United Downs Raceway - Sunday 26th May 2013

In bright sunshine, the annual Buses and Coaches day attracted a sizeable crowd to the United Downs Raceway, St Day, where charity was at the forefront of the occasion, with some significant fund raising efforts aimed at benefitting Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Buses and Coaches

A varied selection of minibuses, a Hoppa bus and a great big 53-seater coach assembled for the annual joust.  Pre-meeting, racegoers queued to pay £1 a time, to be on one of the vehicles for the Grand Parade, as part of the charity fund raising.
For the opening race, intrepid commentator Brian Goldsworthy gallantly strapped himself into the spare seat on the 998 Martin Knowles coach, and armed with radio mic, he was able to give an excitable running commentary as Knowles expertly sped from the back of the grid to the front.  There was even time for 999 Alan Vinson to roll on to his side.  Great work from all concerned, and Brian Goldsworthy’s noble efforts helped to swell the coffers for the charity.
Knowles also won the second race, despite the best intentions to hinder him, from 210 Mike Johns and 141 Toby Tiddy.
The end of meeting DD was a prolonged affair, and after more than 20 minutes of bashing, there were still three vehicles mobile.  Only Johns and 16 Simon Ferris had had to concede defeat, and thus, a three-way tie was called between Knowles, Tiddy and Vinson.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

Even though 526 Marc Rowe blew his engine to bits in practice, and 167 Bill Batten also encountered mechanical gremlins to sideline him from the meeting proper, there were still 23 drivers ready, willing and able to take part in the latest St Day fixture for the F2s, and they continued to serve up great entertainment, just as they have done all this season in the westcountry.
Heat one went to 676 Neil Hooper, who had made a good start to be in quickly on the tails of the blue graders in the opening stages.  627 Gary Sillifant enjoyed his best run yet, leading much of the way, and eventually grabbing fourth at the finish.
Whilst Hooper enjoyed another good run in heat two, he was unable to reel in 290 Jay Tomkins, who duly completed a remarkable set of heat wins at assorted venues in the month of May – Crimond, Knockhill and St Day – there are very few drivers who will boast that kind of a hat-trick.
Another Cornish driver who had made the long haul to Scotland, 302 Dale Moon, also took a win.  The youngster’s success came in heat three, as he won for the first time this season, ahead of St Day Track Championship leader 783 James Rygor and Sillifant, who thus improved on his previous best result, by scoring a third place this time.
785 Liam Deeble came to grief early on in the final, and he was the unfortunate bystander at the end of a bizarre chain of circumstances.  430 Simon Edwards waded in on Hooper entering the pits bend, which saw Hooper’s car have the throttle stick on.  That propelled Hooper into 745 Lee Morgan, who careered into the luckless Deeble, riding up and over the back of the 785 car in spectacular fashion.  A restart was needed, from which Rygor charged up the order, but he was still some way off from catching 605 Liam Rowe, who thus managed to successfully defend the Tyrone Snell Trailers trophy.
Rygor did claim a win, in the Grand National, as he headed home Moon, who posted his best points haul of the season.  Third went to 116 Ashley Rundle, who finally overcome an annoying misfire that had dogged his day up to that last race.

Stock Rods

The non-contact Stock Rods appeared in good numbers, with 20 drivers in attendance.  What’s more, the day’s trio of races each had a different winner.
555 Greg Radmore cruised to victory in the opening race for his first win of the season, with 151 Simon Vincent the runner-up.  The final brought a maiden victory for 71 Andrew Harvey, as he capitalised on a mistake early on in the race by Radmore.  From that point, Harvey charged clear, leaving Radmore to trail in second and 54 John Tait completed an all yellow grade top three.  Tait then took the Grand National for another runaway win, with 441 Tom Major his runner-up.

Bangers

Over 60 Bangers gathered for the prestigious Cornish Championship, and that helped ensure some healthy grids of cars.  There were 29 starters in heat one, which saw 321 Mark Johns roll in the turnstile bend early on, forcing a complete re-run.  The second attempt went the full distance, and 916 Luke Thomas stole the win from 185 Richard Coaker in the closing stages.  The second heat fielded 33 cars, and featured a spectacular, yet wayward, display from debutant 69 Stephen Clough.  Three drivers, 861 Jean-Marc Penaluna, 70 Jamie Thomas and 816 Martin Gill, each took a turn in the lead, but late on, former Stock Rod racer 25 Nick Lane showed an instant liking for the Bangers, as he hit the front and took the chequered, with returnee 28 Steve Linly home in second.  The consolation had 33 starters, led away by 907 Ben Sillifant and 994 Kirstin Stone, just searching for a bit of luck.  Sillifant proved uncatchable from there, and swept to a first Bangers victory, despite a caution period mid-race.  One non-starter for the title race thus saw 29 drivers take the green flag, and Jamie Thomas made his starting position at the front of the white grade, well and truly count.  He built up a huge lead, that was to serve him well later on.  With cars spinning in all directions, Thomas smartly picked a route through the chaos, and was still there when the last lap board came out.  In the pits bend, further hectic scenes ensued, as 121 Graham Peers rolled over, losing out on second place as a result.  Thomas saw out the lap to take the chequered, which was swiftly followed by red flags, to protect the upturned Peers.  Second and third went to the Sparks brothers – 247 Richard Sparks was second, and outgoing Cornish Champion 246 Ryan Sparks was third.  In the 32-car Allcomers, Ryan Sparks finally scored his first win of the season, but only eight finished the race, including new Cornish Champion Jamie Thomas in fifth, as he sealed the day for his finest hour.