United Downs Raceway - Sunday 29th March 2009

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

30 F2s raced to a full format meeting, with 954 Jamie Beere (diff), 167 Bill Batten (ill) and 990 Paul Rice (engine) each sidelined after pre-meeting practice.
832 Kane Moore and 116 Ashley Rundle won the two qualifying heats, whilst 254 Richard Beere was awarded the consolation race, after 430 Simon Edwards and 530 Matt Deeble (who crossed the line in first and second) were each docked two places for jumping the start.
In the feature final, 31 Simon Bassett led the early stages.  Indeed, Bassett was still in the lead as the race reached the midway point, whereupon Moore and Stoneman edged ahead as the race moved into its second half.  Stoneman got ahead of Moore, and grabbed the lead, but he was being chased hard by National Points Champion 886 Chris Bradbury.  Stoneman's pace was such that Bradbury was only marginally reducing his lead with each passing lap, and as the race entered its closing stages, Stoneman lapped 992 Ian Jefferies, and putting the backmarker between himself and the chasing Bradbury was the move that clinched victory for Stoneman.  393 Chris Cuming completed the top three.
Bradbury made his long trek west an even more worthwhile one, when he won the end of day Grand National, in which Ashley Rundle placed second, to complete another successful day for himself at his home circuit.

Stock Rods

There was controversy, petulance and ill-tempered exchanges in the non-contact Stock Rods.
In the opening race, 92 Adam Daniels racked up a comfortable victory.
That race was relatively incident free, but that was in stark contrast to the Stock Rods final, which was littered with bad driving.  Daniels and 30 Rob Peters squabbled for the whole of the race distance, and were reprimanded after the race.  Points Champion 125 Mike Hibberd spun himself in the turnstile bend after making contact with the car in front of him, whilst the battle for the lead between 578 Rick Lee and 306 Neil Truran, ended acrimoniously.  The two became entangled in the turnstile bend.  Lee was left facing the wrong way, and Truran raced on to collect the chequered flag.  However, as Truran pulled up at the start line for the trophy presentation at the end of the race, a seething Lee was already there waiting, and Lee launched a volley of abuse at Truran.  Lee was later given a Steward's warning, and Truran was docked two places for contact.  That promoted 37 Barry Trickey into the winning place, from 27 Andy Thomas, whilst Truran left the track and refused to accept his third place trophy.
A more civil air was restored for the Grand National, and sixteen year old 925 Jordan Pattison celebrated with gusto, when he held on to take the chequered flag, for his first ever victory.

Bangers

Just under 40 Bangers contested their quartet of races, and produced some spectacular action into the bargain.
In the opening heat, 804 Treve Wills took command early on, to claim his first chequered flag of the season.  Heat two began with a sensational incident, when Points Championship leader 282 Steve Hunt, tangled with 738 Steve Tippett, on the home straight.  As Tippett slid sideways, Hunt's BMW clambered up over the side of Tippett's car.  When the two cars came to rest, Hunt was left with the front of his car pointing skywards.  Teenager 860 Dan Perryman was the early race leader, and he youngster then drove superbly to build an enormous lead, only for his engine to seize, and catch fire!  Perryman coasted to the infield, where the fire was extinguished, and that left 991 Ben Hale to pounce and grab what had looked a most unlikely win.
After 113 Chris Jeanes won heat three, a good showing of twenty four drivers gridded for the Taiya Densham Memorial Trophy final.  The race had to be suspended early on when 32 Reg Coffin rolled over, after which Hale overhauled 730 Scott Sealy to get to the front, to regain the trophy shield he first won in 2007.