United Downs Raceway - Sunday 23rd September 2018

The penultimate fixture of the season at the United Downs Raceway saw the morning rain pass, which ultimately left a dry circuit for drivers to race on.  An immaculate Grand Parade included a Happy Birthday chorus for F2 Track Champion 542 Steven Gilbert who was 21 the day before.  The parade preceded a respectful one minute’s applause for recently departed Chris Esau.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

Huge effort went in to assembling a grid befitting of the richest meeting of the season in Cornwall, and 33 drivers duly contested the meeting.  The first race was the White & Yellow grade final.  After 572 James Lindsay led early on, 438 Mike Rice and 895 Ben Goddard battled for the lead.  Goddard looked to have edged clear, but a strong run from 528 Shane Hector saw him close on Goddard, and just over a lap from home he shoved him wide.  Hector took the win, and with it four new tyres, and he celebrated with some victory donuts.  In heat two, 302 Dale Moon was swiftly into the lead, and he won emphatically, from Gilbert and 251 Craig Driscoll.  Thirteen drivers contested the consolation, and 325 Ryan Sheahan charged into the lead, before clinching a convincing win, with 111 Lewis Geach the runner-up.  Prior to the final, Justin and Wayne Westaway gave a quick demo of retro Australian style speedway and sidecar racing.  With £25 lap leader bonuses, the Old Motor Cycle Club Trophy final, the contest was always going to be fiercely fought, but nobody could have expected such a brutal race.  The first attempt was instantly red flagged, with 460 Matt Weston stranded on the start finish line.  Further drama soon followed the start of the re-run, as Gilbert, 282 Ant Riley and Geach ended up in a heap at the end of the home straight.  As the pack converged on them, 944 Callum Hosie was spun to the infield, and 241 Ginge Crook spun in the entrance of turn one.  Driscoll, 797 Dan Moss and 828 Julian Coombes scattered across the infield on the home straight, and 979 Paul Moss was left sideways at the end of the straight.  Out came the yellow flags, just after James Lindsay had ticked off another lap, before he was left with nowhere to go, and ran into Paul Moss.  After much sorting out, the race resumed.  Lindsay added a few more laps, but was then overtaken by 676 Neil Hooper, Moon and others.  When Hector ran aground in turn two, he was latterly collected by 398 Ian England and Riley.  That brought about another race suspension.  Hooper led off the restart, but problems for 522 Chris Mikulla brought out the yellow flags once more.  Although Hooper again looked to have the restart under control, 24 Jon Palmer burst out of line by jumping the start.  That hindered Moon and 315 Justin Fisher, who were Hooper’s nearest challengers.  Palmer fell back down the order, before 689 Joe Marquand fired him into the fence in turn two.  Moon gallantly chased, but Hooper kept out of range, and thus Hooper regained the glorious Old Motor Cycle Club Trophy he last won in 2014.  The summary of the race was that James Lindsay won £200 and Hooper collected a cool £300.  Marquand’s lead remained in-tact in the All Saints competition, as the leader of the most laps in finals at St Day this season.  The Grand National was suspended when Moon bundled 468 Sam Weston into the fence in turn two.  Lindsay was the leader at the time, but he retired to the infield before the restart.  418 Ben Borthwick led the field away, and even though Fisher gave chase, he was never able to get quite close enough to mount a challenge, and Borthwick duly landed the Bob Netcott Trophy.

Saloon Stock Cars

Despite a disappointing car count, the Saloon Stock Cars were still entertaining.  902 Junior Buster was the leader of the opening race, but 56 George Boult Jnr outsmarted him and English Champion 27 Kieren Bradford to take the honours late on.  642 Nigel Thomas made the running in heat two, until Junior Buster again hit the front.  However, Bradford hunted him down and made a spectacular last bend lunge to nudge him aside and win the drag to the line.  In the final, it was a very similar story.  Indeed, the race was almost a carbon copy, as Bradford again lunged on the final bend.  This time, however, Junior Buster spun, which left the door open for Boult to grab second and 447 Adam Hicks completed the top three.

Back 2 Basics Bangers (unders)

A reasonable number of Back 2 Basics Bangers contested the first meeting at St Day for the Unders.  The first heat saw a late surge to the front for 785 Nick Craddock, which netted him the win, but 504 Jordan Vandersleuys blotted his copybook when he turned it around and met 331 Duncan Kennard head-on at the exit of turn four.  211 Adrian Coles swept to a flag to flag win in the second heat, which also ended with some crashing, when 801 Dave Trewern and 333 Craig Partridge careered into the turnstile bend plating.  After some hectic repair work, a small handful of drivers made it on track for the final, which brought a second win for Craddock, as he led home 298 Dave Greening.  The race then turned into a DD, which featured some heavy hits involving 246 Ryan Sparks, 278 Shaun Brokenshire and 53 Chris James who was awarded the win after landing the last blow.