Smeatharpe Stadium - Bank Holiday Monday 27th August 2018

The traditional August Bank Holiday Monday fixture attracted a sizeable crowd, who were regally entertained by good numbers in the BriSCA F2 Stock Cars in particular, and a fun-filled Caravan Chaos event at the end of the meeting.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

The opening heat featured some lively exchanges at the start, with 227 Stuart Whitemore coming under fire in the pits bend.  302 Dale Moon swiftly got into the lead and he proceeded to take control, but there remained a good contest right the way down the order behind him.  In heat two 544 James Rogers was the early leader, and he held on out front for a long time.  Once free of 127 Matt Stoneman and 700 Adam Rubery, silver top 7 Gordon Moodie was able to hunt down Rogers, and the Scotsman went on to win.  Absolute bedlam broke out in the latter stages of the consolation; a race which was populated by white and yellow grade drivers only.  The early leader was 663 Bryan Lindsay, but he was relieved of first place by 895 Ben Goddard.  When Whitemore spun in turn three, 241 Ginge Crook tried to avoid him, but only succeeded in clattering into the stationary 760 Trevor Dube.  Out came the yellow flags to tidy up the chaos, and Goddard’s decent lead suddenly shrank.  He did have the cushion of a backmarker – 740 Neil Langworthy, and during the frantic last couple of laps, 328 Andy Walker spun, and Langworthy tangled untidily with 325 Ryan Sheahan.  The Club 21 final was a thrilling contest, with so much happening it was difficult to keep up with it all.  438 Mike Rice and 745 Lee Morgan managed to establish a lead, whilst Moodie found his charge up the order hindered by a couple of laps of battling with 24 Jon Palmer which came either side of a yellow flag for 639 Steve Hartnett who had run aground on the home straight.  Significantly, the delay experienced by Moodie had enabled Stoneman to get much further up the order, and when the race resumed, Stoneman continued his charge to the front.  Palmer then became embroiled in a tussle with 667 Tommy Farrell which ended with Palmer hitting the marker tyres entering turn three.  Moodie climbed some more places, but as he looked to overcome Moon, he was sent wide again in the pits bend by a combination of Rice, 526 Marc Rowe and 468 Sam Weston.  Further bumperwork continued with Goddard, 689 Joe Marquand, Moon and 111 Lewis Geach all heavily involved.  Stoneman got past 979 Paul Moss to move into second and then wrestled the lead from Morgan, before clinching another Smeatharpe final win.  A very lively Grand National was won by 560 Luke Wrench, from Weston and Stoneman who worked off the lap handicap.  However, it was Palmer who was in the thick of the action again, as he traded hits with 542 Steven Gilbert.  A huge hit from Palmer sent both Moon and Gilbert to the fence in the pits turn, but Gilbert steadily worked his way back up the order before blasting Palmer into the fence on the final bend, as Gilbert sealed fourth place.

Saloon Stock Cars

447 Adam Hicks led the opening heat until the latter stages, when 902 Junior Buster challenged.  That enabled 360 Carl Waterfield to nip past.  Buster and 276 Ben King then hindered one another, which left East Anglian Waterfield to cruise clear for victory.  Waterfield won again in heat two, but this time it took a last bend assault on 476 Ryan Wadling.  Cruelly for Wadling, he dropped from first to tenth in the space of a few seconds, after Waterfield’s notable challenge.  Matters improved greatly for Wadling in the final, as he emerged from a battle with 214 Tom Yould, 720 Shane Brown and Waterfield to take the lead after Buster had come to a halt after heading the early stages.  Wadling went on to win, whilst Waterfield sent Brown spinning in the final bend as he grabbed second.  Yould completed the top three.

Bangers

The first event of the afternoon for the Bangers was the Devon Championship.  A good showing of drivers saw 30 cars grid, and 223 Sonny Collins soon turned his pole position start into an early lead.  A few laps into the race, 331 Duncan Kennard managed to challenge Collins and take over, but Collins fought back and regained first place as the race moved into its second half.  By now, 929 Sam Baker was beginning to hunt down the leaders, and three laps from home he hit the front.  Baker went on to edge clear and clinch the Devon title, whilst a misguided last bend charge from 409 Joey Collins on backmarker 113 Chris Jeanes only served to leave the door open for 133 Jody Jeanes to steal second place.  Heat two went the way of 785 Nick Craddock, who led almost from start to finish, but had to pick his way through a whole load of spun cars on the home straight, including 366 Pete Warren and 444 Dave Davenport.  Heat three went to Joey Collins, who sped past 718 Adie Brown early on and went on to take a convincing win.  The random draw for the Tony Jeanes Trophy final was fortuitous for Jody Jeanes, and after a couple of laps, he relieved 992 Dan Walsh of the lead.  The home straight became cluttered with 281 Marc Chenery, 208 P J Collins, 997 Cameron May, 621 Scott Kendall 248 Kris Bratherton and Warren all in a single file queue to nowhere.  As 912 Simon Rees and 898 Jack Semmonds were spun around, the chasing pack was delayed and Jody Jeanes was able to extend his lead significantly.  Brother Chris Jeanes progressed to second, albeit some way behind, and he had to survive a last bend challenge from Baker to hold on to third.  Jody and Chris held on for a family one-two, and their uncle, Nick Jeanes was also on hand to oversee the trophy presentations.

Caravan Chaos Extra

Another bundle of caravans were wantonly destroyed in an exciting climax to the afternoon.  817 Michael Phillips went flying into a heap at the pit gate and 246 Ryan Sparks flew over the caravan chassis of 912 Simon Rees, before nosediving into the plating in turn three.  For a while, Rees was the only driver circulating, and he was declared the winner of the race.  However, he turned around and gallantly pushed 333 Craig Partridge out of the back of the pit gate wreckage.  Rees and Partridge then proceeded to entertain, until a halt was called when Partridge spun and rolled on the back straight.