The annual Hallowe’en Parade fixture attracted a decent sized crowd to the United Downs Raceway, where there was plenty of action, especially from the Bangers on the occasion of their Cornish Championship.

National Bangers

The Terry’s Tredz sponsored Judgement Day fixture again struggled for numbers, but amongst a mixed bunch of National Bangers, 208 Kieran Barrett added greatly to the Hallowe’en theme with a Rover hearse, whilst 6 Troy Jones and 177 Ryan Miles each had a trying day with their respective Mercedes Limos.  Neither stretched limo managed to run in the opening race, Judgement Day.  648 Jamie Smith led the early stages, chased by 355 Aaron Dark, before 739 Jason Moore swept ahead.  From the rear of the grid, World Champion 362 Johnny James climbed up the order, and three laps from home he wrestled the lead from Moore.  Barrett gamely brought his hearse to a stop, and 266 Scott Gillbard took the bait to storm into it, whilst 562 Jayden James then ran into Gillbard.  Johnny James held on to win, from Moore, and 21 Dean Tompkins completed the top three.  The Captain Birdseye Trophy race began with Jayden James depositing the limo of Miles into the turnstile bend plating.  At the front, Johnny James was quickly into the lead after Tompkins set the early pace.  That’s how they finished, with 220 Troy Cooper completing the top three.  The Allcomers was also devoid of much action, as Johnny James left it very late before overhauling Moore to complete a hat-trick.  Barrett and 355 Aaron Dark contested the Destruction Derby, with Barrett gamely sitting as a target, and after several hefty shots, the hearse was destroyed – top effort by both drivers.

Stock Rods

Disappointingly, the non-contact Stock Rods produced their lowest car count of the season, but regardless of that, their feature event, the Grand National Championship, was magnificent.  Pole sitter 77 Tom Larcombe led from the off, whilst 415 Sean Gillett swiftly found his way past 285 Martin Walker to grab second place.  275 Jeremy Hatch joined the lead group in third.  As the leaders caught backmarker 73 Terry Gallagher, Gillett went the long way around him and slipped down the order.  A late charge by 914 Callum Faulconbridge brought him into contention, and having passed Hatch, he then began to challenge Larcombe.  With three laps remaining, Faulconbridge dived to the outside line, and the front pair raced side by side to the flag, with Faulconbridge just getting to the line by less than half a car’s length to secure the win and the title.  Heat two was won convincingly by 946 Dave Taylor, who finished a long way clear of runner-up 151 Simon Vincent.  Once past early leader 777 Nathan Congdon, Taylor looked on course to grab a second win, but 220 Richard Short had other ideas, and he took advantage when Taylor ran wide in turns three and four.  Short won, with Taylor the runner-up.  In a dramatic last lap, 320 Matt Hatch ran wide and lost third to 909 Justin Washer and fourth to Faulconbridge.  Short made it a win double when he took top honours in the meeting final, and just when the day looked to be ending without any major controversy, a huge last lap collision saw a bundle of cars spin on to the inner banking at the end of the back straight after 151 Simon Vincent had tagged Taylor, but then sportingly backed off to allow Taylor to recover.  As he did so, Vincent’s move then caused the chasing bunch to tangle.  Vincent emerged relatively unscathed to finish second and 617 Christina Sillifant rounded out the top three.

Bangers

A deluge of no-shows reduced numbers to manageable levels, but the shortfall had no negative effect on action, with plenty of exciting moments.  A hectic start to heat one saw 881 Caitlin Emery and 862 Darryl Cock tangle, with Cock performing some dramatic two-wheel balancing.  That also held up 349 Tyler Millen and 235 Sam Galliford, whilst 193 Ollie Turner came to a halt, facing the wrong way, on the start-finish line.  Two laps later, 169 Joshua Hewitt clipped the static Turner car and rolled spectacularly entering turn one.  The stoppage negated the healthy lead 817 Michael Phillips had built up, and he was swiftly caught by 390 Alfie Tomkins when the race restarted.  Heat two was led for much of the race by 826 Lewis Martin, but late on 198 Owen Nichol took control, to win from 290 Jay Tomkins.  A highly entertaining consolation race was led initially by 252 Dylan Belfield.  349 Tyler Millen inherited the lead when Belfield was bundled into a pile-up on the exit of turn four.  When 696 Jago Carveth spun on the back straight, he was collected by 662 Jared Roe who executed a high speed rollover.  Millen lost the lead when it restarted, leaving 551 Jack Belfield, 95 Marcus Bunt and 938 Ashley Rice to dispute the lead.  Belfield was half spun, and Rice resisted a strong last bend challenge from Bunt.  A lively Cornish Championship somehow went from flag to flag.  Phillips and Martin were the race leaders, and they were then joined by 154 Barry Pike and 862 Darryl Cock.  It was Cock who then emerged at the front, and even though Alfie Tomkins barged through the grid to get to second place, Cock was away and gone, and he celebrated wildly as he took the chequered.  Alfie Tomkins and 154 Barry Pike took the other rostrum placings.  Alfie Tomkins ended the afternoon with another win, as he led the rest home in the Allcomers.