The Easter weekend concluded at Smeatharpe with some excellent racing across three well-subscribed formulas in the Spring sunshine.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

The toll of a pair of World Championship Qualifying Rounds in the region saw car numbers drop from what was expected, although a full format was still able to be deployed. After the Grand Parade, led by meeting sponsors Weston & Edwards including Ablemove, the first heat featured 14 cars.  844 Jack Prosser took a straightforward win from the white grade, leading home 501 Jason Ward and 915 Jamie Jones.  Heat two saw a larger grid of cars and had to be stopped when 83 Sy Harraway seemingly suffered an inside front suspension failure on the back straight before tangling with 31 Lewis Geach in the Honiton bend wall.  The restart was led by 895 Ben Goddard who quickly re-established his lead to take the win.  736 Josh Weare and 359 Gary Wrench, who had repaired following an impressive roll the previous afternoon at Bristol, completed the top three.  710 Louie Stuckey made the initial running in the Consolation but was quickly overhauled by 569 Adam Langridge, who went on to record his second Consolation win over the Easter period.  890 Paul Rice, who had beaten Langridge to the line for ninth in their heat, was second and Harraway third.  The race was also illuminated by a spat involving 770 Austin Farrell and 605 Richie Andrews, with the latter brandishing anything but a ‘royal wave’ when Farrell dashed to the sanctuary of the infield once Andrews had caught up with him following their pits bend skirmish.  25 of the 26 qualifiers made the grid for the Final, although 529 Luke Trewin was an early retiree.  Prosser was quickly into the lead and had built a useful gap, while Ward and Jones settled into second and third.  Jones had just got to within striking range of Ward when he tangled with the backmarking Stuckey, which popped the white grader's inside front tyre - although did not deter him from continuing in the race.  The tangle allowed Ward to hunt down Prosser, and the move for the lead was made with a couple of laps remaining.  Prosser lost a bit of time over the remaining lap and a half but held on to second despite a last bend lunge from Jones.  Ward was the winner though, in what was his first feature success since his return to BriSCA F2.  The top three were paraded on the Weston & Edwards lorry to receive the applause of the large Bank Holiday crowd.  There was more bad luck for Harraway in the Grand National, as he tangled with 27 Kieren Bradford in the early stages - although both were able to unhook themselves without the aid of a yellow flag.  207 Alfie Flecken was leading when a caution was called with four to go after 185 Jessica Webb was left stranded and facing the oncoming traffic after a tangle with Austin Farrell.  Flecken got away well at the restart to take the win, also posting the fastest lap in the process.  654 Harley Soper, who had been second when the race restarted, was bundled down the order by a group of star graders meaning that Track Champion 468 Sam Weston and Rice completed the top three, while further back Ward managed an eighth place from the lap handicap.  Grade awards of a brand new tyre, were won by Prosser (white), Ward (yellow), Jones (blue) and 560 Luke Wrench (red).

Saloon Stock Cars

The final entry came to 19 cars, agonisingly short of the necessary 20 cars for a double points Final.  Nevertheless, the field did include both 112 Rich James and 199 Phil Powell after their acrobatics at Bristol the previous afternoon, as well as a first time visit in the formula for Scottish teenager 68 Charlie Burgoyne.  27 Jason Kingwell and 111 Thomas Ruby were well-involved in the action from the outset of the opening heat, which allowed the white top pair of 870 Bert Farrell and 444 Kieran Bellringer some time at the head of the pack.  799 Joe Powell was the first driver to get by and went into the lead with a handful of laps remaining although 902 Brad Compton-Sage had started to make his way through the pack having broken free from the battle of the star graders. Compton-Sage made his way into second on the penultimate lap and was able to move the 799 car out of the way on the last bend to win.  759 Taylor Whitford completed the top three.  The star drivers again delayed each other for much of the second heat, with Compton-Sage and 382 Corey Hunt being spun on the entry to the home straight by 677 Warren Darby.  As that was happening, Joe Powell took the lead from Farrell only for Farrell to attempt to spin Joe Powell out to regain the lead - at exactly the same point on the track as the stationary Compton-Sage car - temporarily blocking the track.  This allowed 720 Archie Brown to hit the front, as James and Phil Powell were both spun on the Honiton bend.  Brown went on to take the win, ahead of Burgoyne and 84 Carl Boswell.  Farrell and Bellringer were the initial pacesetters in the Final, and it began to look like Farrell was going to take his maiden win in the class.  However, having been held up by a backmarking car on the pit bend, Farrell found himself under attack from Whitford and Burgoyne, who sensationally swapped the top three places over the next few laps.  The dicing allowed Compton-Sage to make quick progress and attach himself to the battle, and while Burgoyne led Whitford and Compton-Sage on to the last lap the Scotsman was sent into a half spin by Whitford, allowing Compton-Sage through and clear for his second win of the afternoon.  Whitford and Burgoyne completed the top three to end an enthralling afternoon of Saloon Stock Car racing.

