Report by Alistair Oxby

Smeatharpe Stadium hosted its only Monday night Summer Special of the 2026 season with four formulas in action.  With lots of racing to get through, it was a very busy night on both sides of the fence, and the racing was packed with incident that only added to the challenge of presenting a slick meeting on a school night.  The crowd were certainly entertained and most stayed to the end of an evening that turned out to be a bit chilly later.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

26 BriSCA F2 Stock Cars attended but sadly 828 Julian Coombes had problems in practice and didn’t take part in the racing.  A two-thirds format was run.
Heat One gridded 15 cars and had an early scare for 569 Adam Langridge who nearly hit the marker tyre at the turn one entrance whilst running on the inside of 605 Richie Andrews and 53 Phil Mann in a way that really tested the limits of the track capacity.  267 Robbie Batten led the way from the start until the lap boards were just about to come out, at which point 405 Josh Hamstead found a gap on his inside and drove through cleanly.  His lead was to be brief however as Langridge clattered into the back of Batten one lap later, scattering the top three into the first corner.  The move worked perfectly and saw Langridge storm to the front and take the victory with 127 Matt Stoneman trying a hit on 667 Tommy Farrell in the last corner which failed to dislodge Farrell from second place.
A busier 19-car Heat Two saw 83 Sy Harraway put wide in turn one in the opening exchanges and things got no better as he rejoined only to be collected by 66 Ryan Hall with the two cars ending up tangled in the back straight fence until they sorted themselves out.  262 Charlie Cocks was the early leader and, much like Batten in the first heat, he remained at the front until the second half of the race, helped in part by the blues and reds having a cracking scrap which held many of them up.  710 Louie Stuckey span out of second place on the home straight and chose to rejoin in front of 464 Matt Linfield whose tap on the back bumper sent Stuckey straight back into a tyre on the inside of the track.  935 Nathan Maidment moved into the lead six laps from the end, but the result was to be heavily influenced by incidents affecting Andrews.  Firstly, he took a hit from 24 Jon Palmer into turn three which span him to the wall trapping Palmer as well.  After rejoining, Andrews then hit the wall hard again coming off turn four, bringing out the waved yellows with two laps to go.  The action came thick and fast on the restart and can only be described as a heavily populated mad scramble for victory, with 980 Charlie Lobb coming out on top and Maidment holding on to a creditable second position.
The last heat fielded 14 cars and saw Maidment quickly move ahead of Stuckey in the early stages and into second place before giving Batten a tap wide to grab the lead on lap four.  Batten then suffered more attention from 128 Jake Ralfs who pushed him out of third position and once Batten had lost track position on the inside line, he quickly fell down the order.  A mistake in traffic saw Maidment opt to try to squeeze up the inside into turn one rather than move cars wide with the bumper.  The result was that he ended up slowing and swerving to avoid ending up in the marker tyres and lost time allowing Stuckey back to the front.  Palmer was soon through the pack and on the tail of Stuckey and a push wide saw Palmer take a lead that would not be challenged in the remainder of the race.  The pace of the action seemed to slow down in the closing laps as if there was fluid being put down from a car, but the source wasn’t obvious.
23 cars returned for the Final which carried both the Steve Rich Trophy and the hugely impressive Taffy and Bryn Thomas Trophy as sponsored by Celtic Rock Services.  Cocks and Batten were the leading two in the early stages whilst Farrell absolutely stormed up the field from the front row of the blue tops.  His cause was helped by Mann being a bit heavy-handed with a hit on Hamstead into turn one which put both of them off line and opened the door for Farrell to advance to third place.  A battle for fourth place ignited behind him with 468 Sam Weston and 979 Paul Moss exchanging hits which soon enough allowed 315 Charle Fisher to find a gap and move ahead of them.  However, Fisher then found himself on the front of a Weston lunge at Moss which scattered him off line and Fisher then dropped a lot of places.  Farrell knocked Cocks wide into turn one and he was the leader when yellow flags emerged on lap eight to rescue Lobb who was stranded mid-track at the start of the home straight, having been spun left, right and twice on a Monday night.  That Lobb needed a double tractor recovery was a telltale sign of the damage he incurred.  The restart saw more of the same from Weston and Moss who continued to trade blows with Maidment also getting involved at one point on the back bumper of Weston.  This eventually ended with Weston spinning out Moss and holding himself up in the process.  As the lap boards emerged, Palmer and Langridge were getting ever closer to the leading Farrell but the anticipated hit for victory never came with Farrell playing the game in style in the last corner to go in fairly hot and deep to keep Palmer off his bumper whilst not completely compromising his exit from the bend.  Farrell was duly a deserved winner ahead of Palmer and Langridge and was overjoyed at capturing the magnificent prizes on offer.
The Grand National raised 16 cars and had Cocks at the front for the opening laps before Maidment took over.  By halfway Palmer had also moved ahead of Cocks and on that same lap Palmer exploited a gap on the back straight to drive ahead of Maidment on the inside line.  Palmer then got away to win with the main interest being Harraway who put Maidment wide on the last corner to steal second place.
A typically good night of F2 action at a track which always attracts plenty of bumperwork.

