United Downs Raceway staged a relatively unusual Saturday afternoon fixture in the Spring sunshine.  With no less than five formulas on show, all of the main disciplines of short-oval racing were showcased with Rods, Stock Cars and Bangers all featuring in an afternoon that served up some highly entertaining racing with drivers aged from 7 all the way up to 82 taking part.

ORCi Stock Rods

The Stock Rods fielded a 25-car entry which included a late arrival of World Champion 944 Callum Hosie with his new Vauxhall Tigra to make his season debut.  New grades were in force for the first time in 2026 which resulted in all of the white tops from the early meetings, who have all enjoyed some degree of success, moving back through the field.  As usual, the formula ran to a two-thirds format with the Final for the Bertie Bassett Trophy lined up in points-scoring order from the heats.
Heat one had 17 cars on track and started badly for 144 Ashton Worthington who retired with mechanical woes.  617 Christina Sillifant made good use of a drop to the yellow grade and charged forward early in the race from the back of her grade to move up to third place around the outside of the pack in the early laps and that was where she then remained to the chequered flag.  The next close battle was for places from fifth down to eighth although this group thinned out half way through the race when 835 Matt Westaway retired with a problem and sadly that was to set a pattern for his entire day of racing.  The group was led by the last of the yellow tops, 78 Jason Legg, but with more space to work with after the demise of Westaway, 231 Simon Bassett found a gap up the inside to pass Legg and go to fifth and 77 Tom Larcombe followed him through the gap.  911 Harrison Bryant suffered a spectacular engine blow-up at the start of the last lap and whilst 100 Thomas Weeks won the race comfortably as the only white top at the meeting, 666 Jem Tidball came home in ninth and lost it on the oil slick after the line, doing well to keep his car out of the turn one plating as it swapped ends on him.  Heat two gridded 15 cars with 220 Richard Short getting the best start on the outside line to take the early lead from the front of the yellows.  There was a stoppage at the end of the opening lap when 415 Sean Gillett and Westaway got their wheel arches tangled and both went into the wall off turn four.  Gold top Hosie expired four laps from the end with what looked more like oil smoke than steam rising from the back of the bonnet, and he would take no further part in the meeting.  Short remained at the front to win it with the only notable forward movement coming from 51 Aiden Vincent who took to the outside line from eighth place in the closing laps and stayed on the outside to score fifth in the final reckoning.  15 cars again for heat three which saw Weeks get away well at the start and he was off into the distance, never to be seen again by the rest of the drivers.  In the yellows, Legg and 204 Georgie Polley earned themselves a large gap ahead of 275 Jeremy Hatch who spent until the second half of the race reeling them back in but was unable to find a gap to pass them once he got back on terms.  Whilst Weeks got on with winning his second of the day, 914 Callum Faulconbridge was the man on the move, hanging his car out on the outside line for the last few laps to claw forward from the bottom part of the top ten to a creditable finishing position of fifth.  23 cars raced in the Bertie Bassett Trophy Final with Bryant and Hosie being the missing cars.  The opening laps were all about Faulconbridge who sat the car on the outside from the start and moved from his starting position at eighth on the grid to third place by lap two of the race.  A lap later, he had moved up to second and the race was almost decided by a stoppage shortly afterwards.  Gillett span out in a melee on the back straight and was collected by Tidball and 285 Martin Walker forcing the caution with Gillett stranded mid-track.  The restart only ran for half a lap before Faulconbridge found a gap up the inside of Weeks to take the lead.  Behind him, Sillifant retired from a promising run with a misfire and Short started to drop through the field with an apparent loss of power.  Faulconbridge went on to win emphatically by half a lap with Vincent getting the better of Weeks to take second and leave the 100-driver on the bottom step of the podium.  A slightly disappointing showing of just 12 cars returned for a Grand National which delivered a maiden victory for 891 Martyn Cleave.  The main moment in the race came two laps from the end when some three-abreast bravery from Vincent, Larcombe and Bassett saw Vincent climb to fifth place.

