Smeatharpe Stadium - Sunday 16th July 2017

Smeatharpe’s summer madness was enjoyed by plenty of racegoers, who revelled in a crazy afternoon of truly diverse action on the circuit.

Stock Rods

The English Championship for the Stock Rods attracted just 18 drivers, including 237 Ashley Vaughan on his debut, which regrettably went no further than the pre-meeting practice session.  Although relatively sparse grids each time, the qualifying heats still provided some compelling racing.  Heat one saw pole sitter 426 Keith Channon repel the challenge of 909 Justin Washer for a number of laps.  Washer then retired, but Channon duly lost the lead in a subsequent clash with 3 Matt Peters.  Channon ground to a halt and Peters went on to win from 203 Andy Russell.  Heat two brought a very clear win for the defending English Champion, 151 Luke Oliver, whilst a late exchange of bumperwork between Russell and 26 Alan Furse led to both drivers being disqualified.  14 Ross Montgomery was the early leader of heat three.  944 Callum Hosie tracked him down, but gained advantage when he ran into the back of Montgomery.  Although Hosie went on to take the chequered flag, he was docked two places for the moment of contact, and that resulted in 208 Dave Simpson inheriting the victory.  Oliver and Peters shared row one for the Championship race, but the early stages saw Hosie emerge as the main threat to Oliver.  On lap seven, the race was suspended when 41 James Horwell rolled over by the pit gate.  When the race resumed, Hosie continued to pursue Oliver.  For many laps, it was a two-way contest, and Oliver briefly had cause for concern when the tangled with backmarker 72 Marc Soby.  Hosie almost got around the outside of Oliver, as he struggled to regain his momentum, but the Cornishman could not quite make his move stick, and Oliver held on.  In the closing stages, Oliver was visibly slowing, and Hosie again tried to get past.  All the while, 92 Adam Daniels and Montgomery were closing too, but the laps ran out, and Oliver made it three English titles in a row.

Reliant Robins

A disappointingly low showing of Reliant Robins did nothing to spoil the fun and spectacular excitement, as all drivers contributed greatly to some splendid amusement.  In the opening race, 392 Josh Sale sportingly put himself on the coconut shy, and loitered with the intent of being attacked.  That won Sale the Entertainer award, whilst 437 Cliff Worthington took the chequered flag.  In heat two, 304 Tim Weare rolled a couple of times, of his own accord, and he was a clear winner of the Entertainer award.  Worthington won for a second time, and celebrated with a display of donuts on the back straight.  There were rollovers for both Weare and 26 Russ Gillingham in the final, which saw Worthington complete his hat-trick.  The Robins ended their afternoon with some thrilling mayhem in the Caravan Chaos race.  Once the last of the three-wheelers had cried ‘enough’, commentator Brian Goldsworthy took a straw poll from the crowd to determine which driver had been the most entertaining, and the roaring cheers told the story that Weare had been the most impressive by far.

2 Litre National Bangers

Westcountry Wreckfest 4 attracted a reasonable showing of 2 Litre National Bangers, and that led to plenty of action.  The first race was the title event, and it began with 114 Liam Lake burying 995 Andrew French.  624 Liam Hide fired into the pile, whereupon he was instantly mauled by 838 Jamie Peters.  In came 297 Chris Hommell and 202 Matt Butlin completed the crashing by thundering into Hommell.  With Hide requiring attention the race was stopped.  912 Simon Rees was the leader, and he proceeded to head the field on the resumption of the race.  190 Steve Bailey continued to give chase, but with time running out, Bailey dived at Rees in turn one.  As Rees slid wide, so too did Bailey, and third placed 162 Brett Ellacott swept into the lead, less than two laps from home.  Ellacott sped to victory, with Bailey and 74 Adam Hitchcock the placemen.  The first of two Allcomers races saw 341 Andrew Jones blast 37 Matt Thompson into the pits bend wall, and 133 Terry Hill similarly accounted for 69 Leigh Board.  Lake despatched Ben Hommell , and when 961 Brad Deeprose weighed in on 376 Stephen Hill, the invitation was too tempting for Jones, who blasted Winter Open Champion Deeprose.  Having missed out on the win in Wreckfest, Simon Rees did stay clear at the front this time.  Chris Hommell was very wayward in his ill-handling car, in the second Allcomers; spinning out on a number of occasions.  Bailey took Butlin for a high speed run around the pits bend wall, and late on 372 Jay Matthews tried to bundle Lake into the west bend fence, but when Matthews then crashed on the exit of turn four, it paved the way for Lake’s hard revenge hit.  383 Brad Hutchings took the win.  Thirteen starters gridded for the DD, which ultimately saw Peters finish off Jones for victory.

BriSCA F2 Micro Stock Cars

A trio of events for the infant racers brought a different winner each time.  154 Casey Green and 380 Nina Cayzer accounted for the first two races, whilst 533 Alfie Joynson won the final for the second successive Smeatharpe fixture.  Fellow long distance traveller 246 Oliver Smith, and 783 Fin Carter, completed the top three.