Smeatharpe Stadium - Easter Monday 18th April 2022

The third meeting in four days on the Autospeed circuits continued to serve up a first class racing feast for the healthy crowd in attendance at Smeatharpe on Easter Monday.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

The 37 car entry at the end of a busy weekend was most pleasing.   The opening stages of heat one saw 844 Jack Prosser and 259 Daz Purdy tangle on turn four, the two then continuing to collide down the home straight until on the back straight Prosser was spun and then collected by the oncoming 91 Harrison Bryant.  352 Dave Sansom was well clear in the lead as the chequered flag dropped.  Behind, 542 Steven Gilbert tried to attack 302 Dale Moon for second, but Moon was able to ride out the hit to maintain his position.  The second heat needed a complete re-run after chaos broke out on the home straight as 915 Jamie Jones clambered on top of a couple of lower graders.  736 Josh Weare also joined the tangle and as the chasing pack went in all directions to try to avoid the incident, 162 Richard Swales was turned around and collected by the onrushing pack.  That caused significant damage to the car and Swales himself required a moment before he exited the car, heavily winded.  On the restart 475 Leah Sealy moved past 454 Ryan Gardiner and into the lead.  Further back a great battle developed between the star graders from which 992 Harley Burns eventually escaped.  915 Jamie Jones who had been lucky enough to not have ended up with race ending damage in that original incident, had moved up to second but Sealy drove a controlled race to maintain her lead and take her maiden victory in the formula having made her debut in the class just three days prior on Good Friday.  The teenager’s achievement was warmly recognised by the crowd on her lap of honour.  As the consolation got underway a heavy rain shower passed overhead and as such the drivers struggled for grip having started with dry race set-ups.  Bryant was the early race leader but as he entered the second half of the race, navigating his way through the back marking traffic was proving difficult and it eventually allowed 895 Ben Goddard to find a way past for the win.  Behind him, Bryant and 53 Phil Mann tangled on the Honiton Bend but managed to recover to finish second and third respectively.  The Final saw 29 of the 30 qualifiers grid with the track mainly dry although very greasy on the outside line.  Sealy spun out of contention early on, but she was in good company as a large pile-up developed between turns three and four claiming Burns, 783 James Rygor and 127 Matt Stoneman amongst them.  194 Luke Johnson moved through into the lead with 988 Charlie Lobb chasing hard in second.  The gap between them ebbed and flowed as each encountered back marking traffic.  However, Lobb did finally find a way past as Johnson encountered problems and was delayed.  Soon after, 890 Paul Rice edged through into second.  Rice closed in on Lobb, but even so he looked just out of range as they headed down the back straight for the final time, and a last bend lunge given the conditions looking unlikely.  Yet, Rice had other thoughts and accelerated in an attempt to connect with Lobb’s back bumper.  However, he failed to make contact, and shot wide in the bend, as Lobb followed up his Good Friday success with another Final win.  542 Steven Gilbert completed the top three, and admirably handed his trophy to a young spectator after the lap of honour.  A commendable showing of 28 cars gridded for the Grand National although 572 James Lindsay failed to take the flag.  Sansom was once again at the front of the field, but he had Rygor closing on him.  The pit bend was proving tricky for many to navigate with a number scattered around the bend including Jones, Gardiner, 525 Charlie Knight and 320 Matt Hatch.  The pivotal moment came as Rygor looked to be within striking distance but appeared to lose grip and he headed into the group of cars that were stranded on the pit bend and out of the race.  Now untroubled, Sansom cruised home for the win.

Saloon Stock Cars

After the exertion of the weekend’s racing there were 18 cars in the pits though 28 Ian Govier failed to race all afternoon.  10 Frank Little led heat one away but was spun around by 177 Chris Masters who then found himself slowed in amongst the backmarking traffic.  84 Carl Boswell was also sent into a half spin, tangled with 698 Danny Colliver who shoved him sideways down the home straight.  Masters was reeled in by 561 Aaron Totham, the Essex based driver pushing the white grader wide as they entered the back straight, which was enough for Totham to seal the win.  The second heat took place on a soaking wet track.  An early yellow flag saw the field bunched up and Masters was quickly overtaken by 319 Richard Regan who built an unassailable lead.  Behind him, Colliver and 27 Jason Kingwell enjoyed a fine battle in amongst the backmarkers, the two eventually finishing in that order in second and third respectively.  Entering into the final bend 399 Cole Atkins made an audacious challenge on 364 Nathan Olden for fourth, the move succeeding as Olden eventually crossed the line backwards in sixth place.  There were still 16 survivors for their final race of the long weekend.  418 Mitchell Driver was the first driver to be spun around, whilst 677 Warren Darby and 11 Richard Paris (in his son Simon’s car) spun in unison on the home straight.  Boswell bounded over the infield marker tyres on the pit bend, and as he and 902 Buster Jnr and Totham headed in a heap down the home straight they went very deep into turns one and two, with Boswell and Totham both being left stranded in a tangle on the back straight to bring out a yellow flag.  On the restart Little quickly lost the lead to Masters who then lost out to Colliver on the Honiton Bend.  With Colliver away and clear at the front, Kingwell, Atkins and 341 Austen Freestone battled for second.  Kingwell lost some ground having been forced out wide, whilst Atkins timed his move on Freestone to perfection punting him wide on the last bend with Olden stealing third from Freestone by a narrow margin on the line.

