Smeatharpe Stadium - Sunday 7th July 2013

Report by John Wyatt

Sunday 7th July posed several important questions for South-Western oval racing fans attending Smeatherpe Stadium on a fine Mid-Summer day. Not least of all in the F2s Could 886 Chris Bradbury possibly win his sixth final in as many meetings - to equal 167 Bill Batten's long standing record from the 1979/80 seasons ? In the Saloon Stocks who would be crowned the new 'Devon Champion' ? In the Ministox had 951 Aiden Vincent managed to find a cure for his heavily smoking car ? And in the National Bangers who could hit a car the hardest................. In less than 5 hours all these questions had been answered. But, by far the biggest question of the afternoon was who, among the trendy groups of both male drivers and spectators (and Autospeed staff !!) could get away with wearing SHORTS ? The jury is still out on that one.........

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

On a day where we remember the illustrious career of Stock Car legend Roy Goodman and with stiff competition from the beach a still reasonable 33 BriSCA F2s assembled in the Smeatharpe pit-area - including visiting interest in the shape of Burnley Superstar 768 Tom Adcroft and 222 Ayrton Mills, no doubt looking for some valuable Smeatharpe track experience before the World Final in September. Heat 1 produced 17 starters, including 768 Adcroft and 222 Mills, and indeed it was the former that ended up holding the chequered flag after a storming drive from the back - although he was not the first driver to cross the line at the end. Poor 430 Simon Edwards has had a miserable couple of meetings recently, crashing hard at St Day a fortnight ago and catching fire at Smeatharpe a couple of days later but just as he looked to have put all that behind him with an excellent drive from the yellows he was adjudged to have jumped the start and demoted two places to 3rd - and that was the last we saw of the popular Liskeard driver for the rest of the afternoon. A good performance from white grader 686 Jay Scott saw him pick up 2nd after leading to half-distance. The 16 cars for heat 2 included fastest man in pre-race practise 886 Chris Bradbury but it was the up-coming white grade star 519 John Scorse that took an impressive lead from the green. Behind him though, with a kiss from the trophy girls the lure, 886 Bradderz was taking no prisoners and by lap 4 was already up to sixth. An incident on turn 3 that saw 575 Tom Clark's car climb over the bonnet of 538 Chevy Mills somehow managed to sort itself without the need of a stoppage and at half-distance 519 Scorse still led but 886 Bradbury was only two cars behind and the writing was already on the wall. At the flag it was another win for the Winnersh Superstar and it didn't need a phone call to John McCririck to know the odds of him winning a sixth final in a row were slashed........... 519 Scorse took an excellent 2nd - with the equally impressive white grader 627 Gary Sillifant 3rd. 12 non-qualifiers lined up for the consoaltion race with 526 Marc Rowe in the 'GR Services' entered (!) car taking the early lead but a mis-firing engine allowed 544 James Rogers through at half-distance and the experienced yellow grader went on to take a reasonably easy win from 575 Tom Clark and the struggling 526 Rowe - the winner lapping 'super-star' 222 Ayrton Mills as he crossed the line. So, to the anticipated 'Roy Goodman Perpetual Trophy' final - with the man himself as dapper as ever in a superbly colourful summer beach shirt that was so loud it was a job to hear commentator Steve Linfield  announce the runners and riders ! 'Runners and riders' that amounted to only 25, with 5 non-starters - possibly 'paid-off' by 886 Bradbury to help him win his sixth F2 Smeatharpe final in a row perhaps ? Now if that were true, he really would have been better advised to slip white graders 519 Scorse and 627 Sillifant a tenner apiece as at the green it was again these two up-and-coming stars that led the field away - though by lap 6 Bradbury in the 886 car was up into 6th. 991 Ryan Hoskin was going well in this one also, holding a watching brief in 3rd behind the battling white graders. By lap eight 519 Scorse was already up among the back-markers, which included a red grade or two, desperately trying to put as much space between himself and the closing 886 Bradbury that he knew from recent experience was somewhere close behind - and getting ever closer. At half-distance the order was 519 Scorse, 627 Sillifant, 991 Hoskin - and 886 Bradbury. 991 Hoskin then gave 627 Sillifant a helping hand through turn 2 to move into 2nd but this really was short lived as 886 Bradbury was passed the pair of them by the time they reached turn 3 - and only a half-a-straight behind leader 519 Scorse ! To his credit, 886 Chris Bradbury then caught and passed the 519 car cleanly without any use of the front bumper with 5 laps still to run and history was made. Okay, perhaps the competition today wasn't the hardest he'd faced but at the 'World Qualifier' less than a fortnight ago here it most definitely was - and he won the final then too. 519 Scorse kept on the pace and was only half-a-straight behind the winner at the flag - with 991 Hoskin a similar distance behind him in 3rd, just infront of 783 James Rygor and 768 Tom Adcroft. The winner's trophy was presented by mr Goodman himself - and did I mention his shirt..............? The 24 car Grand National obviously saw final winner Bradbury on a lap handicap, and as the form went it suggested that 519 John Scorse was due a win after his brace of 2nd places but as my old (and unphoned) mate John McCrillick will tell you 'ya can't always go by the book'....! At the green sure enough it was 519 Scorse who got his nose in front after passing 627 Gary Sillifant through turn 4 but instead of cruising off into the distance he saw 627 Sillifant re-pass him after going a little wide through turn 1. The next 17 laps saw an excellent battle between the two white graders, almost taking attention away from handicap man 886 Bradbury who was once more storming through the field after making up his half-lap disadvantage to the rest of the red grade. A tangle between 868 Ralph Tracey and 126 Jamie Avery on the main straight almost caused problems for all but thankfully this intriguing race continued. Surprisingly 627 Sillifant had put some distance between himself and 519 Scorse and looked quite in command at the front at half-distance, with 768 Tom Adcroft a little way back looking like the only real threat but that threat never actually materialised and the young man from Davidstow, the third generation of Sillifant oval racers, took his maiden win in this formula - celebrating with several spectacular tyre-smoking 'doughnuts' (oh, the madness of youth...!) after taking the flag. 519 Scorse took another excellent 2nd place with 768 Tom Adcroft finishing an impressive 3rd - just ahead of a certain man from Winnersh.

