United Downs Raceway - Sunday 27th July 2014

Cornish Caravan Chaos at St Day attracted a sizeable crowd to the United Downs Raceway, in bright summer sunshine, and an action-packed meeting ensued, full of incidents.

Stock Rods

After the British Championship one week before, numbers in the Stock Rods were unsurprisingly a little depleted.  Not that 99 Martin Trevorrow was overly bothered, as he stormed to a heat and final double.  His victories were the first of this career, and winning twice in one day was enough to clinch an upgrade to yellow.  Trevorrow was long gone in the opening race, which ended with a tangle involving 83 Adam Ignaczak and 54 John Tait.  A good charge in the closing stages by ORC Champion 306 Neil Truran saw him nip past 740 Nigel Stuart for second.  In the final, Trevorrow made another clean getaway, and built up a commanding lead.  Further back, there was close racing in the pack, with 7 Aaron Charles on his track debut, involved in much of the action.  With Trevorrow home and hosed and Stuart secure in second place, disaster befell 49 Kev Lock right at the end of the race.  His engine blew entering the pits bend, and as he coated the track in oil and water, third place finisher Ignaczak and 776 Simon Jones slid fencewards.  Stuart led the Grand National for much of the way, but 22 Wayne Belcher reeled him in before the chequered to take the victory.  Behind them, there was some good, clean racing in the pack, for which drivers deserve special praise for their good discipline.

2 Litre National Bangers

The opening heat was suspended when 94 Callum Dorson needed assistance.  910 Katie Dawe took the lead, but a back straight incident resulted in cars scattering to the infield, and Dawe spinning in the turnstile bend.  131 Sam Hill picked up the pieces and won.  A great battle ensued in heat two, as 153 David James finally got the better of 862 Darryl Cock, to secure victory.  In the final, race leader Dawe clipped the kerb on the exit of turn four, and had to retire with damage.  That left 333 Craig Partridge out in front.  133 Terry Hill had been bundled into the fence early on, and his efforts in trying to block the path of 97 Craig Deer only resulted in a lot of damage for Hill.  Partridge, Sam Hill and 903 Adam Neville ran out as the top three.  Six cars came out for the Allcomers.  912 Sam Rees spun Sam Hill in the turnstile bend, which enabled Hill to get going and trash the 96 Michael Hiscock car on lap two, before then clobbering Rees at the end of the lap.  Deer took over the lead, but blotted his copybook at the end of the race.  Deer took the chequered and then blitzed Hiscock, who had stat stationary in his car for ten laps.  Deer was disqualified, and 141 Toby Tiddy inherited the win.

Ministox

Heat one for the youngsters saw 912 Sam Rees overhaul 943 Hannah Esau at the front, from where he built a commanding lead.  931 Jack Manhire led the chase, but on the last bend he was edged wide by 989 Joe Marquand, who grabbed second place in the scramble to the line.  There was a stop-start beginning to heat two.  667 Tommy Farrell took a rough ride through the pits bend, and the race was suspended to attend to him.  986 Sophie Fasey made short work of the single file restart, to win comfortably from 907 Cameron Lawrence, and after the lap of honour, she passed her trophy to young Marshall Janson of the Handstand appeal.  A tangle at the start of the final involving 910 Tom Cadby and Lawrence, saw the silver top thunder into the turnstile bend fence.  Out came the yellow flags, and only a few laps of the restart were completed before the race was suspended once more, with Rees stranded.  Fasey saw out the rest of the race to win again, as Marquand and 987 Ethan Pope completed the top three.

Bangers

Over 40 Bangers were in action, across a two from three heat format.  Heat one saw the lead contested by 152 Tyler Martin, 286 John Matthews and 91 Ian Blight, before 929 Sam Baker led a star grade charge to win from 991 Ben Hale on his first appearance of the season.  In heat two, there was a huge pile-up in the pits bend, which, once cleared, saw Hale and Baker storm up to second and third respectively, but 912 Simon Rees was a long way ahead, and he won by some margin.  Similarly in heat three, Rees was a good distance clear of 247 Richard Sparks at the flag.  In the final, Hale swiftly came from the rear of the grid to the front, but he was tracked by Baker.  Just as Baker looked ready to challenge, he tangled with backmarker Blight, and Hale edged clear again.  The flag fell on Hale, but he failed post-race scrutineering, and thus, Baker inherited the win, from 28 Steve Linly and Sparks.

Caravans

An enormous entry of 21 caravans near enough filled the track, and made for an impressive sight.  However, it was not long before a track blockage built and built on the exit of turn two, and after a red flag stoppage, that took a lot of clearing before racing could resume.  The next segment of the race saw 79 Brian Edmond, 154 Barry Pike and 912 Simon Rees complete several laps, but another blockage at the end of the back straight required a yellow flag race suspension, just to allow recovery vehicles to create a clear route through.  At this point, Pike and Rees were unable to take their place on the grid, and just three drivers were now mobile – Edmond, last year’s winner 847 Andy Whatley and 787 Mike Nelson.  When the race resumed, Edmond barely did a lap, even though he was many laps ahead.  Nelson then piled into a caravan and ground to a halt, which left Whatley as the last car and caravan combo still running.  He saw out a couple more laps, before an early chequered was issued, with Whatley winning the Marshall Janson Award shield for a second successive year.