ORCi Ministox

The opening heat was a stop-start affair, a complete re-run being required with 913 Ben Faulconbridge stranded on the home straight, 617 Christina Sillifant and 954 Bobbie Beere Rees also finding themselves facing the wrong direction.  The restart did not last too much longer as 368 Emily Santry found herself hard against the plating on turn four.  The race suspension gave the opportunity for 290 Alfie Tomkins to soon hit the front on the restart, where he stayed to the flag with Sillifant chasing in second.  Behind there was a good battle between 202 Cody Bradford, 207 Alfie Flecken and 907 Cadan Davies, Bradford eventually coming out on top to complete the top three.  Heat two on a wet track saw Beere-Rees build up a lead of the length of a straight with heat one winner Tomkins sent into a half spin further down the field.  A race stoppage for 870 Bert Farrell stranded on the back straight saw the race leader lose out on the restart, being spun around by Bradford and others on his tail.  917 Troy Hemmins tried to close the gap on Bradford but was delayed by the back marking traffic and had to settle for second as Tomkins, benefitting from the race suspension, recovered from his earlier spin to complete the top three.  Earlier race leader Beere-Rees’s race came to a crunching conclusion when he connected heavily with the home straight wall, his car crawling across the line in tenth with heavy bumper damage.  The early stages of the Final saw Beere-Rees, Faulconbridge and 170 Austin King have a good battle for the lead.  King fought his way to front but eventually lost out to Tomkins and Bradford.  Entering into the final bend Bradford tried to make a controlled hit on the rear of Tomkins’ car but the force is not enough to shift him out the way as King finished a creditable third place in the Mini Mayhem trophy event.

Back 2 Basics Bangers

A good entry of just under 30 cars provided their usual chaotic thrills and spills.  The opening heat saw 562 Jayden James in control from early on as cars were strewn around the circuit.  Behind, 211 Adrian Coles was in second, but he faced a challenge from 200 Jai Simmons who moved past, only to get caught up in some battles with back marking cars which allowed Coles back through to reclaim second.  The second heat was a destructive affair with 25 starters and just the eleven finishers.  Coles, 15 Andy Voaden and 187 David Walters swapped places at the front demonstrating that the class can serve up some good racing as well as crashing.  Coles eventually broke free for the win.  The Final for the Gus Garrett Trophy saw 519 Jason Whitney and 632 Arron Bennett come to a crunching halt on the home straight.  10 Ben Fuller joined them as tyre smoke from the 632 car obscured the track.  At the front of the field Walters was leading but he was unable to shake off 756 Troy Hooper.  The race was brought to a halt as Bennett had to quickly exit his car after it bursts into flames with race officials quickly on the scene with extinguishers.  On the restart Hooper eventually found a way past Walters, but 652 Kristian Gale did likewise.  Gale then bundled Hooper out wide, and when Hooper clipped the Fuller car in the process, it allowed Walters back into second.  462 Nico James just pipped Hooper to the line in third.  15 entrants gathered for the Destruction Derby although the field was quickly whittled away to single number.  777 Kai Freestone came under attack at the pit gate, with Gale storming in to finish Freestone’s involvement.  Gale then circling the track to attack 104 Matthew Horwell as the reds were shown to allow a driver to exit his car in the pits bend melee.  The event quickly reached its conclusion with 333 Craig Partridge being waved in by 31 Nathan Nichols.  Gamely, Nichols then waved in Gale to enact a head-on and to cheers from the crowd who had stayed to the end, he came the wrong way down the home straight to connect with the front of the Nichols machine, Gale being declared the winner.