Smeatharpe Stadium - Sunday 1st July 2018

Amid the current very warm spell of weather, it took a bit of a day’s break in the southwest as Smeatharpe Stadium started cloudy with threatening skies until the forecast thundery shower came and gave everything a bit of a soaking, and whilst it did dry and brighten up there was no denying it put a literal dampener on proceedings.  Nevertheless, it was a busy meeting with BriSCA F2 Stock Cars, Saloon Stock Cars, Stock Rods, 2L Bangers Old Skool and BriSCA Micro F2’s in action in an 18-race programme.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

It had been over two months since there had been a domestic meeting for the BriSCA F2 Stock Cars at Smeatharpe and the healthy entry of cars included a relatively surprise visit from National Series Champion 7 Gordon Moodie and also long-distance efforts from 184 Aaron Vaight and 801 Jack Cave.  935 Nathan Maidment came through to win heat one and it was during heat two that the heavy rain shower arrived, and it left it very wet going, and it was 418 Ben Borthwick who took the win.  667 Tommy Farrell won the consolation.  The Final was for the magnificent and totally unique Snell Family Trophy and was started on a fast-drying track.  It did not go too far before the yellow flags were required with 245 Nigel Fordham in trouble on the home straight, but as there was a workable order there was no requirement for a complete re-run.  528 Shane Hector assumed the lead soon after the re-start and held sway until there was another yellow flag, this time with 979 Paul Moss in trouble on turns three and four.  Hector continued to lead until the halfway point when he was passed by Moodie, who was comfortably clear of his closest star grade challenger at this point.  However, two further yellow flag periods in quick succession at just past the midway point changed all that and 127 Matt Stoneman was with Moodie for both re-starts.  But, Moodie was able to break far enough clear at both to come through and win, only his third feature race win of the season so far and his first in England on tarmac.  Stoneman was once again left being the one doing the hunting in second for the second meeting running and 542 Steve Gilbert again rounded out the top three.  The Grand National was far and away the best race of the day for the F2’s.  A midway yellow flag brought the pack closer to long time leader 976 Dan Kent and in particular a no holds barred scrap between 315 Justin Fisher and 676 Neil Hooper.  The bumpers went charging in on the last bend with as many as six or seven drivers all hopeful of stealing the win, and it was 689 Joe Marquand who entered the turn fifth and exited victorious in a superb finish.

Saloon Stock Cars

Even taking everything into account with the time of year and so on, the 12 car entry of Saloon Stock Cars for the 2018 Devon Championship meeting was frustrating.  It did feature long distance travellers too with 470 David Vaughan from Yorkshire and 399 Cole Atkins again being an ever present from East Anglia.  As is the tradition, the Devon was first up and was run on a very wet track following the rain storm in the previous F2 race.  444 Kieran Bellringer opened out a good sized lead, to the point that it looked like he might not be caught as the race moved into its second half.  But Atkins did just that and moved ahead in the closing stages to add the Devon to the Western title he won at Easter.  Bellringer was nonetheless pleased to be second and 199 Phil Powell made third.  Buoyed by his pace in the Devon race, Bellringer duly went on to take his first ever win in heat one and then the second heat saw Powell move aside Vaughan on the very last bend to take the victory.

Stock Rods

The ORCi Stock Rods are on their road to gold, with the big event at Cowdenbeath just two months away.  In the days leading up to the meeting, the entry was looking thin but come the day there was a good grid of cars.  In the wet in the heat race, 206 Max Truran on his debut in the formula had a good lead for much of the way but was caught and passed late on by 3 Matt Peters.  The Final saw 426 Keith Channon relieve Truran of his lead early on and he went on to win by a good distance with Peters second and Truran third.  But, inspired by his good pace in the previous two races there was no catching Truran in the Grand National, even after a yellow flag when 14 Ross Montgomery crashed heavily on the home straight.  45 Jordan Wanwright chased Truran through the latter stages, but he could not make a telling challenge, and thus the rookie clinched a win on his debut, which sent his father, Stock Rod elder statesman Neil Truran, into celebratory mode as he gleefully hurled a water bottle high into the sky.

2 Litre Old Skool Bangers

The 2 Litre Old Skool Bangers, just like the Stock Rods, featured an entry greater than had been booked in initially.  862 Darryl Cock won the first heat and 47 Marcus A’Lee claimed a rare win in the second, after clear leader 916 Luke Thomas crashed out.  The Final saw 83 Ben Styles make a decisive move early on that shifted several would-be challengers aside and he went on to take the win with 907 Cameron Bradford second and 376 Steve Hill third.  The Allcomers pleasingly saw more cars than the previous meetings for this particular code and saw 721 Carly Gabriel take a few big hits with 133 Terry Hill involved with many too.  It was Steve Hill who took the win.