Smeatharpe Stadium - Saturday 28th September 2019

The National Series night was horribly hit by grim weather, but despite extremely challenging conditions, drivers did their level best to overcome the elements.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

At the start of the meeting, the 13 National Series drivers present were invited to lead the Grand Parade, before assembling on the start/finish straight for photographs at the launch of the 2019 competition.  The opening heat was run in conditions reminiscent of the British Championship in June, so it was little surprise that 418 Ben Borthwick made such good forward progress.  He was shadowed for much of the way by 801 Jack Cave, and they duly finished first and second.  Heat two featured a final battle for the lead between 895 Ben Goddard and 126 Jamie Avery.  Further back, 24 Jon Palmer held off the attentions of 101 Kelvyn Marshall, who was then spun by 560 Luke Wrench.  Avery got the better of Goddard in the latter stages, to grab the victory.  In the consolation race, 118 Josh Toll led early on, but when 359 Gary Wrench moved ahead, Toll gamely attacked him, only to spin in the west bend.  Wrench was duly relegated down the order as 689 Joe Marquand took up the running and he went on to win from Marshall.  All 13 National Series drivers gridded for the Steve Rich Trophy final which made for a terrific sight; a deluge of flashing amber lights.  Early on it was 222 Adrian Watts who led the way.  Then 979 Paul Moss took over.  However, twice the race had to be suspended, and that negated any hopes Moss had of keeping out of the clutches of the chasing pack.  Firstly, 844 Jack Prosser had run aground in the west bend, and he got collected just as the yellow flags appeared, and secondly the yellow flags were shown when 606 Andrew Palmer was left parked in the west bend fence.  An exchange between Wrench and Marshall saw the latter spin and that was where he remained on the exit of turn four.  Just as they had done in the second heat, Avery and Goddard burst through to the lead positions and Avery duly scored his first final win of the season.  184 Aaron Vaight held off Jon Palmer in the hunt for third.  542 Steven Gilbert was a convincing winner of the Grand National, which put the seal on the Track Championship.  Gilbert duly collected the splendid Nostalgia Trophy from Mick Whittle, with Marquand and 618 Ben Lockwood the other placemen.  Watts was a delighted winner of the St John Ambulance White Top shield.

Saloon Stock Cars

There was a fine showing of Saloon Stock Cars for the second round of their National Series, and they served up some brutal action.  27 Kieren Bradford swiftly shot up the order and took command of the opening heat in which 161 Billy Smith dished out plenty of bumperwork, which included 799 Joe Powell being on the receiving end.  Smith was heavily involved again in heat two, which was won at a canter by 610 Trent Arthurton.  Smith effected a hefty burial of 56 George Boult Jnr, but showing great resilience, Boult Jnr continued to chase after Smith and managed to dive at him and spin him in the very late stages.  Heat three brought Arthurton his second win of the night, as he again proved uncatchable from the yellow grade.  Boult Jnr twice took strong dives at Bradford in this race, whilst World Champion 116 Diggy Smith repeated his runner-up finish from heat one.  In the final, Arthurton was finally beaten.  A caution period was required when 476 Ryan Wadling needed attention in his car, and that closed up the pack.  Bradford managed to overhaul Arthurton to land the win in the final, and Diggy Smith rounded out the top three to plunder a good points haul.

National Micro Bangers

Despite the lucrative awards on offer for the National Series Final, just two drivers appeared – 205 Matt Cottle and 133 Terry Hill, but the pair of them entertained superbly.  Hill led a few laps, but gallantly jumped on the brakes to allow Cottle to blast into him in the pits bend.  Hill repeated the trick again, much to the approval of the crowd gathered under the covered stand.  Cottle spun Hill aside and won the race, but obligingly took his turn to be trashed, as he crusied to a halt on the home straight, which offered Hill the chance to blast into him.  Poorly attended, yes; but what outstanding effort by the two drivers to put on a show – they should each be very proud.

BriSCA F2 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 418 801 979 302 828 606 542 183 127 184
Heat 2 126 895 700 315 24 560 618 995 905 222
Consolation 689 101 53 968 325 359 517 788 844 118
Final 126 895 184 24 418 968 542 979 560 127
Grand National 542 689 618 968 24 606 127 560 184 905
Grade Awards W 222 Y 979 B 126
Saloon Stock Cars 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 27 116 149 171 661 161 5 318 902 28
Heat 2 610 476 399 428 199 84 902 980 561 00
Heat 3 610 116 28 661 428 316 399 5 476 56
Final 27 610 116 399 161 661 149 318 199 5
National Micro Bangers 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
NS Final 205 133
Allcomers not run
DD not run
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