United Downs Raceway - Sunday 11th October 2020

The last of the in-season fixtures at the United Downs Raceway attracted a decent crowd on a mild Autumn afternoon, and with it came an abundance of action served up by the three formulas on duty.

Stock Rods

Even though the Stock Rods had been sent a letter of encouragement for the final throes of their season, it was slightly disappointing that just 13 drivers attended the Grand National Championship fixture.  From pole position, 437 Lewis Trickey stormed into an early lead, and was never troubled on his way to a commanding and emphatic victory.  All the focus centred on the battle behind him, as 441 Tom Major defiantly held on to second place despite intense pressure from 909 Justin Washer.  As they approached some backmarkers late on, a tangle resulted in 982 Sophie Daughtrey spinning into the fence on turn one, whilst Washer collected damage that forced him to withdraw.  Major continued, and secured second place, whilst 351 Rhys Langdown rounded out the top three.  Although Washer had his car repaired for the first of two Allcomers races, his charge up the order on each occasion only took him as far as second, for 44 Andrew Worthington crowned his track debut with two runaway victories.

Ministox

A decent showing of 18 youngsters contested the last meeting in Cornwall for 2020.  In the opening heat 538 Kady Mills got in a muddle coming off turn four and clouted the infield marker tyres.  Out front, 870 Bertie Farrell produced his best display yet, as he built up a commanding lead.  He was still there as the race moved into the closing stages, and even though 654 Harley Soper chased him down, Farrell stood firm and landed his maiden race win.  985 Sam Carter grabbed third on the last lap, as he spun aside 525 Harrison Stone.  It was Stone who made the running in heat two.  For two thirds of the race, it appeared he was about to emulate Farrell’s victory, but a strong run in the latter stages saw 382 Corey Hunt reel him in.  Stone was the runner-up, and 577 Harry Darby completed the top three.  The Final was suspended when Hunt, 914 Callum Faulconbridge and 202 Cody Bradford tangled on the back straight, leaving the latter in a precarious position.  Stone led off the single file restart, but he was overhauled by Soper, Carter and Darby.  Carter made a successful last bend challenge to shove Soper wide and win the drag to the line.  That brought Carter the Snell Family Trophy on the occasion of his last Ministox race at St Day.  Darby crossed the line third but was docked for jumping the restart; after recourse to a video review, Darby was adjudged to have overtaken one car, and thus received a two place penalty, which promoted Stone to third.

Bangers

The hugely impressive entry of Bangers fell just shy of 70 cars for their Cornish Championship.  There was a flag-to-flag victory for 786 Grant Harris in the opening heat, and 823 Tyler Phillips did likewise in heat two.  The action moved up a notch in an exciting third heat.  Visiting gold top 295 Ashley Wallace made it from the rear of the grid to the front and looked set for a win on his track debut, but a spun car in turn three two laps from home proved his downfall.  As he went wide around the car, 731 Nathan McGall dived for the kerb, and regained the lead before completing victory.  Two consolations were required, and in the first of them 84 Josh Bird ran strongly, just as he had done in heat two before failing to finish.  Having relieved 153 Rhiannon Tavender of the lead early on, Bird looked a clear winner, but his car expired on the last lap, which left 242 Ben Ellacott to take the win.  The second consolation began with a messy tangle in turn one which involved traveling companions 37 Anthony Whell and 813 Steven Quickfall, and 353 Callan Phillips.  After a stoppage, just seven cars remained.  328 Mark Trump led most of the way but was overhauled by 621 Scott Kendall in the closing stages.  The Cornish Championship had barely run one lap before it was stopped after Trump rolled over in turn two.  863 Lisa Williams led the re-run, before her efforts to avoid mayhem on the home straight saw her career into the infield marker tyres.  The lead passed to 331 Duncan Kennard, but just after the midway point the star graders took command.  23 Barry Staples hit the front, and he stormed to the chequered flag, just as the red flags appeared following more rollovers – for 891 Martyn Cleave and 182 Nathan James.  70 Jamie Thomas, 836 Adam Oldham, 113 Chris Jeanes and Kendall were the next four drivers in the result and each of the top five were sent to post-race scrutineering.  Unfortunately, Staples and Kendall failed, which resulted in Thomas inheriting the win, as he regained the Cornish title he had won previously in 2013.  The first Allcomers race featured a massive track blockage in the pits bend.  Cars joined and exited the blockage, and some took evasive action over the infield at that end of the circuit in a spectacular display of mayhem.  Despite some close misses, 916 Luke Thomas managed to pick a route to victory, with 18 Corey Karkeek the runner-up.  Sixteen drivers gridded for Allcomers 2 – a race run to National Banger rules.  Much crashing ensued, particularly in the turnstile bend, and after only a handful of laps, just two cars were running, as 845 Albert Haines led home Tavender, to end a very lively day from the Bangers.