Smeatharpe Stadium - Monday 25th May 2015

It was Crashamara day at Smeatharpe Stadium on Spring Bank Holiday Monday, traditionally the meeting that “does what it says on the tin” with regard to the Unlimited cc National Bangers and the huge crowd on hand were treated to probably one of the hardest Crasharama events for a number of years, and the rest of the days programme was ably backed up by the BriSCA F2 Stock Cars and Saloon Stock Cars.

Unlimited cc National Bangers

The entry of Unlimited cc National Bangers was 32 cars, thus more of quality than quantity and the plan was always to run the feature race first for this year.  Amongst the entry was a full contingent of the much talked about DWO team, having a relatively rare local meeting now and a quartet of “Roughnecks” from south Wales whilst in the car department the longest by far was a Town-car stretched Limousine from London based driver 337 Danny Green whilst the oldest/rarest variety came in the form of a DS420 Limousine from 266 Ian Meaker – who became ‘Lord Tiggy’ for the day, a Rover SD1 for 303 Nic Saintey and a sublime Toyota Crown for 452 Anthony ‘Lurch’ Sleeman.  The action came thick and fast in Crasharama XVII with pile-ups at either end very quickly accounting for several, whilst the big long Limo of Green was pounded by 341 Andrew Jones, twice.  133 Terry Hill took the lead early on and went on to hold sway all the way to the chequered flag.  This was his first significant win in an unlimited car and follows on from his Boneshaker victory last month.  190 Steve Bailey came through for second and 714 Paul Smaldon was third.   If Crasharama had been hard, the first Allcomers race was savage with some huge brutal hits going in on the pits bend.  Firstly Jones followed in 732 Danny Stroud, 47 Marcus A’Lee then piled in on Jones and 239 Steve Carter piled in on A’Lee, which was one of the biggest hits of the day with both cars arching up into the air.  If this wasn’t enough 988 Billy Dennison piled in the Mercedes of 194 Mikey Winter also on the pits bend, 733 Ricky Stroud piled in on Dennison, Carter on Stroud, 99 David Spooner on Carter and then Jones on Spooner.  Phew!  Bailey took the victory.  Could that be followed up with more in Allcomers 2?  It featured two red flag situations, firstly when 921 Kieran Wilson took a knock and then when the inner marker tyres were moved on to the track.  The resumption looked fairly settled with mainly friends circulating and no foes.  Or so the Banger aficionados thought, and perhaps 45 Anthony ‘Lips’ Croshaw himself, but whatever, he was on the wrong end of a huge follow in from Carter.  249 Ryan Guppy then ploughed in on Lips to add to the drama and Bailey threw away what was the race lead to pile in on Guppy.  The race was stopped and declared very soon after this point, with 162 Brett Ellacott having just inherited the lead; thus he was declared the winner.  There was yet more hard action in the Destruction Derby and it was Nemesis who was to eventually be the last car moving.  Although on three wheels and stuck on the inner kerb he did receive outside assistance from Jones exiting his car, he was given permission for one last hit to finish off Bailey in a very hard pounding to conclude a very hard day.  Proof, if it was needed, that very large entries are not always required to produce an epic day…

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

If the lower than usual entry of BriSCA F2’s was explainable at St Day 24 hours earlier, then the 26 car total here was much less so, and disappointing.  Thus for the first time in over three years a two from three heat format was deployed at Smeatharpe.  The first heat saw 828 Julian Coombes fend off 627 Gary Sillifant all the way to the flag, aided when Sillifant’s car appeared to just cut out on him rounding the last bend.  However, Coombes then failed the post-race scrutineering check and this promoted St Day Final winner 676 Neil Hooper to the win.  Heats two and three saw victory go to 522 Chris Mikulla, who on account of his Final win at Bristol the previous day was racing off blue for the last time for a little while at least.  Could he make it a hat-trick in the Final?  The answer was no as a blown differential saw him retire early on.   845 Andrew Morgan was the early leader, having narrowly missed out on a win in heat two.  He was then challenged by Coombes who crashed in doing so and then challenged again by 430 Simon Edwards and they both tangled out.  This promoted 572 James Lindsay into the lead, but with Morgan stranded on turns three and four the race was suspended.  315 Justin Fisher relieved Lindsay of the lead after the re-start but quickly found himself under pressure from Hooper, who in turn found himself being tracked by 783 James Rygor who got past and then a few laps later was able to do the same to Fisher to take the lead and hold on to win, his first Smeatharpe Final win of the season.  Hooper made second and Fisher third.  The Grand National saw Coombes lead all the way to the flag, surviving a last bend lunge from Fisher to out-drag the 315 car to the flag.  Good racing indeed, from the F2s, despite the shortfall in numbers.

Saloon Stock Cars

The entry of 17 Saloon Stock Cars was predominately south west based which continues to be the pleasing theme of the 2015 season, and included two more former Banger drivers, on their debuts.  This time 475 Ben Sealy and 612 Lee Pink took their Saloon bow.  The racing was of a high standard all afternoon, with battles throughout the pack but the results were all about three drivers in general, and one in particular.  Newly crowned European Champion 677 Eddie Darby held off 401 Steve Webster all the way to win heat one, the pair wound up well ahead of their nearest challenger.  730 Deane Mayes was an early retirement in heat one but was hard for the champion duo to catch in heat two.  Darby timed his move to the front perfectly by allowing Webster to do the work on Mayes and he nipped through to lead and take the win, whilst Mayes provided a perfect last bend attack on Webster to regain second.  178 Mike Davies was the early leader in the Final until Mayes went through to lead.  Darby and Webster again made inroads from the rear of the grid, but Webster was slightly slowed by his car blowing what appeared to be smoke from the engine.  Darby caught Mayes in back marking traffic and seized that opportunity to make his move and go on to complete his hat-trick of wins.  Mayes completed another fine trip west with second and Webster, or rather his engine, held on for third.