United Downs Raceway - Sunday 30th April 2023

A day of mixed weather conditions at the United Downs Raceway, St Day featured a compelling feature race for the BriSCA F2 Stock Cars, some skilful racing from the Old Skool unlimited cc Bangers, and a hard-hitting conclusion to the day in the Back 2 Basics Bangers.  On the day of the Snell Family Trophy, the Grand Parade was led by Tyrone Snell’s immaculate Ford F100 pick-up.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

With 26 drivers present, the two-from-three format was deployed, and across the afternoon’s quintet of races there was a different winner each time.  In the opening heat 303 Kurt Selway made the early running, until 736 Josh Weare displaced him at the front.  Lower down the order, 475 Leah Sealy bounced off the home straight plating, but it was Weare who proved uncatchable.  Heat two began with a ‘black cross’ awarded to 572 James Lindsay, for his failure to race at the drop of the green flag.  Impressively, 141 Harry Neath-Rogers made the running, and he led all the way to the halfway stage when he was demoted by 895 Ben Goddard and Weare.  Just as the lead trio looked about to battle for supremacy, they encountered 540 Dayne Pritlove spun in turn two.  This triggered absolute mayhem, and as Goddard, Weare and Neath-Rogers tangled and slid to the fence, 890 Paul Rice dived to the inside to grab an unexpected lead.  Rice saw out the remaining laps to win, with 127 Matt Stoneman the runner-up.  The track was wet by the time of heat three, and that caught out several drivers entering the turnstile bend.  Pritlove clattered off the plating, and a lap later 259 Daz Purdy did likewise.  126 Jamie Avery and 979 Paul Moss moved into contention, but they two went wide in turns one and two, and it was 542 Steven Gilbert who pounced.  Moss gave chase but could not land a telling blow on his fellow Cornishman, and thus had to settle for second.  The Snell Family Trophy final staked an early claim for race of the season at St Day.  On a soaking wet track, Neath-Rogers led initially, but was quickly overhauled by Goddard.  Pritlove and 27 Kieren Bradford got in a muddle on the back straight but managed to get clear by the time the lead pack arrived.  As Goddard stormed ahead at the front, 325 Ryan Sheahan emerged in second place, whilst earlier heat winners Weare and Gilbert tangled and lost time in turn four.  At the midway stage, Goddard led from Sheahan, with Rice closing on both in third place.  Sheahan took his chance when Goddard was delayed by backmarkers, as the race moved into its final quarter.  Goddard responded, and edged ahead once more, but Sheahan fought back valiantly.  Heading into the turnstile bend, he forced Goddard wide to gain the lead again.  This time he was not to be denied, and Sheahan took the chequered, punching the air with delight as he crossed the line.  Rice just grabbed second from Goddard on the last lap.  The track had dried by the time of the Grand National, and Stoneman set a searing pace as he claimed a comprehensive win, whilst Neath-Rogers completed his best day yet with a tenth place finish to add another point to his tally on his way to winning the hamper of Cornish goodies as the top scoring white grader.

Back 2 Basics Bangers

Despite disappointing numbers, the Back 2 Basics Bangers offered up some decent entertainment.  In the first heat, 776 Terry Senford spun aside 459 Mitchell Brooks and 617 Reece Rixon in separate incidents, whilst 166 Luke Gillbard was in lively form, as he held on for second place behind 873 Beau Carlton-Barnes who sped to the win.  In heat two, Gillbard and 233 Liam Parkin indulged in their own private battle.  Despite an under-performing car, Gillbard still managed to land repeated light blows on Parkin.  Away from their sideshow, Senford led until late on when Rixon exacted revenge for the first heat, and it was Rixon who then took the win.  A lively start to the final saw cars scattered in various directions.  Senford broke clear and eventually won at a canter before the Destruction Derby segment of the event.  Gillbard was trashed by 184 Brad Eddy, and when Eddy clouted Brooks, his passenger air bag went off.  Brooks responded by running Eddy into the turn one plating.  Carlton-Barnes tried to dump Brooks into the fence in turn two but came off worse.  Brooks continued and landed the final blow with another hit on the stationary Gillbard.

Old Skool unlimited cc Bangers

Numbers slightly improved for the big cars after their dismal Good Friday showing, with the south coast trio of 91 Liam Bartlett, 92 Sam Bartlett and 150 Lewis Richards being very welcome visitors.  However, the failure of some drivers to book in contributed to the format being reduced to three races.  862 Darryl Cock exited the first heat on lap one, as 738 Steve Tippett and new addition to the ranks, 238 Jake Hughes, spun repeatedly.  The lead was swapped between 114 Nick Courtier, 954 Jamie Beere and 186 Lewis Fasey, with Beere taking the honours.  991 Ben Hale got ahead early on in heat two, and scored a comprehensive win, as Hughes and Tippett again spun a few more times each.  Old stager 282 Steve Hunt scored a flag-to-flag win in the final, and revealed post-race that in Easter 2024, he will clock up 50 years of racing.  185 Richard Coaker was the runner-up and 739 Jason Moore completed the top three.