Report by Alistair Oxby

The second day of the Smeatharpe July Jamboree meeting went ahead in warm sunshine and with a larger crowd in attendance than the night before.  Once again, there were 9 formulas in action competing in a total of 29 race events.  Despite the first few races providing incidents and delays, the meeting was still completed in under 5 hours, knocking a few minutes off the Saturday evening timings.

Modstox

The Modstox entry on Sunday rose to 17 drivers who all lined up for the opening heat of the afternoon.  The two white tops made a reasonable start to the race, and 130 Martin Dyche led the opening three laps until he failed to see the slowing 261 Simon Burgess on the back straight and clattered him rather hard.  The other white top, 934 Lee Cherry came out in sympathy by crashing out into a turn four marker tyre gifting the race lead to 22 Luke Wilson.  The reds and superstars were making good progress, and 291 Dan Baker came into contention on lap 8 when he made excellent use of the bumper in turn three to move from fifth to third place.  30 Tim Dyche then span in turn four leaving 83 Heidi Clark nowhere to go and both came to a stop in the corner.  Two laps from home, 192 Max Harding had managed to sneak ahead of Baker and went in with a hard shot to Wilson for the lead in turn one which almost sent Wilson to the wall.  Harding came out at the front, but Baker slotted in behind him and waited for a perfect move on the last bend to push Harding wide and snatch victory.  Down to 16 cars for heat two with 455 Ryan Grindey’s miserable weekend of mechanical troubles having struck once again.  Martin Dyche led the opening part of the race once again and got a decent amount of breathing space ahead of the rest.  His cause was further helped when Burgess broke down again and second-placed Wilson span and crashed into the parked car.  However, by lap 6, Dyche had been caught by the leading yellow top and 555 Sam Woods got cleanly through on the inside to take up the lead.  Woods remained at the front for a further three laps until Baker got a good run off turn four and powered ahead of Woods along the home straight as the three-lap board was shown.  Baker pulled away for the win.  The Final had 14 cars on track and started in lively fashion as the drivers attempted to go four-wide into turn three on the opening lap.  Unsurprisingly, it didn’t go well and Cherry span out and was collected by Woods and 228 Alan Sturgess with the incident taking a lap or so to clear.  Martin Dyche escaped the chaos and led the first six laps until passed on the back straight by 46 Karl Brazier.  However, Brazier was at the front for less than a lap with Harding going through on turn one on the next lap whilst Dyche lost out on third place to 10 Marcus Worth.  Credit to Dyche who decided to use the bumper and try to get his place back, but sadly he span himself launching the hit.  Three laps from home, Brazier made an unforced error and drifted wide coming off turn four which was enough to allow Baker to storm through for second.  Harding went on to win but the rest of the podium positions were sorted out in a last-bend dust up.  6 Adam Perkins came in with a big hit to Baker which perhaps knocked a plug lead off the 291 car which misfired.  So, Perkins bagged second place and Worth came through for third as Baker limped home for fourth.  The Allcomers race had 14 cars again, with Martin Dyche leading for a lap and a half until Brazier took up the running on the back straight, followed into second place by 512 James Bishop.  As the race unfolded, Bishop dropped back slightly but was running well until he snagged nerf rails with Sturgess coming off turn four and span out on the home straight.  6 Adam Perkins caught Brazier on the last lap and decided on a clean pass on the back straight.  This was almost proved to be a mistake when Brazier launched the bumper into Perkins on the last bend, but Perkins rode out the challenge to take the last win of the weekend.  Not for the first time, it was brilliant stuff from the Modstox.