Modstox

The last Autospeed fixture of the season for Modstox saw 15 cars assemble with 455 Ryan Grindey joining the cars that had raced at St Day the previous afternoon and a change of pilot in the hire car as well, with 37 Fred Tebbenham in the seat.
All 15 of them graced the track for the opening heat where Papa Tebbz led the way until lap five when he steered his car onto the infield coming off turn four and rolled to a stop.  This left 73 Craig Underhill at the front of the race whilst a battle behind for third place saw 6 Adam Perkins dive up the inside of 22 Luke Wilson into turn three to take the place, only for Wilson to make a better exit from the corner and take the position straight back.  The two continued to battle which allowed 291 Dan Baker to reel them in and pass them before pulling clear.  In the closing stages of the race, 192 Max Harding was closing on Underhill and with just under two laps remaining, Harding went underneath Underhill into turn one to take the lead and get enough breathing space over the remaining distance to not be challenged again.
Papa Tebbz was back out again in the second heat which featured 11 cars and he was the race leader once again for the early part of the race.  A lap three incident saw 121 Josh Malt get a bit too close to Perkins on the back straight with a touch of wheels seeing Malt leap off the deck although both drivers got away with it.  Underhill was once again quick from the blue grade and dealt easily with both yellow tops before getting better drive than the leading Tebbenham off turn two on the fourth lap to move ahead down the back straight.  Perkins and Wilson continued their battles which concluded when Perkins span his opponent in turn one.  The remainder of the race was all about Harding chasing Underhill but this time he couldn’t quite get close enough to challenge in the last corner and Underhill raced to victory.
11 cars again for the Final where the yellow grade got their first turn at the front for a few laps as 130 Martin Dyche headed the field until lap three when Underhill used the bumper to put him wide in turn one and take up position at the front.  However, Underhill didn’t get an easy break this time and was soon passed by 10 Marcus Worth and Wilson although Underhill quickly found a gap on the back straight to get back ahead of Wilson.  Harding soon arrived on the scene to move ahead of Wilson in turn three and it wasn’t long before Underhill felt the 192 bumper in turn one which moved him wide allowing Harding and Wilson to pass him again.  Half a lap later, Underhill was back on the inside of Wilson on the home straight to reclaim third position, but he still couldn’t get away and at the halfway point of the race, Wilson was ahead again and Underhill running in fourth.  The next pass made by Underhill on Wilson was the decisive one with Underhill moving clear and the field in general started to spread out around the track.  Worth won ahead of Harding and Underhill with 228 Alan Sturgess spinning out Perkins in the last corner in a battle for seventh.
It was back to 12 cars for an Allcomers race with Worth taking the lap handicap but making no progress through the field.  Grindey enjoyed a few laps at the head of the field but once again Underhill and Wilson were quick from the blue grade and Underhill moved ahead of Grindey before Wilson followed him.  Wilson then made a move up the inside of Underhill into turn three on lap seven which earned him the lead and allowed Grindey to get close enough to land a hit on Underhill on the next lap although it wasn’t enough to get him a place back.  The fastest man from the back of the grid on this occasion was 291 Dan Baker who did cost Underhill places as he came through the field over the next couple of laps and he moved underneath Wilson in turn one to leave the running order at half distance as Baker, Wilson, Grindey and Harding.  As expected, Harding made further progress in the second half of the race and he passed Grindey cleanly before catching and hitting Wilson aside in turn one.  However, Baker was too far up the road and went on to secure the victory.
A highly watchable two days from the Modstox with both fixtures serving up some close racing.

