United Downs Raceway was open for business and drew in a very good crowd in Cornish sunshine with soaring temperatures on the Sunday of the Spring Bank Holiday weekend.  Whilst the BriSCA Micro F2 Stock Cars ran three races with a total of 13 drivers in attendance, the remainder of the action is summarised below.

Saloon Stock Cars

A total of 11 cars arrived for action although sadly, 314 Bryn Finch suffered mechanical damage in practice and was unable to race.  The opening heat of the afternoon saw 202 Cody Bradford make a blistering start and he was up to second place by lap three and he set off in pursuit of 111 Thomas Ruby who was the lone white top and early race leader.  Ruby held on until lap 12 when 720 Archie Brown caught and passed Bradford and then took up the race lead half a lap later.  Brown continued to victory whilst 677 Warren Darby was perhaps too polite with his last bend hit on Bradford and had to settle for third place in the result.  Heat Two still had 10 cars on track.  Ruby made a better start than in the opening heat and developed a quite significant gap ahead of the yellows over the opening few laps.  His run at the front was further assisted by 577 Harry Darby who clattered both Bradford and 759 Taylor Whitford in the opening laps, slowing the progress of the second half of the field.  At half distance in the race, Ruby was still leading by a convincing margin and the three yellow tops still occupied the next three positions in the race.  With Harry Darby very much in a ‘bumper mood’ in this race, it was Brown who found some consistent pace, and he hunted down Ruby.  Heading into the last lap, Brown had Ruby in his sights for an attack into the last corner of the race and the hit unfortunately span Ruby rather than just putting him wide.  33 Pete Hollett and 870 Bert Farrell also crashed out in the last corner with Brown winning ahead of the two Darbys, Harry and Warren.  Hollett didn’t reappear for the Final, so 9 cars started.  It was a similar story of a hare and hounds type race with Ruby once again making the running as the hare and the stars doing the best of the chasing.  By halfway, Brown had just gained the inside line on Farrell and moved into second place and over the next few laps, Ruby noted Brown was getting closer whilst the lead pair still maintained a decent gap ahead of third position.  Brown took the lead three laps from the end and a mistake on the next lap by Ruby saw him get out of shape coming off turn two which probably made the difference between him staying clear for second place and being caught.  Brown was a clear winner, and second place came down to the last corner once again.  Harry Darby was the man with the bumper again, and crossed the line for second place, but Ruby didn’t spin and came home for a creditable podium finish.  Special mention in this race to 444 Kieran Bellringer and Whitford who staged their own private proper Stock Car race for several laps to decide the final two places in the result.

Bangers

The Bangers were racing in celebration of the racing career of 351 Steve Belfield, often of the Renegades team.  The ‘Bulldog Bash’ raised 32 cars with Bulldog himself having one of three Nissan Bluebirds to race at the meeting, his particular example being an estate.  Also of note in the entry were the Nissan Sunny Coupe of 205 Matt Cottle which was judged to be the rarest car of the meeting whilst other oddball machines were the Mercedes C180 of 404 Jake Curtis-Stevens and the return of the battered Nissan Serena of 841 Tom Perkins.  The afternoon started with two half car heats run to a nudge and spin format, rather than full-on National Banger rules.  Because the Grand Parade of Bangers was directly before the first heat, only 13 cars made the gate for the race.  Most of the action was as tame as intended, but 216 Brandon Blight still took a trip up and down the grass bank on the inside of turn two courtesy of 205 Teabreak and when Blight later made an unexpected stop in the middle of turn one, he was run into by 111 Raymond Rowe with Rowe then taking some punishment from 232 Dave Thomas in turn.  196 Phil Chapman won in his Nissan Bluebird.  16 cars started heat two with 351 Bulldog taking out 841 Tomo early on.  Despite the larger grid, the conduct in this race was particularly respectful of the desire not to wreck cars too early but the result was still decided by an interesting tactical play.  823 Tyler Phillips decided to spin out the leading 255 Phil Killone but the loss of momentum that this caused allowed 768 Tyler Cock to storm through and claim the victory.  The Bulldog Bash Final was up next and whilst 28 cars appeared on track, only 25 of them managed to stay running for long enough to start the race.  There were simultaneous pile-ups at both ends of the track from the start, with turn one seeing 823 Phillips nailing 252 Dylan Belfield although Belfield was able to continue.  351 Bulldog blasted race one winner 196 Chappers whilst 989 Saul Campbell span out and was met on the nose by 255 Killone who was then blown up well by 959 Justin Payne.  The action at the other end of the track saw 493 Mark Powell get held up starting a train of hits where 404 Jake Curtis-Stevens piled into Powell and was done by 252 Belfield in turn before 205 Teabreak rolled over in the melee, bringing out the red flags.  With barely any racing done, the option of a complete re-run was taken.  At the second attempt, 154 Blazej Szczygiel got out of shape and rolled his Sierra Sapphire off the wall at the entrance of turn three, but he landed the right way up so the action continued for a while with 841 Tomo blasting 493 Powell and then 551 Jack Belfield also firing into Powell only to take a portion from 53 Chris James in turn.  The reds then appeared to deal with the car of 154 Wozza.  The last part of the race saw 129 Charley Ross in his Fiesta taking on the big Serena of 841 Tomo whilst 352 Carl Belfield was also busy in his smart Mk3 Cavalier taking out 216 Blight and 53 James on his way to fourth place.  768 Cock won again ahead of 786 Grant Harris and 141 Toby Tiddy.  21 drivers started the Allcomers race with 551 Belfield having the body of his Bluebird Estate wrapped around the back wheels by assaults from 786 Harris, 841 Tomo and 788 Darren Morgan in the early stages.  823 Phillips then buried 788 Morgan into the turn one plating starting another quality wrecking train with 404 J C-S, 252 Belfield, 786 Harris and 352 Belfield all piling in before the red flags emerged to assist a driver.  The 404 Mercedes was suspended completely off the ground in the middle of the train of cars.  The restart saw 352 Belfield continue a quality performance by blasting 823 Phillips whilst 216 Blight span out 717 Rebecca McArdlie into the parked machine of 53 James.  McArdle rejoined only to be wound out again by Tomo whilst 351 Bulldog removed 216 Blight but then took a killer blow from Tomo.  352 Belfield got some revenge by taking Tomo into the turn two plating.  111 Rowe rodded to the win.  12 cars returned for the King of Crash Destruction Derby which came in two brief but explosive sections.  97 Craig Deer got stuck into 466 Ruby Parkin at the start but the latter carried on regardless to pile into the back of 841 Tomo with 352 Belfield providing extra momentum from behind.  Tomo got away from them briefly but then had 352 Belfield and 786 Harris combine forces on the back of him to tip the Nissan Serena over bringing out the red flags.  The restart saw 111 Rowe pile into 194 Riley Robinson killing off both cars, whilst 551 Belfield came against the flow to stop 216 Blight head-on in turn one.  841 Tomo piled into 551 Belfield whilst a train of cars came down the home straight for another epic wrecking train.  466 Parkin was the first in to blast 216 Blight with 241 Alfie Tiddy then piling into Parkin.  97 Mr Yarp was next into Tiddy with the sequence completed by 786 Harris and 823 Phillips arriving already in contact with each other to pile into Mr Yarp and send both him and 241 Tiddy into orbit.  551 Jack Belfield managed to extract himself from the other side of the pile to claim the victory with the rest of the cars well and truly past their best.

A truly quality day of Banger action in West Cornwall, with a faultless attitude shown by all who participated.  Reunion next year anybody?