Bangers

A huge field of over 60 cars saw the drivers contest two half car heats.  438 Jason Greener took advantage of a generous white grading to take the opener, leading home 410 Dan Galley and 22 Hayden May.  Heat two was another fast affair, with the lead changing hands a number of times over the closing stages - 71 James Sowden was the leader for most of the race, but it was 817 Michael Phillips who took the flag ahead of 154 Barry Pike and 532 Brandon McKnight.  The Consolation race featured a number of star drivers, but the likes of 881 Caitlin Emery, 162 Harry Ellacott and 6 Danny Greening were to make it no further than the opening corner as they ended up in a heap on the entry to the home straight.  Cornish Champion 862 Darryl Cock was another whose race ended early and was clobbered while stationary on the home straight in the closing stages of the race as a gaggle of cars ran out of room.  The lead swapped between James Sowden and 91 Sam Burnett for most of the race and it was Sowden who came out on top, with Burnett and 991 Ben Hale rounding out the top three.  The Gus Garrett Trophy Final included 29 of the 30 qualifiers, and in a similar fashion to the heats saw the star drivers struggle to make any headway through the pack.  Galley relinquished 201 Richard Simmons of the lead in the early stages and went on to take the win, with Simmons holding off Greener for second, in an all-white grade top three.  The only star driver in the top ten was 31 Liam Shipway in eighth, showing the dominance of the lower graded drivers during the afternoon.  A packed field of 40 cars gridded for the Allcomers, which began with 313 Oakley Hayes spinning 717 Donna Cottrell even before they had begun the opening lap.  The race was halted first when 242 Alfie Ellacott received a heavy knock on the Honiton bend from a ridiculous t-bone by Brandon McKnight.  The initial restart didn't run for much longer before another stoppage was called with 198 Owen Nichol and 662 Jared Roe collecting the stricken 233 Riley McKnight car on the home straight, leaving all three vehicles immobile.  252 Dylan Belfield led the restart but was bundled down the order allowing Pike into the lead.  Pike reeled off the remaining laps to win ahead of Simmons and 816 Martin Gill.

Easter Caravan Chaos

Six participants for the first Caravan Chaos of the year at Smeatharpe, including 13 Phill Saunders who was using the same car as he had during the afternoon's Banger races.  The others, 31 Liam Shipway, 78 Max Weare, 79 Brian Edmond, 303 Josh Jones and 519 Jason Witney were all using cars set aside for the event - Edmond and Witney had sat out of the afternoon's Banger races for the Caravan event.  Edmond was the first driver to lose the main body of their caravan, with Shipway, Weare, Jones and Witney all following suit in the next couple of laps - Witney also losing the Caravan chassis.  Saunders meanwhile, had found himself stuck in mid-air with his caravan on its side, and while there was a shot to the 13 car's back wheel from Witney, this did little to put Saunders back on to the ground.  Meanwhile, Jones had mounted and become stranded on the trailer of Edmond's car and Weare was driving around the track, obstructed by the remains of a caravan body cloaking the front of the car.  Once Weare had collected the chassis of Saunders' caravan, the race was stopped to extricate Shipway, Jones and Witney from various caravan shells, while Saunders' caravan was put back on to its wheels on the grounds that too many caravans were still intact.  The race resumed, with Jones and Witney ploughing into the heap at the Honiton end.  Edmond ground to a halt, leaving Saunders as the last car running, and he did the decent thing by parking in the pile-up of cars and caravans to much approval from the crowd, and thus Saunders was declared the winner.