V8 Hotstox

The V8 Hotstox had 16 cars for day two of their weekend with 10 Gilen Bullock trying his car from the back of Heat One after major overnight repairs to the running gear.  Early drama in the opening heat saw 369 Ruby Lomax spin herself into turn one, dropping out of third place on the third lap of the race.  Things got worse when the leading 528 Charlie Portman piled in on Lomax on the nose on the next lap bringing out the waved yellows although all drivers were OK.  The restart was led by 202 Sam Knight but only for a very short time when 296 Dan Poole applied the bumper into turn one and moved to the front.  A cracking race for second then broke out with Knight swept aside leaving 257 Timmy Aldridge, 84 Carl Boswell and 222 Guy Jolly to set about each other lap after lap with the bumpers.  Jolly dropped away a little as the race unfolded but the rest of the top 5 remained in close formation for most of the race.  Poole was a clear winner and notched up his fourth victory of the weekend whilst another last bend hit saw World Champion 329 Tom Brighton launch the three cars ahead of him into the final corner and steal second place.  Heat Two had the full grid of cars again and saw the blues and reds battling hard once again.  So much so that they held each other up and the leading Portman was lapping them by lap nine of the race.  In a repeat of a similar scenario the night before, the leader became a victim of the battles amongst the other cars and Portman was duly buried by 69 Matt Barnard and whilst Portman still came out of the other side of the corner, Knight was now on his tail.  With two laps to go, Knight moved up the inside of Portman and victory was his, 10 Gilen Bullock also moving up to second place to get his first decent finish of the weekend.  Still 16 cars on track for the Final where Bullock was dropped down the order early on after an opening lap burial from 171 Tom Dunne.  Knight settled into the early lead until dislodged briefly by Portman although Knight fought back to move ahead of Portman again on lap five.  Their battle had allowed Poole to close in and a tap on the back bumper of Knight into turn one on lap six was all it took to secure Poole his fifth victory of the weekend with 14 laps of racing still to be completed.  Thankfully, the determination of the winner-elect didn’t spoil the action behind and once again the blues and reds decided to savage each other on a regular basis.  Amongst the notable shots was a double-burial of 176 Stephen Young and 329 Brighton by Aldridge.  Brighton staged a comeback which included a stiff despatch of Carl Boswell and even though Aldridge dropped through the places as a result of the hits given and received, he was still at it late in the race when 110 Evan Bullock felt the force of his bumper.  Come the chequered flag, Poole was a clear winner again with Portman holding on for second and Brighton getting back to third place.  Instead of a Grand National, the inaugural ‘And Then There Was One’ trophy race was held.  After a hard weekend of racing, just 9 cars came out on track which diluted the impact of the race which in principle is a novel idea.  After three laps, the last car on every subsequent lap had to retire from the race until the last six cars are allowed to challenge each other for the ‘One’ trophy.  The retirees on laps 4, 5 and 6 were 182 Will Cheetham, 84 Carl Boswell and 222 Guy Jolly.  This left 528 Charlie Portman leading but Smeatharpe specialist Poole swept into the lead on lap seven and despite an error a couple of laps later when he went too hot into turn one and sent himself very wide, this wasn’t enough for Portman to get back within striking distance.  So, Poole made it 6 wins from 8 races.  Whilst one driver dominating the results doesn’t sound like a good thing, this was some of the most consistently hard and entertaining V8 Hotstox action seen for many a weekend and hopefully Westcountry visits will become an occasional feature of their fixtures going forward.

Junior Bangers

The Junior Bangers featured an influx of additional drivers for Sunday which swelled the numbers to 16 cars and there was also some rare machinery on display with 718 Alfie Brown returning an Austin A40 Farina.  All of them were on track for Heat One where 119 Jimmy Berry opted to start in the white top for the first time instead of as a novice.  134 Charlie Ferris span Berry in the first corner of the race and 132 Rowan McAleer then rode up the front of the 119 car to roll onto his side with 117 Max Starr then collecting McAleer very gently in the roof.  All drivers were fine and a complete re-run of the race was ordered, minus some of the affected cars.  Whilst the Saturday night Junior Banger races were more like stock car races with drivers pushing each other wide, the second attempt of Heat One on Sunday was more of a Banger race with 138 Braydon Rice spinning out 77 Dylan Perry on the opening lap and Berry taking out 168 Alfie Gill soon after.  However, Berry became a victim on the next lap when he was taken around by 511 Lexi Crosbie and then 133 Jesse Jeanes took out 182 Mickey James.  Ferris had led from the start but span himself in turn one with five laps of the race remaining, handing the lead to 113 Beau Jeanes.  Perry had meanwhile staged a determined comeback, and he got to the back of Rice on the last lap and span him out causing the 138 car to find grip and roll over.  The race was declared with Beau Jeanes the winner ahead of 618 Stanley Gill and Perry.  All 16 drivers returned for Heat Two where early exchanges saw Chunk fire both Perry and Jeanes wide.  McAleer was the early leader until he found the turn two fence and soon afterwards Crosbie span out Ferris to take up the lead.  Things then calmed down a little until the last three laps of the event when 11 Shane Rowe took a lunge at Chunk that span out Berry ahead of them.  Beau Jeanes ducked underneath Crosbie in the last corner to steal the win with Crosbie and Rice completing the podium.  The grid for the Final was minus Starr but the remaining 15 got going for a very short time until Rice went into the back of Wiggy Jnr on the home straight causing the A40 to grip the concrete and roll over.  Brown was fine and a complete re-run was lined up.  990 Billy Rice was an early retiree from the restart, followed soon after by Beau Jeanes who was taken around on turn four by Perry and was unable to rejoin the action due to a broken drive shaft.  Two quick changes of leader took place with McAleer moving ahead of Ferris and then Crosbie passing McAleer who was so distracted by losing the lead that he clattered into the slow-moving Berry.  The latter driver continued to crawl around with an ailing car and was duly clobbered and spun around by Rowe.  A three-way scramble for victory in the last bend of the race saw 132 McAleer spin out Rowe who was met on the nose by Crosbie giving McAleer the chance to gather it up and take the win ahead of Braydon Rice and the rejoining Crosbie.  Another excellent day of racing from the Junior Bangers, which have been a great addition to the Autospeed fixtures for 2026.

