Smeatharpe Stadium - Sunday 2nd July 2017

Under a glorious summer sky, racegoers basked in the sunshine, for a busy day of action at Smeatharpe.

Saloon Stock Cars

The previous weekend’s heavy action at Kings Lynn took its toll on the number of visiting drivers, which left for a fairly disappointing low car count, although 276 Steve Calvert made his debut in the Hire car; 441 Joe Parker made a track debut; and there was the return of newly crowned British Champion 158 Shane Davies.  First up was the Devon Championship, which saw 447 Adam Hicks grab the lead early on from 298 Ian Elms.  Hicks was still at the front as the race moved into its final phase, but having seen the 5-laps-to-go board appear, Davies swooped to edge past Hicks.  27 Kieren Bradford made it through for second, with former winner 199 Phil Powell completing the top three.  The first Allcomers brought another win for Davies, after Hicks had led initially, before having to give best to 84 Carl Boswell.  There was a fascinating battle between Davies and Bradford in Allcomers 2, but once he eventually got clear of his fellow star, Davies was able to hunt down a third victory to go the whole day unbeaten.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

Despite fears of low numbers, the F2s responded well to assemble 32 cars in the pit area, although 22 Richard Short failed to progress beyond pre-meeting practice.  Heat one began in spectacular fashion for 315 Justin Fisher, who encountered the wayward 398 Ian England on the back straight, and flew up over him into a huge rollover on the infield.  Gladly, Fisher was able to extricate himself from his upturned car, but that ended his afternoon there and then.  The restarted race developed into a thrilling contest featuring 522 Chris Mikulla, 126 Jamie Avery and 935 Nathan Maidment.  They traded hits, and swapped places in a fine display of Stock Car racing, with Mikulla being at the front when it mattered.  Scottish superstar 7 Gordon Moodie was brutal and forceful in heat two, as he scythed his way from the rear of the grid to the front, smashing the lap record that had stood for six years, by posting 12.769 seconds on lap eight of the race.  The consolation was led by England, but 468 Sam Weston hunted him down and sealed a convincing win by the time the chequered was shown.  The final gridded 25 cars, and an incident early on looked to have hindered pre-race favourite Moodie.  740 Neil Langworthy was left facing the wrong way in the pits bend, and when 895 Ben Goddard clipped him, Goddard was slowed, and Moodie was delayed too.  However, the stranded Langworthy needed to be retrieved from his precarious position, and the yellow flags caution period closed up the single file grid.  Moodie swiftly shot to the front, and relieved 303 Chris Horwell of the lead on lap nine, before cruising to a foregone conclusion of a victory in one of the dullest F2 finals seen at Smeatharpe for some time.  127 Matt Stoneman was the runner-up, with Weston in third place.  Stoneman went on to win the GN; a race which saw 526 Marc Rowe get out of shape on the back straight, whereupon he clobbered a marker tyre, standing it on end, before it rolled on to the track.  After that caution period, yellow flags were needed again when Goddard, 890 Paul Rice and 418 Ben Borthwick tangled and charged into the west bend plating.

2 Litre Old Skool Bangers

There were just shy of 50 2 Litre Old Skool Bangers, and that made for an extremely lively opening heat, especially when the pits bend became almost blocked.  As drivers pushed and shoved to try to find a way through the blockage, more and more cars stormed into the pile-up.  Some of the crashes were a bit borderline for Old Skool Bangers, but the spirit of the race was such that nearly everyone entered into the fun.  907 Cameron Bradford emerged from the pile-up as the leader, and was at the front of the single file restart, when a stoppage was eventually called, with no clear route out of the pits bend heap.  Bradford set off to seal his first win in the senior formula.  Plenty more crashing followed in heat two, particularly on the home straight, where assorted cars came to a halt.  202 Matt Butlin and 113 Chris Jeanes disputed the early lead, but 242 Ben Ellacott, driving what was easily the brightest car of the day, came through strongly in the second half of the race.  The final brought a victory for former Saloon Stock Car star 207 Darren Bradford, who hit the front early on.  He was some way clear, but behind him, Ellacott again looked good, as he chased after 991 Ben Hale to grab second, with 49 Rob Bevan securing third place late on.  Fifteen drivers took to the grid for the Allcomers, and Darren Bradford won once more, whilst 133 Terry Hill, 199 Tom Pearce and 384 Adam Geary featured in most of the action.

BriSCA Micro F2 Stock Cars

The number of infant racers made it into double figures again, and each of the three races yielded a different winner.  290 Alfie Tomkins was comfortably clear in the first race, and 380 Nina Cayzer just held on to win the second race.  533 Alfie Joynson got out front in the final, and despite a chasing group on his tail, he kept ahead and was a delighted recipient of the chequered flag, from 51 Jolean Maynard and 870 Bertie Farrell.