On a day which was sunny if a little humid, the forecasted showers didn’t arrive until late on, leaving a decent crowd with plenty of action to witness.  A Grand Parade for the Modstox and Stock Rods opened proceedings with the latter getting a bottle of cider each from the sponsors, the Bird in Hand of Bishops Lydeard.

2 Litre National Bangers

Numbers in the 2 Litre National Bangers peaked at 19 cars with a couple breaking down on route.  Heat one was all about 271 Jordan Coleman who gave 97 Craig Deer a huge blitz following him in near the pit gate.  222 Ricky Walters hit Coleman who freed himself to hit the 562 Jayden James car which was also involved in the incident.  462 Nico James did Coleman and got a big shot from 40 Ben Reeder in return.  206 Morgan Hoskin was also involved with front end damage that finished his day.  286 Sophie Fasey took the win, having reeled in long-time leader 648 Jamie Smith in the closing stages.  As Smith dropped down the order, he punted 186 Lewis Fasey wide into the last corner in a battle for second.  216 George Baker snuck through, leaving Smith and Lewis Fasey to navigate the dead cars for third and fourth respectively.  Heat two raised 15 cars including 908 David Brown who had missed heat one but struggled with car problems all day.  The main action was 166 Luke Gilbard putting 76 Matt Hogkins in on the pit bend putting a wheel back on the latter and 315 Dan Osborne giving 773 Blossom Congdon a decent hit.  186 Lewis Fasey got past Baker late on and clearly wasn’t expecting the latter to launch an attack on the last bend.  This caught Fasey unawares, but he scrambled to the line first by a slender margin and showed some of his displeasure by giving Baker a bit of attention on the run down lap.  The final saw 15 cars back out with Deer somehow fixing his damage from heat one and putting Brown in on the pit bend, the latter being left passenger side facing the traffic but was left alone.  562 Jayden James and Smith weighed in on Deer who somehow kept his damaged car going.  Baker was well clear at the front as 362 Johnny James got past 266 Scott Gilbard for second.  186 Fasey was spun out early in the one and sat facing the traffic against the wall near the pit gate for the whole of the race.  Six cars gridded for the King of Crash/DD which took a while to get going with various drivers clearly wanting to hit particular targets.  462 Nico James was well involved ending with his Focus to the cage.  266 Scott Gillbard saw his hopes dashed when his car caught alight with an engine fire.  Once extinguished the last three cars limped to the conclusion.  No one really had enough left in the car for big hits but 166 Luke Gilbard kept mobile and it was fitting that he was the last car running.  Deer was also impressive, squeezing every last drop out of his Mondeo, which had been fresh when he arrived, and it ended the day an impressive wreck.  In all, this was an excellent day from a group of drivers who are happy to get stuck in and seem to be able to take and give hits without any issues.

Modstox

Day two of the British Championship weekend saw 20 Modstox in action, including five drivers who didn’t make it to Cornwall, although one of those – 512 James Bishop only arrived in time for heat three.  A two from three heats format was certainly brave though luckily all three heats had plenty of good racing.  Heat one saw 19 Ben Lymn and 159 Jon Cooper clash on the back straight leaving Lymn in the plating for a stoppage.  192 Max Harding continued his excellent weekend by charging through to beat the impressive 121 Josh Malt and Cooper.  Heat two saw 73 Craig Underhill produce a masterclass of picking the gaps as he came through to win though Malt was in touch and happy to try to regain the lead.  1 James Fautless took a while to get going but got up to third by the end after a fine battle with 667 Liam Sankey who was more than happy to use the bumper.  Cooper and 6 Adam Perkins also had a great scrap for fifth.  Heat three may only have had twelve cars but was a belter with numerous lead changes.  291 Dan Baker got to the front but then broke down much to his disgust.  10 Marcus Worth eventually got to the front and took the chequered, as Harding and Faultless had a great scrap for second with the former winning the drag to the line.  83 Heidi Clark again caught the eye in this one.  Happy to put the bumper in and a true never-say-die attitude, as she placed seventh.  The British title event was a superb race.  An early sort-out saw Baker, 22 Luke Wilson, Cooper and Worth all in the fence on the exit of turn four, and that led to a stoppage to allow Wilson and Worth to get to safety.  The restart was explosive as race leader Harding rode the fence on the exit of the fourth bend and rolled on to his side on the home straight as a result of Sankey and Fautless doing the pushing.  A stoppage ensued, with Sankey out with a flat tyre and Fautless rejoining at the back as he lost a load of time when caught up with the luckless Harding who climbed out of the car to a great reception!  Perkins led off the restart, but he could not hold off Underhill who took it up briefly.  However, Perkins had other ideas and arrived with a perfect pits bend hit which decided the race.  Perkins won from the impressive Malt and Fautless who just pipped Underhill for third.  Clark was a decent fifth after another good display.  13 cars for a wet Allcomers which saw 455 Ryan Grindey and Malt scrap for the lead for the first half until Sankey arrived to blast through to win.  Malt finished his excellent weekend with second after punting Underhill wide on the last bend as Harding repaired for a decent third.  Perkins toiled to eighth from the handicap to end an excellent weekend’s racing from a formula that showed its potential and quality.

