United Downs Raceway - Sunday 4th May 2014

Report by Steve Linfield

The May Day Bank Holiday weekend kicked off at a sun soaked St Day with the Saloon Stock Cars having not only one of their biggest dates of the season in Cornwall, but anywhere with the English Championship contested and they were very ably backed up by the BriSCA F2 Stock Cars and the third round in the Old Skool National Bangers series.

Saloon Stock Cars

It is a long trip to Cornwall for many, especially for the Saloon Stock Cars and with the number of southwest drivers still not where we would like them to be, the fact that the total number of cars present stood at 24 shows that there was some great travelling efforts to be present.  The format was each driver racing in two from the three heats and the points scored determining the line-up for the feature race.   The first of the heats saw 717 Richard James lead until he was passed by 698 Danny Colliver who momentarily led until he was forced wide by 402 Shaun Webster.  Webster then pulled clear and went on to win, whilst a decisive move by 120 Shane Brown that saw him eliminate three cars in one hit netted him second place.   After 214 Tom Yould and 103 Chris Horwell had headed heat two the one on the move was 677 Eddie Darby and he went on to literally leave the rest behind on his way to a comprehensive win.   Heat three was a more spectacular one with lots of battles going on throughout.  103 Horwell moved into the lead after the white graded trio of 87 Paul Lawer, 144 Daniel Bullock and 800 Scott Greenslade had held sway until halfway.  Darby’s charge was held back when he collected a spinning 730 Dean Mayes head on and this ultimately saw him run out of laps in which to catch Horwell.

All of this left it a tie on points between Horwell and Darby to decide pole position and it was the latter that won the toss and thus started on the inside.  Such had been Eddie’s pace all afternoon, it did indeed look ominous for the rest but with 120 Brown and 499 David Aldous on row two and 402 Webster and 428 Lee Sampson on row three, and several other stars not too far back either, surely it couldn’t be as simple as that?   Darby got away well at the green flag to lead into the first corner, but Brown in particular appeared to grasp the fact that he had the one chance to stop his fellow southwest star.  Darby went into the bend deep anticipating it, but Brown went in just as deep and was able to connect with Darby and spun him on the exit of the bend, by the pit gate.  He accounted for himself in this but with 20+ Saloons all funnelling into one of the more narrow parts of the United Downs Raceway the pair of them spun triggered off a huge pile up on the back straight.  One by one they went into each other, the track was momentarily blocked but with a gap reappearing the race was able to continue.  Out of it all, it was 641 Willie Skoyles who burst into the lead whilst some lost significant time sorting themselves out.  However, with Darby and Greenslade left stranded on the back straight, the yellow flags were called.  This gave all a chance to catch their breath.  Darby was gone, as were Brown and Horwell but despite the large pile up, there was a surprising number still left for the re-start.   Skoyles had 402 Webster right on him for the resumption and the latter swiftly pounced for his move soon after the flag.  However a coming together on the back straight between 220 Casey Engelstone and 401 Steve Webster, saw the former give the plating a might clout.  It left the 220 car crippled across the track to bring out the yellow flags, and whilst Casey was shaken in the crash, the plating had been badly damaged and there was a significant delay whilst the Autospeed crew took on the repairs.  Whilst a lengthy stoppage, it remained a yellow flag and unfortunately two drivers exited their cars, which is against the rules and the Steward was left with no choice but to exclude them.  This left 10 cars for the re-start with only five laps gone.  After such a long stoppage, they were all caught napping at the re-start but Webster was able to maintain his lead from Skoyles.  These two pulled well clear of the chasing cars, which were actually the back marking 156 Darren Goudy and 499 Aldous.   At one stage Skoyles looked close enough to try and land a blow on Webster, but he just couldn’t get there and as the race moved into its last quarter Webster started to pull clear and duly went on to take the win, his third time as English Champion.  Skoyles had to be content with second and albeit some way back, 401 Webster made it up to third.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

With a few southwest drivers chasing World Championship qualifying points at Northampton, there was never the less a strong enough entry of 29 BriSCA F2 Stock Cars present with, like the Saloons, several drivers sporting new roof colours after the first re-grade of the season.   522 Chris Mikulla set searing pace to win heat one and then in heat two it looked possible that 891 Darren Wade might be headed for his first F2 win since his return to the formula.  However, a yellow flag for the stricken 991 Ryan Hoskin changed all that and allowed 105 Ross Rowe to get on terms and he took the lead with five laps to run and went on to take the win.  Also his first since his return this season.   The third heat featured a yellow flag when Mikulla, 575 Tom Clark and then 437 Danny Withers all crashed on the bottom bend.  This again nobbled Wade and he ultimately lost out to 783 James Rygor at the re-start.   The Final soon saw Wade into the lead once again and he maintained a gap from 105 Rowe and 954 Jamie Beere.  World Champion Rygor looked the pick of the star men.  A crash between 542 Steve Gilbert and 991 Hoskin brought out the yellow flags, again just what Wade didn’t want to see.  This placed Rowe behind him and Rygor not too far back.  Rowe moved Wade aside with four laps to run to lead and then went on to hold off Rygor all the way to the flag, showing that he is (was) under graded off yellow, especially at his home track.  His victory means a swift return to the blue grade.  Rygor was second and Mikulla third.   The damage had taken its toll and a depleted field contested the Grand National which saw Rygor catch and pass long-time leader Wade with a couple of laps to spare to take the win.

2 Litre Old Skool National Bangers

27 National Bangers once again showed how the Old Skool concept is working in attracting drivers old and new on to the track, or back on to it.   The first heat proved that the perhaps oft over used term “nudge and spin” can actually produce plenty of action as there was plenty in this, with something happening on each bend and all points in-between at many points.  The upshot was that only five lasted the distance with 133 Terry Hill coming through to win.   Heat two was more of the same although more managed to make it home this time with 153 David James the victor.   The Final had a smaller grid after all the earlier action and it was 910 Katie Dawe who came through to take the victory, her first ‘National’ Banger win and indeed a rare one for a lady racer in them.  97 Craig Deer made second and 133 Hill was third.   The latter treated 147 Luke Purdy to a couple of big hits on his way to his second win of the afternoon in the Allcomers.

Saloon Stock Cars 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 402 120 499 460 641 349 306 199 389 56
Heat 2 677 103 428 499 730 214 402 698 56 220
Heat 3 103 677 800 349 120 641 428 460 306 389
English 402 641 401 56 199 428 156 499 389 460
BriSCA F2 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 522 126 627 206 76 437 935 476 254 526
Heat 2 105 605 783 126 189 891 575 476 76 954
Heat 3 783 891 605 954 105 254 290 189 740 542
Final 105 783 522 891 605 126 954 189 76 476
Grand National 783 891 126 522 189 605 254 476 105 828
Grade Awards W 891 Y 105 B 605
2L National Bangers Old Skool 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 133 910 862 131 153 nof
Heat 2 153 97 131 910 133 47 101 141 185 612
Final 910 97 133 153 185 320 131 333 862 95
Allcomers 133 333 912 131 947 nof
Best Presented 96 97 910
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