Smeatharpe Stadium - Sunday 20th September 2020

The second day of the Speed Weekend at Smeatharpe took place under bright blue skies as the three formulas in action the previous evening returned for another full programme of events.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

The entry again exceeded 50 cars with 228 Stuart Deacon, 522 Chris Mikulla and 828 Julian Coombes making their first appearance of the weekend.  The format was identical to the previous evening.  Heat one saw the bumpers being used to good effect early on but it is 86 Jess Ward who took her second victory of the weekend.  527 James Riggall and 418 Ben Borthwick were second and third, and behind them 783 James Rygor and 581 Dan Fallows were separated by the smallest of margins in their battle for fourth.  Heat two saw Northern Irishman 747 Bradley McKinstry take a comfortable win, the final bend proving to be the scene of 835 Matt Westaway and 689 Joe Marquand tangling.  That dropped them down the order, with Marquand losing out on a qualifying spot for the Final.  352 Dave Sansom showed his winning return the previous evening was not a flash in the pan with victory in heat three.  The consolation saw just shy of 30 cars on track, and as such it was little surprise that a stoppage was required with a number of cars littering the exit of turn two and onto the back straight.  At the second time of asking, the race managed to progress a little further however that was all about to change in a most spectacular of fashion as North East visitor 224 Paul Dobson rolled entering onto the home straight, with 895 Ben Goddard climbing up on top of the upturned car.  The two then slid down the length of the straight, pushed along by 53 Phill Mann who was also hooked up in the incident.  Thankfully, Dobson emerged unscathed and smiling in an incident that will be long remembered by those who saw it.  Once the race resumed, Marquand made up for his earlier disappointment by taking the chequered flag, once he had overhauled 828 Julian Coombes.  The Final was for The Grader’s Award and featured 33 cars.  As such, it was surprising that the race managed to go the distance without any stoppages.  That was not to say the race lacked any action.  With the grid featuring 18 Star or Superstar graded drivers it was inevitable that it was amongst them that some of the fiercest action was taking place, with the likes of 24 Jon Palmer, 184 Aaron Vaight and Rygor all losing valuable time, whilst Riggall and 127 Matt Stoneman saw their race come to an end prematurely.  All of this played into the hands of Samson, as he was able to break free at the front.  As the laps counted down Fallows and 183 Charlie Guinchard, who had each avoided the earlier incidents, were the main star grade threat but between them and Sansom they had a number of runners a lap down, including Palmer.  Sansom crossed the finish line with Fallows following him home still behind Palmer, and Guinchard was third.  Receiving a £100 bonus from Official Grader, David Hamar, final winner Sansom was encouraged not to go overboard in terms of paint and signwriting – a reference to his scruffy car which clearly performed much better than it looked.  The Grand National brought the curtain down on another exemplary weekend from the class with Fallows departing the scene backwards down the backstraight early on.  578 Mark Gibbs until there were just a few laps to go but was eventually caught and passed by 560 Luke Wrench.

V8 Hotstox

The field was down a couple on the evening before, whilst one or two including 170 Glenn Pursey had a long night changing diffs after damage incurred.  176 Stephen Young made a promising start to the afternoon winning both heats one and two.  Behind Young in the second heat was an excellent dice between 288 Jon Brown, 222 Guy Jolly and 8 Catherine Harris, the trio swapping places over a number of laps.  Brown eventually led the other two home, yet that was only for fourth place.  In heat three, Jolly was also involved in a tremendous battle with 131 Kev Stutchbury and 384 Carl Boswell for third place.  The three thundered into the final bend, Stutchbury winning the drag race to the line, although ahead of them 438 Craig Kellett had driven a good race to lead from start to finish.  The Final saw Brown race through the field to hit the front where he built up a healthy lead.  Jolly was still a couple of car lengths behind in second when with just a lap to go the yellow flags came out with concern raised for Young who had been left stranded on the Honiton bend.  The last lap shootout saw Jolly apply controlled force to push Brown wide on the last bend to steal the win, Jolly remarking in the post-race interview that the V8 teams had enjoyed their first time visit and was sure that should the formula be able to secure further dates next season, more drivers would venture south to enjoy the challenge the track provides.  Brown made no mistake in the GN which featured a duel between Harris and 525 Amy Jagger to conclude a weekend which proved the diminutive Smeatharpe track was well suited to the large V8 machines.

National Ministox

New European Champion 180 Jack Witts continued on where he left off the night before with another comprehensive win in heat one.  186 Kasey Jones won heat two which featured a yellow flag suspension late in the race which on the resumption saw 414 Harrison Careless-Veale and 290 Charlie Tomlin tangle on the Honiton bend to drop them out of contention.  White grader 20 Fred Hunter-Johnson drove well to win both heats three and four, managing on both occasions to withstand the pressure from Witts.  The Golden Helmet served up what was the race of the weekend for the young drivers.  A chaotic start saw both Witts and Jones spin, Witts rejoining just in front of the race leader Hunter-Johnson.  The young white top was then caught by 27 Luke Syrett-Barsby and the two enjoyed a tremendous battle which was halted with a yellow flag suspension with two laps to go.  On the restart it was notable that Witts had managed to recover back to fourth place.  Witts had moved up to second when a further yellow was required after 611 Jamie Hanson had hit the pit bend plating heavily.  The last lap shootout saw Hunter-Johnson passed by Witts and 290 Charley Tomblin.  The last bend hit by Tomblin on the rear of Witts was not quite enough to prevent the young Champion from taking the chequered flag.  After such an exciting race, it was unfortunate that post-race technical checks resulted in the race result being suspended pending further investigations.