Smeatharpe Stadium - Sunday 27th January 2013

The 2013 Winter Open for 2 Litre National Bangers was one of the most eagerly anticipated National Banger meetings at the Devon raceway for many a season - particularly as Unlimited cc National Bangers were also on the programme for the first time at this event. It had all the hype of a major championship - and a pre-booking list to match but with many days of horrendous weather leading up to race day, it was at times doubtful whether the meeting would take place at all. Absolutely superb efforts were made by track staff to get the stadium in useable shape in the week prior to the meeting and as the big day arrived we all stood back and wondered if it was all going to be worth the effort.......... We needn't have worried, the 2013 Winter Open was an absolute cracker !!

Of the expected entry, 84 2 Litre National Bangers and 23 Unlimited cc National Bangers actually arrived and filled the crowded pit area. Among the entrants were a large number of 'Smeatharpe Virgins' - including a ten-strong team of Gladiators from a place called Essex.......... So, to the racing.

2 Litre National Bangers

A huge crowd of crash-happy race fans filled the stadium and the rain had eased off by the time the 26 2 litre cars came out for heat 1, though the track itself was very wet and slippery. There was plenty of action from the off with a big pile-up on turn 2 which surprisingly included the Cougar of 331 Jason 'Boxer Jack' Jackson - the Autospeed World Champion taking a big portion from 99 David 'Bam' Spooner. Almost everyone then decided to steam into the mass of bent cars and for a moment it seemed as if there would be no finishers but eventually a way was found through and it was Romford's 2 Georgie Lee that had the honour of winning the first race of the season, from 10 Paul Whiteman. 29 starters for heat 2 which included 6 of the infamous Gladiator team - and 4 of their regular sparring partners the Cream Team. Not surprisingly these two groups kept the crowd entertained throughout the race, exchanging at times severe blows in an effort to wipe each other out - as they did throughout the afternoon - winning no races but the admiration of everyone (especially me !) with big hits, big smiles and more handshakes than an oscar award ceremony. It was emotional. 282 Lee Treasurer kept his head in this one to take the win, but the star of the show was 162 Brett 'Bad Boy' Ellacott, the DWO man spinning out almost everyone he came across on his way to an excellent 2nd place from his back row start. Heat 3 fielded 26 cars and was another hard-hitting affair from the start. A big pile-up on the pit-bend brought out the red flags after one of the Gladiator boys ended up on 2 wheels perched on the bonnet of the 330 Matthew Warr car. Just 14 survived to take the complete re-run which was a little tame, 382 Jack Foster Jnr a cut above the rest taking the win, from long time leader 67 Ricky Beasley. The consolation saw an amazing 40 cars out on track and included three cars that hadn't made it out in the heats and 331 Boxer Jack who had managed to straighten his bent Cougar from heat 1. With so many cars it was always going to be entertaining and as the Gladiators and Cream Team renewed hostilities it was difficult to see who was doing what to who and where. Two laps in and the red flags came out for a pit-bend fire in the 74 car of Adam 'Scratchy' Hitchcock, who up until then had been particularly lively. 22 cars made the complete re-run and once again the action came thick and fast with another big pile-up on the pit-bend. 239 Steven Carter managed to avoid the carnage to take the win, from World Champ 331 Jackson.

The 2013 Winter Open Final saw all 30 qualifiers out on track - including 4 of the Glads' and 3 Cream Teamsters and while they contested their own 'race' the rest of the field set about the business of piling up their cars at each end of the raceway!  331 'Boxer Jack' was a victim once more, getting wiped out again on turn 2 as the big hits went in - including a heavy pile-up on the start/finish straight which almost everyone seemed to want a part in. While all about were losing theirs 162 Brett Ellacott was keeping his head and lapping as if on rails, the old boy from Tedburn St Mary (a posh hamlet just outside Exeter) driving superbly, as he had done all afternoon, and it wasn't long before the Cougar mounted star relieved early leader 67 Ricky Beasley at the front and indeed went on to take a thoroughly deserved victory, lifting the first major Autospeed title of the season.  Beasley put in a quality drive for 2nd, with local star 239 Steven 'Nemesis' Carter avoiding all temptation to bring his car home in 3rd. A proper Banger race with huge hits and action aplenty - unusual in a title event these days - and plenty of smiles and handshakes at the end. After the lavish (!) celebrations and trophy presentations worthy winner Ellacott stopped on the pit-bend and handed his trophy to a wheelchair bound lad in the crowd (a well-loved Smeatharpe regular) in a wonderful sporting gesture typical of him and his DWO team mates. Respect.

