Report by Alistair Oxby

October at Autospeed came to an exciting close at Smeatharpe with a trio of national formulas on the bill and generous sponsors everywhere you looked.  Unexpected drizzle in the morning thankfully cleared for the race meeting which went ahead in breezy conditions but critically, the track was as good as it could have been to deliver fast and hard action.

Saloon Stock Cars

The Saloon Stock Cars were in action for their westcountry National Series round which swelled the entry to 25 cars including five from Scotland.  Particular credit goes to 622 Gary Paterson who raced at Cowdenbeath on the Saturday night and then journeyed down.
Somebody forgot to call a plumber for Heat One, so there were 24 cars on track.  389 Ryan Santry was spun out of the National Series pack on the back straight on the opening lap whilst the rest of the National Series contenders set the tone for the whole day by clattering the crap out of each other at every corner.  The result of all of this attrition at the back of the grid was that the leading 506 Bradley Eltham caught up and was lapping 68 Charlie Burgoyne and Paterson just a few laps into the race. Unsurprisingly, this was quite perilous as Eltham soon found himself under hard fire from Burgoyne.  799 Joe Powell and 186 Kasey Jones combined on the home straight to turn 314 Bryn Finch left into the wall and with Finch unable to restart the car, the yellow flags came out on lap eight which at least allowed the lapped National Series cars around to the back of the grid although Eltham then found he had 720 Archie Brown and 677 Warren Darby directly behind him for the restart.  Darby made the best start and was soon into the lead whilst Brown came under fire from 277 Jack Grandon which opened the door for 577 Harry Darby to move up to second position.  However, Grandon came back and recovered his second place.  A rough ride for Santry continued as he was launched to the plating by 33 Pete Hollett and having survived that, he was taken out again on the back straight by Brown.  Warren Darby was the winner – itself a rare scenario.
There were 23 cars for Heat Two where Grandon had a lap one wobble on the exit of turn two and took an excursion to the infield which put him to the back of the field.  A lap or two later, Paterson and 697 Jordan Cassie tangled and also lost time on the back straight run-off area whilst Joe Powell and 759 Taylor Whitford got knotted up on the exit of turn four and bounced along the home straight plating although they managed to recover without coming to a complete halt.  Further action saw 151 Levi List bury Jones sideways into the tyres entering turn three resulting in List rejoining a lap down on the leaders.  At the front of the field, early leader 28 Ian Govier had given way to Hollett chased by 199 Phil Powell and Harry Darby.  Incidents elsewhere saw 444 Kieran Bellringer spin 870 Bert Farrell into the back straight wall and get pinned against the stricken car but after some nervous moments, Farrell found a gap to back across the track to the infield and Bellringer moved out of danger.  The race was decided two laps from home when List decided to launch Hollett into turn three allowing Harry Darby through to win with Brown also climbing to second and Hollett having to settle for third.  Hollett was clearly not impressed with List interfering in the lead battle in the way that he had, which led to an exchange of hard stares, eye rolls and more as they exited the track.
The Final gridded 22 cars and more opening lap chaos saw 238 Alfie Aldous, 178 Kieran Bowman and 600 Barry Russell all lose time on the back straight run-off area.  Grandon attacked Brown and put him sideways in turn three which must have broken a track rod on the Brown car as he drove straight into the pit gate when he attempted to rejoin the action.  National Series battles saw 121 Kai Gilmour remove Cassie and Burgoyne and Santry enjoying a prolonged exchange of hits.  Eltham once again led a lot of laps but slowly dropped down the positions in the second half of the race leaving 382 Corey Hunt at the front with five to go and Grandon, Harry Darby and Eltham in the places behind him.  902 Brad Compton-Sage leathered Bowman in turn three, but Warren Darby got the worst of it in front of them and lost three or four places and a couple of laps later, the three of them got together again and all ended up collecting the tyres on the back straight.  Grandon took the lead but Hunt came back at him with a well-executed hit on turn three as they approached the last lap board to go back to the front.  However, Hunt might have been better to wait a lap as Grandon launched him into the still-stranded 720 car on the last corner.  However, this put Grandon off line as well and Harry Darby stole the win from Grandon and Phil Powell.
There were 19 cars in the Allcomers where once again the action amongst the National Series drivers was intense.  Paterson started with an attack on Cassie in turn three that created a huge push from behind and only served to put the two of them almost to the back of the pack.  The better method appeared to be to wait for a bit of clean air before launching a hit which Santry did to good effect on lap four, gaining a place from Burgoyne.  Eltham was the early leader of the race but left a gap on the entrance to turn three on lap seven which Hollett was more than happy to exploit.  Other battles saw Compton-Sage get put in on Turn One where he floored it and rode the wall to avoid losing time, but he still got turned around at the other end of the track by Warren Darby.  The late stages of the race were truly mental with Brown passing Hollett to go to the front but then coming under fire from List in turn three who took up the lead with two laps to go.  This set up a monumental last bender where the frontrunners all opted for the ‘hit and hope’ method creating a mad scramble to the line.  List won ahead of Brown and Hunt.
Saloon Stock Cars at their very, very best.  It was impossible to keep up with all that was going on all afternoon, so you are recommended to search for online footage to get a true feeling for just how good it was.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

