Report by Jack Watson

Day one of the Smeatharpe Stadium Summer Speedweekend was headlined by the 43rd Annual National Bangers Championship of the World. The Saloon Stock Cars and ORCi Stock Rods were on the qualifying chase for their respective European and British Championship races on Sunday afternoon.

National Bangers (Unlimited cc)

After a significant number of late cancellations and a handful of no-shows, the final car count came to 28.  Amongst them however, were the likes of defending champion 362 Johnny James, four-time Autospeed World Champion 617 Jack Overy, Spedeworth World Champion 459 Blake Platts and 2L World Champion 570 Jordan Cumming.  The grid was formed by random draw, with the non-seeds starting from the rear of the field.  This placed Team Extreme driver 462 Nico James and top Entertainer 648 Jamie Smith on the front row, both under Jaguar power.  The race got underway with Smith diving into the early lead, while 562 Jayden James went after Cumming but there was insufficient contact for the latter to be slowed.  421 Josh Mayo was spun on the home straight and collected while 252 Steve Bugler had the rear of his Mercedes re-arranged on the pit bend.  The heavy collection for Mayo brought out a race stoppage, with Smith leading 214 Shane Rawlins and 739 Jason Moore.  360 Jack Reynolds got himself into second quickly after the restart, while Rawlins was spun out and dropped to the rear of the pack.  Reynolds took the lead, as Smith started to drop back, meanwhile Platts and Overy had started to join the leading battle.  As the race reached half distance, Overy moved Reynolds out wide for the lead, while Platts slotted into second spot.  Platts was close enough connect with Overy but opted to stick behind him for a few laps instead.  There was to be another stoppage, with Reynolds' shedding a back wheel while still sitting in third place just as the race was about to enter its final five laps.  The stoppage helped Overy, who made an excellent getaway when the green flag dropped, almost instantly creating a gap to Platts that would make him unreachable by even the most audacious of last bend dives.  Overy duly took his fifth victory in the event, with Platts across the line in second.  Cumming and Johnny James resumed the battle between themselves as they jostled over third place, which allowed 220 Troy Cooper through for the position - an excellent drive, especially considering that Cooper was one of the four drivers starting from the back as a non-qualifier.
Just over twenty drivers returned for the BHD Trophy Final, which was being defended by 670 Max Eaton.  Some excellent repair work by the Bugler team saw Steve Bugler make it back on to the track, and he immediately made his presence felt by hitting the spun 341 Andrew Jones head-on on the home straight.  This did leave him open to a shot from behind, an offer which 114 Liam Lake found too good to turn down.  At the front, Reynolds made up for the wheel loss in the main event by taking pretty much a flag-to-flag win.  Supreme Champion 133 Terry Hill was second and 639 Tye Williams was third.  The Crash 4 Cash race, which was such a success last year, unfortunately didn't really live up to its hype.  There was some early action involving Steve Bugler and 239 Steve Carter, but other than that the action never seemed to get going.  There was, at least, an interesting battle for the lead in the closing laps, as Platts got the better of Hill on the last lap to take the flag and the £250 first prize.  Steve Bugler was awarded the £250 Best Entertainer prize for the race.  With only one willing participant, Bugler, the Destruction Derby was unable to go ahead.

Saloon Stock Cars 

Considering the run of titles for the Saloon Stock Cars recently, and only being two weeks on from a typically bruising UK Speedweekend, the entry of 37 cars was most satisfactory, and included the majority of the title holders in the formula - including new UK Champion 697 Jordan Cassie, the Scotsman making his first appearance with the Union flag on his roof.  The drivers were split into five groups, and each raced three times out of five heats with points scored forming the grid for the European Championship race on Sunday afternoon.  Heat one saw 28 Ian Govier make a speedy start as the lone white grader, and he built up what turned out to be an unassailable lead.  This was helped partly by the blue and red graders knocking lumps out of each other, and it was only really Irish Open & World Cup Champion 902 Brad Compton-Sage that was able to break free to chase after Govier.  Compton-Sage ran out of laps but was a comfortable second place, while Cassie also cleared the mayhem in the final couple of laps to take third.  Heat two was led by 314 Bryn Finch until a late stoppage was called for Barry Russell, who found himself stranded across the track after receiving a thunderous trip to the pit bend fence courtesy of defending 720 European Champion Archie Brown.  577 Harry Darby had made his way up to second just before the yellows appeared, and when the race resumed made quick work of getting to the lead.  Second went the way of former European Champion 131 Timmy Barnes, and third to 178 Kieran Bowman.  Finch led for the majority of heat three, but Compton-Sage was once again on a mission from the back of the grid and took over out front with three laps remaining.  122 Zak Gilmour, who had been sitting in second for much of the race, also moved past Finch at the same time as Compton-Sage, while third place went to 561 Aaron Totham, as Finch dropped down the order to fifth in the closing laps.  226 Bleu Barnes' bonnet flew off at the start of heat four, being run over by the pack.  The yellow flags were then called after 382 Corey Hunt was spun wallwards by the other red graders and needed assistance from his car.  Bleu Barnes was removed from the race at this point as well in view of his lack of a bonnet.  The leading Govier was bundled down towards the rear of the pack, as Timmy Barnes emerged as the race's front runner.  428 Hayden Sampson and Zak Gilmour slotted into second and third, but Harry Darby was on the move and was up into second by three laps to go.  Compton-Sage's early progress was hindered, but he was able to battle back to seventh place on his way to securing pole position for the main race.  Timmy Barnes took the win, ahead of Harry Darby and Sampson.  Finch led the fifth and final heat until just beyond half distance, when 126 Harry Barnes took over out front, and built up a lead he was not to relinquish.  525 Wes Starmer was the runner-up, while bumpers flying between the star drivers helped Finch to stay in the top three until the last lap when he was overtaken by Aaron Totham - the white grader held on for a good fourth place.