The next meeting for the F2s is on Monday 5th of August, and Chris says if there's nothing much on the telly he may well pop down and see if he can make it SEVEN - just hope he's not out drinking with Bill Batten though the night before.........

Saloon Stock Cars

The first race of the day was the 'Devon Championship' sponsored once more by 'Palmer Racing'. All 13 available cars lined up in grade order, among them welcome visitors from 'North-of-the-Border' (Scotland not Somerset) 620 Aaryn Triggs and 77 Glen Heeps, with sole white grader 298 Ian Elms leading the snarling field away. From the green though it was my tip 30 Barry Hollett who was on a mission from the start, by lap 5 he was already up into 4th and 3rd two laps later behind 100 Ian Govier and 995 Ben Goddard. At half-distance though 30 Hollett had taken over at the front after 100 Govier and 995 Goddard had almost tripped over each other - with World Champion 1 Eddie Darby now up to 3rd. After this it became a straight battle between 30 Hollett and 1 Darby and although at one point it looked as if the World Champion might be within striking distance 30 Hollett just kept far enough ahead and it was the Kingsbridge star that took a popular win from defending Champion Darby and 199 Phil Powell, who drove brilliantly to snatch the final podium place. Just 12 cars lined up for the first allcomers race, one car missing was popular Essex boy 2 Paul Tuppen who had either fallen foul of mechanical problems - or was too embarrassed to come back out on track in a pair of shorts that he really should have left at home - even under his racesuit ! Whatever, there was chaos at the start as back-row starters World Champion Darby and Irish Champion 56 Georgie Boult were already among the blue grade by the time the green flag waved, 30 Hollett in particular caught napping a little as old adversary Darby barged his way passed, whilst at the front 995 Ben Goddard took over from lone front row starter 298 Ian Elms. At half-distance 995 Goddard was almost a straight ahead of now 2nd place World Champion Darby, with that man Hollett shadowing closely in 3rd. With lots of action back down the field too this was a fast and furious race and with 1 Darby rapidly closing on leader 995 Goddard and 30 Hollett trying everything he knew to try and shorten the gap between himself and Darby it was at times difficult to know where to look. 3 laps to run and both Darby and Hollett pass 995 Goddard and this is how they finish - with 199 Powell again good value, this time finishing 4th. Allcomers race 2 began with 100 Ian Govier spinning 911 Ian Harris, something he might regret as the red flags came out almost immediately for a starting infringement. When the race did get going it was once again 30 Hollett and 1 Darby that all eyes were on with Hollett particularly looking purposeful as he pushed and shoved his way from the back to the front of the blue grade through one corner. At the front 298 Elms was just ahead of 100 Govier, with 77 Glen Heeps up into 3rd - though already 1 Darby was looking menacing in 5th. 100 Govier briefly took over at the front but by half-distance World Champ' Darby had releived him of the lead, with 995 Ben Goddard moving into 3rd. 100 Govier then went wide through turn 4 which allowed 995 Goddard to slot in nicely behind leader Darby, whilst a little further back 56 Georgie Boult gave a big hurry-up to the immaculate car of 217 Sid Madgwick through turns 3 and 4, spectacular stuff, with 100 Govier and 460 Cliff Friend then tangling on the same corner - with the 100 car then backing into the armco on the infield of the start/finish straight at speed ! At the flag it was a reasonably easy win for the quiet and unassuming World Champion Eddie Darby with 995 Ben Goddard getting his best result of the afternoon in 2nd, just ahead of 30 Hollett.

