RTS Swaffham 17 August 2025

ROLLING THUNDER SHOW

Swaffham Raceway

Sunday 17 August 2025

We’d missed a couple of the regular Rolling Thunder Show Saturday events, with lots of clashing commitments at this time of year, but the mid-August meeting was a two-dayer so, although we had somewhere else to be (that couldn’t have been more of a contrast!) on the Saturday, we were able to take a quick trip across the fens to the Sunday portion of the meeting.

We left the sunshine at home to be treated to some typical East Coast weather; muggy, humid and overcast, with the addition of some very ripe Norfolk smells in the air! Focusing on the track action though, unfortunately for us two of the scheduled classes, the Front Wheel Drive Hot Rods and the Junior 1-litre Hot Rods, had opted to race on Saturday only, leaving a five formula programme (which became six!) for Sunday, four of these starting the day with the East Anglian Championship races, with grids based on Saturday’s heats.

The headline formula for the weekend was the 1-LITRE STOCK CARS, whose mainly southern-based drivers were making their second, and last, visit of the year to Swaffham. The East Anglian Championship race lined up with Luke “Reggie” Martindale having earned pole in the heats, alongside Ross Dyer, with Colin Wilkinson, Craig Taylor, Kellie Weeks and Jessica Rose Lee completing the top six qualifiers in the fifteen-car field. Reggie took off straight into the lead and dominated the 20-lap race, the only one able to contact his back bumper being Kellie Weeks, who dropped through the field as her car started cutting out, but had it briefly come to life just as Reggie lapped her! Luke Tombs made up several places to take second in front of Colin Wilkinson and Sam Lambert, with Rhys Mills and Craig Taylor completing the top six. Mateus Jasinski took seventh, with Ross Dyer recovering from being turned round in the middle of the pack on the second lap, taking eighth from Rich Webb and Jessica Lee. Joe McConnachie-Brown and Gavin Delpinto completed the finishers; Kellie Weeks finally retired, joining Ross Hocking, while George McConnachie-Brown was a non-starter.

The Micras then had two normal heats and a final, starting in graded order. After Gavin Delpinto led away, Mateus Jasinski led most of the way in the first heat, under constant pressure from Ross Dyer. As the three lap board came out Luke Martindale was catching them fast and Reggie went for the inside to pass both leaders in one move, coming out the winner from Ross and Mateuz, with Sam Lambert heading the rest of the pack in fourth.

The second heat saw some hectic use of the bumpers in the early laps, although these Micras are almost impossible to spin out when the driver keeps his boot down and gets straight back into the action. One casualty was Sam Lambert, who kicked up the dust on the infield before rejoining the traffic, but this all helped Luke Martindale get through from the back of the field even quicker, emerging in third by lap six and then closing on leader Ross Dyer before taking the lead with three laps to go. Reggie won again with Ross Hocking just snatching second from Ross Dyer and Luke Tombs, while Kellie Weeks rejoined after missing the previous race and took a very competitive fifth place.

The final race of the weekend was led away again by Gavin Delpinto, soon passed by Ross Dyer, who held on in front nearly all the way, with Luke Martindale having to work harder to get through the traffic this time. With two laps to go Reggie was through to second and Ross’ engine sounded as though it was starting to misfire as Reggie went through to complete his clean sweep of wins, with Ross second from Sam Lambert. Kellie Weeks held fourth until the last lap when she was swamped by the next bunch, with Ross Hocking taking fourth, Kellie sandwiched between Craig Taylor and Luke Tombs and Rhys Mills right behind. Then came Mateus Jasinski, Rich Webb, Joe and George McConachie-Brown, with Gavin Delpinto getting spun out and Jessica Lee’s car cutting out.

The NINJA KARTS opened the day with their East Anglian Championship, in which Frankie Read and Albie Santry lined up on the front row of the 13-strong grid, with Freddie Taber and Alfie Cole right behind. Albie led away and held the lead for four laps before Freddie saw a gap on the inside of the pits bend and took the lead. Frankie followed him into second, holding off Alfie Cole and Kian Waller-Barrett and the battle continued to the last lap, with Freddie Taber taking the flag to add another title to his record, while Alfie Cole snatched second on the last lap from Frankie Read and Kian Waller-Barrett. Riley Lynn came home fifth and then Albie Challis held off Albie Santry and Logan Dixon, with south coast visitor Alfred-James Garrett in ninth and Oakley Mace beating Olly Rainer, Daisy Mace and Finley Martindale for the remaining places.

The second race lined up in reverse order from the championship race, leading to a very hectic first lap in which Albiie Santry and Alfie Cole tangled, bringing out the day’s only red flag. From the restart Riley Lynn burst through from the third row to head the pack and he held on in front of the side-by-side Alfie Cole and Albie Challis, with Freddie Taber and Frankie Read coming through to join the fight. In the end Riley held off Alfie, Freddie, Albie and Frankie across the line, with Kian Waller-Barrett just beating Logan Dixon for sixth.