ORCi Ministox

The Minis raised an excellent entry of 21 cars which was particularly pleasing off the back of a championship event at Buxton over the weekend.
The full entry of cars were on track for Heat One where 117 Max Starr set the early pace until finally caught and passed on the home straight by 27 Leo Rabone after five laps.  257 Kieran Hibberd fired 313 Charlie Weston very wide in turn three on the next lap, but his progress was still not as impressive as that of 522 Jacob Mikulla and 475 Mason Sealy who were up to second and third places by halfway with Starr still just behind them.  The late stages of the race saw 99 Jayden Roff go on a rampage for places as he half span Hibberd into the home straight run-off area a lap from home and then took around 511 Lexi Crosbie on the last corner.  Rabone held on to win the win the race with Sealy passing Mikulla in the closing laps for second position and Roff just missing the podium despite his efforts.
Heat Two saw 20 cars return to action and featured an early turn four spin for 770 Delilah Farrell whilst Starr led the way and Hibberd was once again making progress knocking 218 Rory Pearce wide in turn three on lap four to claim fourth position.  Ahead of him, Mikulla moved up the inside of 575 Caden Clark and into second position but the bumper came straight back in from Clark in turn three which badly unsettled the car and caused Mikulla to drop a few places again.  However, Mikulla reset himself and worked his way smoothly back up the field to lead the race by halfway.  Roff span out Weston down the home straight but the latter recovered fairly quickly which was not the same for 24 Koben Jenks who got spun out of turn four by Farrell and couldn’t restart the car.  He was sat mid-track and so the yellow flags came out on lap ten to recover him before he got hit.  The very congested restart only lasted a lap before 836 Olly Oldham went in on turn four and more yellow flags were needed to clear the track once more.  Sealy was at the front for the second restart and made a good getaway whilst Mikulla span Roff on the back straight resulting in both of them coming to a stop against the wall.  Sealy went on to win the race whilst Weston made the best of the two stoppages to make up his earlier lost time and was able to launch both 182 Mickey James and Hibberd into the last corner from fourth place.  His reward was second position at the chequered flag with Hibberd crossing the line third but then getting penalised for contact with novice 752 Raffi Pike earlier in the race.  James therefore took third place in the adjusted result.
A series of breakdowns and false starts meant that only 17 of the 20 cars on track started the Final.  Starr led for a short time until passed coming off turn four by Clark with the race coming under yellow flags on lap five after Sealy had collided with novice 357 Oliver Russell who span and hit the fence backwards in turn four, entrapping Farrell in the process.  Having safely got the driver out of the car and off track, the restart saw Mikulla move quickly to the front chased by Weston and Roff although Roff then lost his place to the rapid Sealy on the back straight on lap nine, just before the yellow flags were deployed again to move 151 Ryan Hookway who was stranded in turn four.  Mikulla was soon moved wide on the restart, and he dropped to fourth place behind Weston, Sealy and Roff.  Sealy then punted Weston wide to move into the lead with Weston losing some ground and coming under further fire from Hibberd whose resulting loss of momentum then saw him get spun out by Roff.  Sealy crossed the line first but was penalised for his part in the demise of the novice earlier in the race and Mikulla was declared the winner having got back up the field when others spun each other.  Roff was second and Sealy was docked to third.
Excellent action from the Ministox at a track which suits their gearing.

Bangers

A total of 14 Bangers arrived in the pits for a fun night of in-line chained pairs racing; the first time such an event had taken place at Smeatharpe since 2021.
As it turned out, the pairing of 154 Barry Pike and 78 Max Weare showed excellent co-ordination and managed to circulate the track at pace.  Also doing pretty well were brothers 919 Oscar Berry and 127 Tom Berry although they could quite match the pace of Pike and Weare who duly won all three races.  The Berrys came home second each time and despite all sorts of near-misses and jack-knife incidents, 79 Brian Edmond and 997 Callum Luke refused to give up and managed to finish third each time, despite often being laps down on the leaders.
The other four pairings delivered a huge amount of entertainment for the crowd getting spun out, into pile-ups, having the chains rip bonnets off and so on.  Highlight of the night came in the Final when some of the more battle-weary cars emerged chained in a train of five with 818 Terry Rowe leading out 55 Joe Watts, 166 Logan Sulsh, 129 Charley Ross and 493 Mark Powell who was in reverse on the back of the group.  In the chaos that followed, the chains between 166 Slushy and Ross came apart and with Ross having damage to his car, Powell then got to engage a forward gear and drag him round the track for a while until the state of their damage was too much to continue.