Smeatharpe Stadium - Sunday 5th June 2011

A jam-packed pit area at Smeatharpe saw almost 120 drivers present for the circuit's latest race meeting, which was headlined by the first ever staging of the British Championship for the Autospeed Bangers, and they served up ten races themselves, in a mixture of skilfull racing and some chaotic crashing.

Bangers

Somewhere in the region of 80 drivers contested the British Championship for Autospeed Bangers, with 242 Ben Ellacott coming out on top to lift the title.
The imaginative format saw four qualifying heats at the start of the day, with the added bonus of a front row start in the Semi Finals for the heat winners.  991 Ben Hale, 475 Ben Sealy, 247 Richard Sparks and 242 Ben Ellacott each claimed a heat win.
The non-qualifiers had a second chance to progress to the Semi Finals, by way of the two consolation races, and these were duly won by 929 Sam Baker and 607 Gary Sillifant.
Each Semi Final saw 26 cars on the grid, and in the first of them, 246 Ryan Sparks came from the third row to get ahead of Hale and take the win, leading home 113 Chris Jeanes and 282 Steve Hunt when the flag fell.  In Semi Final two, Richard Sparks was away too quickly and was later docked two places to drop him from second to fourth - a decision he sportingly accepted.  However, it was Ellacott who kept up his fine run to take the victory, as 415 Sean Gillett and 677 Glenn Nash were elevated into second and third.
Semi Final winners Ellacott and Ryan Sparks indulged in a flip of a coin to determine who would earn the inside line for their Semi Final, with Ellacott calling correctly.  From pole position, he charged clear and looked to be in complete command.  However, very late on, Ellacott was hampered by a backmarker who blew a radiator hose right in front of him.  As Ellacott momentarily slid on the damp track, Ryan Sparks found himself with a glimmer of a chance to mount a challenge.  The cars connected and went sideways in the west bend, before Ellacott again got back in control, to still lead as the last lap board appeared.  Sparks tracked Ellacott on the final lap, but in the last bend, he must have considered himself just out of range to be able to go for the lunge.  Ellacott rounded the pits bend to clinch the win and take the British title, with the Sparks brothers, Ryan and Richard, in second and third respectively.
The Allcomers race was heavily populated, and featured some over-the-top crashing.  When the race did settle down, 117 Ollie Starr just managed to pip Sillifant in the closing stages to end a compelling day of good racing from the Autospeed Bangers.

Saloon Stock Cars

The Saloon Stock Cars made their final tarmac track appearance in England ahead of the National Championship Speed Weekend at Smeatharpe on 18/19 June, and 120 Shane Brown, again showed that he will take some beating, if any driver has designs on relieving him of the National title.
Former National Points Champion 219 Luke Grief did head Brown home in the opening heat.  Grief, who has been in great form of late, made a good break from the star grade, and proved uncatchable once he had grabbed the lead.  In heat two, Grief and Brown clashed, just as the yellow flags were appearing for the stricken 995 Ben Goddard.  Brown responded to being spun the wrong way, but spinning Grief the right way, once the race resumed, as he led home fellow local racers 199 Phil Powell and 100 Ian Govier.  The final turned into a pursuit race, with 118 Ian Harris making an excellent getaway from the front of the grid.  Harris led and led and led, but with just two laps to go, Brown caught and overhauled him, whilst Grief did likewise on the final lap.  Nonetheless, Harris held on for a superb third place finish.

Stock Rods

The non-contact Stock Rods turned out in their droves, with a magnificent showing of 27 cars.  However, as is often the way with so many cars, the racing did become a little fractious at times, and there was quite a high level of damage during the course of the day.
Heat wins went the way of 30 Rob Peters, 909 Justin Washer and 46 Shane Hector, who had actually crossed the line first in the second heat, but was docked two places for his role in 184 Lawrence Tye striking the back straight safety fence.
There was a bizarre moment during the STR Logistics Stock Rod final, when nearly half of the field slowed down for two cars that had tangled at the pit gate, as if anticipating a caution period.  However, the cars were well out of harm's way, and were each looking to rejoin.  So, with the leaders hesitating, a couple of drivers from the middle order took full advantage.  In particular, 34 Glenn Sanders kept up his speed, and overtook many cars in a brilliant surge to the front.  Hector gave chase for a number of laps, before Sanders pulled clear.  Visiting star 136 Steve Gooch completed the top three.