Smeatharpe Stadium - Sunday 23rd January 2011

A good crowd assembled at Smeatharpe's customary closed season fixture, on a cold but dry afternoon.

National Bangers

Over 70 2-litre National Bangers contested the Winter Open Championship.
In heat one, 282 Lee Treasurer headed home impressive newcomer 648 Jamie Smith.
Heat two featured some brutal action, notably in the pits bend, where 113 Aaron Brown buried race leader 190 Steve Bailey.  However, such was Bailey's huge lead over the rest, that he was able to extricate himself from the parking lot, and maintain his advantage.  Bailey even had time to wade back into the heap to blast 241 Liam Cracknell, before closing out the victory, as just eight cars went the distance.
The flag fell in the consolation, on 181 Grant Doe, but he failed post-race scrutineering (tyres), and that handed the win to 747 Liam Martin.
Twenty five drivers lined up for the Winter Open, and in a random draw, the first five rows were sent around to the back of the pack, leaving 190 Bailey and last year's winner 10 Paul Whiteman on the front row of the grid.  Bailey and Whiteman disputed the early lead, until Bailey edged clear, chased by 446 Jason Burt.  As the race moved into the final third, 66 Dave Spooner was spun by 514 Marty Eighteen, and was then t-boned by 70 Ant Long.  Spoons was shook up in the crash, and required medical attention.  The restarted last phase of the race was relatively uneventful, as Bailey eased clear of Burt.  They finished one and two, with 162 Brett Ellacott just ousting Whiteman for third on the last lap.
The Allcomers was brought to a premature conclusion, when 331 Boxer Jack ran in 614 Chris Hide, who was shaken up.  05 Carlos Perez was the race leader at the time of the red flags being shown.
In the DD, 176 Ben King won himself the Top Entertainer award as the only non-Midnight Runner on the grid, and he gallantly landed a couple of blows, before being finished off in the pits bend.  70 Ant Long went on to win, after seeing off his running mate 60 Kyle Stephenson, and 88 Josh Fuller.

Stock Rods

Seventeen Stock Rods contested their Winter Supreme Championship - just one car fewer than at the corresponding opening Smeatharpe meeting of last year.
The first heat saw 92 Adam Daniels lead home 34 Glenn Sanders, whilst Points Champion 37 Barry Trickey took heat two, with 39 Daniel Hunn (the day's only visiting driver, who was also making his track debut), the runner-up.
Trickey and Daniels shared the front row of the title race.  Indeed, they contested the early lead, but could not shake off the impressive Hunn, who duly overhauled the two Smeatharpe regulars.  Hunn proceeded to carve out a good lead for himself, and just when he needed to be at his best in the closing stages, he picked a smart path through the backmarkers, to secure the victory, ahead of Trickey and Daniels.

Ministox

Each of the day's three races for the youngsters was won by a different driver, as the honours and spoils were neatly shared out.  979 Paul Moss  took the opening heat, and 932 Sam Moore sped to victory in heat two.  In the Auto Dump sponsored final, 989 Joe Marquand overhauled long time leader 986 Sophie Fasey to hit the front.  Points Champion 991 Ryan Hoskin progressed up the order into second, but Marquand was unflustered at the front, and held on to win.