United Downs Raceway - Sunday 13th September 2020

A warm late summer’s day greeted racegoers to United Downs Raceway where, as well as a mix of contact and non-contact race divisions, the annual Ramp Rollover competition added to the afternoon’s entertainment.

Stock Rods

The non-contact class contested their highly sought-after Adam Ignaczak Trophy, and as such the ten-car entry was somewhat disappointing.  Nonetheless they served up three interesting races; the first of which was arguably the race of the day.  At one point, seven cars were directly involved in the battle for the lead.  Yellow grader 770 Archie Farrell led for much of the race, driving superbly at the front holding a tight inside line and forcing those behind to brave the outside line.  Whilst many of those chasing tried, they found it hard to make the pass stick until British Champion 909 Justin Washer got his defence of the Ignaczak Trophy off to a good start by eventually breaking through for the win.  32 James Horwell won heat two though most people’s attention was drawn to another fine battle that had developed for third between 351 Rhys Langdown and 437 Lewis Trickey, who swapped places lap after lap.  It was English Champion Trickey who eventually nipped home in third.  The Final was gridded in points scoring order and following the customary playing of Coward of the County, a favourite of Adam’s, Washer made a good start from pole position and steadily increased his lead throughout the duration of the race.  With Washer’s win looking assured, it was the three-way battle for the final two spots on the podium that had most people’s attention with Trickey, Langdown and 441 Tom Major all bumper to bumper for multiple laps.  Suddenly, however, attention switched back to Washer who had been slowed on the final half a lap by Farrell who, for whatever reason, had drifted out into the path of the leader and ran him out of room in the turnstile bend.  Washer slowed and in the hesitation to decide how he would get past Farrell, the three cars behind him stormed past on the inside with Major leading Langdown and Trickey home, their surprise at the end result being in as much evidence as the annoyance of Washer.  The recalcitrant Farrell was excluded from the results for his blocking move.

Ministox

Another fine entry of Ministox brought an abundance of action.  There was an exciting end to their first heat when, with a couple of laps to go, race leader 538 Kady Mills was hit wide by fellow white top 290 Alfie Tomkins on turn four.  Tomkins was then immediately spun by 654 Harley Soper.  On the final bend, 985 Sam Carter charged at Soper’s rear bumper, which resulted in Soper’s car awkwardly bouncing off the plating, jumping into the air in the process.  Carter took the win with Mills recovering impressively in second and 998 Taylor Sealy in third.  Heat two saw 382 Corey Hunt sent into a roll having been hit inadvertently head on by 207 Alfie Flecken on the back straight.  The same incident saw 907 Cadan Davies requiring medical attention, but he eventually climbed out of his car unaided.  On the restart Tomkins maintained his lead to take another impressive victory.  The Final was an equally action-packed affair.  At one point, the lead pair of Tomkins and Mills were both being sent spinning on the home straight, the Mills machine spinning around into the oncoming traffic where it was collected heavily by 577 Harry Darby.  Miraculously Darby continued on his way, now in the lead, whilst Mills also managed to get her car back on the move.  Darby took the win, from Sealy, with Carter recovering for third after he had been delayed in the Tomkins/Mills incident, narrowly beating 942 Leon Williams to the line.

Back 2 Basic Bangers

With just over 40 cars present, two half car heats got the meeting off to a lively start.  Heat one was a destructive affair, the Volkswagen Beetle of 776 Terry Senford coming in for particular attention throughout the race, as 415 Sean Gillet led home just four other survivors.  Heat two settled down into much more of a race with 17 Tim King taking the win after hooking out long-time race leader 303 Josh Jones on the back straight.  The third heat was open to all and garnered close on 30 entries.  Not unexpectedly it was a lively affair with a race suspension required to aid 59 Michael Hamley from his car, after he was inadvertently hit in the driver’s door amidst a gaggle of cars on the back straight.  On the restart 451 Micky Reed maintained his lead to claim the chequered flag.  The Final saw a reduced field yet no let-up in the action.  Jones crossed the line first, after a fine controlled drive, and he was followed home by 621 Scott Kendall and 196 Phil Chapman, both of whom ploughed into a backstraight pile up after the chequered flag.  The DD failed to quite live up to the earlier race action and came down to a battle between 692 David Gardner and 33 Chelsey Trewin.  With little motion left in either car, Gardner slowly shoved the struggling Trewin machine around the raceway, and Gardner was declared the winner having landed the last blow.

Ramp Rollover

Returning after its debut last year, the Ramp Rollover contest mustered five cars and six entrants!  Much to the enjoyment of the crowd, each driver took their turn at trying to roll their vehicle upon hitting the ramp, 118 Kevin Mulliner being the most successful undertaking a complete rollover and thus scoring four points.  There was much hilarity as 533 Ryan Parkin had three attempts at getting his Nissan Micra to roll – each time the car landing heavily on all four wheels, which on each occasion made the car even more ill-handling.  Parkin climbed out the car and allowed Andy Frankson to take over at the wheel.  Frankson, with some encouragement from the spectators, managed to get the car onto its side.  690 Tristan Clement managed to roll onto his roof on two occasions, each time managing an impressive skid on his roof down the home straight, but in the end it was Mulliner who was deemed the winner of the event, and he was joined by Parkin, Frankson, Clement and the other entrant 233 Liam Parkin on a well-deserved lap of honour.