The second leg of Incarace’s F1 weekend saw the Big League make its only visit of the year to Hednesford Hills Raceway, and 28 cars attended although Paul Redfern (#252) and Stuart Smith (#390) failed to race, the latter having taken a knock at Birmingham the night before. After coming close the previous evening, Luke Davidson (#464) held on in front this time to take the Final.

Photo Colin Casserley

26 cars for heat one which was led off by Dave Plumbley (#393) until Neil Scriven (#11) took over, with Plumbley then fired into the fence by the pushing pack. Paul Hines (#259) was next to hit the wall as Matt Newson (#16) tangled briefly with Danny Wainman (#212) delaying the red tops. Robert Broome (#41) then got caught up with Dan Johnson (#4) to go into the wall, while further back Spencer Taylor (#498) and Lee Dimmick (#459) were enjoying a good battle but slid too wide and crashed into Broome’s stranded car, Chris Cowley (#37) also piling in for a stoppage. Davidson took up the lead for the restart but with two laps to go Andrew Smith (#1) was down the inside and away for the win to continue his successful weekend, Davidson and Scriven his placemen.
Result: 1-464-11-84-2-153-8-515-97-53.

Photo Colin Casserley

Down to 22 for the second heat with Plumbley again leading away as Matt Newson was T-boned by Hines with Dutch visitor Geert-Jan Keijzer (#H6) also crashing in, the caution flags flying to retrieve Hines who was stuck across the back straight. A complete restart ensued with Plumbley taken by Scriven for the lead once again as the bumpers were soon crashing in among the blues and reds. Tony Smith (#91) was fired in by Dimmick and Keijzer crashed into the back of him as Johnson flew through into the top three after just a few laps. Newson then took a hard hit from Junior Wainman (#515) which delayed Andy Smith as Paul Harrison (#2) sent Taylor out into the wall, while Johnson caught and passed Scriven with five laps to go and went on for the win ahead of Mick Harris (#8) who passed Scriven late on, the latter taking third.
Result: 4-8-11-464-459-2-84-462-515-217.

Photo Colin Casserley

Photo Colin Casserley

Broome was straight into the wall as the 21-car Final got underway as a good battle developed among the red grade allowing Davidson to chase Scriven for the lead. Mick Harris hooked up with Taylor with Johnson just avoiding them while Smith was having a hard time getting past the wall of battling reds in his midst as he fought to move up the order. Davidson finally forced his way down the inside of Scriven at turn three to lead with James Lund (#153) following him a lap later and these two pulled away, while Wainman and Smith were battling Scott Davids (#462) in the middle of the top ten. This allowed Davidson and Lund to escape for a blue top one-two, Johnson taking third just ahead of Scriven and Smith as Wainman was fired wide in the closing stages.
Result: 464-153-4-11-1-84-2-97-515-459.

Photo Colin Casserley

Sixteen cars returned for the GN with Scriven once more leading away as Taylor and Lee Fairhurst (#217) began to battle in the midfield. Fairhurst then took one from Michael Scriven (#12) sending him into Tom Harris (#84) and all three went into the wall, Harris recovering to fire hard into Fairhurst on the next turn to crowd approval. Smith then became involved in the battle as the exchange of bumpers continued for the rest of the race, but up front Neil Scriven controlled the pace and the Hednesford specialist rode out a last bend attack from Lund to take the victory, Johnson finishing third.
Result: 11-153-4-515-459-1-12-16-2-217.

Photo Colin Casserely

Dave Goddard