United Downs Raceway - Sunday 29th May 2016

A large crowd assembled at the United Downs Raceway, for the annual Truck & Lorry Racing event, which was further supported by the BriSCA F2 Stock Cars and the British Championship for the Bangers.

Trucks & Lorries

After the fun of the inaugural year, numbers rose for the Truck & Lorry racing, with eight very large vehicles on hand; three were local, and five came from the 225 Richy Edmonds yard in Tedburn St Mary.  Edmonds graciously gave up his drive in the opening race, to allow commentator Brian Goldsworthy – aka The Mouth Of The South – to have a drive, which was all part of an initiative to raise funds for the FORDS Care charity.  A highly experienced lorry driver in himself, Goldsworthy was in his element, out on track having fun with the other racers.  Whilst not intended to be overly competitive, the first race was very much a warm-up, as 81 Jason Nicks sped home from 122 Dan Jeffery, and Goldsworthy grinned and laughed all the way through, even when he was spun out in the closing stages.  The second race featured one of the most remarkable incidents ever seen at St Day.  As several of the trucks came together on the exit of the turnstile bend, race leader 224 Steve Williams found himself on the outside line, and as 210 Mike Johns steered off the fence behind him, that forced 998 Martin Knowles to veer left, which resulted in Williams being squeezed up the plating.  Almost like a monorail, Williams rode along the top of the fence, before coming to rest just before the start finish line, where it was left perched precariously.  Some expert Hiab crane work from 141 Toby Tiddy saw the Williams lorry retrieved, and damage to the fence was mercilessly minimal.  With Williams removed from the result as the cause of the stoppage, Nicks was declared the winner once more.  All eight trucks, including the Williams monorail lorry, made it back out for the Special Race at the end of the day, which concluded with a memorable destruction derby.  At various stages, Jeffery and 220 Paul Dunscombe looked to have exited the contest, with their trucks near enough embedded in the fence.  However, relentless effort by both drivers saw them extricate their vehicles, and by the finish, it was Dunscombe who had improbably managed to land the last telling blow to bring to an end yet another hugely entertaining display.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

With more than a dozen westcountry drivers on holiday or otherwise occupied over the Spring Bank Holiday, numbers were always going to take a dive, but even so, the disappointing collection of no-shows from the original booking list was hard to understand or comprehend, and most unlike the BriSCA F2 fraternity in the region.  Seven drivers grided for the Neil Truran Motorsport sponsored White Top Race to open proceedings, and 740 Neil Langworthy turned his pole position start into a winning drive.  572 James Lindsay stormed from the rear of the grid to second, whilst 861 Ben Litherland picked up third place.  Heat one of the meeting proper saw 575 Tom Clark hunt down 542 Steven Gilbert for a fine win.  The second heat saw the positions reversed, as Gilbert refused to let Clark catch him.  The Frontline Security sponsored final had to be halted when Clark spun 750 Lewis Holden, who was then collected by a combination of Langworthy and 111 Lewis Geach, just as the yellow flags appeared.  Gilbert had the lead, with 315 Justin Fisher on his tail, and with a slightly fortuitous anticipation of the start, Gilbert shot away to take top honours.  Fisher was second and Geach completed the top three.  Holden led the Grand National for much of the way, but Fisher caught him to record his first win of the day.

Bangers

A mammoth showing of over 50 Bangers contested the sixth annual British Championship.  Four of the five seeded drivers were present and in the pre-meeting draw, they each opted to stick with the Semi Final grids they selected.  That still left plenty of drivers trying to score points in the qualifying heats.  The opening heat went to 835 Matt Westaway, who led home 515 Sam Fowler and 28 Steve Linly.  Heat two saw 113 Chris Jeanes take a commanding win, from 441 Dan Sutherland and early leader 997 Cameron May.  The third heat brought a different winner again, as 999 John Glover claimed the chequered flag, but Westaway’s second place saw him as the leading points scorer.  Two full grids then contested the Semi Finals.  Seeds 622 Jason Spry and 991 Ben Hale were one and two in the first Semi Final, whilst Westaway and Linly were likewise in Semi Final two.  Spry won the toss for pole in the British Championship, and he stormed into an early lead.  Westaway continued to chase, but the pair of them edged clear of the pack, which was headed by Hale, Linly and Jeanes.  Hale crashed out on the start line, and Linly just got ahead of Jeanes.  However, the race for the title was hotting up, as Westaway slowly reeled in Spry, and then grabbed the lead just after the midway point.  The gap remained fairly constant between Westaway and Spry, and entering the last lap, that looked to be how they would finish.  However, the ultimate disaster struck Westaway on the final bend, as he encountered spinning backmarker 194 Alistair Buchan.  Westaway collected the veteran, and their two cars snagged together.  Spry arrived and took the outside line, to regain the lead, just 100 metres from the line.  Spry took the flag, from Linly, Jeanes, Glover and 60 Andy Bulled, whilst the luckless Westaway was left entangled with Buchan in turn four.  More drama was to follow, however, for both Spry and Jeanes failed post-race scrutineering on suspension related issues.  The cars of Linly, Glover and Bulled passed the tests that were laid in front of them, and they duly took the top three positions, with Linly the new British Champion.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
White Top Race 740 572 861 663 550 22 nof
Heat 1 575 542 315 740 627 750 111 14 828 663
Heat 2 542 575 315 740 627 111 572 750 828 689
Final 542 315 111 627 828 689 14 572 663 575
Grand National 315 750 575 111 627 572 689 828 14 542
Grade Awards W 740 Y 14 B 542
Truck & Lorrys 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 81 122 224 141 210 998 220 225 nof
Heat 2 81 122 141 210 220 nof
Special Race & DD 220
Bangers 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Heat 1 A&B 835 515 28 17 999 898 154 847 254 185
Heat 2 B&C 113 441 997 28 302 331 53 912 847 785
Heat 3 C&A 999 835 441 785 129 331 535 153 nof
Semi 1 622 991 113 847 441 320 60 768 75 133
Semi 2 835 28 999 912 621 53 129 997 930 898
British 28 999 60 621 441 133 75 847 254 768
Best Presented 84 898 944 622 621
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