Photo Colin Casserley

The 2009 World Final venue, Kings Lynn, had the honour of staging this season’s final WCQR and over 40 cars arrived to do battle for all important points to determine the grid positions for the forthcoming semi final races.
As is the norm these days at the Norfolk Arena, proceedings were kicked off with a Whites and Yellows race which saw 16 cars take to the shale including (307) Tim Warwick showing off a new paintjob and signwriting on his car, and (192) Luke Dennis making his debut at the rear of the field. At the drop of the green flag, Graham Wagstaff (330) was first to show with Warwick close behind in second. Tom Hamer (47) was spun into the infield marker tyres exiting turn four at the end of lap one, as Wagstaff and Warwick continued to head the pack. Joe Booth (446) was the first yellow grade driver to challenge and dived up the inside of Warwick around turns one/two. The #446 and #307 cars clashed as they entered the back straight, resulting in both clipping the fence and allowing Chris Bonner (105) through into second spot. Wagstaff was looking strong and continued to lead as the 5 lap marker was shown, differing fortunes again for Hamer however as he headed backwards into the fence on turn three. Bonner began to catch the raceleader as the track dried out and made his move through turns one/two with three laps to run, going on to secure victory from Wagstaff second and Booth third.
Result: 105-330-446-257-54-11-308-307-280-416.

HEAT 1

Heat 1 proper fielded 21 cars including rare visitor to Kings Lynn, Mal Brown (34) amongst the star grade drivers. Fellow star man, Dan Wainman (212) failed to make the start and was pushed onto the infield on the rolling lap. Pole starter Tim Warwick (307) failed to make a clean start as the flag dropped, and as the field bunched up behind him, Dave Muckian (416) headed the cars into lap 1. Wagstaff found his was into the fence on turn one as Muckian took advantage of a clear track in front of him from Mark Peters (231) and Warwick in third. Mat Newson (16) was flying from the back of the pack and placed fourth by lap three. Peters lead briefly, overhauling Muckian, but Newson made sure that lead was shortlived, by easing past the #231 car through turns one and two a lap later. Warwick’s bad luck continued as he had a look at the fence on turn three. At half distance, Newson had a comfortable lead from Peters and Paul Hines (259). Hines and British Champion Stuart Smith Jnr (390) were quickly passed Peters, with the #390 car passing Hines for second down the far side with 5 to run. Mal Brown pulled off with a flat tyre with 2 to go, as Smith began closing down the #16 machine. Newson closed out the race unchallenged, Smith having to settle for second, with Hines coming home third. Mark Peters was docked two places for jumping the start.
Result: 16-390-259-21-2-107-288-231-73-105.

HEAT 2

20 cars for Heat 2 with Graeme Robson (267) the early race leader whist Joe Booth (446) and Andy Ford (13) both spun on turn two. A similar fate befell Frankie Wainman Jnr (515) at the end of lap one exiting turn four, John Lund (53) also being inconvenienced during the same incident and having to rejoin at the tail end of the field. Up front, Timmy Aldridge (257) had taken up lead position, with Craig Finnikin (55) well placed in second. As the Union Flag was shown, Aldridge and Finnikin had World Champion Andrew Smith (391) gaining fast. The #55 car took the lead through turns one/two and with 5 to go the order read Finnikin-Smith-Dan Johnson (4) and Aldridge down to 4th. Smith was on a charge and went past Finnikin on turn one with four to run, Johnson also passing the Leek based driver for second spot just two laps from home. Whilst Smith took a convincing win, Lund had recovered a lot of ground lost at the start of the race to place 7th as the chequered flag flew.
Result: 391-4-55-257-84-380-53-54-212-91.

