Smeatharpe Stadium - Monday 28th December 2020

On a bitterly cold day, the early morning snow was washed away by a number of showers, a decent Bank Holiday crowd braved the chilly conditions for a lively meeting at Smeatharpe that saw three classes compete during Banger Bonanza 8.

National Micro Bangers

Even though numbers for National Micro Bangers have dwindled during the past eighteen months, the annual Banger Bonanza date for the small cars continues to hold plenty of appeal.  A decent showing of 20 drivers contested the first race, which was brutal.  2 Jack Hodges thundered in 244 James Turner, and 341 Andrew Jones rattled 160 Jamie Warr right around the wall in the pits bend.  As the gaggle of cars grew, 781 Blake Dudley zeroed in on 184 Aaron Vaight, only for the BriSCA F2 star to reverse back and alarmingly expose the driver’s door.  Dudley tried to veer away from Vaight, but instead only succeeded in T-boning the static Turner, who was heavily shaken.  114 Liam Lake blasted 962 Josh Pidgley with a poor choice of hit, and then came a storming follow-in by 77 Aaron Charles, who picked up Vaight and deposited him in the plating in no uncertain terms.  376 Steve Hill won convincingly, with 190 Steve Bailey and 134 Cameron McColm the next two home.  Heat two saw 252 Nemo Llewelyn and 366 Ian Mills make their first appearances of the afternoon, with the former following-in Dudley at one stage.  Mills took a rough ride on the back straight when 838 Jamie Peters blasted him after a skirmish with 842 Jack Perkins and McColm.  17 Jacob Filer had a good lead, but that was negated when the reds were called after heavy crashing at the end of the home straight.  Perkins jacked up Warr, who was shook up, and Bailey blasted Perkins just as the red flags emerged.  208 PJ Collins took the win after he edged past Filer on the restart.  Only ten drivers made it out for the final which was won by Lake late on, from Peters and Collins.  This time, the star was 275 Liam Best who blitzed Jones after he had bludgeoned 11 James Hooper.  Best was then trashed by Bailey.  The DD saw another ten drivers assemble, which saw Charles gallantly battle against the odds, outnumbered as he was by several DWO drivers.  Nonetheless, despite the hits, Charles gamely kept waving them in.  Eventually, that left Peters, Bailey, Jones and Lake to wreck one another, and after a multitude of hits, it was Jones who landed the winning blows.

2 Litre Old Skool Bangers

As a result of a small number of no-shows, the Last Chance qualifier race was sparsely populated, and with five places on the back of the grid for the Supreme Championship up for grabs, it was not an overly onerous prospect for some of the star names involved.  190 Steve Bailey walloped 31 Liam Shipway out of the way before doing likewise to the race leader, 99 Ryan Hall.  Once ahead, Bailey took control and clinched a comfortable win.  Not for the first time, the Supreme Championship produced a thrilling race.  As the green flag fell, 11 Grubby Frankson was an early spinner, whilst Front row starters 376 Steve Hill and 133 Terry Hill contested the lead.  799 Tom Pearce began to make good progress up to third.  However, the race was halted when 341 Andrew Jones blasted 671 Callum Hawker in the west bend.  When the single file grid formed, Terry Hill led Steve Hill, from Pearce, whilst Bailey’s charge from the tail end of the grid had seen him sweep into the top six.  As the action resumed, Terry Hill broke free, leaving those in pursuit to squabble over second place.  Bailey clobbered defending Supreme Champion 131 Sam Hill in the pits bend, and that opened the door for Steve Hill to nip back past.  Bailey then drilled Steve Hill into the west bend, narrowly missing taking Sam Hill with them.  That eliminated Bailey and Steve Hill, but happened some way behind Terry Hill, who went on to a comfortable victory – his third Supreme Championship success in five years.  246 Ryan Sparks made it through to second and Sam Hill was third.  Pearce followed up his fourth place in the Supreme with victory in the final – the concluding Old Skool race, from which Bailey was excluded for his attack on Hill.  Pearce took his Focus to the chequered, whilst 907 Cameron Bradford battered the Focus of 911 Toby Wilson.  720 Kenny Gabriel and 383 Brad Hutchings completed the top three.  All too predictably the Allcomers race was devoid of action, as Bradford won an extremely dull race, with 349 Lewis Price, in a well-used Mondeo, showing much interest in crashing.

Back 2 Basics Bangers (overs)

With plenty of big cars, many of which were rear-wheel-drive, on a soaking wet track, the Back 2 Basics Bangers were always going to be chaotic, and so it proved with lots of spinning and crashing.  Heat one saw 17 Tim King speed clear from pole position, whilst 881 Gary Emery had the obligatory air bag go off, in a classic comedy moment.  King won by some distance, with 196 Phil Chapman in second.  756 Troy Hooper won heat two from his brother 729 Jez Hooper, in another race that was littered with spins, including a comical exit for 296 Andrew Kiff and 286 Adrian Stallard, who tangled and spun together.  The chaotic action of the first two races left just 10 cars fit for the final.   Troy Hooper led home Tim King and 15 Andy Voaden, in another race which had cars spinning out relentlessly.  The DD raised nine starters, and 157 Rob Sturman amazingly kept his wrecked BMW going to win after trading hits with Clements.