The day’s final was the only race to start in graded order and Albie Santry held on in front until after half way, chased by Alfred-James Garrett with Frankie Read and Kian Waller-Barrett quickly catching up. Lapping backmarkers Frankie made thr right move to come out in front and he then went on to win, with the next five tied together over the line, roughly in the order Albie Santry, Kian Waller-Barrett, Alfie Read and Freddie Taber, with Alfred-James Garrett, Olly Rainer, Riley Lynn and Albie Challis equally close to complete the top ten.

Next out for their East Anglian Championship was the JUNIOR SCREAMERS, a class that’s seen quite a turnover of drivers this year. We’ve counted 25 entries at various times and eight of them lined up, with Logan Wick’s Corsa and Jaxon Skoyles’ Micra having earned the front row spots. Logan led the first couple of laps with Jaxon trying hard round the outside, but as they caught a backmarker Jaxon switched to the inside and grabbed the lead, then holding off Logan for the rest of the fifteen laps to add the Skoyles name to another trophy. Connor Broomfield brought his Corsa home third and William Eve, with his Corsa boiling up at the end, just held off Sam Cannon’s Fiesta for fourth. Daisy Martin’s pink Micra dropped back from an early third place and took sixth in front of fellow Micra drivers Oliver Felgate and Charlie Cook.

The second race was led nearly all the way by Samuel Cannon, with Logan Wick, Jaxon Skoyles and Conor Broomfield all closing up. Going into the last lap Sam locked up and ran wide, dropping to fourth as Logan took a close win from Jaxon and Connor, with Daisy Martin and Oliver Felgate close behind the lead battle. William Eve had switched to a Suzuki Swift for this race but had to pull off.

After Oliver Felgate led the final away, William Eve, now in his third car of the day (another Corsa) took over and led almost to the end, only for Connor Broomfield to squeeze by on the last corner to take it from Alfie, with Oliver holding third from Logan Wick, Sam Cannon, Jaxon Skoyles and Daisy Martin, while new boy Charlie Cook had a good drive to stay out of trouble in eighth.

The SCRAPYARD SCREAMERS have picked up support this year and ten cars lined up for their championship race, headed by Elise Broomfield in a Corsa and Swaffham Banger regular Danny Elton, in a Civic. Danny led this one all the way, with Elise holding off Chris Wick’s Astra and Dean Cook, sharing young Charlie’s Micra, for second. Colin Cator’s Corsa beat Steven Willgress’ three-wheeling Fiesta for fifth, with the field completed by Harley Johnson’s Micra, Kerry Thurgill’s Ka, Fletcher Tarling in the Suzuki Swift and Mike Green’s Vectra, which ended up on the infield.

A few of the Screamers then decided they’d be Bangers for the rest of the day, so it was a slightly different grid for the second race, led for much of the way by Dean Cook until Chris Wick got by, Chris winning as Dean held off Steven Willgress for second. Colin Cator beat Elise Broomfield and Mike Green in the next places, with Kerry Thurgill holding off Martin Broomfield in a Hyundai Matrix – lucky he left the badges on as we wouldn’t have had a clue what it was!

Steven Wilgress led the final away, but Chris Wick was soon in front and went on to win with Steven second. Elise Broomfield, Dean Cook and Kerry Thurgill had a close race for third and Colin Cator, Martin Broomfield and Mike Green were equally close in the other places.

The LIGHTNING RODS had their “gold roof” race on Saturday, but four cars stayed on to race on Sunday. Kev Goddard has been getting steadily quicker through the year, and this time couldn’t be caught in the two heats as the other three battled between themselves. Mark Collins beat Nathan Tupper and Tyler Younger in the first race, but Nathan got through for second next time. For the final Kev was upgraded from yellow to blue and, with a few extra laps, this time he did get caught, but only by Nathan as Mark and Tyler had tangled, with Tyler’s bonnet flipping over his screen. Coming onto the back straight on the last lap Nathan had his nose on the inside, but Kev was a bit sideways, and they came together, spinning Kev as Nathan took the flag well ahead of the recovering Mark.

A last-minute addition to the programme was B2B BANGERS, letting some of the drivers signed in in the Screamers have another outing, apparently because they were finding non-contact racing too stressful! Stuart Barton only came out in these races in his Micra and got in the way often enough that it finished the day extremely squashed. Danny Elton beat Colin Wick in a close battle in the first race, while second time out Danny beat Colin again, but only after Harley Johnson’s Micra led most of the way. The final was gridded up as another championship race and Danny Elton’s Civic led all the way, but had time for a few diversions to wallop other cars. Shaun Ward had fetched a Vectra to put in a very late entry for this one and managed to take and deliver some hard hits, with the remains of Stuart Barton’s Micra being the most popular target. Harley Johnson took second and Kerry Thurgill third, but the finish was chaotic as half the drivers restarted for an impromptu DD. That ended in a head-on between Fletcher Tarling, who’d taken over the Hyundai Matrix, and Harley Johnson, with Fletcher awarded the win as Chris Wick’s car set fire to itself on the infield.

So it had been a bit different to a regular RTS meeting, but an entertaining day for all concerned!