Ministox

Just 12 youngsters arrived at Smeatharpe and with no visiting interest it was down to the 'locals' to determine bragging-rights in this entertaining junior formula. 951 Aidan Vincent's car was still a mobile smoke-screen - as it has been for several meetings - but even this failed to obscure the view and stop the 977 car of Kieren Bradford from storming to a comprehensive victory in heat 1, the Heathfield driver a length of the straight ahead of 2nd place man 907 Cameron Lawrence - who had battled through from the very back of the grid. Heat 2 saw 11 out on track and if you thought that this was going to be another 977 Kieren Bradford benefit - after his overall domination of race 1 - you'd have been wrong ! 987 Ethan Pope it was who took control of this one almost from the off, it was a lively and entertaining race too with plenty of pushing-and-shoving down the order but Popey won by a half-a-straight, from 'Old Smokey' himself (!) 951 Aidan Vincent who was half-a-straight himself ahead of 977 Bradford. Another 11 car grid for the '1st English Dr Morgan' sponsored final which surprisingly saw 255 Frankie Radmore hit the front at the start, a say surprisingly as she had somehow managed to steal a jump on the 4 yellow grade cars from the blue grade even before Mr Starter had finished waving the green flag ! 977 Kieren Bradford set off in persuit of flying lady Radmore, closely followed by 922 Joe Parker and with the thought of taunts of 'beaten by a girl' ringing in his ears surely from all his mates (!) it wasn't long before 977 Bradford took over at the front. Once there he just did as he had done in heat 1, just calmly pulled away leaving the rest of the pack to sort the other positions out among themselves. After 255 Radmore had been spun aside an excellent battle between 989 Joe Marquand and 907 Cameron Lawrence for 2nd place was resolved in favour of 907 Lawrence, with the Notter Bridge driver holding on for 3rd. A well deserved win for young Kieren Bradford, proving once again that on his day he's unbeatable. 255 Radmore was dropped 2 places for jumping the strart - which took her out of the results, but top marks for trying !!

National Bangers 'One (Hellova) Sunny Day'

A respectable 20 cars arrived to do battle in the 'All (small) Japanese' National Banger class. The entry included a handful of Nissan Sunny's, a Toyota Carina, a Mitsubishi Colt, a Honda Shuttle and the favourite tool-for-the-job the Nissan Almera - including a doesn't-half-look-like-a-Primera booted version from 452 Anthony Sleeman. Heat 1 saw 19 of the Jap' machines line up - with 74 Adam Hitchcock failing to get out on track before the pit-gate was shut - but no sooner had the green flag waved the red flag came out after a big crash on turn 3 saw the demise of the Almera of 87 Paul Lawer. The Autospeed Banger star in his first National outing getting followed in hard by the Honda Shuttle of 444 Kieran Bellringer. The re-start only lasted a few seconds before the red flags came out again for an incident on turn 2 involving the Toyota Carina of returnee 912 Simon Rees and 239 Steven Carter. The second re-start didn't last a lot longer either after another explosive start, 133 Terry Hill picked up the unfortunate 862 Darryl Cock and followed him in hard into the pit-gate and with the Falmouth youngster in some distress the red flags appeared once more. Just 8 cars made the next re-start and mercifully this one went all the way with 47 Marcus A'Lee doing a superb job of fending off a wave of attacks from the notorious DWO team and various hangers-on to snatch a well-deserved 2nd place behind the flying Almera of 239 Steven Carter.
13 cars made it out for heat 2, with a big pile-up forming on turn 3 at the start, with 190 Steve 'Pikey' Bailey then trashing the already well wrecked stationary car of 176 Ben King on the exit of turn 4. Having buried 444 Bellringer on the previous lap, 239 Carter then thundered into 267 Anthony Noblett, (who was making his Smeatharpe track debut), very hard in turn 1.  As he did, 341 'Jonesy' was right behind Carter, but braking very hard, he had no alternative than to put himself into wall, to avoid hitting the demolished 267 car. With the driver clearly shaken up, the red flags were out straight away. The few remaining cars lined back up and no sooner had the re-start began 239 Carter picked up the Nissan Sunny estate of 47 Marcus A'Lee halfway down the back straight and followed him into the fence on turn 3, the impact launching the little estate car several feet in the air. The call was made and the race, even though only a couple of laps had been completed, was declared, with 162 Brett Ellacott adjudged to be the winner - though not waiting around to collect his trophy. Last race of the day became the 'Tricky Cider' sponsored 5 lap final-into-a-DD which surprisingly saw 7 cars line up for the 'race' - with 5 more on the centre to join in the DD. 452 Anthony Sleeman took the flag in the final and also the DD which certainly had its moments, with usual suspects 239 Carter and 341 Jones particularly lively. In the end it came down to 341 Jones waving in 452 Sleeman to end an overall bruising session from the National Bangers.