Smeatharpe Stadium - Sunday 15th August 2010

The mid-month fixture at Smeatharpe enjoyed some warm summer sunshine, and served up plenty of spectacular action from all the formulas.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

The F2s were in sensational form during their feature final, the outcome of which was only decided in two explosive final laps.  Having seen off the challenge of 642 Dave Luscombe, 676 Neil Hooper looked on course for victory.  However, he clipped the parked car of 992 Ian Jefferies, and suffered suspension damage.  Luscombe edged past Hooper, to take the last lap board as the new leader.  However, Hooper bludgeoned Luscombe in the pits bend, and sent the former World champion spinning.  Hooper was back in front, with only two thirds of the lap to go, but as he limped down the back straight, 522 Chris Mikulla, 467 Rob Batten and 374 Gary Stephens were bearing down on him.  In went the bumpers, Hooper was shifted wide, but Mikulla drifted off line too, and Batten won the scramble to the line in a thrilling climax.  Second went to Stephens, third to 315 Justin Fisher, and Mikulla and Hooper salvaged fourth and fifth respectively.
Earlier on in the meeting, 302 Dale Moon had taken his maiden race win with a flag to flag win in the first heat.  886 Chris Bradbury won heat two, when he overhauled Stephens on the last lap.  Bradbury later had a gearbox problem on the rolling lap of the final.  The consolation saw another win for 835 Matt Westaway, and Moon won again in the Grand National, which was yet another thrilling race to conclude a fine afternoon from the F2s.  Stephens was the runner-up, his third such second place of the day.

Saloon Stock Cars

Reasonable numbers produced three exciting races, beginning with the Devon Championship, which featured a heavy back straight collision involving 184 Marty Colliver.  At the time, his brother, 698 Danny Colliver, was in the lead, and he had the cushion of two backmarkers between him and 199 Phil Powell, who was his nearest challenger.  At the restart, Danny Colliver swept to victory, whilst the unfortunate Powell was shunted aside in an untidy start to the event.
The first of two Allcomers races saw 125 Mike Hibberd win at Smeatharpe for the first time this season, and then Marty Colliver took the second Allcomers event, for his first ever Smeatharpe victory.
The meeting also included a fine Saloon Stock Car debut from former Ministox star 995 Ben Goddard..

Stock Rods

For the second successive year, the Stock Rods were especially ill-disciplined for their West of England Championship meeting.
The day belonged to 37 Barry Trickey and 92 Adam Daniels.  They each won a qualifying heat, and finished second in their other heat, to tie with 19 points.  Heat two even involved a rollover for 545 Nick Lane.
Daniels won the coin toss to earn pole in the West of England final, however, the race had barely done one lap when 34 Glenn Sanders and 193 Chris Drake ended up in the home straight fence.  A re-run was needed, and that gave Trickey a second chance.  He chased and chased after Daniels, who made a mistake late on, and Trickey was able to pounce.  730 Brendon Sealy completed the top three.

National Micro Bangers

After the hard-hitting action of the Crash For Cancer Care meeting on 18 July, the annual National Micro Bangers event was similarly destructive, with both heats featuring heavily populated track blockages on the exit of the pits bend.  Drivers came and went from the parking lot, in a mixture of crashes and smiles.
There were heat wins for 382 Danny Hunt and 242 Ben Ellacott (adjudged to have completed the most laps before no cars were left running).  Fifteen cars made it out for the final, which still had some lively moments.  104 Matt Horwell  took the win, and 452 Anthony Sleeman saw off 83 Wayne Sinker, to take the end of meeting DD.
At the start of the day, 248 John Sparks, 246 Ryan Sparks and 278 Shaun Brokenshire were this year's winners of the Micro Bangers Triples event, which raised five triples.