A total of 36 F2 Stock Cars arrived for their last Westcountry appearance of the year including a few from Northern parts that hadn’t visited the track for a while.
The day started off with the Bill Batten Ladies Charity Trophy race where 127 Kay Dascombe roared off into a confident early lead whilst 870 Millie Farrell made a stuttering start before gaining some pace.  572 Vicky Nelson came to a complete stop in Turn Four but managed to restart the car after what seemed like an eternity.  890 Liz Rice made steady progress through the field after a conservative start and she passed 66 Shannon Thomas in turn one for third place, five laps from the end.  Two laps from home, Dascombe had a moment and span herself on the exit of turn four handing the lead to 667 Tia Purchall.  However, Purchall either saw or sensed Rice closing on the last lap and put herself into the turn four plating unaided to allow Rice through to win by the width of cigarette paper.  Thankfully, Purchall did no lasting damage and came home second with Thomas in third.  The girls received a mug from sponsor MDP Services, and a splendid Thank You package from Autospeed.
Heat One for the day was also the Benevolent Fund Trophy race and overseen by Fund Organiser Sharon Blood, 23 cars took to the grid. However, the 24 Jon Palmer car refused to start for the rolling lap and he was unable to race.  A big push on the opening lap put most of the front of the field wide in turn three and four and allowed 126 Jamie Avery and 83 Sy Harraway to get away at the front of the race.  Harraway took the lead at the other corner on the next lap.  667 Tommy Farrell and 980 Charlie Lobb also got away from the rest of the field in third and fourth places over the opening laps, but it all changed when 468 Sam Weston stopped and became stranded broadside across turn one and the yellows emerged on lap five to close up the field for a restart.  Typically enough, Weston was only touched by another car just after the yellows came out, although 184 Aaron Vaight did no damage as he skimmed Weston’s bumper.  On the restart, it was business as before with Harraway and Avery once again holding their leading positions but there was action behind as 238 Lewis Smith leaned 418 Ben Borthwick into the home straight plating and Vaight punted 315 Charlie Fisher wide causing the latter to lose track position and drop down the places.  220 Freddie Hunter-Johnson was on a charge and he pushed Lobb on in turn three on lap 12 to move up to third position with 213 Tom Bennett following Freddie through the gap to claim fourth.  A couple of laps later, Bennett got the better of Hunter-Johnson and the last few laps passed without incident as the field spread out a little.  Harraway was first over the line ahead of Avery and Bennett, and having punched the air Harraway further celebrated with victory donuts in the pits bend and more donuts in the west bend – the car bouncing off the rev limiter before all went silent, as Harraway had blown the engine!  A further twist in the story was to follow, as Harraway’s car failed post-race checks and Avery inherited the victory with Hunter-Johnson making it onto the last step of the podium.
The second heat had 13 cars who were all from the white and yellow grades.  267 Robbie Batten was a lap one spinner on the home straight and was collected in the front wheel by 509 Jordan Butcher.  185 Jessica Webb moved quickly from the yellow grade to take up an early race lead as the cars spread out resulting in a fairly gentle ride around for some of them.  This was not the case for 870 Bruno Farrell who came under fire a couple of times around the mid-point of the race from 746 Gary Kitching.  Kitching moved ahead of him at the second attempt.  Webb was the winner ahead of 359 Gary Wrench and a delighted 373 Charlie Dunne.
