The BriSCA Formula Two Stock Car World Championship Semi-Finals returned to Smeatharpe Stadium for the first time in 16 years. The O’er the Border Trophy, Nostalgia Trophy and Chequered Flag Trophy were also up for grabs on a night featuring a deluge of silverware. Also on the bill was the opening round of the Saloon Stock Car National Series – the contest for the silver roof – and the programme was completed by 2-Litre National Bangers..

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

A terrific turnout of 80 BriSCA F2 Stock Cars were in action. So, despite a number of reserves being called up to replace withdrawn Semi-Finalists, there were still 24 on the grid for the opening support heat. That brought a flag-to-flag victory for 844 Jack Prosser, from 259 Daz Purdy and 53 Phil Mann.
The first Semi-Final was particularly hit by withdrawals, allowing eight reserves to join the grid behind the 20 remaining qualifiers. A fine start by polesitter 183 Charlie Guinchard put the silver top into a clear lead while second and third qualifiers 674 Steven Burgoyne and 213 Tom Bennett both lost ground as they took to the outside line to avoid a spun 461 Tom Davison. That allowed 1 Luke Wrench and 776 Dan Roots to jump into second and third from rows four and three, respectively. 547 Lewis Burgoyne and 992 Harley Burns slotted into fourth and fifth as the elder Burgoyne, 355 Aidan Grindey and Bennett all dropped into the lower half of the top 10. Further back, home star 127 Matt Stoneman was making rapid progress from 19th on the grid. He had broken into the all-important top 10 within the opening five laps. Despite his difficult start, Steven Burgoyne had plenty of pace in his car, and he picked off Burns and his nephew Lewis to run fourth before half-distance. The top three of Guinchard, Wrench and Roots were well spaced as the race settled down, but with plenty of backmarkers to deal with, they could not ease up. Roots was first to suffer in traffic, sent into a spin after an intervention from 564 David Shearing. Second-placed Wrench then got hooked up with 239 Michael Johnston and was fortunate that a wallop from Shearing helped separate them without him losing position. Roots’s drama promoted Steven Burgoyne to fourth and the charging Stoneman to fifth, while Bennett took sixth as Lewis Burgoyne got crowded out and shuffled back. Guinchard had effectively checked out, but in the closing few laps he found the backmarkers increasingly difficult to deal with – much to his chagrin. He perhaps didn’t realise that such was his pace, he was now among the cars that were in an almighty scrap for the final qualifying places and none were going to give an inch as they traded hits. Guinchard had enough in hand that he could exercise caution where needed and still take a relatively comfortable win, from Wrench, Steven Burgoyne, Stoneman and Bennett. Burns broke free of the massive battle behind to finish sixth ahead of 618 Ben Lockwood and Roots, who did well not to lose more ground in his earlier moment. 880 Jack Witts, who joined the field as a reserve, and 155 Archie Grindey just got the better of 184 Aaron Vaight to grab the final two qualifying places.
Another four reserves joined the grid of Semi-Final 2, which began with a pile-up extinguishing the hopes of local star 24 Jon Palmer and one-time world champion 101 Kelvyn Marshall, along with 411 Reece Winch. Out front, 7 Gordon Moodie was as much in command as Guinchard had been in the previous race. Outside front-row man 100 George MacMillan Jr had managed to get to the inside and slot into second ahead of fellow Scot 647 Chris Burgoyne. The three began to close up as they dealt with traffic and it was MacMillan who lost out as he tangled with 605 Richard Andrews. That promoted 915 Jamie Jones and 463 Ryan McGill into the top four but they were some way adrift of the multiple world champions out front. Moodie was largely untroubled en route to his seventh semi-final win in the past eight editions and Burgoyne was also comfortable in second. McGill tracked Jones for most of the race, unwilling to take too big a risk until the final bend; when he did make his move, it didn’t pay off, so Jones took third and McGill had to settle for fourth. 3 Liam Rennie got the best of a good scrap with 16 Craig Wallace and 667 Tommy Farrell to finish fifth. Having lost ground early on, 931 Rebecca Smith latched onto the trio, and when Farrell got turned into the wall exiting turn four, she was able to benefit. Smith came through to sixth, securing her World Final debut. Wallace was seventh, ahead of fellow Scot 629 Euan Millar. 126 Jamie Avery and 186 Kasey Jones completed the qualifiers.
The large entry required two consolation races to be run. The first was won by 727 Luke Syrett-Barsby (his first success at the circuit) from Farrell and Marshall. 926 Josh Wilson held the fourth and final qualifying position on the last lap but must not have realised, for his last-bend lunge on backmarker 235 Alfie Brimble did not succeed and meant he lost out to 736 Josh Weare. Winch bounced back from his early semi-final exit to take a comprehensive victory in the second consolation, dispatching 390 Jessica Smith en route. His day was further enhanced by a compliment (?) from returning mic man Steve Linfield, visiting from Australia, who noted that Winch’s luxurious mullet would help him blend in perfectly Down Under. Behind 895 Ben Goddard, 676 Neil Hooper and early leader 509 Jordan Butcher, Palmer was thwarted in his pursuit of the top four by an engaging battle with 578 Mark Gibbs.
The meeting final takes on extra significance on Semi-Finals day. Not only did it carry the O’er the Border Trophy, it would also decide which semi-final’s qualifiers would start on the inside line for next month’s World Final at Cowdenbeath. Thirty-four of the 38 qualifiers took up their places, with coloured ribbons carried by the World Finalists to signify which semi they had qualified from and, therefore, which ‘team’ they were on. Any hopes that Guinchard had of securing pole position for himself, without needing the assistance of others, were soon ended when he was pushed wide by Wrench and retired with a puncture. Rebecca Smith was also a victim of the frantic scrambling for places as she thundered into the Honiton bend wall with 890 Paul Rice and ended up on her roof. McGill had just taken over from long-time leader Purdy at the time, with the impressive Winch following through into second. As McGill raced clear on the resumption, Avery pushed Winch wide to take second but could not catch the flying Scotsman in front. So McGill took the win from Avery and Winch. Moodie made it three drivers from SF2 in the top four, but ultimately he had McGill to thank for securing him pole position for the World Final. The best SF1 representative was Steven Burgoyne, down in sixth. Demand for a Grand National was satisfied by a single 32-car race which therefore carried both Mick Whittle’s Nostalgia Trophy and the Chequered Flag Trophy in memory of Sheona Fortune. Chased by Winch, Jessica Smith relieved 533 Johnny Egg of the early lead and continued to hold it after a caution period. Smith held off Winch and Farrell for victory, while Palmer finally had something to show for his night’s work in fourth..

