Smeatharpe Stadium - Monday 22nd August 2022

The summer season of Monday evening fixtures concluded with another lively evening of action at Smeatharpe.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

With 23 drivers in attendance, a two from three heat format was deployed.  Heat one was run in greasy conditions which caught out a few including 53 Phil Mann who had spins at each end of the track.  783 James Rygor was quickly up and into the lead, ultimately lapping everyone up to and including seventh place on his way to victory.  Mann was the early leader of heat two as 321 Ed Neachell and 35 Charlie Fisher spun around on the wet track.  The yellow flags appeared when 605 Ritchie Andrews and 525 Charlie Knight tangled on the back straight, which left them in a precarious position, but gladly they avoided being collected.  On the restart Rygor was quickly through into the lead once more with 542 Steven Gilbert following into second.  The contrasting lines being taken by the two drivers on each bend was quite marked and as such whilst Gilbert attempted to dislodge the leader heading into the first bend of the last lap he was unable to land a telling blow which allowed Rygor to take a comfortable run to the flag.  Heat three began with Fisher being shoved sideways down the home straight finishing by the pit gate in a stream of sparks.  890 Paul Rice and Gilbert enjoyed a fine battle for second before Rice took over from 126 Jamie Avery at the front.  Avery then dropped down the order after coming together with 475 Leah-Nicole Sealy on the pit bend.  Rice’s lead was eventually eroded by 127 Matt Stoneman who raced through to victory.  Knight led the opening stages of the Final, with track now dry, whilst Rice exited in a tangle with 303 Kurt Selway in the pits bend.  Rygor again quickly made it to the front of the field as Stoneman and 988 Charlie Lobb entered into a fine battle for third and fourth before both overhauling second place 126 Jamie Avery.  A race suspension was required after 259 Daz Purdy ended up tagging Rice who had been sat stationary on the pit bend for some time.  Rygor was well clear at the flag, which won him the Steve Rich Trophy, but behind him Gilbert had his sights set on second heading to the final bend.  Gilbert took a dive at Stoneman which sent him out wide but also resulted in Gilbert spinning around.  Stoneman just held on for second ahead of 667 Tommy Farrell.  The Grand National saw Stoneman run out a comfortable winner as he recorded his second win of the evening.

Stock Rods

Drivers contested a further two out of three qualifying heats to add to those they had completed the preceding day at St Day to determine the grid positions for the ORC Championship.  In greasy conditions 612 Leon Stewart took a flag to flag win in heat one lapping all up to and including ninth place.  Behind him there was a tremendous battle for second between 216 Cameron Doak, 944 Callum Hosie and 351 Rhys Langdown, which finished in that order.  Heat two in wet conditions saw 9 Chris Drake break free from the field and he looked to be set for the win.  That was until he found himself delayed in amongst backmarkers in their own race.  The group included the World Champion 29 David Philp Jnr struggling down in twelfth.  Drake was delayed, 14 Ross Montgomery closed and then passed him for the lead with Northern Irishman 268 Kurtis Reid also squeezing through for second.  The third and final heat saw Langdown the class of the field.  On a now largely dry track, Langdown lapped all up to fourth place on his way to victory.  For the second time over the weekend Hosie suffered a puncture dropping him out of the race, whilst another favourite in 909 Justin Washer appeared to have something break on his car spearing him right on the home straight, taking Reid with him.  Washer thundered into the infield marker tyres, and the incident also hampered the progress of Doak who eventually finished second from Stewart.  Once the points were tallied, it was Doak through his consistent placings who found himself on pole alongside Langdown with Stewart and Hosie on row two whilst 172 Derek Connor and Philp rounded out the top group largely thanks to their placings on the Sunday afternoon in Cornwall.  Langdown made an excellent start and managed to pass Doak on the outside and immediately commence building up a lead.  It wasn’t long though until he was in amongst back marking traffic which allowed Doak and Hosie to close the gap, and thus it ebbed and flowed through the opening half of the race.  There then followed a pivotal and most extraordinary two laps of the race as much like the World Final the day before, Langdown was caught out amongst the backmarkers.  Langdown chose to go one direction whilst Doak and Hosie chose the opposite, with the leading being demoted to third in the process.  Meanwhile Philp had found himself hooked up with 841 Dave Hosking on his lefthand side and Conner to his rear.  That left Philp facing the wrong way on the outside of turn four, but just a few seconds later, just as the leaders rounded the pits bend, the World Champion threw his car into reverse across the track, possibly in an attempt to rejoin or reach the infield.  Whatever the aim of the move, it failed, for in doing so he cut across into the path of Doak who slammed into the rear side panel of Philp with Langdown also ricocheting off the Philp car.  It was an explosive incident, yet Hosie somehow appeared to avoid the chaos and dive through into the lead as the yellow flags were flown.  As the dust settled, third place runner Langdown was out, and the damage to the front of Doak’s machine looked significant.  As the cars lined up on the back straight whilst the wreckage ahead of them was cleared, for some inexplicable reason Hosie climbed from his car to check on damage, seemingly oblivious to the long-standing ruling that drivers may not exit their car under a caution period.  Hosie was duly excluded from the restart, and incredibly this promoted Doak back into the lead, but with dramatic effect, his car now had steam rising from under the bonnet cover as he awaited the restart.  Stewart sat in second and 958 Shea Duff in third.  Despite the obvious damage to his battered car, Doak got off to a good start although it was clear that the car was not handling as it should.  Stewart closed in to within inches but despite a few looks to the outside could not find a way past and thus it was Doak who got to the flag first, just a small margin of Stewart and Duff in what was in equal measure a likely and unlikely victory if there can be such a thing given the outcome of events.  At the end of two days of sensational racing, the Stock rods had shown their worth, providing huge dollops of excitement and drama.

Old Skool unlimited cc Bangers

Another good entry of big Bangers racing to Old Skool rules provided a rowdy spectacle with the emphasis on racing rather than crashing.  2 Jack Hodges won the opening heat in comfortable style with little else of note bar a few spins here and there, notably for 775 Brad Hunt.  There were more spins in heat two, including 383 Andre McLellan returning in his stretch limo from the World Final meeting and 247 Richard Sparks, with Sparks also involved in a good battle for position with 991 Ben Hale.  246 Ryan Sparks sped clear at the front as behind Hale and 185 Richard Coaker fought over second place with Coaker coming out on top.  282 Steve Hunt led the final until late on when 186 Lewis Fasey took over at the front.  Behind him, Sparks and Coaker enjoyed a fine battle for third with Sparks just stealing second on the last bend.  There was a dramatic finish to the Allcomers race.  Coaker was a resounding winner, but a spin for Hodges triggered mayhem for those following, and 114 Nick Courtier got caught up which dropped him from second to tenth.