Smeatharpe Stadium - Sunday 18th October 2015

The main 2015 season reached its conclusion at Smeatharpe Stadium, where despite there being a chill in the air, the weather remained dry and those racegoers that did attend were treated to a full and spectacular afternoon of racing from the BriSCA F2 Stock Cars, Saloon Stock Cars, Ministox and 2 litre (Old Skool) National Bangers.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

For the BriSCA F2’s it was the traditional season closing ‘Ladies Trophy’ as the feature event, the 20th running, and there were trophies galore throughout the meeting.  The 38 car entry was once again very pleasing with Smeatharpe in particular having bucked the national trend throughout the year.  The first heat doubled up as the White & Yellow grade final and saw 76 Chris Rowe hold on for the victory, after oil was laid on to the track in the closing stages of the race which made the going slippery.  627 Gary Sillifant made second and 367 Chris Horwell third.  All three received Yokohama A021-R tyres to the ratio of 4-3-2 as well as the enhanced prize money from BriSCA F2.  The second heat featured all of the star graded drivers present owing to heat one being the white and yellow grade final.  676 Neil Hooper came from the back of the grid to the front to win, with the factored Track Championship still to be decided.  Leader of that coming into the meeting, 315 Justin Fisher made third.  The consolation looked like going the way of 845 Andrew Morgan until he tangled up with newcomer 332 Ross Webber and this allowed 111 Lewis Geach to pounce with a late move to overcome 605 Liam Rowe.  The 30 car Ladies Trophy Final saw Martin Farrell parade the trophy through the grid, another tradition of the event.  460 Matt Weston was the early leader until he was passed by 464 Matt Linfield and he held sway until beyond halfway.  British Champion 700 Adam Rubery was the pick of the star men and it was he who got in position to challenge Linfield for the lead just prior to the last quarter of the race.  However, no sooner had Rubery hit the front, his car expired.  This momentarily held up Linfield and 126 Jamie Avery took over, albeit under pressure from 315 Justin Fisher.  Fisher looked to be in a position to swoop, but saved it for the last corner, and pulled off a perfectly executed move to successfully retain the trophy.  Avery held on for second; Hooper returned to third after being delayed mid-race by 83 Sy Harraway; and 542 Steven Gilbert was fourth.  Another tradition of the race is the champagne shower for the winner courtesy of Rob and Tim Farrell, and Fisher was duly doused for the second year in a row.  The Grand National/Allcomers and Trackscene Trophy race saw two yellow flag periods, the second after a pile up on the exit of turn four and featured an escalation in the seemingly ongoing feud between 572 James Lindsay and Liam Rowe.  Indeed, Rowe was disqualified from the re-start.  Linfield was again the long-time leader until passed by Hooper, but Fisher’s third from the lap handicap was enough for him to secure the factored track championship.  Hooper, however, took the overall track championship.

Saloon Stock Cars

The Saloon Stock Car entry saw an improvement on previous meetings, with the Track Championship to be decided.  However, it ended up being decided in pre-meeting practice when 698 Danny Colliver blew his clutch and was unable to repair suitably to be able to race.  This was especially hard work on the National Points Champion-elect as he had made the overnight journey from Scotland having raced at Cowdenbeath the previous evening.   First up was the Autospeed White & Yellow grade final and 901 Mike Hale picked up from where he left off at the previous meeting by winning ahead of 995 Ben Goddard and 619 Ross Thomas.  With Colliver out of the equation 158 Shane Davies was all but assured of the Track Championship, but just to make totally sure he hunted down Hale in heat one to be in a position to attempt a last bend lunge.  He pulled this off in fine style and sent Hale spinning, to win, and the 901 car spun across the track all manner of chaos was triggered off behind as the remaining drivers scrambled across the line.    Heat two saw a repeat of heat one with Davies closing in on Hale to be in a position to challenge on the last corner.  However, this time Hale opted that discretion was the better part of valour and Davies took his second win of the day.   Hale pulled well clear in the Final and again looked set for a possible victory.  This all changed when 84 Carl Bowell’s car parted company with a front wheel to bring out the yellow flags.  677 Eddie Darby and Davies – who had been having a big battle – were put right into play.  When Hale’s car appeared to not get going properly at the re-start Darby and Davies moved into first and second and the European Champion held off Davies to the flag, with 199 Phil Powell making the most of the late re-start to grab third.

Ministox

A good entry of 19 Ministox for their annual Club 21 day, and there are more new young drivers waiting in the wings.  The entry included visiting interest from 297 Jack Bradburn from the Midlands, 561 Aaron Totham from Essex and Scottish points champion 629 Euan Millar, who’d made the overnight journey having raced at Cowdenbeath the previous evening.   907 Cameron Lawrence did what he needed to do to secure not only the Smeatharpe Track Championship but also the overall Autospeed points title in heat one, by winning it.  Heat two saw 951 Aiden Vincent win from flag to flag, with plenty of battles going on behind.  917 Gemma Robbins set the early pace in the Final until she was passed by 667 Tommy Farrell but all the while the one on the move was Lawrence and there was no stopping him on his way to his second win of the afternoon.  Farrell made second and 931 Jack Manhire third.

2 Litre Old Skool National Bangers

There were 27 2 litre National Bangers present for the latest Old Skool session with a vast variety of drivers from throughout the southwest and south coast.  362 Johnny James, steering from the rear with a BMW, took the win in the opening heat before 27 Keirren Bradford took a flag to flag victory in heat two.  133 Terry Hill got into the lead early on in the Final, and from that point was never headed and took the win, with Bradford making second and 912 Simon Rees third.   The Allcomers saw the biggest grid yet for the race at Smeatharpe under this format and it was certainly a very spectacular end to the day.  237 Craig Launder gave 53 Chris James a big follow-in in the pits bend and then Hill did the same to 25 Nick Lane, whilst at the other end 97 Craig Deer ran in Launder and Hill came along to blast Deer.  The red flags were called with a fire under James’ car and after the re-start Rees continued to lead and take the win, to make it four different winners for the afternoon.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 W&Y 76 627 367 464 189 460 828 528 254 572
Heat 2 676 700 315 575 542 522 83 126 302 127
Consolation 111 605 797 979 740 689 544 526 328 920
The Ladies Trophy 315 126 676 542 464 302 76 522 797 828
Trackscene Trophy 676 464 315 700 542 126 302 127 111 76
Grade Awards W 367 Y 464 B 126 R 315
Saloon Stock Cars 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
W&Y Final 901 995 619 84 28 475 276 nof
Heat 1 158 677 728 199 619 916 28 276 84 475
Heat 2 158 901 199 40 619 28 995 276 nof
Final 677 158 199 40 901 916 619 28 995 276
Ministox 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 907 943 987 980 951 218 297 911 931 629
Heat 2 951 943 667 907 902 980 218 917 931 911
Final 907 667 931 980 561 629 297 911 917 218
2L Old Skool National Bangers 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 362 27 133 903 438 74 908 97 333 775
Heat 2 27 438 133 910 47 237 74 362 95 912
Final 133 27 912 237 47 153 53 903 775 297
Allcomers 912 777 153 133 nof
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