Saloon Stock Cars

Coming after a busy couple of weeks, 20 Saloon Stock Cars contested the Devon Championship meeting which also served as the opening National Series round. They included eight of the nine silver roof contenders, with world champion 389 Ryan Santry otherwise engaged, after 720 Archie Brown was a late withdrawal from the contest having being unable to rearrange a holiday that clashed with two other rounds. Brown was still in action, and with eight cars starting behind him all night, benefited from being unusually far forward on the grid. As the opening ceremony of the competition, Autospeed presented each of the eight contenders who were present, with a tote bag of goodies, before individual and group photographs. When racing began, Brown was spun into the home straight wall amid plenty of no-holds-barred action. 577 Harry Darby came through it all to win from top NS men 600 Barry Russell and 902 Junior Buster. Brown made better use of his starting position in heat two, catching long-time leader 506 Bradley Eltham in the second half of the race. But he had Darby on his tail, and the trio briefly exchanged hits before Brown escaped to victory. 382 Corey Hunt came through to second ahead of leading NS contender 618 Stuart Shevill Jr as Darby slipped behind his elder brother Warren (677) to fifth and Eltham faded. Eltham again led the early stages of the final before 84 Carl Boswell took over. He was caught and pushed wide by Hunt before Warren Darby demoted the pair, Boswell pushing Hunt back to third. Once again, the heavy action among the National Series runners impacted their chances of reaching the top places, but Shevill was again the best-placed, finishing fifth after losing out to Brown on the final bend. An allcomers race helped the silver roof chasers boost their tallies – although not 341 Austen Freestone, whose pointless day ended with him being thundered into the wall through a combination of 607 Steve Honeyman and 760 Joey Reynolds. Boswell made the most of his yellow-grade status to catch and pass early leader Eltham, going on to win from Hunt and Brown. Shevill again headed the National Series contenders as he claimed fourth, and so took an early lead in the standings.

2-Litre National Bangers

Fears of a low turnout were allayed with a late spree bringing the entry of 2-Litre Bangers into the teens. It made no difference to the dominance of 186 Lewis Fasey – although he might not have caught 662 Jared Roe in the opener were it not for a late red flag. 315 Dan Osborne required assistance after his attack on 908 David Brown only succeeded in putting himself heavily into the wall. Fasey quickly relieved Roe of the lead on the resumption and motored to victory. Fasey chased down his elder sister Sophie (286) to win the second heat as 773 Blossom Congdon livened up proceedings in her Ford Focus. Roe looked set to deny Fasey Jr a hat-trick in the final as he led almost the entire race. But a big last-bend lunge from the #186 Mondeo precipitated a scramble to the line between the pair, which Fasey won. 200 Jai Simmons completed the top three in his Vauxhall Astra estate. Osborne, 166 Luke Gillbard and 40 Ben Reeder were the trio who opted to contest the end of meeting Destruction Derby, and after a series of exchanging blows, it was Reeder who outlasted the other two.