Smeatharpe Stadium - Monday 6th May 2019

The Mayday weekend concluded with the traditional Mayday Monday fixture at Smeatharpe on a pleasant, if slightly chilly afternoon.

Saloon Stock Cars

The start of the season has seen a boost to numbers in the Saloon Stock Cars, and that continued with a fine showing of 22 drivers, including 26 Tommy Barnes from East Anglia.  Having scored a hat-trick the previous afternoon at St Day, teenager 561 Aaron Totham was looking to continue his form, and he set a searing pace in the opening heat.  Newly crowned English Champion 730 Deane Mayes bumped and barged his way up to third, but he could not hunt down 399 Cole Atkins who was himself a distant second behind runaway leader Totham.  In heat two, Totham did not make such an explosive start, and this time he was reeled in by Atkins and 800 Scott Greenslade.  There was action galore all the way down through the grid, but Atkins scored a fine win, ahead of Barnes and 56 George Boult Jnr.  Barnes was spun out of the pack at the start of the final, as Totham duelled with 23 Max Gunter for the early lead.  A subsequent tangled with 552 Karl Douglas resulted in Totham spinning, as Greenslade established himself as the clear leader from Gunter.  Disaster then struck Gunter who spun in turn four, which led to havoc for the chasing pack.  Once Gunter had moved out of the way, 210 Paul Barnes spun in almost the same spot, to continue to make the pits bend hazardous.  Boult Jnr moved into second place with 84 Carl Boswell third, but on the final bend, a long dive from Mayes saw him bundle Boswell  into the tyres, and Mayes grabbed third place, but Greenslade was a distant winner.

Stock Rods

The season’s best car count of Stock Rods produced some close racing from the non-contact class.  On his first Smeatharpe appearance of the season, 206 Max Truran chased down yellow graders 41 James Horwell and 426 Keith Channon to win the opening race.  The final saw 9 Chris Drake fly on to two wheels as he clipped 3 Matt Peters on the back straight, and 351 Rhys Langdown retired with a puncture.  Out front, Channon led Horwell, but in the latter stages Horwell spun out of second place.  That promoted Truran to second, and 81 Rob Johns to third, but they were unable to get close to Channon who was a comprehensive winner.  Truran scored a second victory in the Grand National, with Langdown comfortably clear in second place.  92 Adam Daniels just held off 776 Simon Jones in a thrilling battle for third.

Ministox

A good entry of 20 youngsters contested this year’s Devon Championship.  577 Harry Darby took the opening heat, as he led home 985 Sam Carter and 136 Emmaleigh Polley.  In heat two, 913 Jack Collins was collected by 942 Leon Williams on the exit of turn two, which necessitated yellow flags, and a further caution period followed for 566 James Willis.  Darby, Carter and 499 Alfie Aldous disputed the lead, and it all came down to the last bend.  Darby charged in with an audacious dive, but as he spun he dropped down the order, and Carter won the drag to the line from Aldous.  Carter duly earned pole position for the title race, with Polley alongside.  However, the race quickly developed into a Carter versus Aldous contest.  They swapped the lead a couple of times before Aldous edged clear.  However, Aldous was hesitant when he came to lap two backmarkers late on, and Carter had the chance to attack.  He did so in the west bend, but as Aldous went sideways, the two briefly tangled and lost momentum.  That gave Darby an opportunity to make his move in the pits bend, but the upshot of his efforts was to leave the door open for 589 Josh King, and he took his chance with glee, storming into the lead, and seeing out the last section of the race to clinch the title.  Darby was second and Langridge grabbed third in the race of the day.

Bangers

Almost 40 drivers were present across eleven teams for this year’s Team Championship.  The Men In Black were aiming for a fifth successive win, but it was evident from the first green flag that they were facing a tough assignment.  991 Ben Hale (Happy Campers) looked on course to win heat one, but he slowed on the last lap, which let 944 Callum Hosie (Team Royale) pick up the pieces.  In heat two, 17 Tim King (Goonies) and then 276 Ross Walter (C O T) had led much of the way, but Walter was caught up late on, and that left 622 Jason Spry and 898 Jack Semmonds to claim first and second for Team Royale who stormed clear at the top of the points chart.  Heat three was won by 242 Ben Ellacott (Jackson Four), but with Hale, 70 Jamie Thomas and 113 Chris Jeanes filling the next three places, the Happy Campers were right back in the running.  Some poor tactics in the fourth heat were to prove the undoing for the Happy Campers, who spent too much time battling with Men In Black.  Instead, it was Team Royale who sealed the overall win, as Semmonds won from Walter in a race which saw 853 David James (The Leftovers) flip upside down on the start-finish line, whereby he was gallantly protected whilst upside down, by 912 Simon Rees (Men In Black).  A Destruction Derby finished off the afternoon, with some superb crashing, and in a car that was screaming that it had more than enough punishment, Ellacott ran out the winner.

Saloon Stock Cars 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 561 399 730 902 800 120 56 980 84 23
Heat 2 399 26 56 470 199 800 84 276 730 799
Final 800 56 730 120 199 28 470 980 447 642
Ministox 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 577 985 569 136 927 913 589 566 654 942
Heat 2 985 499 136 514 914 569 589 998 927 907
Devon 589 577 569 985 654 136 913 914 998 499
Stock Rods 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 206 426 351 41 81 3 776 437 92 9
Final 426 206 81 776 437 909 92 123 68 14
Grand National 206 351 92 776 3 14 9 123 81 68
Bangers 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 944 276 242 70 196 333 366 335 911 898
Heat 2 622 898 911 944 853 335 242 2 320 333
Heat 3 242 991 70 113 276 2 898 333 320 185
Heat 4 898 276 944 242 366 690 34 912 992 333
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