Report by Jack Watson

Day two of Smeatharpe Stadium's Summer Speedweekend was championship day for the Saloon Stock Cars and ORCi Stock Rods, as they contested their European and British Championships respectively.  The BriSCA F2 Stock Cars joined the action for their tribute to Bill Batten by way of The Master Trophy which again boasted a strong prize fund.  Ahead of racing, there was a tribute to 1986 BriSCA F2 World Champion Garry Hooper, who sadly passed away during the week.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

The entry landed in the mid-30s and ultimately led to a move away from the traditional graded heat format, with a normal half car heat format adopted in place.  262 Charlie Cocks led the opening heat until the final four laps, when Jon Palmer moved past.  315 Charlie Fisher and 405 Josh Hamstead encountered early trouble, but Fisher was able to move himself back up into the qualifying positions.  Palmer went on to take the win, and Cocks impressively held off the in-form 46 Bradley Cooper and 235 Alfie Brimble for second.  Heat two featured a couple of unfortunate tangles - the first between 581 Daniel Fallows, 454 Ryan Gardiner and 418 Ben Borthwick, with the trio coming to rest at the end of the home straight infield.  A few laps later, and 185 Jessica Webb and 267 Robbie Batten were left with no place to go - Webb hitting the side of Gardiner's car at quite the pace - ending the day for the latter.  468 Sam Weston made the most of his yellow grade start to win, ahead of 979 Paul Moss and UK Champion 127 Matt Stoneman.  The consolation was led for the opening half by 710 Louie Stuckey, before Webb took over.  Stuckey, together with Robbie Batten who was shadowing the 710 driver throughout, fell down the order as Webb came under pressure from 828 Julian Coombes, and shortly after by 667 Tommy Farrell and Fallows.  Webb hung on to the lead until the final lap, where in a spectacular finish, Tommy Farrell just took the win.  Fallows beat Webb to second in the scramble to the line.  Further back, Hamstead was deposited into the fence while battling with Stuckey and 870 Bruno Farrell, Stuckey the only one of the three to qualify for the Final.  An early stoppage was called at the start to the Final, with 605 Richie Andrews and Coombes hooked up on the pit bend.  After a few attempts, Stuckey got the race back underway although after a few laps Webb and 27 Kieren Bradford tangled on the entry to the Honiton bend, sending Webb into a big roll over.  Thankfully, she was able to get out of the car unhurt - the same could not be said for her car.  Fisher and Weston battled over the lead at the restart, with Weston eventually settling into first place.  Tommy Farrell appeared in third and Palmer in fourth before half distance, but the leading yellow top duo were clearly going to take some catching.  The star drivers were handed a lifeline by way of a yellow flag, caused by a throttle jam for 31 Lewis Geach on the Honiton bend.  This closed the pack up but as the top three cleared, the red tops set about each other rather than trying to catch those in front.  Weston eased away to take the win, Tommy Farrell withstood a last bender from Palmer and 186 Kasey Jones to take second.  Jones finished just ahead of Fisher for third, while Palmer found himself stopped behind the spun car of Stuckey, which meant he could only manage eighth.  Batten led for the opening section of the Grand National, but 206 Matt Brewer had hit the front before half distance.  Stoneman had made some excellent progress through the pack and was in the lead and clear shortly after the halfway mark, while Brewer clung on to second until three laps to go when Jones made his way past. The best drivers in grade for the afternoon were presented with colour appropriate bottles of Jack Daniels, as well as an actual bottle of whiskey, courtesy of Kris Burgess.  The white grade award was shared between Batten and Cocks, Weston won the yellow grade award, Moss and Farrell tied for the blue award and Jones the red/star.