American Cup Cars

The same 11 cars and drivers competed as on the first day of the Jamboree weekend.  Heat One was their best race so far of the weekend with 11 Juli Stanford leading the early laps from pole position but most of the other quick drivers starting in the second half of the grid.  65 Mark Carnwell suffered a spin on the home straight after a clash with 13 Titch Booth on the sixth lap of the race whilst Stanford suffered car problems and fell almost to the back leaving 66 Ian Hooker in the lead.  Hooker successfully defended his line until the mid-point of the race when 21 Mark Trevarthen decided to try the outside line for a passing manoeuvre.  This opened up a gap on the inside for 80 Jon Evans and even though he was stuck behind Hooker, Evans managed to get a nose ahead of Trevarthen on the outside line.  Persistence paid off in the end and Trevarthen stayed wide for lap after lap and was eventually rewarded by getting his nose to the front and winning the race.  Heat Two had 10 drivers on track and saw Stanford and Carnwell go clear at the front in the opening laps.  18 Stratton Mackay started in the second half of the grid and was a long way adrift of the leading two by the time he dealt with the traffic and move up to third position.  The deciding moment of the race came just after halfway when the leading pair came to lap 73 Dave Moulds.  Stanford went around the outside whilst Carnwell spotted a gap on the inside, and he duly emerged from turn four as the new leader.  Carnwell went on to win and whilst Mackay had caught up with Stanford by the end of the race, there was no time left to challenge for second place.  Back up to 11 cars for the Final.  Booth was suffering from a car getting slower and slower but he somehow managed to hold the rest of the field back for a while until Stanford moved through and once Booth was off the inside line, he dropped places very quickly.  The last 8 laps of the race became tricky after Hooker blew up although Mackay was the only driver who span completely on the resulting oil in turn three.  22 Steve Stanford poked the nose of his car up the inside of race leader Juli Stanford a couple of times in the last of the laps, but couldn’t quite beat her to the line.  Evans came home third.

Hot Fords

All 10 Hot Fords contested the second day of the weekend with 101 Phil Mitchell having worked on his car after the disappointments of Saturday and he duly made it out for Heat One.  This meant there were now two drivers in the formula who were willing to experiment with outside lines although initially, Mitchell couldn’t make it work for him in the opening race.  181 Jaime-Lee Mellor recorded her fourth win of the weekend whilst 690 Tom Parnham came from Superstar to fourth place in the result.  Heat Two was a similar story with both Mitchell and Parnham making the best of the progress from red grade and superstar respectively.  The main difference with this race was that 19 Luke Cowley lost track position when Parnham came up his inside to pass for fifth place and after that, the rest of the Superstars filed through dropping Cowley to the back for his worst finish of the weekend.  Mellor won once again with Parnham recording third place and Mitchell getting fifth.  All 10 cars for the Final where Mellor opened up the biggest gap of the weekend in the lead as things got more difficult behind.  115 Benjo Bell retired from the race whilst running fourth whilst Mitchell advanced to fourth before his car started smoking and the back end started stepping out of line.  Presumably he was dropping oil or coolant onto his own back tyres.  Parnham also seemed less confident in this race which may indicate that something slippery was covering the track.  Mellor completed an amazing weekend by winning all six races with 306 Craig Bennett second and Cowley third.  Best of the Superstars was 87 Aaron Eyre who placed fourth which was his best finish of the trip.

