Smeatharpe Stadium - Monday 30th August 2010

A thrilling day of Bank Holiday action at Smeatharpe will always be remembered for the remarkable incident in the day's second heat for BriSCA F2 Stock Cars, when 276 Murray Jones was launched over the safety fence and became entangled in the catch netting, just in front of the home straight spectator seating area.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

374 Gary Stephens completed an August Bank Holiday double as he won the feature final for F2s, just 24 hours after having done so at Bristol.  Stephens duly collected the magnificent Club 21 annual trophy.  Rising teenage starlet 302 Dale Moon finished as a very close runner-up, and 676 Neil Hooper was third in the feature race.
Earlier on in the day, Hooper had been involved in an astonishing incident at the end of heat two.  Hooper lost a wheel on the exit of turn four.  The wheel bounced the rear end of Hooper's car up into the air, and as the 676 car spun, the stray wheel was left directly in the path of 276 Murray Jones.  As Jones hit the wheel, he took off, and spiralled over the safety fence.  The 276 car then pitched into the area behind the safety fence, before sumersaulting backwards into the catch netting, whereupon his car came to rest at the front of the seating area for spectators on the home straight.  Mercilessly, nobody was hurt in this most frightening of incidents.
315 Justin Fisher and Dale Moon were the heat winners, and 286 Todd Jones took the consolation.  Incredibly, Murray Jones fixed his car and re-gridded for the consolation.  As he entered the track as the last competitor for the race, applause rung out from spectators who marvelled at his courage and determination.
886 Chris Bradbury edged further clear in the Track Championship when he won the Grand National, in which Murray Jones placed second to end a day he will never ever forget.

Saloon Stock Cars

The second day of the Teng Tools Challenge saw a memorable afternoon for 103 Chris Horwell.  Having won both his heats, Horwell trailed home behind 328 Ian Govier in the final, but inherited the win when Govier was docked two places for a jumped start.
Overall, 240 Tony Gould topped the points for the two days, and thus won the Teng Tools Challenge first prize, with Horwell the runner-up and 120 Shane Brown in third.  Grade awards went to 995 Ben Goddard (white), 125 Mike Hibberd (yellow), 65 Ian Willis (blue) and 618 Stuart Shevill (red).

Ministox

124 Ollie Skeels made a successful defence of the Devon Championship, as the youngsters produced a quartet of fine races.  The three qualifying heats were won by 986 Sophie Fasey, Skeels and 991 Ryan Hoskin.  Heat three featured a rollover for Fasey.  When the grid assembled for the title race, Skeels was joined on the front row, by his younger brother, 121 Marcus Skeels.  Ollie Skeels set the pace for most of the race, but a late caution period was required when 149 Todd Payne caught the spun car of Marcus Skeels in the pits bend.  That enabled second place 167 James Meadows to close right up with the race leader, but in the closing few laps, Skeels was able to resist a stong challenge from Meadows to hold on for back-to-back title wins.  Meadows was the runner-up, with 128 Craig Banwell in third.  954 Hannah Sear finished the best of the south west contingent in sixth.

National Bangers

A disappointing showing of unlimited cc National Bangers contested The Aftermath, Wildcard and penultimate World Championship qualifying round of the season.  It was 901 John Stoneman who took the Wildcard to book his place on the grid for the National Bangers Championship of the World at Smeatharpe on 12 September.  The rest of the day belonged to 162 Brett Ellacott who, despite bemoaning his Mk3 Granada's performance, racked up two victories to surge clear at the top of the Autospeed World points chart.