 cars and will be remembered mainly for Dignan deciding a turnstile bend lunge on 900 Lee Smart was in order, clipping the back of 900 and putting himself in.  111 Olly Bryant won with brother 911 Harrison Bryant riding shotgun in second to keep the attentive 220 Richard Short at bay.  617 Christina Sillifant and 204 Georgie Polley rounded out the top five with Vincent leading the reds home in sixth.  287 Mark Hatch and 131 Stephen Cock fell out in this one, luckily no real damage was done, but how daft to travel all that way from Cornwall and indulge in a needless spat.  The Grand National raised 20 cars including 572 James Lindsay on his first appearance of the day.  Polley span out exiting turn two and decided to rejoin as the pack closed in but only succeeded in getting broadside across the track.  Everyone missed her until 514 Sherrie Downey came round on the outside and collected her, ending a miserable weekend for the latter.  Olly Bryant won again from 77 Tom Larcombe and Vincent.  911 Harrison Bryant lost a high place late on when edged out wide by a train of following cars and ended up twelfth.  An excellent day’s racing with the usual controversy and talking points.  For the record, 914 Callum Faulconbridge won a brand new tyre, courtesy of Southern Motorsport, for posting the fastest single race lap of the weekend for Stock Rods.

Ministox

All 27 of the Ministox that were able to race, started the UK Open.  A clutch start saw the steward spot 550 Callum Herzig, 874 Ben McLellan, and 618 Stuart Shevill Junior Junior anticipate the green flag, from the inside line of the second block of cars.  Tellingly, this was to have major consequences later.  114 Charlie Lomas and 475 Mason Sealy continued their policy of hitting everything that they could as the race took a while to settle down.  Amidst a deluge of action at the front, 505 Louis Herzig emerged as the early leader, but he was unable to withstand the chasing 313 Charlie Weston who swept past.  Herzig then lost second place to McLellan, but Weston looked secure in the lead.  As the laps ticked by, Weston was on course for victory, but in the very late stages, 607 Bonnie Weston suffered a steering problem and spun in front of him.  As Charlie Weston was delayed, McLellan nipped by to grab the lead.  Into the final lap, Weston was on the back bumper of McLellan but could not shift him despite a last bend charge.  McLellan held on and crossed the line directly ahead of Weston, with Louis Herzig third.  There was a brilliant battle behind as 99 Jayden Roff, Shevill and Sealy, in particular, launched some big hits.  696 Bailey Wilson impressed with a composed drive to avoid and pass these feuding drivers on route to fourth, having started in grid fifteen.  Regrettably for McLellan, the untidy start was to cost him, as he and Shevill were each docked for moving ahead of the green flag being shown.  Callum Herzig would also have been docked had he finished the race.  McLellan was understandably disappointed at the decision, but Weston was overjoyed at landing his first major title.  The final included a big burial of Sealy by Shevill though the latter used plenty of kerb to get to him and was duly disqualified.  511 Lexi Crosbie lost a wheel on the home straight leading to a caution and a trip to the medical centre for a check-up.  557 Corey Mathers got past 480 Ollie Sime to take the win with 550 Callum Herzig an impressive third.  Bailey Wilson impressed again as top red in fourth.  The Allcomers raised 22 cars and included a heavy fencing for Shevill by Sealy, who compounded the issue by veering off course to hit the stricken Shevill afterwards as well.  Sealy received the black flag and will no doubt be regretting the incident.  Wilson span and came to a halt driver’s side up entering turn one.  Having been given every chance to move, there was no alternative than to implement a caution late on in the race.  Mathers just drove away to beat Lomas and Sime.  522 Jacob Mikulla and 136 Shaun Boyle had their best runs all weekend to round out the top five as the battling continued to the end. An excellent day’s racing despite the incident in the last race.

Old Skool Superstox

A dozen nostalgic cars appeared, and that included 41 Jamie Nicholls out in the gold roofed Gordon McDougall replica.  66 Colin Fuller managed to hold off 417 Richard Hampshire for heat one with 546 Matthew Gray impressive from the back in third.  Strangely, Gray then appeared to lose all that pace in the other two races.  Heat two included 380 Jon Evans being spun by his brother 80 Jamie Evans.  Hampshire won from 721 David Coman and Jamie Evans.  Coman then had a great battle with 579 Clive Beecham in the final and got away for a fine win with 81 David Machin holding off Hampshire and 255 Lee Southon for third.  Six races over the weekend produced six different winners and lots of happy drivers showcasing replicas of assorted Superstox cars from the 1960s to the mid-1980s.  They certainly did exactly what they were booked to do and will be even better around Taunton in early July.