The Allcomers race is traditionally a destructive event and this early season one proved no different. 30 cars made it out - quite amazing really after the heavy damage sustained throughout the afternoon - and from the green flag it was action all the way. 262 Robert Bugler started things off by putting 239 Carter in hard and fast on the pit-bend, wrecking the DWO car, and this was how it went on until the red flags came out, with 2 laps left to run, for a problem somewhere within the huge pile-up that had formed on turns 3 and 4 after 333 Craig Partridge had railroaded in Beasley.  Thereafter, 100 Alec Jenner blitzed Partridge, and in turn, was clobbered hard by  637 Dan Smith.  The race result was declared and it was Foster Jnr that was awarded the win - his second of the afternoon. 10 Paul Whiteman was the runner-up in this one

The last event of the day was the King of Crash/DD and a remarkable 28 cars ventured out of the pit-area for one final crash. Yes it was dark and yes it was cold but this did little to deter the starters and when the green flag waved it was mayhem. The Gladiator/Cream Team battle was superbly entertaining enough, with drivers waving each other in - with thumbs up from all on impact - but the big hits were everywhere and it was difficult to keep on top of it and to see everything – such was the quality and quantity of action.  At the end it came down to 2 cars - 262 Robert Bugler and 732 Danny Stroud (though I thought the latter had stopped earlier on whereas Bugler had been lively throughout) and a draw was declared and the spoils shared. The curtain then came down on the 2013 Winter Open meeting - and everyone went home happy!!                 

Unlimited National Bangers

This was the first time the big unlimited cars had been included on the Winter Open programme, among the entry were 'used' Mk 2 Granadas for 714 Paul 'No Show' Smaldon, 269 Rob ‘The Roof’ Houghton and returnee 99 'The Cheat' Richie Ahern - with 7 Jamie Charles a smart 'used' Mk1. The Jaguar list included a smart 'S Type/Daimler Sovereign' for 109 Paul Forbes and 162 Brett Ellacott in the seriously quick Mk10 he used so well at the Ipswich World Final and Birmingham Champion-of-Champions meetings.  'Wierdo-in-White' 920 Simon Sparrow debuted a 1980s Chrysler Imperial which he (and mechanic 'Spider') had converted to RHD, whilst strangest machine was the Volvo 'Van' of 1 David Thomas.  After an initial false start race one got underway with the first action a severe follow-in on the 920 Chrysler by 162 Ellacott on the pit-bend, the unfortunate Sparrow's day ending almost before it had really begun, which was a shame. As regards other action 747 Liam Martin was doing his best to entertain, hooking out the flying 99 Ahern among others who had been involved in an excellent wheel-to-wheel dice with Ellacott at the time.  239 Steven Carter, back after a 3 month suspension, went on to take the win in what was a fast and furious race. 114 Nick Courtier was a little further back in 2nd at the wheel of his super-smart Ipswich World Final Scorpio.

Heat 2 managed to raise 16 starters and once more 162 Ellacott and 99 Ahern exchanged places as both used every inch of the raceway in their efforts to steal a lead on each other - which was a joy to watch as no one throws a Jag around as well as Mr Ellacott - that was until the Bad Boy came across 360 Jack Reynolds, who he spun on turn 2, allowing Granada man Ahern to escape. Meanwhile 114 Nick Courtier was doing the laps and went on to take the win from 239 'Nemesis', with 99 'The Cheat' finishing 3rd.

