United Downs Raceway - Monday 28th May 2018

A sizeable crowd enjoyed a warm and sunny Bank Holiday Monday at the United Downs Raceway, for the annual Truck & Lorry racing event.  The BriSCA F2 Stock Cars contested the Remembering Rog Trophy fixture, whilst the Bangers completed the line-up.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

An assortment of reasons lay behind the slightly disappointing number of BriSCA F2s, which fell further when both 418 Ben Borthwick and 979 Paul Moss encountered engine problems in pre-meeting practice.  By then, the two from three format had already been deployed, but it was a sparse grid for the opening heat, which was led for some way by 976 Dan Kent.  Late on he was overhauled by 667 Tommy Farrell, but Kent still held on for a gallant fourth.  In heat two, Kent was an early spinner, which left 303 Chris Horwell out front on his own.  315 Justin Fisher, the runner-up in the first heat, edged past Horwell as the race moved into its second half.  Fisher went on to win, chased home by 127 Matt Stoneman.  Heat three proved to be a compelling contest, as Farrell got into the lead, but was pursued by 522 Chris Mikulla.  In the late stages, Mikulla mounted an attack on the Farrell back bumper, but the sixteen year old held firm, and refused to be shifted.  Indeed, that seemed to spur him on, and he pulled clear of Mikulla, to be just out of range on the final bend.  Thus, Farrell scored his second win of the afternoon, with arguably his most impressive drive yet.  Kent swiftly got to the front in the Remembering Rog final – a race which boasted double price money.  However, when 398 Ian England and 468 Sam Weston bounced into the turnstile bend fence, and 111 Lewis Geach tangled with 438 Mike Rice, the yellow flags were called, with England having run aground in a precarious place on the back straight.  On the restart, Kent led until just before halfway, when he lost out to Farrell.  A couple of laps later, and the race went under caution again with Farrell stuck in the turnstile bend after Stoneman had challenged him for the lead, which left the 667 car facing the wrong way in turn two.  Stoneman’s time at the front was to be short lived, however, as his engine, which had been leaking oil, gave up the ghost, and Stoneman retired to the infield.  That left Mikulla at the front, and despite 542 Steven Gilbert charging through to second, Mikulla enjoyed a trouble free run to victory, with Gilbert the runner-up.  935 Nathan Maidment and 689 Joe Marquand were the other trophy placemen.  The day ended with a second win of the afternoon for Fisher in the Grand National, as teenager Kent scored another fine placing, by finishing fourth.

Trucks & Lorries

A quartet of trucks and lorries served up some memorable entertainment.  964 Moggie Kelly (Leyland) was an early retirement from the first race, which his son 374 Richard Kelly (Iveco) won with ease.  The former was fixed and running again for the second race, and as he ticked off the laps in the lead, 141 Toby Tiddy (Horse box) and Richard Kelly set about trying to spin the lumbering refuse lorry of 16 Simon Ferris.  Richard Kelly sped to the chequered flag in the third race, which preceded the typically lengthy Destruction Derby.  Both Kelly senior and Kelly junior came to a halt, which left Tiddy’s horse box to tackle the seemingly unbeatable refuse lorry.  It looked a David v Goliath style contest, but as the two drivers exchanged many hits, the bin lorry developed a number of punctures, which left it a sitting target, and to great cheers from the crowd, Tiddy was urged onwards to finally beat the bin lorry of Ferris into submission.

Bangers

The number of Bangers was rather modest in comparison to usual car counts, which led to much of their racing being a little short on incident.  The opening heat was led for much of the way by 254 Will Blight, but a late surge by 929 Sam Baker saw him claim the chequered.  In heat two, 304 Marty Penhaligon and 113 Chris Jeanes had a great duel, where the lead swapped a couple of times.  Former World Champion Jeanes eventually came out on top.  Penhaligon was not to be beaten in the next heat, though, as he romped a long way clear, with Baker and Jeanes the runner-up and third place finishers at flag fall.  The final was temporarily halted when 817 Michael Phillips was heavily collected by 776 Terry Senford in the pits bend.  281 Marc Chenery had looked to be making good progress before the race has suspended, and that continued after the resumption of racing.  He hunted down Penhaligon to win convincingly, with Baker in third.  Drivers had requested the Cornwall v Rest of the World Team race be rescheduled for the end of the programme, so it was frustrating that a number of them then opted to end their day after the meeting final.  Jeanes went on to win the Team race, but as Cornwall drivers heavily outnumbered their rivals, it was a landslide home win.