Smeatharpe Stadium - Mayday Monday 6th May 2024

The sun shone at Smeatharpe Stadium on Mayday Monday, where the Grand Parade was led by 720 Archie Brown, winner of the English Championship for Saloon Stock Cars the previous day at St Day.

Saloon Stock Cars

With just about enough cars, a two from three heats format was deployed.  759 Taylor Whitford led the opening heat for many laps.  199 Phil Powell edged past, but amidst a bundle of backmarkers he was delayed.  261 Dom Davies inherited the lead, but he was overhauled by 760 Joey Reynolds who swept to victory from new English Champion Brown.  At the start of heat two, 28 Ian Govier was spun by 799 Joe Powell.  164 Sam Critchley led most of the way until the halfway point.  677 Warren Darby then picked up 561 Aaron Totham and buried him at high speed in the pits bend.  Totham loitered, but his attempt at revenge came to nothing as Darby sailed by unscathed on the home straight.  As the track became slippery, Critchley slid wide, and 577 Harry Darby took advantage to grab the lead, going on to win from 238 Alfie Aldous, who made the most audacious of last bend lunges, but to no avail.  Phil Powell took the honours in heat three, as he reeled in long-time leader Whitford who maintained second place to the flag for his best result so far.  The day’s heaviest action came in a brutal final, where 329 Kegan Sampson and Reynolds continued their feud, clashing on a number of occasions before Sampson rattled both cars into the west bend, which regrettably led to injury for Reynolds.  Whitford looked to have a winning lead as the race moved into the latter stages, but he spun amongst backmarkers, and second place Critchley was unable to take advantage before Aldous snatched the lead and took the win from 33 Pete Hollett, with Critchley’s third place proving to be his best of the day.  Down in sixth place, 111 Thomas Ruby enjoyed his best day yet, recording his third top ten placing of the afternoon.

Stock Rods

The non-contact Stock Rods again appeared in good numbers, and they raced to a two from three heats format.  An exciting opening heat saw 78 Jason Legg defend the lead for lap after lap as 946 Dave Taylor, 131 Stephen Cock and 63 John Hemming queued up behind him.  Legg then had a puncture entering turn one and clashed with Taylor, which opened the door for Hemming to take the lead.  Hemming shot clear, to claim a win at Smeatharpe for the first time as Cock and 314 Jason Barraclough completed the top three.  Heat two featured a near race-long battle between Cock and 220 Richard Short.  Despite every effort, Short could not find a way to get past Cock who held on for the win.  Legg was the early leader of heat three, before Taylor swept past.  All looked to be a relatively routine race until 84 Paul Faralewski blew a radiator and coated the entry to turn three with water.  The unfortunate 204 Georgie Polley was first on the scene, and she thundered into the wall.  522 Chris Mikulla and 944 Callum Hosie joined the pile-up, before swiftly adopted yellow flags mercifully slowed proceedings to a halt.  Polley needed assistance from her car, but when the race resumed, Taylor made short work of seeing out the victory, from Legg and 275 Jeremy Hatch.  A huge field of 26 drivers assembled for the final, which Legg led for an age until a race suspension was called when 913 Ashley Bates ground to a halt on the home straight.  When racing resumed, Legg was consumed by a further battle involving 79 Brian Edmond and Short.  Edmond took the lead, and Mikulla tried to pass him around the outside.  As Edmond defended stoutly, he bounced into Mikulla, but half a lap later, Mikulla stole the inside line to take the lead, and he went on to complete a convincing victory, leaving Edmond and Short to fill the other rostrum places.

Bangers

The Team Championship attracted nine different teams.  A busy opening heat for Bangers featured a variety of race leaders.  67 Harry Pritchard (Slip N Sliders) led early until he retired to the infield, which left 556 Pete Hollis (Farm Boys) out front.  He contested the lead with 96 Craig Cornelius (Team Crash), before 196 Phil Chapman (Rebels) joined the battle.  When 881 Caitlin Emery (TPG) ran aground in the pits bend, 989 Dean Arm (Farm Boys) blitzed the parked car.  Chapman completed the distance to take the win from Cornelius and Hollis, whilst 81 Gary Emery (TPG) stormed into Arm.  Heat two began in a lively fashion, as 31 Liam Shipway (Code Red) leapt skywards on the back straight when the green flag flew.  890 Leszek Malinowski (Code Red) and 144 Ashton Worthington (Slip N Sliders) duelled at the front.  They were duly joined by 991 Ben Hale (Team BS) and 235 Sam Galliford (TPG).  When the leaders tangled, 230 Tom Shilling (TJT) took advantage.  He hit the front and went on to win from Chapman who relegated 60 Andy Bulled (Team BS) to third on the final lap.  With just three points between the Rebels and TJT going into the third and deciding heat, it was all to race for.  Roe took the early lead, chased by 451 Nigel Belfield (Rebels) and Hale, who was fighting against having a puncture.  Eventually, Shipway broke free, and he enjoyed an untroubled run to the flag.  Another late surge by Chapman netted him second place again, whilst third for Belfield sealed a sufficient points haul to clinch the Team Championship.

Team                                       Total
Rebels                                     77
TJT                                            65
Team BS                                 53
Team Crash                           47
Code Red                               43
Farm Boys                             43
TPG                                          35
Duck Boys                              31
Slip N Sliders                         31