Stock Rods

Another strong showing from the Stock Rods saw 27 drivers in action, and as always, they were as lively and controversial as ever.  Heat one saw back row pair 914 Callum Falconbridge and 944 Callum Hosie use the outside line to get up to third and sixth respectively.  617 Christina Sillifant put her recent bad luck behind her for a fine win with 231 Simon Bassett a strong second.  118 Iain Truman in a well-used Nova led for the early laps and was a hard man to pass even though he dropped down to ninth.  Heat two was stopped early for a 204 Georgie Polley spin on the back straight.  A few laps into the restart 778 Connor Sweetland slid wide and hit the fence exiting turn four putting a wheel back and coming to rest across the track.  The inevitable happened as the pack came round within seconds and Sillifant and 51 Aidan Vincent also collected big damage as well as the unfortunate Sweetland.  Another caution period followed as 111 Olly Bryant shed an outside front wheel.  Falconbridge ignored instructions to hold a single file position on the restart and was docked two places.  This was particularly unfortunate as he nearly got round the outside of 100 Thomas Weeks to take a fine win but ended up fourth.  275 Jeremy Hatch and 77 Tom Larcombe thus ended up completing the top three.  Heat three included a Truman collision with Hatch which saw the latter clobber a back straight marker tyre ending his race.  Truman rejoined a lap down but raced furiously with the leaders which ended up with him colliding with Polley on turn three.  Larcombe and 779 Ross Sweetland inadvertently assisted Truman into a marker tyre.  220 Richard Short led the restart before oddly dropping back to finish tenth after 728 Kris Woods went round the outside of him to take the lead and drive away for the win.  78 Jason Legg and Hosie completed the top three with the rear wheel drive starlet of 913 Ben Falconbridge very competitive for fifth.  Amidst considerable damage, just 19 cars were left for a final which began in the dry, but rain began before halfway and just got steadily heavier.  287 Mark Hatch went on a wayward route after losing his line to Larcombe on the back straight.  Hatch found himself veering into lane two, and right across the path of 911 Harrison Bryant who completed a miserable day.  Hatch ran wide on the exit of turn four and struck the fence hard, with Bryant left with nowhere to go too.  Bryant was unhappy but incurred the Steward’s wrath for exiting the car during the resultant stoppage.  Turn three became a skating rink with Vincent going in hard to end his day as well as Sillifant and others - notably Olly Bryant who lost the strong lead he had built up.  Callum Falconbridge got caught up in the melee and gently glanced the fence before reversing out to find grip on the outside line that no one else could.  He got up to fourth behind Bassett, Woods and Short, and if the race had another couple of laps that would have been very interesting as he was flying: a true rain master in the Dave Longhurst mould (ask someone older for an explanation)!

Ladies Bangers

The latest outing for Ladies Bangers included a visiting party of five from East Anglia, amongst an entry of 15 drivers.  The Devonshire Cup was run first, in random drawn grid format.  881 Caitlin Emery drew pole and led throughout with 385 Danielle Ellis giving chase but not quite getting on terms.  85 Jade Ellis and 153 Rhiannon Tavender had a great battle, swapping places on numerous occasions before Ellis hit Tavender hard enough to get clear for third.  Two Allcomers races followed in graded order.  Tavender span out 232 Sammy While on route to the win in heat one in her rapid Astra.  Danielle Ellis and Emery tangled together in turn two, which left neither driver with a top ten place.  7 Sarah Hunt made light of her generous white grading for a good second with Jade Ellis fourth.  406 Kerry Slater span 717 Donna Cotterell to grab fourth.  Allcomers two completed their program and saw an early clash involving Jade Ellis and Emery, with Emery recovering for a lowly eighth place.  Tavender launched an attack on 87 Tania Smith which only resulted in the latter backed her in, which finished the former’s race.  Hunt raced to an easy win from Cotterell and Danielle Ellis ending a lively day from the Ladies.