Smeatharpe Stadium - Saturday 20th May 2017

The first day of the 2017 Speedweekend at Smeatharpe Stadium saw heavy rain throughout the afternoon, and thankfully the forecast for the weather to clear came to be and after some damp opening races the bulk of the bumper 19 race programme (with no pun intended) was run on a dry track.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

With the Benevolent Fund Trophy, the feature race for the second day, the BriSCA F2 Stock Car part of the meeting opened with the annual Ladies Race for the Bill Batten Trophy.  In the difficult track conditions the nine lady racers who took part coped very well.  38 Liz Polley came home with the win, just holding off 297 Sarah Harley, these two were well clear in the end with 817 Hannah Brigg making good progress late on to seal third.  57 cars raced in the full meeting, making it the highest non-shale entry of 2017 so far.  On a drying track 76 Chris Rowe took the first heat whilst 7 Gordon Moodie came through to win heat two and 352 Dave Sansom heat three.  These races had been straight forward but the 34-car consolation was anything but with a pile-up on turns three and four necessitating a yellow flag, which was swiftly followed by another with 14 Mike Priddle in trouble after a tangle with 544 James Rogers.  There then followed a messy re-start which regrettably took out race leader 935 Nathan Maidment.  It was ultimately 522 Chris Mikulla who took the victory.  31 cars took the flag for the annual Dave Wilson Trophy Final which was headed by 245 Nigel Fordham until he was passed by 352 Dave Sansom, tracked by 24 Jon Palmer.  The one making the moves though was 7 Gordon Moodie, after he had shaken off 38 Dave Polley and then picked off the potentially precarious opponents in Palmer and Sansom and was able to maintain a safe gap all the way to the chequered flag, for what was his second Final in succession at Smeatharpe.  127 Matt Stoneman made second and Sansom third.  The 33 car Grand National was simply something else, a wild race under the floodlights which also featured two yellow flag periods and was won by 101 Kelvyn Marshall with Moodie coming from the lap handicap to make second.

Saloon Stock Cars

A very fine gathering 46 Saloon Stock Cars from all four corners of the United Kingdom made it the best entry for the formula here for some time.  It was the five qualifying heats for the National Championship that were raced for with each driver racing in three of them, to determine their grid position for Sunday’s title race.  All five of the races followed the same pattern with so much going on, it was impossible to keep up with it all; this was mesmeric racing from the absolute top drawer.  The first heat on a slippery track saw World and English Champion 6 Simon Welton come through from the back of the grid to win whilst heat two went the way of 149 Jamie Sampson.  The third heat saw 800 Scott Greenslade well clear at one point, but he was reeled in by Welton.  To his credit Greenslade fought back until Welton moved ahead to take his second win of the evening.  Heat four saw 349 Michael Allard take the victory, which was ultimately enough for him to secure pole position for the National Championship.  Heat five featured a rollover for 157 Max Stott amid all that was going on and in a dramatic finish, 811 Kieran McIvor took the victory, having successfully lodged an appeal after the race was initially given to 217 Sid Madgwick on account of problems with the transponder in the 811 car.  The few words and one paragraph here cannot do justice to what a fine performance the Saloon Stock Cars put in all evening; arguably the best ever seen at Smeatharpe.

National Micro Bangers

The National Micro Banger Team event saw five teams represented; not all with the full quota of eight but enough for some very heavy action from the small cars.  The “Real Steel” team very much caught the eye with 747 Bradley Dee and 421 Josh Mayo both racing home built stretch limos – each of which were splendidly presented too, for maximum effect.  The first of the three heats saw 45 Anthony Crowshaw take the victory, helping put the “Cornish Waifs and Strays” into an early lead in the team event.  The feature of this race was a classic jacking train on turns one and two.  The second heat and the third featured more action, and whilst both were won by 511 Dan Crosbie from the “Cornish Waifs and Strays”, low scores or indeed no scores from the rest of the team meant that they were looking to go into Sunday’s final level at the top with the “Bristol Boys”, for whom 7 Aaron Charles was their leading points scorer.

Stock Rods

The Stock Rods raced on the Saturday only of the Speedweekend and produced their own cosmopolitan entry from across the southern part of England, including another visit from World, English and European Champion 51 Luke Oliver.  208 Dave Simpson took the first heat victory.  The outcome of the second heat was decided when the leaders came to lap 200 Aaron Payne and 426 Keith Channon made the most of the situation to re-pass 202 Lee Garlick and 306 Neil Truran to win.  The third heat was won by 909 Justin Washer.  The Final saw a flag to flag win for Channon, his second in succession at Smeatharpe but it was nowhere near as simple as that may make it sound as he withheld immense pressure from Stock Rods stalwarts Truran and Washer throughout the second part of the race in particular and 437 Lewis Tricky prior to that to take was a very well earned victory.