United Downs Raceway - Sunday 17th June 2018

The annual World qualifying round for BriSCA F2 Stock Cars produced a lively afternoon of action, despite the overcast skies which kept temperatures cool.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

Boosted by a sprinkling of long distance travelling drivers, the final car count was 35; very much on a par with last season.  976 Dan Kent continued his good form at the Cornish venue, by leading heat one, with 689 Joe Marquand in pursuit.  241 Ginge Crook proceeded to spin on numerous occasions, but it was Marquand who caught the eye.  He stormed into the lead, and built up a huge lead.  302 Dale Moon just got the better of 251 Craig Driscoll for second, leaving Kent in a creditable fourth.  544 James Roger led early on in heat two, but spun away the lead, which left 895 Ben Goddard as the new front runner, and he saw out the remainder of the race unchallenged, with 935 Nathan Maidment the runner-up.   Rogers led again in the consolation, but he had withdrawn to the infield by the time of a race suspension imposed when 636 David North and 740 Neil Langworthy were left in a precarious position on the home straight.  528 Shane Hector led away the single file, but fell back into the clutches of 111 Lewis Geach, who won, and 464 Matt Linfield.  A busy and bustling final saw Marquand establish himself in the lead, whilst 315 Justin Fisher and 127 Matt Stoneman were clearly making good progress.  Stoneman got past Fisher to move into second, and a couple of laps later, he effected a telling challenge on Marquand.  Heading into a turnstile bend which was already cluttered by 468 Sam Weston and 578 Mark Gibbs, the move from Stoneman resulted in Marquand half spinning.  As Stoneman and Fisher swept by, 572 James Lindsay and 222 Adrian Watts ran into Marquand.  They were swiftly joined by 672 Steve Fawcett which effectively blocked the track, as 522 Chris Mikulla, 542 Steven Gilbert and 979 Paul Moss added to the pile-up.  Out came the yellow flags, at which point more and more drivers further populated the blockage, and Stoneman and Fisher briefly tangled on the exit of turn four.  Once order was restored, there was much shuffling of position to get a single file grid for the last few laps.  Stoneman led away, but he had a puncture on his inside front tyre.  Fisher could not take advantage, but Mikulla did, as he leapt from third to second and then to first at the start of the last lap.  Mikulla those secured back to back final wins at St Day, and Fisher stole second by a narrow margin, leaving Stoneman and Gilbert in third and fourth respectively.  Maidment scored a convincing win in the Grand National to round out a fine afternoon for the F2s.

Heritage Junior Stock Cars

Just shy of twenty Heritage drivers assembled, with some of them telling fond tales of their night at the Miracle Theatre the previous evening.  251 James Humphrey and his father, 253 Alan Humphrey, led away the opening race, but as the pack descended on them, 616 Darren Clarke broke free to assume command.  Clarke won, whilst 306 Neil Truran came out on top in the battle for second with 773 Nick Whitney.  Heat two was a similar story, as the cars bunched up behind the leaders, until Truran picked a clear path to the front.  He went on to win, from Clarke and Whitney.  The Kat Kabin sponsored Cornish Open was suspended when 342 Ross Taylor and 739 Darren Burkitt tangled on the home straight.  The race resumed, and Truran and 728 Graham Bunter proceeded to edge through the pack.  Truran hit the front and eased clear for his second win, leaving Bunter as the runner-up in a close finish with third placed Whitney.  Truran, clearly ecstatic at winning, waved to the crowd in celebration, on the slow down lap after the chequered, before some theatrical flag waving on the lap of honour.

2 Litre Old Skool Bangers

A check of the lap charts, post race, revealed 862 Darryl Cock as the winner of the opening race for 2 Litre Old Skool Bangers.  Right at the start of the race, there was a chaotic tangle on the back straight, as Cock had avoided that, it gave him a huge advantage in the early stages.  Late on, 836 Adam Oldham charged up the order, but not in time to challenge Cock for the win.  Heat two was the race of the day for the Bangers, and it again started with an untidy charge into the turnstile bend.  As the race progressed, 133 Terry Hill hit the front, but was inadvertently delayed when 255 Paul Wright and 114 Luke Niles clashed, with Hill being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  That left 131 Sam Hill in the lead, but he was hotly pursued by Oldham, who took a last bend dive.  Hill went wide, Oldham took the inside line, but Hill responded by trying to spin Oldham on the drag to the line.  Oldham held on for victory, and Hill managed to heavily bundle 959 Justin Payne and Wright into the fence at the end of the back straight.  A first lap skirmish in the final saw 912 Simon Rees come to a halt by the pit gate, whilst 796 Phil Chapman was collected by 233 Liam Parkin on the back straight and Niles was spun up the turnstile bend fence.  185 Rich Coaker hit the front early on, and stayed there for the duration, as he led home Sam Hill, Terry Hill, Oldham, 297 Chris Hommell and 768 Tyler Cock.

BriSCA F2 Micro Stock Cars

There were three races for the infant racers, at the end of which the drivers were each given a celebratory bag of fudge, to tie in with National Fudge day having been part of the weekend..