Grand Prix Midgets

All 11 Midgets raced on Sunday with their first race being for the British Championship.  27 Paul Johnson rose to the occasion and adopted the outside line early in the race to get ahead of 37 Antony Smith with 7 Scott Campbell following his example and also going wide to move into second place.  By lap 6, 43 Shaun Lombardo had reeled in Campbell and made an inside line pass on turn one.  Lombardo was unable to get on terms with Johnson though and his hopes of a podium disappeared suddenly when he span in a seemingly unforced error, two laps from the chequered flag.  40 Steve Sutch blew a coolant hose off in the last moments of the race to make the surface treacherous, but it didn’t affect the result with Johnson taking the title ahead of Campbell and 243 Daniel Pluckrose.  Mechanical woes meant Pluckrose was missing for the first Allcomers race so 10 cars started with 214 John Faggetter leading the opening part of the race before Campbell and Johnson both went to the outside line again and moved up to first and second places.  101 Francois Damen made a late charge from the back of the field and managed to get up the inside of Johnson on the last lap to claim second place, but there was not enough time to deal with Campbell who emerged as the winner.  Just 8 cars gridded for the last race of the weekend where Johnson went around the outside of Faggy in the early stages for the lead and 4 Michael Sutch also took notice and went wide to pass Smith and then Faggy to go second.  It would have been the best result of the weekend for Sutch, but as Damen tried to pass him coming out of turn four there was the slightest touch of their front wheels which dragged both cars towards the fence.  Whilst neither crashed, there were two emergency stops carried out!  This left Johnson unchallenged at the front to take the chequered flag. 

UK Modifieds

All 11 UK Modifieds raced again on Sunday although 28 Simon Panton replaced 18 Connor Panton in one of the cars.  52 Matt Hanson converted pole position into the race lead at the start of the event with the main interest coming from further back.  885 Dave Tomlinson opted for the outside line whilst lying in sixth place on lap 6 and he stayed out wide for a further six laps by which time he had slowly but surely worked his way up to third position.  A late change of leader saw 38 Reagan Panton find a gap to go inside Hanson two laps from the end and win the race.  Heat Two saw 611 Jamie Hanson claim the race lead from pole position whilst alongside him, 52 Matt Hanson seemed to slap the back straight plating coming off turn two in the first couple of laps although it didn’t seem to cause him any handling issues.  85 Ben White held third in the early stages, but his car seemed a little bit off the pace and both 26 Shaun Login and 711 Cody Hanson went wide to pass him although in each case, it took a while for the cars to get fully ahead and back on the inside line.  White lost more places in the second half of the race as Jamie Hanson stayed at the front to claim victory.  All 11 cars were still active for the Final which was their best race of the weekend.  Matt Hanson led the first four laps until he left a gap into turn three which invited Reagan Panton to move ahead of him.  It is hard to say whether accumulated track knowledge was the main factor, or if it was the last race of the weekend and drivers were more willing to gamble on getting some damage, but everybody seemed keener to try lines and passing tactics that we had not seen in the previous five races.  Login made good progress to third position whilst 471 Alaster Houghton mixed inside lines and outside lines to make his way up to second position during the middle part of the race.  Dave Tomlinson was also on a charge but came unstuck with a spin on turn four in the last three laps of the race.  In the final stages, Houghton caught up with Panton who had gone quite a long way clear in the lead and a surprise cut underneath into turn one was enough to give Houghton victory from Reagan Panton and Matt Hanson. 

Old Skool Superstox

The Old Skool Superstox dropped to 3 cars as a result of mechanical woes, but in keeping with Saturday, the drivers put on as good a show as they could by keeping fairly close together and delivering lots of changes of race positions in all three events.  546 Matthew Gray won the opener with the other heat going to 443 Steve Monk whilst 66 Colin Fuller held on by a narrow margin to win the Final ahead of Monk and Gray.