United Downs Raceway - Sunday 8th February 2015

Under a glorious blue sky and illuminated by bright winter sunshine, the first short oval racing in Cornwall for 2015 was held at the United Downs Raceway, St Day.

Stock Rods

Points Champion 776 Simon Jones continued his impressive run of success in the Stock Rods, as he captured the Winter Supreme Championship.  On his first appearance under the silver roof, Jones racked up a third and a fifth in his qualifying heats, which brought wins for 222 Mike Belcher and 705 Dave Ham – the latter’s success being his first in the Stock Rod class.  Belcher and Ham duly earned their places on the front row of the Winter Supreme, but from row two, Jones soon swept past them and built up a good lead before completing a commanding victory in the feature race.  Runner-up to Jones was 909 Justin Washer, who did have the honour of setting the day’s fastest single lap time, which came in heat two.  Ham was third, fourth went to 437 Lewis Trickey and fifth was secured by 354 Mark Sear, who took to the track in a very smart brand new Vauxhall Corsa.  A misfire in the opening race saw Sear opt to start off the back of the grid, but having trod carefully all afternoon, Sear gave the new car a real shakedown in the second half of the Winter Supreme final, to suggest there is much more to come as the season progresses.

Bangers

Over forty Bangers contested their first fixture of 2015; their entry including World Champion 113 Chris Jeanes.  First up was the Supreme Championship which, having been declared null and void last November, was re-run.  Points Champion 612 Lee Pink, in a smart all silver Ford Puma, made the most of the pole position start, and swiftly built up a huge lead.  However, at just after the midway point, Pink came under fire from backmarker 372 Jay Matthews, and that opened the door for 416 Ben Borthwick to take up the running.  Jeanes was also in contention too, and a three-way battle ensued for supremacy.  Clearly riled by the attentions of the loitering Matthews, Pink fought back, and with just over two laps to go, he purposefully spun Borthwick aside.  Pink saw out the closing stages to take the title, with Jeanes finishing second and 912 Simon Rees third.  The non-qualifiers heat brought a win for 196 Phil Chapman, who celebrated wildly – signalling a triumphant ‘number one’ salute to the sky as he crossed the line.  Borthwick bounced back from his Supreme Championship ousting, to take the consolation.  The meeting final was full of action in the pits bend, and that brought about a race suspension, during which time there was a heated exchange of views involving Pink, Matthews and 929 Sam Baker.  The leader at the time was 999 John Glover, and when the race resumed, he continued to stamp his authority on the race, winning comfortably from 242 Ben Ellacott and 28 Steve Linly.  It was 804 Treve Wills who rounded out the day with a victory in the Allcomers race.

Old Skool unlimited cc National Bangers

There was an encouraging sprinkling of new faces in the Old Skool unlimited cc National Bangers, with 28 Steve Linly and youngsters 947 Luke Purdy and 447 Adam Hicks all racing in the class for the first time.  On the whole, however, numbers were again disappointing.  Nonetheless, the day’s trio of races did produce three different winners.  First to strike was 406 Chris Bridger, and then 120 Mark Ashley took the second heat, this time in a more conventional Triumph, as opposed to the much lauded Stag he used last season.  With Bridger and Ashley at the rear of the grid for the meeting final, it allowed 121 Mike Ashley to make the early running in the final.  Using ‘Big Bertha’ – his hefty Volvo – young Ashley kept it all together to lead from flag to flag for his maiden victory.  165 Paul Easterbrook gave chase, but had to settle for second, with Bridger third and 83 Andre McLellan fourth.

Ministox

Once again, the youngsters in the Ministox produced some fine racing, and the honours were neatly shared with a different winner in each of the trio of races.  The heats brought victories for 922 Joe Parker and 907 Cameron Lawrence, but in his brand new car, 911 Harrison Bryant grabbed the final, winning from 980 Charlie Lobb and Lawrence.  The top three each received bonus prizes from Sear Race Parts.

Old Skool National Bangers Unlimited cc 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 406 121 28 165 862 83 447 261 nof
Heat 2 120 862 406 165 83 261 947 nof
Final 121 165 406 83 28 862 261 947 nof
Stock Rods 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 222 181 776 705 909 26 9 740 354 nof
Heat 2 705 26 222 909 776 354 740 181 9 49
Winter Supreme 776 909 705 437 354 26 181 222 nof
Ministox 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 922 911 907 931 987 916 667 943 988 980
Heat 2 907 922 916 980 667 987 943 988 982 999
Final 911 980 907 922 931 916 677 667 987 988
Bangers 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Supreme 612 113 912 28 804 938 79 242 154 911
Heat 2 196 207 118 999 182 735 929 53 718 320
Cons 416 447 847 622 358 13 254 455 372 13
Final 999 242 28 53 113 79 154 622 455 847
Allcomers 804 938 622 735 28 929 113 242 182 911
Best Presented 284 787 622 320
Grade Awards W 53, 196, 207 Y 999, 79, 154 B 622, 805, 416 R 28, 113, 242
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