United Downs Raceway - Easter Sunday 27th March 2016

A mix of bright sunshine and heavy showers brought about ever-changing track conditions for this year’s Boneshaker fixture, on a chilly Easter Sunday afternoon.

2 Litre National Bangers

The addition of some Old Skool races for the 2 Litre National Bangers had the desired effect of attracting more cars to the Boneshaker meeting than in recent years.  The final count of 34 cars proved to be the best for the fixture since 2011.
Some needless dithering saw one or two drivers miss the pit gate being closed for the Old Skool ‘warm up’ race, which proved to be a fine battle between 912 Simon Rees, and 451 Nigel Belfield.  It was Belfield (one of a number of drivers who had raced the previous evening at Birmingham) who was in the lead when the flag fell.  Buoyed by his good showing in that race, Rees set off like a man possessed when the Boneshaker random draw left him near the front of the grid for the big money race.  Rees was a huge distance ahead when the red flags were called for the stricken 352 Carl Belfield.  From the single file restart, Rees was overtaken by World Champion 162 Brett Ellacott, but the gold top was merely unlapping himself, and thus Rees was still the race leader.  Behind him, 133 Terry Hill had just got the better of 190 Steve Bailey, and hence Hill, the defending Boneshaker Champion, led the pursuit of Rees.  Hill was right on the tail of Rees as the two laps to go board was shown, and he edged past on the next lap.  Rees made one dive at Hill, but could not quite connect.  Hill held on, and duly won Boneshaker for the second successive season.  Rees was the runner-up and Bailey took third.
The first Allcomers had barely started, when red flags were called after a rollover for 113 Jack Gill.  Good work from 141 Toby Tiddy saw him shield the upturned 113 car.  Boneshaker winner Terry Hill buried 99 David Spooner on the re-run, and with ‘Bam’ suffering a shoulder injury, the race was stopped once again.  The third attempt was much more routine, and relatively processional, although the gallant 79 Adam Brocks did invite assorted damage to his ailing car.  Ellacott overhauled Bailey late on to take the chequered.  Allcomers 2 began with 229 Connor Dix being shunted into the turnstile bend fence, but most of the action was to follow in the pits bend, with 74 Adam Hitchcock well and truly in the thick of it.  Aside from the crashing, Bailey ran out the winner, from Nigel Belfield.
Ellacott scored another victory in the second Old Skool race after early front running by Rees and 196 Phil Chapman.
Great work in the pits saw 13 drivers emerge for the DD, and they proceeded to make a car park in the pits bend, with assorted hits, and comings and goings.  At one stage, 45 Anthony Croshaw looked to have the best hope, but he got snagged on another car, which left him a sitting duck for assorted attacks.  Finally, the last hit was landed by 452 Anthony Sleeman, to end one of the best Boneshaker meetings for many years.

Saloon Stock Cars

Just a dozen Saloon Stock Cars attended, and one of them, 995 Ben Goddard had already set sail for home before the first of their three races.  No sooner had the opening heat begun, than British Champion 428 Lee Sampson found himself upside down in the turnstile bend, forcing an immediate halt to proceedings.  In the re-run race, 158 Shane Davies and 149 Jamie Sampson featured in an enthralling battle, with Davies taking the win late on.  Heat two was arguably the best race of the day.  619 Ross Thomas found himself embroiled in most of the action, as the pack reeled in early leader and track debutant 448 Martin Kibble.  Davies looked like he might add a second win, but whilst being punted wide, he picked up a puncture and sank down the order, leaving 677 Eddie Darby to lead home 730 Deane Mayes.  As Darby pulled to the line to receive his trophy, the heavens opened, and Darby wisely opted against a full-on soaking during the lap of honour.  The deciding move of the Western Championship came early on, when Thomas sent Jamie Sampson wide, to earn the right to chase down the low graders.  Thomas proceeded to move clear at the front and he regained the Western title he won previously in 2012.  Mayes was second once more, and after his first race inversion, Lee Sampson completed the top three.  Not many cars, but the Saloon Stock Car races were very good indeed.

Ministox

The youngsters had a poor run in terms of the weather, with the rain often hindering their races.  Heat one was run on a wet track, and after 917 Gemma Robbins had led much of the way, 902 Junior Buster nipped by in the very late stages, to win from 951 Aiden Vincent and 667 Tommy Farrell.  The white graders were not to be caught in heat two, however, and Robbins took the chequered, by leading home 915 Max Langmaid, who slotted in well on the occasion of his first meeting from the front of the grid.  The Snell Family Trophy final brewed up to a pulsating finale.  Silver top 907 Cameron Lawrence looked to have done all that he needed to seal the win, but slid wide in the pits bend, and that opened the door for Junior Buster to regain the lead on the last lap.  As Lawrence fought to cut back in for a last bend challenge, he tangled with Langmaid.  Lawrence shot up the banking on the entrance to turn three, and duly rolled over, where he was then inadvertently collected by 677 Warren Darby.  Junior Buster thus scored his second win, to lay claim to the superb trophy, whilst white tops 999 James Puckett and Langmaid took the other two trophy places amidst the last lap chaos.