CONSOLATION

16 cars ventured out of the pits for the consolation race featuring just one star driver, Mal Brown (34) and lone superstar driver FWJ (515). Graeme Robson got the drop on his fellow white grade drivers to grab the lead in the early laps with Tim Warwick and John Lawn (441) slotting into 2nd and 3rd places. Dave Willis (337) had one or two issues with the marker tyres on the home straight, as Mal Brown pulled off after suffering a second flat tyre in two races. Robson was helped into the fence on turn three, handing the advantage to Norfolk based Lawn from Murray Harrison (97) who was right on his rear bumper. Harrison took the lead on lap 7, with Lawn coming under pressure from a rapid Joe Booth (446). Booth went past the #441 car on turn two with 4 laps remaining, Andy Ford doing likewise a lap later. Booth got it wrong through turn two and half spun, taking FWJ (515) with him and delaying Lawn. Lawn’s race went from bad to worse soon after as he clobbered the fence on turn three and appeared to be collected by Willis. No such distractions for Murray Harrison though, who went on to take an easy win from Andy Ford and Neil Scriven (11)
Result: 97-13-11-12-515-307-136-337-280-NOF.

FINAL

27 cars made the feature final. Lone white grade driver Warwick leading them away, as John Lund (53) became an early casualty being spun out on turns one/two by Lee Robinson (107). Hayley Parkinson (54) overhauled the #307 car to take the lead on lap 3, with Andy Ford (13) and Neil Scriven (11) well placed. Paul Hines (259) turned it around exiting turn four and had an excellent view of the racing line as Parkinson continued to lead from Ford and Steven Cayzer (380) in third. Newson (16) was on a charge again and soon placed 4th, the shale car proving to be extremely competitive on the drying track and he quickly found himself passing Cayzer and Ford for second place. Parkinson’s lead was on borrowed time as Newson quickly closed down the Preston based driver and went through into the lead down the far side. Ford got into difficulties exiting turn two and was spun, resulting in being clipped by the #515 car causing the Silsden based driver to suffer a puncture. With just five to go, the order read Newson from Parkinson from Cayzer. Hayley, after a sterling drive, began slipping down the placings as Cayzer and Michael Scriven (12) filled the other two podium places behind Newson who went on to take a well deserved win, which saw a welcome change of luck for the Norwich based driver so far as his shale form has been this season. Cayzer and Scriven completing the top three with Andy Smith (391) fourth.
Result: 16-380-12-391-390-84-97-107-54-2.
Hayley Parkinson was docked two places for a jumped start.

GRAND NATIONAL

The final F1 race of the night, the traditional Grand National Championship qualifier, saw a 30 car field with final winner Mat Newson taking the handicap from the front of the grid. Tom Hamer (47) and Dave Muckian (416) lead them away as Dan Johnson (4) and Tony Smith (91) tangled on the home straight and had a look at the infield marker tyres. Chris Bonner (105) found himself in lead position at the end of lap one as Steve Jacklin (136) and Muckian bounced the armco on the scoreboard turn. Bonner lead from Hamer and Joe Booth with Murray Harrison (97) again well placed. Harrison soon found himself in second place passing Booth through turns one and two as the waved yellows were called for, Tony Smith requiring attention on the home straight infield. The restart read 105-97-136-380-446-259. As the race got under way, a second bout of yellows were required soon after as Jacklin and Andy Ford (13) had gone in hard on turn three. This time the restart order was 105-97-259-55-515-53. A bizarre incident occured under the waved yellows as Mike Kingston (188) T-boned Simon Panton (288) entering turn three as Mr Starter was preparing to send them around again due to an untidy grid order under caution. After a short delay in freeing the cars from turn three, the race got underway again with Bonner quickly being overhauled by Harrison and Hines entering turn one. A 4 car pile up featuring some of the fancied runners delayed drivers exiting turn 4 and just as that incident had seemed to clear itself, the waved yellows were called for a third time, for reasons not immediately apparent from my vantage point anyway (too much shale dust in my eyes probably!!). On the restart it was Hines leading from Wainman with Newson up to third from the handicap, and a maximum points haul with three straight victories began to look a real possibility. Craig Finnikin had other ideas however, and shoved both #16 and #515 fencewards on turn one/two as they took the green flag again. A tremendous scrap was ensuing between most of the top six cars with bumpers being liberally used and drivers were bouncing off the fence through turns one/two lap after lap. At chequered flag time, Paul Hines held off a high quality field of drivers behind to claim a popular win from Smith, Wainman, Lund and a hard charging Finnikin in fifth spot.
Result: 259-391-515-53-55-105-12-97-11-2.

A Zang