Smeatharpe Stadium - Sunday 9th March 2014

Bright winter sunshine and the warmest day of the year so far, was what greeted racegoers at Smeatharpe for the opening national Stock Car racing fixture in the south west this season.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

There was a bumper showing of 41 F2s in attendance, although three of them actually failed to take part in the meeting, after encountering problems in pre-meeting practice.
Heat one brought a maiden F2 race win for 542 Steven Gilbert.  The sixteen year old was cool and calm as he sped to that first ever victory.  Behind him, 676 Neil Hooper won a star grade battle with World Champion 783 James Rygor in the scrap for second.  More Cornish success followed in heat two, as 991 Ryan Hoskin broke free for victory.  935 Nathan Maidment was the runner-up.  A good showing of 17 drivers gridded for the consolation, and 528 Shane Hector took his very smartly re-vamped car to victory – his first F2 success.  76 Chris Rowe just pipped 328 Andy Walker for second.
The MDP Services sponsored final was stopped and re-run twice: firstly when 954 Jamie Beere clattered into the pit gate; and secondly when Chris Rowe was collected by 756 Richard Thomas.  Still the action continued, when the race did get going, and with 526 Marc Rowe and Gilbert the leaders, the yellow flags were introduced for 464 Matt Linfield, who was spun on turn four.  The caution period looked to have handed 522 Chris Mikulla a great chance to hunt down the leaders.  However, Mikulla spun when the race resumed, and Hooper capitalised, to take over the position as the leading star man.  Hooper chased after Rowe, and eased past him, with World Champion Rygor in pursuit.  The gap between them ebbed and flowed, but Hooper looked in control.  Yet, with just a couple of laps remaining, he experienced a serious differential problem and coasted to a halt.  Rygor took full advantage, to grab the lead, before seeing out the remaining laps, to win from 886 Chris Bradbury and Mikulla.  Rygor thus won the MDP Services trophy, five years after first doing so, which was his career first final win, back in 2009.  The Grand National was stopped very early, when 740 Neil Langworthy got hooked up, on top of 438 Mike Rice.  A full re-run was ordered, and that went green flag to chequered without any caution periods.  Gilbert scored his second win, even though 575 Tom Clark got close to him late on, and 476 Ryan Wadling took third.

Stock Rods

Just under 20 Stock Rods contested their first Smeatharpe meeting of the season, which was dominated by low graders.  429 Sammy Trengove sped to a flag to flag victory in the opening heat, keeping clear of 7 Aaron Charles to win, despite a mid-race caution, when 101 David Horwell lost a wheel, which 92 Adam Daniels collected, and flew into the air as a result.  The final was a similar tale, in terms of Trengove leading the way, and Charles in pursuit.  Although Charles got close, he was unable to mount a telling challenge, and thus Trengove completed a double success to earn an instant upgrading to yellow.  At post-race scrutineering, Charles failed a weight test, and was thus excluded from the results of the heat and the final.  In the result of the final, it was thus 26 Alan Furse and 3 Matt Peters who filled the other rostrum positions.  Charles was able to add the necessary ballast to his car for the Grand National, which he duly won, for a very memorable first ever Smeatharpe outing.

2 Litre Old Skool National Bangers

All four of the day’s races for the National Bangers yielded a different race winner.  Just shy of 30 drivers set off for the first heat, which was full of chaotic action.  Experienced racer 113 Aaron Brown was the pick of the bunch, as he charged through to take the lead from 97 Craig Deer, before sealing the win.  Heat two began with a heavy crash on the back straight.  718 Adie Brown got tangled up in his bid to grab the lead, and he was then clobbered hard by 31 Liam Shipway.  The unfortunate Brown was knocked out, and had to be extricated from his car.  The race was re-run, and having seen off the challenge of 235 Toby Brooks, it was 372 Jay Matthews who stormed to a comprehensive victory.  Heat winners Matthews and Aaron Brown played a prominent role in the final, but they could not reel in Craig Deer, who shot away from the front of the grid, to secure a convincing win.  Eight cars appeared for the Allcomers, which saw 133 Terry Hill catch and spin aside 47 Marcus A’Lee.  Hill looked comfortably clear for victory, but he caught backmarker 888 Simon Brooks and upon running him in to the pits bend wall, Hill threw away the win, and then came under fire from 284 Leon Benjafield.  A’Lee inherited the lead, and despite a car that was crabbing on the straights, he took the chequered flag, with 06 Anthony Bradshaw the only other car running at the finish.