Smeatharpe Stadium - Monday 15th August 2022

Despite the forecast of thunder storms, the skies stayed blue and bright above Smeatharpe Stadium for a busy evening of contact racing.

Saloon Stock Cars

The Devon Championship was up first and had barely got underway when 27 Jason Kingwell slowed on the home straight with 902 Buster Compton Sage Jnr running into the rear of him at full speed, ending his race and scattering Kingwell towards the inside of the track.  This brought out the yellow flags.  On the restart 720 Archie Brown, son of former World Champion Shane, put all his skills developed in Karting to good effect in the loaned Phil Powell machine to build up a useful lead.  Behind, there was an entertaining battle between 770 Archie Farrell, 677 Warren Darby and 277 Jack Grandon with Farrell eventually being despatched, leaving the two star graders to battle it out, and battle they did but in doing so, it allowed Brown to escape at the front.  672 Simon Paris was a distant second and 33 Pete Hollett third heading into the final lap when Darby launched an audacious attack on the final bend which saw Hollett spun out and Darby through for third at the flag.  Victory for teenager Brown saw him capture the Devon title his father had won in 2007 and 2011.  The following heat got off to a lively start with 28 Ian Govier applying the bumper on the Honiton bend, as both Paris and Brown were hit off the plating.  Darby, Grandon and Buster Jnr were embroiled in a tremendous tussle swapping places on multiple laps in a fight for the lead which was interrupted in spectacular style when Farrell launched into Darby sending him at speed towards the pit gate and allowing Buster Jnr through for the win.  The third race also burst into life quickly with Paris firing Govier towards the plating on the pit bend, Govier ricocheting into Farrell, Paris then making sure Govier would progress no further with contact made at the Honiton bend.  The race settled down with Brown leading into the last lap by just under a second but that did not deter Buster Jnr sending him into a half spin on the final bend relegating him to third behind Grandon in second.

ORCI Ministox

A good entry of cars contributed to the usual thrills and spills throughout the evening.  The pack in heat one managed to avoid both 567 Mia Batten and 770 Austin Farrell facing the wrong direction on the back straight as 913 Ben Faulconbridge led until a couple of laps to go when 917 Troy Hemmins took over for victory.  At the outset of heat two, white graders 497 Peyton Cockerill and 919 Oscar Berry duelled for the lead with Cockerill ultimately breaking free at the front.  She built up a strong advantage as behind Batten again found herself facing the wrong way this time on the home straight after a tangle with 207 Alfie Flecken whilst Berry was also spun around on the entry to home straight.  Despite this drama, Cockerill kept a cool head and navigated a path through to hold on for her first win in the formula.  The Devon Championship was their last race of the evening, gridded in points order from the heat placings.  The race came down to fine contest between Hemmins, 290 Alfie Tomkins and 870 Bertie Farrell, the three swapping places at regular intervals around the raceway.  The decisive moment came when Hemmins forced a path up the inside and passed Farrell from which he was then able to maintain a lead to the flag.

Bangers

The field was split into three groups with each racing twice in the heats.  Heat one saw 112 Richard James take a flag to flag win with 756 Troy Hooper spinning out 519 Jason Witney to move into second only to be relegated himself by 23 Barry Staples in the closing stages.  144 Ashton Worthington was the early leader of the second heat until a large pile-up at the end of the home straight claimed him and many others which allowed 621 Scott Kendall to progress from the rear of the field for the win.  Worthington avoided a start-finish line pile-up involving 31 Liam Shipway and 238 Jake Hughes to lead from start to finish in the third heat.  The Devon Championship saw the red flags deployed after 2 Harrison Staples required assistance to exit his car which had come to a crunching halt on the Honiton bend whilst a further stoppage was required with signs of flames from under the 155 Connor Burtonwood bonnet.  Witney’s lead on the restart didn’t last long with Staples benefiting from the stoppages to reach the front after which he built an unassailable lead to win from 113 Chris Jeanes and 556 Pete Hollis.