United Downs Raceway - Sunday 28th May 2017

A sizeable crowd attended the United Downs Raceway, St Day for the annual Truck & Lorry racing event.  Some unfortunate timing by the weather saw light rain begin to fall at start time, and it worsened from there on, before clearing away towards the end of the meeting.

Saloon Stock Cars

The opening heat for the Saloon Stock Cars got underway with 447 Adam Hicks and 78 Jack Thompson disputing the lead.  903 Adam Neville broke free from the front of the yellow grade, and he soon challenged the leaders.  Neville due made his way ahead of the white tops and was in the lead by half way.  28 Ian Govier emerged as the main threat to Neville, when he edged his way into second place.  However, Neville was clear out front, and he saw out the remainder of the race, to clinch a first ever Saloon Stock Car victory; a win which netted him a £100 bonus from St Austell Bay Motor Auctions.  Heat two saw East Anglian 217 Sid Madgwick sweep from the back of the grid to the front, to head home fellow star 27 Kieren Bradford.  Madgwick went on to make it a heat and final double, when he reeled in long time leader 78 Jack Thompson in the feature race.  A third young driver, 399 Cole Atkins, completed the top three.

Trucks & Lorrys

A quartet of trucks did battle in their annual meeting.  Some fun ‘loitering’ by 141 Toby Tiddy in the first heat livened up the race, as he tried to hinder the leader, 16 Simon Ferris.  289 Jamie Cocks took advantage to grab the win late on.  Cocks spun 403 Richard Perry at the start of the second race, and then hunted down race leader Tiddy.  When the three trucks came together, the action was cranked up and Cocks turned Perry around for a second time.  That opened the way for Cocks to chase after Tiddy, and the gap came right down as the lap boards appeared.  Cocks lunged on the last bend, but Tiddy held on.

Stock Rods

The Stock Rods were a little few and far between, disappointingly fielding the lowest car count of the season to date.  On a damp track, 208 Dave Simpson stormed to a convincing win in the opening heat.  114 George Montgomery, who only bought the ex-Chris Williams car that morning, made a spectacular debut, spinning into the marker tyres on the home straight.  72 Marc Soby and 26 Alan Furse led away the final, but it was 437 Lewis Trickey who reeled them in.  Late on, World Champion 51 Luke Oliver managed to close, but he ran out of time before being able to mount any kind of meaningful challenge.  Simpson completed the top three.  Oliver did win the Grand National, in which Trickey returned from his one lap handicap to place sixth.

Bangers

In excess of 40 Bangers contested their latest fixture, with the spirited, never-say-die showing of 118 Steve Ball in his Citroen Saxo being especially memorable.  Nothing, but nothing that was thrown at Ball seemed to be able to stop the 118 car which underwent a succession of chaotic bumps and scrapes.  The first heat was won by 23 Barry Staples, after backmarker 53 Chrissy James had spun race leader 451 Mickey Reed in the turnstile bend.  797 Dan Moss hunted down 785 Nick Craddock to win heat two.  The third heat saw 206 Matt Brewer make a determined charge to the front, and he led home Staples at the flag.  The Final was halted for 407 Ian Ashworth to receive attention, after he thundered into the safety fence on the home straight.  In the re-run, 690 Tristan Clement led the early stages, until Brewer took over at around the midway point.  Brewer looked set to win the restarted race, but was one of several to get involved in a mass pile-up on the back straight which included 768 Tyler Cock, 254 Will Blight, Chrissy James and 153 David James.  That gifted the lead to Moss, who needed no second invitation.  Moss went on to win comfortably, with Clement second, whilst Brewer recovered for third to score sufficient points to land a promotion to the star grade.