Smeatharpe Stadium - Easter Monday 22nd April 2019

A decent Easter Monday crowd basked in some bright Spring sunshine at Smeatharpe, and enjoyed another highly spectacular day of action.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

As ever, Easter took its toll, and the original entry fell a little way short come raceday.  Nonetheless, 37 drivers is still a very decent number, and there plenty of talking points.  The first heat was led for some way by 91 Harrison Bryant, but a strong run late on saw 895 Ben Goddard reel him in.  In heat two, it was 145 Lee Morgan who got out in front, but he was caught late on by 418 Ben Borthwick and 127 Matt Stoneman.  Water that had splashed on to the track in turn three made the west end of the circuit tricky, and Borthwick made an audacious attempt to challenge Stoneman on the final bend, but Stoneman held on for a very narrow victory.  The consolation began with 227 Stu Whitemore and 944 Callum Hosie tangling on the back straight.  That brought about a complete re-run, whish 844 Jack Prosser won by a huge distance, although there was some entertaining battles further down the order.  The final had a dramatic start, as 468 Sam Weston charged at 24 Jon Palmer in the west bend.  That sent Palmer and innocent bystander 667 Tommy Farrell out to the fence.  Weston then sat behind Palmer and pushed him the length of the home straight and into the pits bend plating.  As the two cars dribbled their way down the back straight, Weston edged past, leaving Palmer sat in the middle lane, at the end of the straight.  As the chasing pack scattered in all directions to avoid the stranded car, 689 Joe Marquand was the unlucky unsighted one who clobbered Palmer, wrecking the back axle of the 24 car, and incurring much damage himself.  528 Shane Hector was also caught up in the mayhem, as were 542 Steven Gilbert and 526 Marc Rowe.  The race was halted, and Hector required attention, whilst Palmer sought out Weston to have a frank exchange of views.  Weston was duly disqualified for the deliberate fencing.  The race resumed with Prosser and 398 Ian England out front.  They were soon joined by Borthwick, whilst all the time Stoneman was gaining on them.  Stoneman made his move on Borthwick, which saw the latter slide wide into the parked car of 828 Julian Coombes.  It was a decisive move, and Stoneman thus successfully defended the Autospeed Rosebowl, in memory of Paul Oakley.  England and Prosser completed the top three, and they each received a new tyre.  Paul Oakley’s son Alan and granddaughter Chantelle presented the Rosebowl, and were assisted by surprise guest, former multi-champion Garry Hooper.  The Grand National brought more action as Hosie, Morgan, England and 572 James Lindsay bunched up on the exit of turn four, with England popping up from the melee the proverbial bar of soap.  Once that was cleared up, Stoneman looked sat in a very promising position, having seen his lap handicap nullified.  However, he was unable to cut through the traffic as swiftly as he would have liked.  315 Justin Fisher made it to the front to claim a fine win from Borthwick and 979 Paul Moss, with Stoneman piling on double points in fourth place.

Saloon Stock Cars

Some late cancellations affected numbers in the Saloon Stock Cars which disappointingly dipped under the magical 20-car mark, but in a grid heavily populated by low graders, they stole the show.  980 Charlie Lobb continued the fine form he showed at St Day the previous afternoon, as he led home 800 Scott Greenslade in the opening heat.  With Lobb at the back of his grade in heat two, he was unable to make such a good start, and Greenslade came out on top of a battle with Lobb and 561 Aaron Totham.  Greenslade made his escape when 199 Phil Powell bundled Totham into 210 Paul Barnes.  Although that secured second place for Powell, Greenslade was away and gone.  Teenager Lobb established himself at the front in the final, and that left an awesome scrap behind him for second place, involving Powell, Greenslade, 902 Junior Buster and 399 Cole Atkins.  They repeatedly changed positions, and in a blanket finish it was Buster and Greenslade who snatched the other trophy positions.

Back 2 Basics Bangers

A very fine showing of 35 Back 2 Basics Bangers served up the usual brand of chaos and mayhem in their events.  Amongst the entry, 185 Richard Coaker raced his Peugeot 205 GTi that he had driven on his farm whilst still at school.  321 Mark Johns, in a wonderfully smartly presented car showed it would go as well as it looked when he stormed to victory in the first race.  Heat two had an assortment of leaders, until 27 Luke Betts took over at the front.  He was hassled by backmarker 912 Simon Rees, and entering the final bend, they tangled and charged the fence by the pit gate.  That left the door wide open and 71 Andy Annear gleefully accepted the chance to grab the win.  Early on in the Easter Hop Trophy final, 898 Jack Semmonds hit the front, but by lap five it was 992 Dan Walsh who was clear in the lead.  At one stage, he was over a quarter of a lap ahead, and whilst 988 Billy Dennison kept up the chase, Walsh was sufficiently clear to complete the remaining laps untroubled.  Walsh won, and received the wonderful trophy from former Banger star Gus Garrett.  Dennison was second and 242 Ben Ellacott third.  The day ended with Chained Pairs.  Dennison and Ellacott were cruising to victory, but three from home they became entangled with backmarkers.  That left 912 Simon Rees and 938 Ashley Rice free to nip past for victory, and once the chequered flag fell, there was a fun free-for-all, as drivers exchanged hits and crashes to round out a fine afternoon.

BriSCA F2 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 895 91 979 315 689 460 468 328 24 398
Heat 2 127 418 145 542 517 828 667 539 53 572
Consolation 844 126 111 528 325 526 976 464 663 241
Final 127 398 844 315 895 91 979 328 145 325
Grand National 315 418 979 127 542 91 464 460 325 126
Grade Awards W 844 Y 895 B 979
Saloon Stock Cars 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 980 800 561 447 199 902 171 316 799 276
Heat 2 800 199 902 171 980 276 447 561 316 799
Final 980 902 800 399 199 171 276 84 799 210
Back 2 Basics Bangers 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 321 242 992 80 881 718 27 332 157 17
Heat 2 71 881 27 157 333 242 938 278 905 205
Easter Hop Trophy 992 988 242 394 333 912 455 27 nof
Pairs 912/938 333/185 27/17 nof
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