17 cars returned for the Consolation race where 262 Charlie Cocks made an excellent start and settled in for an extended period leading the race ahead of 505 Owen Geach and 895 Ben Goddard.  By lap two, 828 Julian Coombes got better drive off turn two and drove cleanly through to pass Goddard with 461 Tom Davison repeating the trick on Goddard on the next lap.  Geach dropped away through the places and just before half way, Davison gave Coombes a tap into turn three to move to second place.  Vaight got alongside Coombes to take third on the next lap and Palmer also passed Coombes in turn one after another couple of laps.  The decisive moment of the race came on lap 11 when Davison used the bumper in turn three to pass Cocks and with Cocks off line, Vaight and Palmer also went by on the next corner.  The top three were all in contention on the last corner, but calm heads opted for qualification for the Final and Davison stayed out front to win it.
The Final was for the annual Ladies Trophy and saw 27 qualifiers take to the grid, minus Harraway who had blown his engine celebrating at the end of the first race before subsequently being excluded from the result.  The draw had kindly placed Palmer and Farrell at the front of the reds, and the pair left them like they were standing still at the drop of the green whilst Dunne continued a happy day by leading the opening laps.  Webb found the fence in turn one and was still unable to get the car moving after a couple of laps and so the yellows emerged on lap four to move her to a place of safety.  Palmer was already in third place for the restart and he quickly passed Butcher and Dunne to take up the lead.  66 Ryan Hall went to the wall in turn one after a clash with Bennett and then further dramas in the same corner saw Dunne and Butcher lose out on the chance of a podium finish by tripping over each other, Dunne dislodging a wheel guard in the process.  An interesting hit in the very minor places saw Borthwick nail Hunter-Johnson hard in turn three as Palmer came to lap them, Palmer not getting caught up in their antics and going on to take the trophy ahead of 560 Luke Wrench, Smith and 127 Matt Stoneman.  Sportingly, Palmer took the traditional ‘champagne overcoat’ with good grace, ahead of the lap of honour, having commented about the importance of the race to the south west Stock Car community.
23 cars returned for the Grand National where Bruno Farrell made an early exit with a misfire.  Batten made the running in the early stages with the other white-graders mostly also holding their positions towards the front as well.  It was lap five before Cocks used the bumper on Dunne in turn three to move to second position and sadly Dunne lost power after that and retired from the race.  A couple of laps later, Smith used the bumper to move Cocks in turn three to go second.  Vaight followed Smith to third and then 405 Josh Hamstead pushed Cocks again at the other end leaving the latter trapped on the outside and watching the traffic drive ahead of him on the racing line.  Smith passed Batten a couple of laps later, but Vaight was on his tail as well and exploited a gap left by Smith in turn one to go underneath him on lap 11 and take the lead.  Bennett was making a very late charge through the field in the closing laps but could only get as far as third position whilst Smith has to be commended for taking a long-distance lunge at Vaight in the last corner.  In the event, the only thing that Smith connected with was the fence, but at least he bounced round to still finish in second position behind Vaight.
A very strong and entertaining end to the BriSCA F2 season in Autospeed country.

