United Downs Raceway - Sunday 30th October 2022

The 2022 season at the United Downs Raceway, St Day ended with an all-Banger fixture in front of a busy crowd who enjoyed a lively afternoon from all three classes.

National Bangers (unlimited cc)

Numbers for the big cars were all too predictably low, with just 11 drivers in attendance, and whilst the day was anything but action-packed from, there were still some highlights.  The opening race produced a thrilling duel between 133 Terry Hill and 739 Jason Moore.  The pair repeatedly swapped the lead, as they skilfully powered their cars around the circuit.  Whilst the rest of the race was rather processional, the Hill versus Moore head-to-head contest made for compelling viewing, with Moore just getting clear of Hill in the very late stages to land the Judgement Day title, with World Champion 582 Corey Hunt completing the top three.  The second race for the big cars was the liveliest of the day, and featured the glorious Captain Birdseye Trophy – a golden camera mounted on an oak plinth.  Whilst Hill led the race from start to finish, to win from 246 Ryan Sparks and 355 Aaron Dark, it was the action behind them which caught the eye.  360 Jack Reynolds looked to rattle 59 Mike Hamley around the pits bend plating, but was then attacked by 2 Jack Hodges, and in turn that left him open to a thunderous shot by 278 Shaun Brokenshire.  It was Dark who set the early pace in the third and final race for the big cars, which was for the Mike ‘Halfpint’ Hiscock Trophy.  As he battled for the lead with Sparks, Hill charged through from the rear of the grid to set up a three-way contest.  Hill eventually edged ahead late on, to win from Sparks, Dark and Moore.  The day ended with a two-car Destruction Derby, which saw Dark triumph over Hunt.

Banger Vans

Once again the Banger Vans came up trumps in terms of some fun-filled race action.  A variety of vans were raced, including 999 Richie Over at the wheel of an ice cream van.  In the opening heat, 570 Bruno Farrell completed a succession of spins and then came in for some heavy attention from 959 Justin Payne.  255 Paul Wright looked on course for the win but took a wayward route through the turnstile bend and clobbered an infield marker tyre.  613 Lee Simmons picked up the pieces to take the chequered.  The second heat brought a win for 4 Mark Jenkins on his track debut, with the race having been halted at one point, for a fire to be extinguished in the 768 Tyler Cock van.  Assorted vans fell by the wayside in the final, to leave just three running.  694 Dan Mallaber was first home, on his debut, whilst the 959 van was disqualified for having the wrong driver, and that left Cock as the only other finisher in second.  114 Luke Niles didn’t stop for a ‘99’ in the Destruction Derby as he put Over’s ice cream van out of its misery, but it was Cock who outlasted the rest to hold on for the win.

Bangers

Whilst the vast majority of top scorers on the Supreme Championship points chart had accepted their invitation, the day’s full entry was relatively modest, even though there were more than half a dozen drivers making their first appearance of the season.  With two no-shows from the original entry, a grid of 24 drivers assembled for the Supreme title race, featuring 23 Barry Staples and 206 Matt Brewer on the front row.  Unsurprisingly, they featured in a lively first corner, aided by the inside line being still soaking wet from the showers earlier that morning.  Staples drifted wide, and Brewer nosed alongside him to grab the lead as they turned the corner towards the back straight.  As the rest of the pack charged into turn one, many slid wide, with 621 Scott Kendall dropping down the order.  891 Martyn Cleave was half spun at the end of the first lap, and he too lost ground.  Brewer saw out the first couple of laps in the lead, but he could not shake off Staples, who relieved Brewer of the lead at the end of lap three.  By this stage, the lead pair were some way clear of the chasing pack, and were already picking a route through backmarkers.  The gap continued to ebb and flow between Staples and Brewer, but the latter was never quite close enough to mount a telling challenge.  Staples clinched the win, to succeed his son, Harrison Staples, as the Supreme Champion.  Brewer was the runner-up and 182 Nathan James finished a distant third.  The heaviest populated grid of the day assembled for the Mike ‘Halfpint’ Hiscock Trophy, with over 30 drivers lined up in graded order.  From the front row of the grid, 270 Oli Knight was the early leader, until 95 Marcus Bunt took over.  A string of drivers continued to crash out in the turnstile bend, which included 161 Anton Ferris, 696 Ashley Rawlings, 786 Grant Harris, 366 Pete Warren and 756 Troy Hooper.  That duly made navigation of turns three and four a tricky prospect.  Bunt was being chased by 11 Grubby Frankson, who effected a telling spin of the leader to move ahead, with 33 Nathan Boswarthick leading the pursuit of Frankson.  Before Boswarthick could get on terms, he was reeled in by 290 Jay Tomkins.  As the race neared the midway point, Tomkins spun Frankson aside, and from that point onwards, Tomkins went on to run out a clear winner.  Boswarthick was second and Staples recovered from a slow start to speed up to third by the finish.  Another busy grid set off for the Cornish Championship, which began with Rawlings emerging as the leader.  Showing good pace, Rawlings led to the halfway point, regularly passing backmarkers.  Rawlings was still in front when the lap boards appeared, but by now he was being caught by Boswarthick, Brewer, Tomkins and James.  In the turnstile bend, Rawlings ran wide, and Boswarthick took over, but he lost out to Tomkins with two to run.  Brewer tailed Tomkins, but as he made a last bend challenge, Tomkins survived to clinch a second win of the afternoon.  Brewer was the runner-up and Kendall pinched third from Boswarthick, ahead of a chaotic run down lap in which Harris tipped on to his side in turn two.  The grid was a little more sparsely populated for the Allcomers, which saw Kendall sweep to an emphatic win, despite Brewer making an attempt to cannon 186 Brandon Blight into him.  Brewer bounced out of the impact and ploughed into Rawlings at the front of a gaggle of parked cars.  Kendall headed home 785 Nick Craddock when the race resumed for its closing trio of laps.  Once the race ended, the action switched to a Destruction Derby, with several drivers retiring to the infield, and some drivers joining the action from the infield.  One was 97 Craig Deer who stormed into Blight.  As Deer reversed off for a second run at Blight, 294 Oli Bower attacked too, and sandwiched Blight who stoically took a third hit after Deer completed a lap.  With the action almost at a standstill, 617 Reece Rixon eventually got his car running to cruise around and crash into the heap.  No winner was declared, but Blight was commended for his gallantry and awarded a trophy in recognition.