Smeatharpe Stadium - Monday 26th August 2019

A large Bank Holiday crowd gathered in late summer sunshine to enjoy the annual Caravan Chaos day.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

The annual Club 21 day attracted 32 drivers, but 976 Dan Kent withdrew from racing after an incident during pre-meeting practice.  The opening heat had barely begun when white graders 222 Adrian Watts, 118 Josh Toll and 137 Russell Chadwick tangled on the exit of turn four.  689 Joe Marquand made short work of the restarted race, to win from fellow Cornish drivers 302 Dale Moon, 979 Paul Moss and 418 Ben Borthwick.  On her track debut, 390 Jessica Smith led heat two, until she was reeled in and passed by 844 Jack Prosser.  In turn, 127 Matt Stoneman did likewise to Prosser, who held on for second, whilst 315 Justin Fisher completed the top three.  The consolation proved an entertaining race, exclusively for lower graders.  544 James Rogers and 663 Bryan Lindsay disputed the lead early on, until Rogers managed to edge clear.  By flag fall, 325 Ryan Sheahan had risen to second place, whilst Chadwick held on to third place.  Smith and Chadwick were the early pacesetters in the final, but with 126 Jamie Avery requiring assistance, the race was suspended, then stopped and a re-run ordered.  Marquand and Fisher each made a good start from their respective grades, whilst the star men of 24 Jon Palmer, Borthwick, Stoneman and British Champion 542 Steven Gilbert set about one another in highly entertaining fashion.  When Smith got out of shape on the exit of turn four, the race was suspended once more, and the single file order showed Marquand leading from Fisher and Sheahan.  As Fisher moved past Marquand, the star men were continuing to shove one another around on each bend, which significantly held up their progress.  Indeed, Palmer and Stoneman spun at one stage.  The closing stages were fairly routine as Fisher and Marquand cruised home for first and second, but although Moon crossed the line in third, he and Stoneman were docked two places each for jumping the restart.  That elevated 468 Sam Weston into the other trophy position.  The Grand National had the best finish of the day from the F2s.  Moss and Marquand pursued Smith at the front, but found the teenager to be difficult to shake off.  As Smith defended her lead, Sheahan joined the battle.  Marquand fired Sheahan wide in the pits bend, and Moss grabbed second place.  Moss got past Smith, but when Marquand tried to do the same, he and Smith tangled and ground to a halt.  Just when it looked as though Moss had the race in the bag, he encountered the spun car of Chadwick in the final bend.  As he dived to go out around it, Stoneman shot by on the inside, and stole the win in the final 50 metres of the race.

Saloon Stock Cars

Another good showing of Saloon Stock Cars saw 21 drivers assemble, including Stock Rod stars 932 Matt Peters and 14 Ross Montgomery.  Of the entry, 14 were eligible for the White & Yellow grade final at the start of the programme.  Buoyed by a career first win the previous afternoon, 23 Max Gunter set the early pace, and he was still out front in the closing stages when the race was suspended after 561 Aaron Totham and 627 Aaron Kingwell crashed out by the pit gate; the latter suffering extensive damage to the car he had borrowed from 642 Nigel Thomas.  Kingwell also lost his glasses in the crash, by was able to exit the car unaided.  799 Joe Powell pounced when the race resumed, leaving Gunter to finish second, and 50 Ben Murray came out on top of a close battle for third.  The first heat proper was a compelling race, and featured a succession of battles right the way through the grid.  161 Billy Smith chased down the lead duo of Powell and 210 Paul Barnes to claim the victory.  The second heat began with the customary charge into the pits bend by the star grade; 56 George Boult Jnr and 399 Cole Atkins getting caught up as a result.  Murray was spun into the infield blocks on turn four, but just before halfway, Boult Jnr and 902 Junior Buster became sidetracked by their own duel, which ended with both drivers being black flagged.  Gunter held the lead, but behind him Peters, Smith, Barnes, Powell and 27 Kieren Bradford tussled superbly.  It all came down to a titanic last bend, with four drivers sniffing the chance of victory.  Barnes dived at Smith, who survived, but Bradford dived at Barnes, which took them both very wide and into the plating.  Powell took advantage to squeeze by for second, with Gunter doing likewise for third.  Boult Jnr was given a warning for his antics, and Junior Buster was loaded up for not racing to win.  Peters again showed well in the final, which was led by Gunter.  A caution period was called after 444 Kieran Bellringer and Barnes tangled spectacularly on the back straight.  Thereafter, the second half of the race was quite tame, as Smith completed a hat-trick of wins.  Boult Jnr and 980 Charlie Lobb rounded out the top three.

Back 2 Basics Bangers

Just shy of 30 Back 2 Basics Bangers contested their latest fixture.  After 549 Danny Levy had led the first heat, 333 Craig Partridge took up the running, and he was still ahead when 246 Ryan Sparks chased him over the line when the chequered fell.  The line-up for heat two included 29 Jamie Jones, who only had three wheels on his car, after damage sustained in the first race.  The first half of the race was led by 157 Rob Surman, but he was delayed when he briefly tangled with Partridge.  That allowed 335 Albert Hughes to take over, but his turn at the front was short-lived, and 211 Adrian Coles took up the running to win from Surman, who sped back into contention after his earlier hold-up.  The final saw drivers race anti-clockwise around the circuit, which actually led to a slightly tamer race.  74 Adam Hitchcock won, from 321 Mark Johns and 27 Shane Barton.  449 Paul Phillips saw off some spirited efforts to win the DD for the Bangers; the pick of the action being Barton’s follow-in of 394 Ben Myers and a thunderous head-on between Phillips and Myers.

Caravan Chaos

As ever, the Caravan Chaos race was hugely spectacular, with caravans being smashed into oblivion.  The race had barely gone a few laps before there was very little left running.  Eventually, a halt was called, and from the wreckage, one caravan was almost complete.  715 Seb Burns was the last driver still mobile and he duly obliged in trashing the last caravan to be declared the winner.  Unfortunately, Burns then injured himself when he crashed into the static 912 Simon Rees, which left the meeting to finish on a regrettable note, after what had been a thoroughly fun-filled afternoon.

BriSCA F2 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 689 302 979 418 184 24 828 126 517 663
Heat 2 127 844 315 542 468 390 890 572 737 502
Consolation 544 325 137 663 303 517 222 737 214 502
Final 315 689 468 325 302 542 418 544 844 137
Grand National 127 979 542 126 184 325 302 544 24 315
Grade Awards W 544 Y 689 B 315 R 542
Saloon Stock Cars 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
W&Y 799 23 50 84 210 932 147 28 444 nof
Heat 1 161 799 210 27 902 56 50 199 399 0
Heat 2 161 799 23 210 27 932 399 561 199 147
Final 161 56 980 27 23 399 799 199 84 147
B2B Bangers 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 333 246 278 211 321 242 74 435 549 272
Heat 2 211 157 246 74 321 202 455 333 269 2
Final 74 321 27 333 449 912 242 992 246 211
DD 449
Caravan Chaos 715
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