Smeatharpe Stadium - Saturday 27th July 2019

The pit area was packed with over 120 cars as the summer time evening fixture attracted strong interest from drivers.

Saloon Stock Cars

A fine showing of Saloon Stock Cars saw 20 drivers present.  The chaotic start to heat one resulted in 23 Max Gunter and 444 Kieran Bellringer getting snagged together on the home straight, whilst 80 Matt Buckland spun in the west bend.  East Anglian star 149 Jamie Sampson made good progress early on, and that was the platform he needed to secure a convincing win, whilst 210 Paul Barnes fell foul of a last bend lunge from 28 Ian Govier lower down the order.  The second heat was suspended when 50 Ben Murray had a flash fire after being spun to the back straight fence.  When the race resumed, Sampson proceeded to rack up his second victory.  Some good battles amongst the star graders delayed their progress in the final, and that saw 84 Carl Boswell benefit handsomely.  He charged clear to take full advantage.  Sampson made it through to second, and 56 George Boult Jnr completed the top three.

Stock Rods

A slightly disappointing showing of 15 drivers contested the English Championship.  After a random draw for grid positions, former British Champion 9 Chris Drake turned his front row start in heat one into a comfortable win as he led home 437 Lewis Trickey.  The grid was reversed for heat two, and 41 James Horwell emulated Drake, as he led from green flag to chequered.  However, Horwell then failed the post-race weighing check, which saw him suffer a technical disqualification.  3 Matt Peters was thus elevated to first place.  Peters and Drake duly tied for points, but Peters won the coin toss to start from pole position.  Yet, disaster was to strike Peters, as he developed a driveshaft fault as he took his place on the grid.  That hindered his get away, and Drake was completely unchallenged as he stormed into the lead.  Trickey settled into second, but around the midway point of the race, there was a hefty crash on the back straight involving 909 Justin Washer, 351 Rhys Langdown and 14 Ross Montgomery.  Once that problem cleared, 770 Archie Farrell retired in a cloud of smoke.  Drake looked to be cruising out front, but in the late stages Trickey dramatically reduced his advantage.  The gap between the two cars reduced each lap, until Trickey and Drake clashed at the start of the last lap.  As the two cars collided, Drake suffered a puncture, and the two cars tangled together.  It was hugely unfortunate for Drake, as he ended up spinning to the infield and with a burst rear tyre he was unable to continue.  In contrast, Trickey was able to race on, and he emerged from the skirmish as the leader.  Trickey saw out the remaining lap to land the English title.  234 Josh Murray was a little way back in second and 81 Rob Johns completed the top three.

Bangers

Well in excess of 60 drivers helped to fill the pit area, and the track, with many drivers having extremely smartly presented cars for the occasion.  In all, ten drivers were given awards for their efforts, but there could easily have been twice as many worthy of praise for the amount of paint and polish on show.  First up was the Devon Championship and 931 Jack Manhire secured an early lead, before 891 Martyn Cleave took over.  He then battled with 862 Darryl Cock, before 320 Dan Abbott and 185 Richard Coaker also challenged, in an enthralling contest.  As Coaker hit the front, he then came under fire from 133 Jody Jeanes and 246 Ryan Sparks.  With spinning cars in the pits bend, Sparks made his move, and emerged in the lead.  He pulled clear, and went on to win from Jeanes.  The next heat which followed was pure bedlam, with cars heading all over the place and in a variety of directions.  894 Mark Almedia came through the chaos to win.  The consolation was very much an old fashioned Banger race, with a track blockage on the exit of turn two.  As drivers pushed and shoved their way through to find a clear route, it made for a fun spectacle.  927 Jason Kingwell eventually took the honours.  The Tony Jeanes Trophy final was another high speed contest.  Sparks had to shake off the attentions of Almedia, before he edged clear, and eventually won from 991 Ben Hale and 743 Jake Bond.  The top three received bonus prizes from Toolhub, along with the trio of new perpetual trophies which were simply stunning.  621 Scott Kendall took the ‘B’ Final, from 196 Craig Cornelius and 254 Will Blight in an all-Cornish top three.  Good numbers for the Destruction Derby led to a lively contest, in which 121 Mike Ashley excelled, as he saw off the rest for a well merited victory.

Ministox

A disappointing number of no-shows reduced the entry of Ministox to a point where a revised format was deployed, which saw drivers race in two heats to qualify for the British Championship.  569 Adam Langridge and 985 Sam Carter swapped the lead in the opening heat, before Carter came out on top with Scottish star 199 Mitch Gold completing the top three.  The grid was reversed for heat two, which featured a race-long duel between 577 Harry Darby and 619 Max Langmaid.  By the time of the chequered, Langmaid had got back in front, whilst 927 Owen Robbins rounded out the top three.  Carter’s strong run from the rear of the grid to fourth was enough to seal pole position for the title race.  629 Taylor Borthwick joined him on the front row, whilst the second row featured Langmaid and Robbins.  Darby and Langridge completed the front group of six.  At the drop of the green, Carter led the drag into turn one, but Langmaid’s challenge in the pits bend saw Carter half spin, and Langmaid was then unable to get clear to grab the lead.  Instead, it was Darby who took over, but he was bundled wide at the other end, and When Borthwick and Robbins snagged on the back straight, Langridge sped by to hit the front.  The action was fast and furious, but Langridge out front and Robbins in second had broken clear from the pack.  As Langridge encountered backmarkers, he came under pressure from 907 Cadan Davies and 942 Leon Williams.  Langridge was half spun, and as he lost momentum, Robbins was able to speed by to take the lead.  The tangle with Davies and Williams continued for almost a lap, with Langridge and Davies having to take a wayward route on the back straight infield.  When Langridge rejoined, he was then caught by Borthwick and Carter, the latter having worked his way back up the order after falling well down on the opening lap.  Robbins appeared to now be comfortably clear, but in the very late stages 329 Kegan Sampson and 684 Robbie Armitt tangled on the exit of turn four.  Armitt was then collected by 654 Harley Soper and a yellow flag was called.  That brought the front runners together for a one lap shoot out – Robbins, Carter, Borthwick, Darby and 210 Aaron Richards being the lead quintet.  Robbins stayed calm and completed the last lap, whilst Carter’s last bend dive was in vain.  Carter held on for second, and in another twist, 607 Declan Honeyman emerged from the final bend mayhem to steal third on the line from Richards.  It had been a breathtaking race from the young drivers, who put on a very fine show.

Saloon Stock Cars 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 149 84 399 27 56 199 28 799 00 980
Heat 2 149 56 27 902 210 199 399 84 980 642
Final 84 149 56 902 27 399 980 00 28 642
Ministox 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 985 569 199 629 499 607 684 210 927 619
Heat 2 619 577 927 985 629 210 627 654 684 499
British 927 985 607 210 TBC




Stock Rods 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 9 437 14 909 92 234 3 81 776 351
Heat 2 3 234 351 776 14 437 9 92 73 222
English 437 234 81 41 776 909 222 982 nof
Bangers 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Devon 246 133 891 113 991 898 836 929 335 320
Heat 2 894 743 775 100 992 58 820 595 91 938
Cons 927 944 931 622 484 83 131 129 281 853
Final 246 991 743 894 898 938 113 836 891 58
B Final 621 196 254 911 121 956 298 817 nof
D/D 121 nof
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