ORCi Ministox

The youngsters of the Ministox turned out with 20 cars although only 19 of them were able to start the first heat of the day.  182 Mickey James took a trip to the wall coming off turn four on the opening lap and spent a while on the infield thereafter.  990 Billy Rice led a good few of the laps but came unstuck when he came up behind novice 24 Koben Jenks.  Rice went around the outside of the slower car whilst 718 Alfie Brown dived up the inside and stole the lead.  114 Charlie Lomas and 770 Delilah Farrell clashed coming off turn two and both ended up retired against the wall.  The race was determined by a last bend sort-out, which saw Brown leave the door wide open for 475 Mason Sealy to come through for the win and 257 Kieran Hibberd also took the benefit of the gap to place in second.  There were 18 cars for heat two including a debut for 411 Anna-Rose Crosbie.  The race started very well for 511 Lexi Crosbie who came from seventh on the grid (pole blue top) to third within the first three laps.  313 Charlie Weston also was trying hard, although his efforts caused him to hit the plating at least twice coming off turn four with a bit too much pace.  Rice led the early laps once again but was moved wide with a push from Brown who took the lead for half distance in the race.  Within the next three laps, Lexi Crosbie made two relatively easy inside-line passes to move into the lead which she took up moments before a stoppage for Farrell who had spun out on turn two and was collected flat out on the nose by Hibberd.  Delilah was thankfully all OK after some recovery time.  The race to the chequered was a classic with 99 Jayden Roff taking the lead from Crosbie with two laps remaining, only for Sealy to then push Roff wide and take the place.  Crosbie then barged back ahead of both of them, and it all came down to the last corner where Roff tried to spin Crosbie rather than just firing her wide into the corner.  In the tangle that followed, Sealy came back through on the inside to win it with Roff ending up in fifth and Crosbie a lowly seventh in a blanket finish of all of the top cars.  The Snell Family Trophy Final saw just 15 cars return to the track.  Lexi Crosbie repeated her dash from the previous race to move up to third very quickly at the start.  132 Rowan McAleer was having his best run of the day holding fourth behind Crosbie for a long time until finally getting tapped wide by Sealy on lap nine.  A couple of laps later, the race was halted with 575 Caden Clark sat broadside across the back straight although amazingly, and pleasingly, everybody managed to miss him to one side or the other.  Rice was overwhelmed by traffic on the restart and rapidly lost his lead and fell completely out of contention.  Brown also struggled to hold his ground, and Lexi Crosbie was the main beneficiary as she took control.  Unlike the previous race, the last bend scramble didn’t quite happen with Crosbie just having enough ground on the chasing drivers to avoid any big lunges.  Crosbie won ahead of Sealy and Roff.

