Report by Alistair Oxby

After more than a month without any race action and having spent some time masquerading as a theatre venue, the United Downs Raceway burst back into more ordinary life with three formulas in action (including BriSCA Micro F2 Stock Cars).  The drivers were joined by a large and highly appreciative crowd on a warm Summer afternoon which offered perfect conditions for a session of oval racing.

Modstox

The Modstox formula were competing in the fourth round of their Summer Bash series with 14 of the mainly Midlands-based drivers making the trip to West Cornwall.  Mechanical gremlins discovered during pre-meeting practice resulted in only 12 of the cars joining the grid for Heat One.  555 Sam Woods was the only one of the three yellow-grade drivers to make a decent start to the race but only held the lead until lap three when 73 Craig Underhill exploited a gap on the inside of turn one to move to the front.  By halfway in the race, Woods had dropped away to fifth place and the main point of the second half of the event was the battle for third place which exchanged between 10 Marcus Worth and 46 Karl Brazier on at least three occasions.  1 James Faultless ended his race static in turn three whilst 121 Josh Malt got the better of Underhill in the closing laps to take the victory.  Underhill came home second with Brazier scooping third.
Heat Two also featured 12 cars but both of the drivers that were fixing issues during the first race started this event.  The grades were a little close together at the start which made for an unusual race where blue-top Underhill was leading by lap two and the first SuperStar driver to make it into the top five was 291 Dan Baker as early as lap four.  Worth got to the front soon afterwards and built enough of a lead to ensure he would land the victory whilst Underhill got bogged down in a battle with Brazier over second place which saw the two drivers switching places repeatedly.  Underhill eventually got forced off line and had Baker and Malt also pass him on the inside line before finally getting spun onto the dusty home-straight run-off area which saw Underhill drop to tenth place in the eventual result.
The Final raised 13 cars and with the grade gaps resolved, the three yellow tops remained in the top three positions in the race until the third lap when 22 Luke Wilson passed 130 Martin Dyche.  307 Hannah Chappell held the lead for a very brief spell before Woods was able to move ahead of her again and the time they lost having their own battle gave Wilson the opportunity to move ahead of both of them.  Underhill followed Wilson in second position with Malt then producing a stunning charge down the inside line on the back straight to move directly from fifth to third positions.  A good drive for Woods ended prematurely when he span coming off turn two and dropped completely out of contention.  The last three laps of the race saw Underhill and Malt exchange second place a couple of times which gave Wilson the breathing space he needed to secure victory with Malt beating Underhill to the second step on the podium.
Back to 12 cars for the Grand National where Wilson took the lap handicap at the start and just made it back into the top ten finishers.  The race followed a similar pattern to some of the earlier events with Woods being the early leader and then having to surrender position to Underhill.  Malt was once again the best of the drivers from the red grade, and he moved inside Underhill to lead just before halfway in the race although Underhill did fight back on turns three and four with a hit that saw both cars bounce off the wall at the start of the home straight.  Malt carried on regardless and actually extended his lead immediately after this attack.  Malt won with Underhill hanging onto second place despite a lunge from 192 Max Harding in the last corner.  In the event, the gap between the cars was just a bit too large and Harding simply lunged into a load of empty space.
Excellent racing from the Modstox which maybe lacked a little bit of bumper work overall but made up for it by producing lots of changes of positions and plenty of close racing.

