Report by Alistair Oxby

United Downs Raceway welcomed the only race fixture of September, when four formulas assembled for action.  Following rain the previous day and early on the Sunday morning, race day was greeted with blue skies and warm weather which made it all the better that the ice cream van had offered bonuses for the ORCi Ministox.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

A total of 18 BriSCA F2 Stock Cars attended for a five-race format which included the Whites & Yellows series Final as the first F2 event, followed by a normal points-scoring meeting.
The White & Yellow grade Series Final raised 10 cars although half of this total started at the back of the grid.  Debutants 61 Cody Jarvis and 805 Owen Geach were afforded the chance for more laps, whilst amazingly, regulars 870 Bruno Farrell and 267 Robbie Batten from the white grade and 828 Julian Coombes from yellow had not scored any points at their earlier appearances in the 2026 season.  66 Ryan Hall led the opening moments of the race as the lone white-grade qualifier whilst second place was soon gained by 895 Ben Goddard who pushed 206 Matt Brewer wide into turn one.  However, Brewer fought back within the next lap, only to then spin when challenged in turn one by 128 Jake Ralfs, as both drivers tangled to a temporary halt.  Hall continued to drive well at the front but came unstuck on lap 10 when a loss of traction on the exit of turn two saw him spin out and clatter the back straight plating.  Goddard duly moved to the front of the field, albeit with Coombes not far behind in second place.  However, Coombes decided to wait until the last lap and a tiny mistake saw him slide in turn one losing enough momentum to take away any chance of a last bend hit.  Goddard took the title and the huge Club 21 Trophy, ahead of Coombes and 572 James Lindsay.
In the main meeting, 16 drivers started Heat One with white tops Farrell and Batten holding the top two positions until lap four when Batten drifted wide on the exit of turn two and the traffic stormed past him dropping him initially to sixth place and then further down the field.  The yellow-grade pack were split on lap 7 when 980 Charlie Lobb arrived on the scene to push Coombes wide into turn one in the battle over fourth place.  Lobb continued to progress through the field until reaching Farrell a lap or so after half way and a tap of the bumper on the exit of turn four gave Lobb a better run along the top straight to claim the lead.  Farrell was still running well until lap 13 when Brewer arrived with a hit into turn three which put both drivers off line, and allowed 127 Matt Stoneman to come underneath both of them and into second place.  Farrell fought back by spinning Brewer in turn one a lap from the end of the race.  Lobb was the winner with Stoneman and 736 Josh Weare in the places.
All 18 cars came out for Heat Two which started quietly but with Stoneman making very rapid progress from the tail end of the starting grid.  By lap four, he had caught up with Batten and a turn three hit saw Batten glance the wall before continuing down the home straight and wiping out 542 Steven Gilbert at the other end of the track.  A spin by Jarvis into turn three on the next lap caused chaos with the top three cars, Farrell, Goddard and Brewer, all collecting Jarvis and bringing out waved yellow flags.  With the front end of the field hampered by the crash, Stoneman led the restart and it would prove to be an easy victory for him despite being pursued all the way by Lobb.
The grid for the Bob Netcott Trophy Final comprised 16 cars and saw Farrell lead the early stages whilst fellow white-grader Hall dropped through the field quite quickly.  Brewer was having the best run in the yellow grade and moved up to second position by lap two with Coombes following him through the same gaps to lie in third.  By lap six, Brewer got a good run off turn four and moved into the lead down the home straight but the blue-grade pairing of Lobb and 979 Paul Moss were up to second and third positions by this stage.  A mistake in turn one on lap nine saw Brewer go in a little too hot and run wide leaving the door open for Lobb to take the lead with Moss following him soon afterwards.  The second half of the race was about the chase given by Stoneman who managed to get the inside line off turn four at the end of lap 15 and power ahead of Moss.  However, he was unable to get on terms with Lobb and the podium ended up as Lobb ahead of Stoneman and Moss.
13 cars started the Grand National with Stoneman suffering a problem and pulling onto the infield as the rolling lap commenced.  Farrell put up a particularly good challenge in this race and held the lead beyond lap seven when he survived a turn three hit from Brewer but remained at the front.  However, Brewer got better drive off turn two on the next lap and neatly passed Farrell on the inside line.  It was only a brief lead for Brewer as Moss reeled him in and made a clean dive up the inside line into turn three to snatch the lead on the run to the Union flag signalling half race distance.  With Brewer now slightly off line, Ralfs was able to get back on terms with him and second place duly changed hands in turn two on the next lap.  The second half of the race saw the red grade pack making gains on the top three cars and with three laps to go, Weare was challenging Brewer for third.  He managed to get ahead coming off turn two on lap 16 but then his car suddenly lost power and Weare coasted to the infield.  However, with Brewer trapped on the outside as Weare slowed, a whole host of cars came through on the inside line.  This all led to a last bend scramble for sixth position onwards with Lobb, Brewer and Farrell all involved and variously sliding and rattling the plating.  Moss won the race whilst Lobb came out best of the last-bend chaos and bagged sixth position from the lap handicap.