Back 2 Basics Bangers

There were 20 Bangers in the pits with the Back 2 Basics format certainly delivering what it is supposed to do with all sorts of makes and models represented that wouldn’t see the light of day in any other Banger category.  At the modern end of the scale was a Hyundai i30 from 837 Barnaby Carlton-Barnes and an E91 series BMW 320 Touring for 786 Grant Harris whilst the oldest fresh car seen was a Mk3 Volkswagen Golf for 094 Michael Gilman-Hill.  19 of them started the opening heat where 899 Zack Thorpe only managed a lap before crashing out in turn one where he was joined soon after by Harris.  241 Alfie Tiddy ran into Harris before 232 Dave Thomas span 404 Jake Curtis-Stevens on turn two, leaving the latter perched high on the infield banking.  The turn one litter continued to catch out the careless with 808 Daryl Bowden claimed temporarily by the pile and 816 Josh Taylor becoming a permanent fixture.  The race was decided by a last bend push that put the leading 255 Phil Killone wide allowing Thomas to win it.  19 cars again for heat two where 988 Ryan Thomas delivered an early spin to Harris coming off turn four whilst Thorpe parked up halfway down the home straight and was lucky not to have anybody collect him in the remainder of the race.  Curtis-Stevens was on the attack, running into the back of 312 Leeta Rawling-Aldridge although this slowed him enough for Thomas to fire him into the turn one wall, although Thomas got it slightly wrong and put himself in as well for a DNF after recovering only to get taken out again by Carlton-Barnes.  24 Matt Taylor was the flag to flag winner.  Down to 13 cars for a lively Final.  There were only a couple of spins before the red flags came out for a loose spring on the track.  With this gathered, the action started again with Matt Taylor taking out Killone only for 50 Neil Rogers to remove Taylor in turn.  Carlton-Barnes was starting to run sick, so piled into the back of Curtis-Stevens where he was hit by Bowden whilst Harris hit and span Rawling-Aldridge who must have got tied up in the pedals and ended up with a bit of a limp afterwards.  Bowden and Tiddy went in together on turn three and Tiddy was then blown up well by Curtis-Stevens who limped on but couldn’t quite manage the last lap to record a finish.  Killone won ahead of 311 Simon Rogers and Neil Rogers.  The King of Crash managed five cars although Curtis-Stevens only just dragged the car out and then barely moved from his starting point before the car cried enough.  Harris also moved a matter of yards on the home straight before parking up where he was nailed by Bowden whilst 989 Saul Campbell went on the attack to finish off Tiddy.  Some cat and mouse antics between Bowden and Campbell followed this, but Bowden made a tactical blunder by deciding to nail the already-dead Harris and this weakened his car enough for Campbell to become a default winner.

Heritage F2 Stock Cars

The opening race for the Heritage F2 Stock Cars was for the John Taylor Trophy with all 15 entrants making it onto the grid for the race.  536 John Ferguson made a very quick dash from the second pack on the starting grid to hold the race lead whilst the first notable incident saw 609 Johnny Painter spin himself coming off turn four taking 728 Graham Bunter off track with him.  342 Ross Taylor was in hot pursuit of the leading Ferguson, and it wasn’t too long before Taylor took up the running.  22 Will Yarrow was very quick as usual from the back of the field and with four laps to go, he was looking for a gap to pass the two leaders, although no chance was available at his first attempt.  However, the race fell into his lap with only one more circuit of the track completed when Taylor and Ferguson had their own tangle on the back straight.  Taylor was the quickest to recover from this delay, but Yarrow was away and gone for the victory with 157 Kev Woollas finishing second ahead of Taylor.  Down to 14 cars for heat two with 520 Ian Harris back on the trailer with car troubles.  Ferguson made another early dash for the front but got it wrong this time as he hit 455 Alfie Lockett a long way off square into turn one and rode up over his bumper resulting in the two cars locking together for about half a lap.  This allowed 253 Alan Humphrey to go clear at the front for a while.  Things then got rather messy as 135 Jim Cannon span out on a puncture in turn two and was collected by the leading Humphrey allowing Taylor through into the lead.  Bunter also went out at the start of the back straight and 170 Dean Griffiths joined him and Cannon to bring about a race stoppage.  Taylor led the restart but was reeled in by Woollas who moved ahead of him two laps from the end.  Yarrow was flying towards the end but had left it too late and only managed fourth place in the result behind Woollas, Taylor and 761 Andy Whitehouse.  The same 14 drivers and cars returned for the Final.  Bunter completed a frustrating day with retirement at the end of lap one whilst 609 showed consistency by spinning off turn four once again.  Cannon span again on the back straight ending his chances whilst Humphrey ended another spell leading a race when he got caught up behind the rejoining Painter and left the door wide open for Taylor to fly past.  734 Richard Johnson was the man on a charge from the back of the pack in this race and he came through confidently to third place before picking off Humphrey to move to second.  A tap of the 734 bumper on the exit of turn four unsettled Taylor into the home straight and Johnson took up the lead with six laps still to complete.  The remainder of the race was all about Johnson trying to keep a gap ahead of Yarrow who was giving it everything on opposite lock into the home straight each lap.  Ultimately, the old saying that sideways is slower on tarmac held true and Johnson kept his victory ahead of Yarrow and Taylor.