Saloon Stock Cars

A trio of drivers were unable to race owing to injury and damage from Saturday night, which meant that the planned Last Chance Qualifier was dropped and the non-qualifying drivers were invited to start the European Championship from the back of the grid in graded order.  902 Brad Compton-Sage and 577 Harry Darby shared the front row with 428 Hayden Sampson and 131 Timmy Barnes behind.  Compton-Sage and Harry Darby made their way clear of the pack in the early stages of the race while bedlam broke loose behind.  Among the chaos, 720 Archie Brown was sent into the wall backwards by 121 Kai Gilmour, which dismantled Brown's rear bumper and ended his reign as European Champion.  Harry Darby was then removed from the lead battle when lapping backmarking traffic, leaving Compton-Sage clear out front.  561 Aaron Totham showed in second as the bumpers flew in behind, and a growing number of cars gathered on the safe areas on either side of the circuit.  It became clear that without a yellow flag, Compton-Sage was going to be incredibly difficult to catch, and that stoppage never came.  Compton-Sage took the win, the gap around half a lap to second.  Totham was moved over by World Champion 389 Ryan Santry on the final bend for the runners-up spot but held on for third - the top three drivers the only ones to finish on the lead lap.  Compton-Sage got on to his roof in celebration on the exit of the Honiton bend, although on the run down lap had suffered a mechanical problem meaning that his car had to be towed to the infield for scrutineering.  The meeting Final was next, for the Chapel Garage Memorial Trophy.  Most eyes were on Kai Gilmour and Brown, and they were rewarded as Brown thundered the Scot around the pit bend plating, causing significant rear damage to the 121 car. There were also some exchanges between Northern Irishman 951 Robert Mawhinney and 33 Pete Hollett, with neither driver finishing after some heavy hits.  126 Harry Barnes led for most of the race, but 122 Zak Gilmour snuck through on the final lap to take the win.  Harry Barnes had actually been suffering from a problem and could be seen on the closing laps requesting pushes from those behind - all this still netted him second place.  525 Wes Starmer completed the top three.  The Allcomers race, for the BHD Trophy, began with Kai Gilmour and Brown, as well as Hollett and Mawhinney, coming to blows on the pit bend - with further shots exchanged later in the race between Mawhinney and Kai Gilmour.  Having fixed the issue that stopped him from winning the Final, Harry Barnes took a comfortable win ahead of Harry Darby and 178 Kieran Bowman, whilst 314 Bryn Finch was a clear winner of the BHD White Top award.

ORCi Stock Rods

The British Championship race saw all eligible drivers take to the track, with non-qualifiers lining up at the rear in graded order.  83 Michael Bethune and 914 Callum Faulconbridge shared the front row, with 216 Cameron Doak and defending champion 165 Jamie Dawson on row two.  Bethune kept Faulconbridge on the outside line during the opening stages of the race, which led to the latter dropping down the order once the lead cars caught up the tailenders.  Bethune then had to fend off the attentions of Doak but was able to create a gap once the leaders came across more backmarking traffic.  The race was then halted with 51 Aiden Vincent stuck on the home straight racing line.  The race was already in its second half, and the resumption saw Bethune instantly create a gap of a few car lengths to Doak.  Bethune went on to take the win - a feat he also achieved while he was in the Ministox - the same championship at the same track.  Doak narrowly beat Callum Faulconbridge over the line for second only for the south west driver to fail post-race checks and be excluded.  World Champion 844 Callum Hosie was upgraded to third, and outgoing champion Dawson was fourth.  Two half car heats followed.  The first went to 911 Harrison Bryant, ahead of 835 Matt Westaway and 111 Olly Bryant.  The second heat saw some slight drama when 285 Martin Walker was spun on the home straight, but he was able to move himself to safety without the need of a yellow flag.  617 Christina Sillifant took more or less a flag-to-flag win, ahead of 231 Simon Bassett and 77 Tom Larcombe.  The meeting Final featured an early stoppage when 78 Jason Legg was spun on the back straight, clipping Larcombe on his way round while Dawson clipped the spun Legg car at the end of the back straight.  Harrison Bryant found himself spun from the lead battle on the Honiton bend after a combined effort from 151 Simon Vincent and 913 Ben Faulconbridge - before rejoining and forcefully removing Vincent from the race to land himself in some hot disciplinary water.  The win went to Olly Bryant, who had withstood race-long pressure from Westaway.  Callum Faulconbridge was third.  A Grand National race concluded the afternoon and saw a second win of the weekend for Westaway. Larcombe was second and Doak third, while Olly Bryant finished just outside the top ten from the lap handicap.