Smeatharpe Stadium - Monday 6th May 2013

The Mayday weekend sunshine blazed in a clear sky above Smeatharpe, as four formulas served up some Bank Holiday entertainment.

National Bangers

This year’s Spring Open Championship doubled up as the first ever Money For Meningitis event.  As a further bonus, World Championship points were at stake.  Astonishingly, with so much on offer, a large number of drivers failed to honour their bookings, leaving 26 eager competitors, which equated to a £260 contribution to the Meningitis charity fund, from promoters Autospeed.
The first race was thus the main event – open to all drivers and what an action-packed event they served up.  133 Terry Hill despatched 311 Simon Rogers, and 81 Matt Buckland caused some early mayhem in the pits bend.  183 Tim Dunn blasted 241 Nick Thorne, but when 99 David Spooner clobbered Dunn, that was to trigger a terrific train of hits.  97 Craig Deer hit Spooner, and then in weighed 162 Brett Ellacott.  Buckland blasted Ellacott, and 556 Pete Hollis parked in the back of Buckland.  Next in was 282 Lee Treasurer.  In thundered 650 Jamie Seery, who was then hit by 341 Andrew Jones.  Every driver opted to join the growing queue, with not one of them driving past.  333 Craig Partridge hit Jones, which exposed the rear end of the Seery car, and 190 Steve Bailey obliged.  239 Steve Carter hit Bailey, 114 Nick Courtier ran into Carter, and 583 Dan Weeks was last into the train.  Amidst the blockage, drivers fought to extricate themselves.and first to break free was Treasurer.  Significantly, that put him well clear in the lead.  Courtier got out of the pile, too, but was a long way back on Treasurer.  Next time around, Bailey administered a thumping blast on Hollis, and Courtier barged Bailey out of the way in his pursuit of the leader.  However, with only a small number of cars circulating, there was little action in the second half of the race, and Treasurer brought his battered car home for the win, with Courtier and Weeks completing the top three at the end of a wonderful race; one which brought a hearty round of applause from the crowd when the red flags brought it to a halt.
At the start of the first Allcomers race, 997 Cameron May blasted 128 Mark Atkins into the pits bend wall, and Deer sent Buckland into Jones.  Dunn was carried along in a gaggle of cars on the home straight which ended with Dunn rolling over in the west bend.  Spooner homed in on May, in the pits bend, and as the reds appeared for Dunn, who was shaken in the rollover, Seery blasted Spooner.  In the re-run, Ellacott gave 50 Neil Rogers a couple of high speed trips around the plating, and Bailey ran Courtier all the way to the pits bend wall.  As Bailey still held hold of Courtier on the home straight, 47 Marcus A’Lee joined in and spun Bailey around.  A’Lee then vanished into the infield marker tyres at the end of the back straight, having been half-deposited there by Jones.  Little action followed, and 10 Paul Whiteman took the win – rather fittingly on a day that he had done so much to co-organise.
Allcomers 2 saw Ellacott try hard to bury 333 Craig Partridge, but the latter defended the attack well.  Jones rattled Neil Rogers around the plating in the west bend, which saw Rogers deposit himself into the already stationary car of Whiteman.  First Jones, and then Ellacott, took Deer for a wild ride, which left the Cornish youngster stranded in the pits bend, whereupon he was alarmingly struck very hard in the driver’s door by Seery.  Mercifully, Deer was able to get himself out of the car after a respite period, and the crowd cheered their approval (and relief) that he was not injured.  Just a few laps remained for the restart, which was won by 74 Adam Hitchcock.
Six cars emerged for the DD, which had to be halted when Neil Rogers was shaken up by two simultaneous hits.  Gladly, he was fine, and when the event resumed, it was Jones who finished off the rest, landing the last two telling hits on Whiteman.

Saloon Stock Cars

A cosmopolitan entry of Saloon Stock cars assembled, including 217 Sid Madgwick from East Anglia, 401 Steve Webster from Yorkshire and 618 Stuart Shevill, who had journeyed overnight from Scotland, after winning the Raymond Gunn Tribute event at Cowdenbeath over the weekend.  916 Luke Thomas made a Saloon Stock Car debut, becoming the latest driver to ‘guest’ at the wheel of the Cliff Friend car.  Heat one came down to a thrilling finish, as Webster overhauled 315 Tristan Claydon and looked to have sealed the win.  However, Claydon had other ideas and dived at Webster on the last bend.  Webster went wide, Claydon took the inside line, and both drivers scrambled for the line, with Webster winning by a very tiny margin.  In heat two, 911 Ian Harris led all the way to the closing stages.  Claydon again clashed with Webster, but this time, Claydon managed to blast Webster very wide, and that was enough for Claydon to go on to grab the lead and clinch a fine victory.  The final saw Harris spun to the infield on the back straight, after Thomas had swept past to grab the lead.  Thereafter, Thomas proceeded to edge clear and build up a big lead.  World Champion 1 Eddie Darby emerged as the main threat to Thomas and he got closer and closer as the laps ticked by.  However, on the final lap, Darby was still too far out of range, and Thomas afforded a celebratory air punch on the back straight even before he had taken the chequered flag to secure a maiden win on his debut.  More celebrations followed as Thomas performed donuts on the infield.  Darby was second and 120 Shane Brown was third.  What next for Thomas?  Having raced Bangers, Stock Rods and BriSCA F2s, surely a Saloon Stock Car career awaits…

Stock Rods

The non-contact Stock Rods were back in action, after their English Championship last month.  627 Wayne Purkess led them away in the first heat, but it was 437 Lewis Trickey who charged through to hit the front and claim a convincing win.  Stock Rod newcomer 7 Matt Horwell did similar in the final, and he was a huge distance clear when the race was suspended in the closing stages, after 730 Brendon Sealy ground to a halt on the home straight.  That brought the pack right up to Trickey, but he only had a handful of laps to hold on for a maiden win.  Clumsily, Horwell made a flyer of a start, revving up long before the green flag, and thus it was no surprise to see him black crossed.  Horwell stayed ahead of the rest to the chequered flag, but was subsequently (and inevitably) docked two places.  That elevated Trickey to first place, whilst 909 Justin Washer also received a two place docking for shoving 12 Kev Hockings wide, and so 71 Andrew Harvey was promoted to second, with Horwell third – some consolation to still be in the trophy positions having led almost the whole of the race.  Sealy made no mistake in the Grand National to power to a commanding win, but there was an untidy finish to the race when Washer, 92 Adam Daniels and 9 Chris Drake all collided and slid over the finish line and on to the infield, with Washer being disqualified for his part in that incident.

Ministox

There was an appearance from 925 Amy Collett, to shove numbers up to 13, but again, the paucity of cars made for some rather ordinary racing.  907 Cameron Lawrence picked up where he left off at St Day the previous day, by winning the opening heat, ahead of 910 Tom Cadby.  There were a couple of race suspensions in heat two, which led to Lawrence outpacing 989 Joe Marquand on the final restart.  The final, for the Club 21 annual trophy, saw Cadby build up a big lead.  Lawrence broke clear of the chasing pack, and continued to eat away at the gap to Cadby.  On the final lap, Cadby looked sufficiently clear, but Lawrence still gamely attempted a last bend challenge.  Lawrence missed, and clattered off the plating, as Cadby held on to win, and Marquand completed the top three.