Bangers

The Bangers produced an excellent entry of 54 drivers and served up six entertaining races which had a bit of everything, from fast and close racing to rollovers and pile-ups.
There were 17 cars in Heat One where newcomer 530 Luke Richards made a good start and led a few laps whilst the strongest early progress from the yellow grade was made by 817 Michael Phillips who came from seventh on the grid to hold second place in the first few laps.  The first real incident saw 238 Jake Hughes spin out 715 Seb Burns into turn one leaving him sat to be hit head-on by 814 Will Trevorrow.  The latter two were unable to rejoin but were missed by all of the rest of the field for a couple of laps until the leading Richards made a mistake and ploughed into Trevorrow.  At the other end, 241 Alfie Tiddy went for a scenic tour over the banking whilst Richards eventually rejoined a lap behind the leaders but was hit down the back straight by 390 Alfie Tomkins sending him into a wild tank-slapper that he only just held onto.  Tomkins was well up the field at this point, but the hit seemed to cause him a problem, and he retired a lap later leaving Phillips a clear winner.
Heat Two had 16 cars on track and once again saw some of the white-graded drivers making fair progress.  401 Nicky Stevens led the first three or four laps of the race which saw 666 Damien Wilcock come to an unplanned stop in turn two whilst 280 Jordan Fitzpatrick worked his way to the front of the field.  As the quicker drivers from further back started to advance, 182 Nathan James passed 283 Riley Ball prompting the latter to try to defend his place by taking a lunge at James into turn three.  James absorbed the hit well and carried on but Ball put himself well off line hitting the fence on the exit of turn four.  The crash broke his rear axle mounts on one side of the car producing a ‘steer from the rear’ effect that left his car much less Fiesta and rather more fairground ride.  Ball ended up facing the traffic further along the home straight and needed the red flags to rescue him from a position he wasn’t keen to sit in.  Fitzpatrick led the restart but was soon pushed wide into turn three by 551 Jack Belfield who took up the running with four laps to go.  Fitzpatrick tried the same turn three hit on the next lap, but Belfield wasn’t to be moved.  Two laps from home, James did make a move on Belfield into turn one and snatched the lead putting Fitzpatrick back within striking distance of Belfield to turn him towards the run-off area on the back straight.  Belfield was quick to rejoin, and family retribution came from 451 Nigel Belfield who span Fitzpatrick to the home straight dirt as the last lap commenced.  James was the winner.
Heat Three managed the full allocation of 18 cars and was more frenetic than the previous two.  121 Ryan Buddle span out 252 Dylan Belfield on the home straight in the early moments before 747 Nicky Seery took out 141 Toby Tiddy on turn three causing a slight blockage that attracted more cars.  At the end of the home straight, race-returnee 474 Darren Polden marked the end of a 16-year layoff from racing by flicking 22 Zack Hancock left into the wall where he bounced out and 823 Tyler Phillips launched himself off the back wheel of 22 Limp-Mode into a roll that saw him leave himself on his roof at the entrance to turn one.  Red flags as early as lap two to rescue Phillips who was perfectly OK.  Polden led the restart, but 662 Jared Roe made the best of the closed grid to come from fourth place to nudge Polden wide into turn three after two more laps of racing and take the lead.  352 Carl Belfield got back ahead of Roe briefly whilst Polden ended a promising race in the turn three wall.  118 Brook Ball also crashed out to face the wall mid-way down the back straight as Roe dealt with Belfield to go back into the lead and then start pulling clear of the rest of the field.  Entertainment in the closing laps was provided by 194 Riley Robinson and his Skoda Felicia which had a bent back wheel and sent him spinning every time he got above 10mph.  Roe was a clear winner by the time the chequered flag came out.
20 cars for the Consolation race where 225 Cody Blight was travelling slowly from the start, and 109 Woody Pascoe span out at the end of the home straight where Tyler Phillips was run into him on the nose by 53 Chris James.  Richards then clattered into Phillips and was hit a while later by 232 Dave Thomas.  Burns led a good few laps but was outpaced down the back straight by 441 Dan Sutherland who went to the front as the flying Tomkins made his way from the back spinning 22 Limp-Mode on the home straight and then catching up with Burns to send him wide into turn three and move up to second place.  Tomkins also scattered the rejoined Pascoe into turn one whilst Fitzpatrick managed to collect Richards despite the latter having sat untouched in turn one for several laps.  A likely third-placed finish for Burns came to an end when 862 Darryl Cock span him out in turn one although Cock got himself in a knot at the same time and crashed over the turn two banking to retirement on the infield.  Sutherland was too far clear to be reeled in by Tomkins and took a well-earned victory.
28 of the 30 qualifiers made it onto the grid for the Final where Seery led the opening couple of laps before he was passed by the flying 200 Jai Simmons.  Sutherland span out Toby Tiddy on the home straight leaving 96 Craig Cornelius to collect Tiddy and very nearly roll over, the fallout from these incidents bringing about a pile-up in turn two.  Jack Belfield span Sutherland into the home straight dust but Sutherland managed to keep the power on to rejoin very quickly with 323 Barry Phillips adding to the cloud by sending 22 Limp-Mode into the tyres and dirt as well.  Five laps from home, 323 Barph was running fourth and not far adrift of the top three, but he then encountered Limp-Mode again on the back straight and got stuck behind losing lots of time until he finally managed to turn him out of the way into turn three.  The top three were all very close together for the last three laps and Simmons went for the last bend lunge on Belfield which didn’t quite go as well as it might have done.  Belfield emerged at the other side of the corner to still take the victory flag with Sutherland sneaking back through to second and Simmons having to settle for third.
The Allcomers produced the biggest grid of the day with 30 cars on track and there was chaos from the start with 426 Kenanne Burt crashing out at the end of the home straight and getting nailed on the nose by Toby Tiddy and an early pile-up developing on turn three.  22 Limp-Mode actually led a few laps before getting spun up the turn three inner banking by Polden with Jack Belfield then rattling Limp-Mode as he rejoined the action.  154 Barry Pike got stuffed into the growing turn three heap and the red flags emerged soon afterwards to clear debris from the circuit, namely the driver’s side rear wheel from the 154 car.  Polden led the restart but lost out when he got stuck behind the slow moving 22 car whilst there was a dramatic exit for 201 Richard Simmons who blew a coolant hose off the engine and scrambled to the infield in a cloud of steam.  78 Max Weare came to the front and confidently led the last four laps of the race to take the chequered flag ahead of Jai Simmons and 27 Shaine Barton.
A very good afternoon of Banger action with plenty to entertain the crowd and no naughty hits causing huge damage or friction behind the scenes,