The Unlimited final again saw 16 cars on track and the now wet conditions added extra spice to the race, with the field of RWD cars sliding around the corners in fine style. 747 Liam Martin was in wrecking mode once more, using his late model Jaguar XJ to good effect, putting the older model car of 451 Nigel 'Sprout' Belfield hard into the pit-bend wall early doors before himself getting a knock from 99 Ahern. The race settled down a bit after this but just watching Ellacott throw the big Mk10 around was entertaining enough for most of the admiring crowd. With 4 laps to go it was 162 'Bad Boy' from 99 'The Cheat' (surprise surprise) but when the DWO man caught the lively 747 Martin on the start/finish straight he could not help himself and buried the unfortunate XJ driver oh-so hard into the turn 1 fence, allowing the flying Ahern through and there was no way back from there. At the flag it was a deserved win for 99 Ahern in his indecently quick Mk2 from 239 'Nemesis' and 114 Nick Courtier.

An excellent early season display from the mighty Unlimited boys. The King of Crash/DD was the final event for the big cars and although only 4 cars ventured out (162, 239, 241 and 360) it was still an entertaining affair - indeed a bruising affair for 241 Liam Cracknell who took a meaty hit from 239 Carter's Scorpio after team-mate 162 Ellacott had pinned him to the fence on the start/finish straight.  Ellacott then administered his own huge broadside hit to Cracknell, but 'Nemesis' went on to take the win after finishing off the big Mk10 with a stonking rear-ender, making it an excellent return for the Exeter entertainer.

Ministox

It was a good choice to have the youngsters as support for the Bangers and as usual they put on a fine display in what were very slippery conditions. With a handful of visitors arriving to battle with the regular Smeatharpe entry it was going to be interesting to see if anyone had an answer to the domination of this formula in 2012 by 942 Steven Gilbert. The answer to that particular question was Yes........and No!  16 cars ventured out on track for heat 1 and it was impressive to see how well all the young drivers adapted to the conditions after the 4 previous Banger races. 945 Charlie Porter was the early leader but visitor 274 Kieran O'Rielly was soon up into 2nd.  Gilbert though was storming through the field from the back and was soon on the visitor's case, and as 274 O'Rielly took over the lead 942 Gilbert moved menacingly into 2nd.  A lap later and multi-champion Gilbert pushed the 274 car wide to take the lead which he kept to the chequered flag, O'Rielly finishing an excellent 2nd - with 989 Joe Marquand winning a good battle for 3rd.  Heat 2 was almost a repeat of the earlier race, though there were a few spots of rain falling this failed to slow 942 Steven Gilbert's surge from the back but this time 274 Kieran O'Rielly managed to put just enough distance between himself and the Track Champion to snatch the win, with 989 Joe Marquand taking his second 3rd place of the afternoon.  The 'Cullompton Glass and Glazing' sponsored final was once again run on a very slippery track and as earlier all the youngsters coped superbly.  945 Charlie Porter was once more the early leader but as before 274 Kieran O'Rielly was soon on terms and then passed the young Burtle driver realising he was really going to have to be on top of his game to keep ahead of the already closing 942 Steven Gilbert.  With 5 laps to run it was Cheshire's 274 from Cornwall's 942 and this is how it remained until the very last corner of the final lap when 942 Steven Gilbert just managed a better line and came out no more than a foot or so ahead to take a brilliant win.  989 Joe Marquand took his third 3rd place of the day, a good start to the season for him but let's hope we see the 274 car back again at Smeatharpe before the end of the season.

National Bangers 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 2 10 423 262 nof
Heat 2 282 162 410 382 333 457 349 154 549 61
Heat 3 382 67 17 100 270 237 55 71 nof
Consolation 239 331 456 209 141 161 997 133 nof
Winter Open 9 162 67 239 282 2 270 382 141 nof
Allcomers 382 10 162 27 637 nof
King of Crash/DD 262/732
Top Trier 61 Glads
Top Entertainer TBC
Hit of the Day TBC
Most Wrecked 444
Best Presented 133 154 162 239 732 927
National Bangers Unlimited 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 239 114 99 162 109 1 891 747 451 241
Heat 2 114 239 99 162 714 1 577 266 nof
Final 99 239 114 162 891 1 360 97 nof
King of Crash/DD 239
Best Presented 34 97 266
Most Unusual 920
Ministox 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 942 274 989 946 932 945 931 901 916 382
Heat 2 274 942 989 946 932 945 901 916 382 931
Final 942 274 989 946 932 945 916 931 907 910
Grade Awards W 945 Y 274 B 907 R 942
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