ORCi Stock Rods

The ORCi Stock Rods were racing for their English Championship.  A healthy 22 cars were in the pits but one never came off the trailer and both 131 Stephen Cock and 913 Ben Faulconbridge encountered mechanical issues in practice meaning only 19 cars saw competition.  This was an awkward outcome with a two-thirds format scheduled for the heats, but actually we were treated to some excellent racing.  Grids for the Heats were determined by a draw with reversal of the driver orders for their second qualifying race.
There were 13 cars for Heat One where 778 Connor Sweetland didn’t have the best of starts from the outside of the front row, but the rest of the front two rows settled into the top three places in the early laps.  The main focus was the progress from rows six and seven of 914 Callum Faulconbridge who was followed through most of the race by 944 Callum Hosie.  Faulconbridge was up to fifth place as they entered turn one on lap four and another move on the inside line into turn three on lap seven saw Faulconbridge move to third.  Faulconbridge then planted himself on the outside of 231 Simon Bassett on lap 10 and had to stay out there until lap 17 when he finally got far enough ahead of Bassett to move back onto the inside racing line.  Pole position in the draw was an absolute gift for 77 Tom Larcombe who won by a significant margin ahead of Faulconbridge and Bassett with Hosie recording fourth place.
Heat Two also had 13 cars and saw 320 Matt Hatch convert his pole position starting place into the race lead with Faulconbridge and 617 Christina Sillifant running behind him.  Sillifant got into difficulty on lap four and was spat out by the pack in turn one dropping her out of contention.  Faulconbridge tried to outrun Hatch down the outside of the home straight a couple of times around the mid-point of the race but turned in a little too tight on turn one and on both occasions there was contact with Hatch that sent Faulconbridge wide again and Hatch retained the lead.  However, the third attempt of the same move on lap 11 saw Faulconbridge move to the front.  The other main point of the race was the fall from third place of 220 Richard Short.  51 Aiden Vincent was sat on the outside line nursing an inside front puncture but Short got caught up behind him and boxed by the traffic which dropped him three places, only one of which he recovered in the remaining laps of the race.  Faulconbridge won with Hatch holding on in second and 728 Kris Woods third.
There were 12 cars for Heat Three and this time the reversal of the Heat One order placed 944 Callum Hosie on the outside of the front row of the grid.  Unsurprisingly, this was converted into the early race lead and Hosie then opened up a significant gap over Woods in the first half of the race.  This lead was eliminated on lap 12 when the yellow flags emerged to rescue 572 James Lindsay who had coasted to a halt at the turning-in point of turn one just beyond the starter’s rostrum.  On the restart, 78 Jason Legg disappeared from fifth place after suffering an outside front puncture from a minor rubbing incident in the pack.  Judging by his animated actions, Legg seemed to blame his steering wheel for causing the puncture…  Sillifant moved to fifth place as a result of Legg’s retirement, but she left a gap on the inside into turn one three laps from the end and allowed 77 Larcombe a free pass which also opened the door for 835 Matt Westaway to follow him through.  Hosie rebuilt his lead after the restart to win ahead of Woods and 415 Sean Gillett.
16 drivers started the English Championship with a points order grid seeing Faulconbridge and Hosie on the front row and Woods and Larcombe sharing row two.  It all got messy within a lap of the start with both Faulconbridge and Hosie a little out of shape coming off turn four on cold tyres.  The cars were still fidgeting along the home straight and Hosie on the inside, hindered by an errant bonnet, clipped the kerb entering turn one before bouncing out into Faulconbridge and taking him around mid-corner.  Hosie hit the wall as the spin of Faulconbridge carried him to the outside line, but Faulconbridge was able to very quickly rejoin with only minimal rear-quarter damage that didn’t seem to affect his handling whilst Hosie was able to drive to retirement on the infield without the need for a race stoppage.  Other changes to the race order resulted from the chaos with the second lap seeing Bassett from row three of the grid now holding the race lead ahead of Woods, Larcombe and Faulconbridge.  The latter placed his car on the outside line in his usual fashion and staged a pretty astonishing comeback, driving around the outside of the field to gain the three lost positions and hold the lead by half way through the race.  Bassett then had to retire with a cam belt issue which was a tough ending to a strong day of racing for him.  The second half of the race saw Larcombe trying to go around the outside of Woods but he seemed to struggle for grip and lost the momentum of the attempted passes by having to cut back to the inside and then try again.  After a swift steward’s inquiry into the lap one incident, Faulconbridge was cleared of blame and he took the title with Woods and Larcombe completing the podium and Matt Hatch an excellent fourth.

