Ken Bridges wins the final of the Classic Stox meeting at Swaffham Raceway

Spalding-based Ken Bridges has made a winning return to stock car racing after a 28-year break.

The 60-year-old was victorious in final of the Classic Stox meeting that was held at Swaffham.

Bridges used to race Brisca Formula 2 stock cars at nearby tracks such as Boston and Skegness and in later years the long-gone Alwalton track in Peterborough in the Superstox class.

He retired from racing in 1994 and sold the stock car on.

Fast Forward to 2021 and, after hearing about his old car laying in a field near Bedford, he thought it would be a good idea to purchase it back and restore it to its former glory with the idea being to race at Swaffham in the recently formed Classic Stox class.

It’s a class of racing that represents the bygone days of Brisca F2, Spedeworth superstox and other similar type cars.

The Classic Stox class was started a few years ago by the late Steve Widdowson and Vince Manterfield and raced primarily at Swaffham Raceway.

Swaffham’s recent double meeting weekend saw the debut of the newly restored Ken Bridges car number 522 which was straight out of the workshop, with no previous practice or set up time until a few hours before the Saturday meeting.

Heat one saw Bridges battle from the rear of the grid from where he made up some places but didn’t quite make the placings.

Heat two and, starting to find the pace and gaps in the field, saw him rewarded with a second place.

The meeting final for the Classic Stox was hampered by the pouring rain, but Ken used to revel in the wet back in the day and convincingly took the lead with five laps remaining and went on to take the win.

Sunday’s meeting at Swaffham saw a bigger grid of cars for all the races.

Starting from the rear of the grid in all races, he scored a third place in heat two.

The meeting final was in honour of Classic Stox founder Widdowson who passed away last year.

Again, it was a busy and tricky race but Ken still found himself in a creditable third place and another trophy to take home.

Ken has had a lot of help in his return to the ovals from many quarters, but in particular Tickners Trailer from Terrington St John have been crucial in this happening.

Ken’s next meeting is at Swaffham on Sunday.