Smeatharpe Stadium - Monday 1st August 2022

A large crowd gathered on a warm summer’s evening for a meeting which most race-going aficionados thought showed little promise but which, in reality, delivered action and entertainment in spades; much to the appreciation of those on hand.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

The entry for the evening’s racing had already been hampered by mechanical and health woes of a number of drivers plus absences due to summer holidays, and the prospects of the night ahead looked to be reduced further when the 21 cars in the pits dwindled to 18 after pre-meeting practice and thus the format was all cars in all races.  What followed was a tremendous display of racing which demonstrated even with a modest entry the size and shape of the Smeatharpe raceway has a delicious habit of serving up superb action.  Heat two saw 828 Julian Coombes move through into an early lead as 320 Matt Hatch came a cropper, tankslapping into the plating whilst 115 Ben Fairbrother and 91 Harrison Bryant tangled on turn one.  With three laps to go 126 Jamie Avery had closed in on the rear of Coombes and moved through into the lead, only for Coombes to strike back on the next lap to reverse positions once more.  Heading into the second last lap Avery had again reeled in the leader and zeroed in on the back bumper of the 828 machine.  However, whilst this delayed Coombes, it also saw the Avery machine lost momentum, and grasping the moment superbly, 728 Jack Bunter darted through to claim what a short time before had seemed a most improbable win.  Fairbrother and Bryant again tangled on the pit bend at the beginning of the second heat whilst the leader 259 Daz Purdy was taken around by 525 Charlie Knight, which was of no benefit to either with Knight taking himself out in the process.  Avery was again on the march and led into the last lap with 418 Ben Borthwick around two car lengths back.  Borthwick connected with the rear of Avery with controlled force to drive up the inside and out-drag Avery to the flag.  The Final saw 475 Leah-Nicole Sealy move into an early lead.  From the star grade, 542 Steven Gilbert made swift progress through the field only to find further advancement more difficult to achieve during the middle section of the race.  Fairbrother spun around almost collecting Bryant as Avery moved into second.  Sealy, however, was able to maintain an advantage to the flag to take her first Final win in the formula and become the first lady racer to score a feature success at Smeatharpe.  The Grand National saw Borthwick in hard on the rear bumper of Gilbert as the latter was closing in on the race leaders.  As they bounced off the plating in the pits bend, Gilbert raced on, and Borthwick ground to a halt on the infield.  Race leader Coombes had been passed by 605 Ritchie Andrews, but Andrews then tangled with Bryant on the home straight, and the two were extremely lucky not to be collected by the oncoming cars.  This promoted Coombes back into the lead, but he was unable to stay ahead of Avery who finally managed to take his first chequered flag of the evening.

2 Litre Bangers

The opening heat saw a three car pile-up on the back straight including 743 Jake Bond and 786 Grant Harris.  83 Ben Styles moved into the lead to take a comprehensive win.  17 Shane Harrison was the early leader of heat two as 123 Sam Baker spun around.  190 Steve Bailey’s challenge on 215 Craig Fisher into the pit bend only succeeded in taking himself out as well as Harrison ran out the winner ahead of 133 Terry Hill.  Baker stormed to a dominant win in the Final in what was a high speed affair.  An Allcomers was added to the programme, to full National Banger rules, which saw Hill take a comfortable win, whilst 890 Leszek Malinowski piled into 355 Aaron Dark, which was about the only action in a tame affair.

Special Rods

The annual visit by the largely Ford Sierra based class from Mendips Raceway saw some good racing throughout the evening despite the tightness of the circuit for the large cars.  867 Gary Brown appeared to be taking part in a drifting display given how he was throwing his car around the circuit in the opening race and 768 Joe Delahay and 701 Ben Brice raced side by side for several laps before Brice broke free to take the win.  Delahay led the second heat as behind there was a seven-car battle for fourth.  Brice caught the leader with three laps to go but despite trying to find a way through he was unable to do so as Delahay held on for victory.  It was a Delahay and Brice duel again come the Final.  Brice got through into the lead with five laps to go to take his second win of the evening, and 303 Jason Oliver completed the top three.

Reliant Robins

Like the Special Rods, the Robins also made their annual appearance with the drivers setting out to entertain from the off.  518 Matt Capel was the first to roll on the pit bend as 30 Joe Capel also turned turtle at the opposite end of the track.  985 Sam Carter wound up the winner throwing the car into a roll after he crossed the line which prompted pretty much the rest of the field to do likewise much to the delight and laughter of the crowd who warmly showed their appreciation to the drivers.  Carter performed a spectacular somersault on the pit bend in the second heat with the Capels again rolling at each end of the track, Joe losing a wheel in the process.  58 Martin Dalton made it through for the win on the final bend as Carter and 36 Toby Loader rolled on the home straight, the latter managing to slide all the way down to the Honiton bend.  The Final was a stop-start affair, punctuated by a number of rollovers.  Carter found himself under attack from brothers 362 Aaron Loader and Toby Loader, as 510 Sid Harrison won, to repeat the feat of a year earlier.  The last race of the evening saw Carter and Matt Capel appear with caravans attached, the others taking the opportunity to try to destroy lots of bodywork the vehicles much to the delight of the spectators who had stayed in good numbers to watch the spectacle.  It was not long until both vans had begun to disintegrate with Matt Capel declared the winner to cheers around the stadium.