ORCi Ministox

19 Minis attended with the youngsters racing on this occasion for their version of the Lego Trophy.  
All of them were on track for Heat One where 117 Max Starr led the opening five laps until a push from 990 Billy Rice in turn three saw the latter driver move to the front.  Yellow flags emerged a lap later for 235 Kaitlin Harris who was stranded against the fence on the back straight.  Rice led the restart but the closed grid favoured 475 Mason Sealy who stormed up the inside of a three-wide formation of cars on the home straight at the start of lap nine to move into third place.  Sealy continued his progress and pushed Rice into turn one just after they had passed the five-lap board to take up the lead.  Sealy went on to win whilst 522 Jacob Mikulla passed Rice on the back straight three laps from the chequered to take second place.  Rice held on for a fine third place, helped a little by 114 Charlie Lomas taking a lunge at 257 Kieran Hibberd in the last bend.  Hibberd may well have been in striking distance of Rice until Lomas decided he was going to have fourth place from Hibberd instead.
Heat Two featured 17 cars where Rice was the early leader, but the race was stopped under yellow flags as early as lap three after 24 Koben Jenks span on the back straight and Lomas became trapped against the side of his car.  132 Rowan McAleer, nursing a puncture, then arrived at relatively low speed to run into the back wheel of Jenks completing the incident.  The restart only ran for a couple of laps before 313 Charlie Weston performed a massive roll along the track coming off turn two and whilst Weston was fine once the traffic had stopped under yellows again; his car was done for the day.  Rice was still leading on the restart but with Sealy in fifth place at such an early stage of the race after two stoppages, there was little doubt what was coming next.  Sealy was at the front within two laps but there was still plenty to watch including a great battle between 511 Lexi Crosbie and 218 Rory Pearce over fourth place.  Pearce kept attacking Crosbie but she held on to her position regardless.  Sealy won ahead of Mikulla whilst Lomas made an excellent recovery from the back of the field to finish in third having been the last car on track after the Jenks tangle.
The Lego Trophy race had 18 cars on track and ran without a stoppage.  Most of the white tops performed excellently and with six laps of the race run, the leader was still Rice with fellow white-graders 770 Delilah Farrell, Starr and 151 Ryan Hookway still occupying the next three positions.  Things changed on lap 8 when Crosbie passed Hookway and Starr to go third but Farrell proved to be difficult to catch.  Eventually, an error by Farrell saw her run too wide off turn four on lap 13 which allowed Crosbie through and Sealy followed her into third place by the entrance to turn one.  The result was decided on the last lap where Sealy pushed both Crosbie and Rice in a train into turn one.  Rice rode the challenge well and Sealy ended up losing momentum as he span Crosbie at the start of the back straight.  This gave Rice enough breathing space to hold on for a cracking victory with Sealy as runner-up and Farrell keeping clear of the spinning Crosbie to get back to third.
Each driver who managed a top three place received a complimentary ice cream.

2 Litre National Bangers

Despite only 13 cars booking in, the pits actually contained an excellent entry of 19 National Bangers including a few that haven’t raced at St Day for a while.  Each driver who arrived unannounced in stealth mode forfeited their right to prize money and Entertainer points, 
18 cars lined up for Heat One although both 462 Nico James and 666 Damien Wilcock were pushed to the infield as the rolling lap started and neither would return to action later in the day.  16 cars actually started the race where 562 Jayden James ran 838 Jamie Peters to the wall on the opening lap prompting 687 Mark Cross to go in on Bear and 11 Grubby Frankson to run into the back of Crossy.  The next action saw 341 Andrew Jones take a lunge at 741 Alex Waterman to slap him into the turn three plating with the 741 car rattling around the wall to come to rest at the start of the home straight.  Crossy nailed 741 Boris with 239 Steve Carter then arriving with a shot in the back wheel of Boris that sent him into the wall again bringing the reds out to assist Waterman who was a bit dazed.  The restart was over three laps with 189 Ry Beardwell spinning 362 Johnny James which slowed the traffic for 59 Mike Hamley to run in Frankson. 315 Dan Osborne blasted Frankson in the back wheel as the returning 355 Aaron Dark took the victory.
Heat Two had 15 cars on track and saw 208 Kieran Barrett lacking pace in his smart Mk3 Mondeo Estate which left him as a slow target for Hamley to take out in the early stages.  Crossy continued his DWO audition-piece by taking a dive at 186 Lewis Fasey sending the latter for a skim around the turn four plating whilst action towards the end of the race saw 562 Bear nail the plodding Barrett at the end of the home straight.  786 Grant Harris celebrated a relatively uncommon National Banger appearance by taking the win and taking around 315 Little Oz as he crossed the line.
The Final also fielded 15 cars and saw plenty more action as Hamley blasted Little Oz on the back straight in the early laps before going on to nail Frankson on the home straight which allowed 823 Tyler Phillips to blast Hamley.  Little Oz limped on to take a big shot from Peters as Barrett found enough in his ill-running Mondeo to scatter Phillips into the turn one wall.  189 Twinkletoez blasted the stranded Frankson in turn one allowing Phillips to come around and nail the 189 car with Peters then blasting Phillips in turn.  239 Nemesis won ahead of 341 Jonesy and 186 Fasey but in the time it took for the rest of the field to come around and take the chequered, Barrett did some weaving to slow down Bear and set him up for a solid shot from Peters with Barrett then going on to nail Frankson in the back wheel.  Bear limped round to the pit gate before grinding to a halt and taking a shot from Crossy which launched the latter into a roll which saw him land back on his wheels.  Peters came in on the nose of Bear to conclude an entertaining day for the Bangers.  After trophies were presented, Jones declined the option of socialising on the back of the parade vehicle and eschewed the lap of honour.