ORCi Stock Rods

The ever-strong local contingent were joined by a quartet of Scots and lone Northern Irishman 911 Cole McFall.  It was McFall, and Harrison Bryant (both racing under number 911 to make life easy for everyone) who shared the front row of the first heat, and Bryant zoomed into an early lead.  European & Scottish Champion 83 Michael Bethune was up to second after a couple of laps and began to chase Bryant for the lead.  Bethune made his move just after half distance and went on to take a comfortable win, Bryant held on for second.  Third place went down to the very last lap, when909 Justin Washer snuck past McFall to grab the position.  The second heat saw defending British Champion 165 Jamie Dawson and 728 Kris Woods on the front row and became something of a task to get underway.  The first attempt featured a crash for McFall, forcing a complete restart.  111 Olly Bryant found himself facing the wrong direction and stuck on the entry to the Honiton bend on attempt two, while after another re-grid attempt three featured a tangle between 944 Callum Hosie, 778 Connor Sweetland and 314 Jason Barraclough on the back straight.  Eventually, at the fourth time of asking, and with just thirteen cars remaining on a depleted grid, the race finally got underway.  Woods held the lead for the opening few laps but under constant pressure from Dawson.  914 Callum Faulconbridge joined the battle, and while Dawson briefly took the lead, it was an excellent move by Faulconbridge that saw him take up the running and move clear at the front.  Dawson gave chase but ended up having to defend from Bethune, who made his way past Dawson on the last lap - although with a bit too much contact for the Steward's liking, and so Bethune was dropped two places in the result.  Callum Faulconbridge was well clear of that though and set an impressive marker down for the rest of the weekend.  With Bethune's demotion, second and third went to Dawson and Woods respectively.  835 Matt Westaway and 131 Stephen Cock were the front row pair for the third heat, with Westaway taking the early lead and building a gap out front.  320 Matt Hatch slotted into second but was soon overhauled by World & English Champion Callum Hosie - although by this point Westaway was already a good bit down the road.  Matt Hatch was able to maintain third until just before the lap boards appeared, when he was moved wide before retiring from the race.  Westaway was still over a second clear when he took the win ahead of Hosie, and while 671 Ross Graham was third across the lined he was dropped two places for contact which promoted Callum Faulconbridge into the position.  51 Aiden Vincent, who had endured some rotten luck in his previous two heats, and Justin Washer started on the front row for heat four, and Vincent shot into the early lead.  78 Jason Legg made it into second at the start of the race, but Washer was back ahead just before half distance.  Bethune appeared in third and was soon on Washer's back bumper, all the while Aiden Vincent was maintaining his lead.  Bethune made his way past with seven to run and set about catching the runaway #51 car.  Bethune was alongside Aiden Vincent as the last lap board appeared, and a frantic finish saw the pair tangle briefly on the pit bend, then cross the line three abreast along with Washer.  Bethune was declared the winner, by eleven thousandths of a second.  Aiden Vincent was second, and Washer was third - the top three positions covered by just under six hundreths of a second.  UK, National and ORCi Champion 216 Cameron Doak shared the front row of heat five with Darryl Cock.  The latter was an early casualty and stopped in a dangerous place, requiring an early yellow flag period.  Doak made a good restart, creating early distance between himself and second-placed 231 Simon Bassett.  Relative newcomer 100 Thomas Weeks was third at the restart but eventually was usurped by Graham and Callum Faulconbridge - the latter getting by the Scotsman a couple of laps later.  Doak was well clear by this point though and went on to take the victory.  Bassett just managed to pip Callum Faulconbridge to second, and after the points were tallied it put Bethune on pole position for the British Championship with Faulconbridge alongside.