2 Litre National Bangers

A total of 22 National Bangers, spread across 8 teams of anywhere between 1 and 4 drivers, arrived to contest the Teamarama title.

BA Baron BR BRML
DW DWO KJ KJ Fabrications
NH The No Hopers SS Scrapyard Screamers
TM TMT XT Team Extreme

All of the cars were out for the opening Heat where the action started very abruptly with DW838 Jamie Peters delivering a solid follow-in to XT741 Alex Waterman as KJ908 David Brown got rubbed against the back straight plating by the traffic, pulling out a front leg on his Mondeo and halting his progress.  BA355 Aaron Dark span BR440 Macauley Mills at the pits end as NH532 Brandon McKnight drove through the back wheel of the stranded XT741 Boris at the other end.  SS132 Archie Cullum then picked up and buried TM623 Ricky Hutton on turn one taking in BR262 Rob Bugler as collateral damage with the reds then coming out to rescue Boris.  DW555 Harry Gelsthorp led the restart where XT562 Jayden James removed DW341 Andrew Jones and KJ720 Kenny Gabriel blasted the spinning SS133 Malakie Cullum in the back wheel.  TM363 Billy Jarvis arrived to do Cullum on the nose with Jarvis just about escaping the scene before SS132 Cullum arrived to give him a tap and spin him around.  BR252 Steve Bugler ran Gelsthorp around the wall slowing him for XT562 Bear to hit Gelsthorp over the back wheel as SS132 Cullum took around Jarvis again.  Bear Took out Peters before DW239 Steve Carter took the race win and comedy scenes followed as NH10 Chay Moule took out team-mate NH532 McKnight on the last corner.  DW341 Jonesy attacked and span BR440 Big Mac to the fence as the reds emerged.
19 cars returned for Heat Two where SS133 Cullum span TM623 Tricky on the way to the green flag whilst BR262 Rob Bugler launched BA355 dark to the wall on turn two.  KJ908 Brown ran BR262 Roona around the fence on the next lap but the latter escaped any serious damage before KJ177 Ryan Miles weighed into SS687 Mark Cross.  Crossy bounced back for a revenge spin on Miles but the latter backed the Scrapyard Screamer pilot into the fence alongside him, where Tricky arrived to blow up Crossy in style.  The action stepped up in the closing stages of the race, when Gelsthorp span BR186 Lewis Fasey in turn two allowing DW341 Jonesy to do Fasey head-on.  Roona then nailed Jonesy with DW239 Nemesis then joining the train in turn as DW838 Peters cut inside them to do Fasey on the nose again.  Tricky then hit Peters and was done by SS132 Cullum who was blasted by KJ908 Brown.  Nemesis rejoined and was attacked on the home straight by Roona with Jonesy latching on the back of them to spin Roona as BR252 Boogie took the race victory.  Gelsthorp piled through the back wheel of Roona but then the various exchanges failed to stop with the emergence of the red flags which resulted in five drivers (BR186 Fasey, BR262 Bugler, DW341 Jones, DW838 Peters, XT216 Baker) being loaded up and taking no further part in the meeting.
The Final raised 12 cars and saw Nemesis weigh into the back wheel of Bear to spin him on the exit of turn four as the green flag came out with a few quiet moments passing before Gelsthorp decided to slow down a little and invite a shot from the recovered Bear.  Things stepped up much more as KJ720 Gabriel turned it round to stop SS133 Cullum on the nose with TM363 Jarvis piling into Cullum only to be nailed by SS132 Cullum.  Jarvis escaped and turned round to come the wrong way on the nose of Malakie once more as KJ177 Miles arrived in the back of Cullum at the same time.  Miles bounced off towards the wall where he took a savage T-bone from SS132 Cullum who was then done by NH10 Moule with Gabriel going in on the back of the latter.  Moule departed but returned to hit SS132 Cullum again as Gabriel turned it back around to fire into Malakie.  Elsewhere, Gelsthorp took to lurking once more and was hit in the back wheel twice by Bear, with a bit of cat and mouse taking place between the two shots.  Boogie won his second of the day and celebrated by coming around to the turn four pile to hit Gelsthorp before taking a shot from Nemesis.  Gelsthorp met BR440 Big Mac on the nose whilst Bear blasted Gelsthorp again before taking a shot on the nose from Moule to end proceedings.
With the scores totted up, BRML were the winners on 82 points ahead of DWO on 66 and KJ Fabrications on 49. 
Five cars returned for the King of Crash which was slow to get going as the cars started lapping the circuit.  After a while, Bear slowed down to allow Boogie in for a shot as elsewhere, Big Mac did some tapping on Gabriel and managed to spin him around after a couple of attempts.  Gabriel then set off against the flow to meet 132 Cullum on the nose a couple of times with Boogie piling into the back of the Screamer who then fell silent.  Bear attacked Boogie and then Big Mac with Boogie then turning round to go through the back wheel of Gabriel who then got stuck on the dead car of Cullum.  Bear nailed Boogie allowing Big Mac to blow up James with the three of them then exchanging blows until Boogie finally stopped Bear with a head-on.  But after this, Big Mac went into the back wheel of Gabriel releasing him from the Cullum car.  Another head-on followed by a solid shot in the back wheel from Boogie on Gabriel stopped the 720 car once more and this time for the last time.  Running mates Boogie and Big Mac were left to exchange a few friendly blows before Boogie came to a stop and Big Mac emerged as the winner.