ALL ENGLAND FINAL TO KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY
BRISCA F1 By Colin Casserley Organiser: Spedeworth Where: Foxhall Heath Raceway, Ipswich When: June 22 Starters: 31.
Ashley England kept up a family tradition when he won the final at Ipswich on Saturday night.
Both his grandfather, Alan England, and his father, Alan
Jr, had previously won at the Suffolk track. Alan Sr won back in July 1976.
Kelvin Hassell continued his run of good form and led the race from the drop of the green flag, opening up a sizable advantage from the chasing pack.
As the laps wound down, Daz Kitson began to close in on the leader with England a few car lengths back. Tom Harris broke away from the pack and also began to close in on the leading trio. It was a perfect justification of the handicapping system in BRISCA F1, as one car from each of the four grades was contesting for the win and, with five laps to go, it could have gone to any of the drivers.
England managed to muscle his way into the lead as the one lap to go board was displayed. He drove deep into the final turn and went a little wide expecting an assault from Hassell but the second-placed man hugged the kerb and came up on the inside of England. The duo raced off the final turn with England winning by half a car’s length.
England said: “With five to go I didn’t think I would be able to get second place from Kitson, let alone win it. But in those last few laps my car was handling well and I managed to get past Kitson cleanly and didn’t lose any time. I could see Hassell behind me going into the last turn so I went in as hard as I could, but he came up the inside and I just was able to hold him off.
“It was close, but I knew I was ahead of him when we went over the line. Although this is my third final win, this one means a lot to me as I remember watching my dad win here when I was younger.”
Kitson held off Harris to claim the final podium place.
Result
1 Ashley England; 2 Kelvin Hassell; 3 Daz Kitson;
4 Tom Harris; 5 Ryan Harrison; 6 John Fortune;
7 Frankie Wainman Jr; 8 Charlie Sworder; 9 Mat Newson; 10 Luke Davidson.