Smeatharpe Stadium’s second meeting of the main season was greeted with pleasant Spring sunshine and a packed pit area with great entries from the BriSCA F2 Stock Cars, Saloon Stock Cars, 2 litre National Bangers (Old Skool) and ORCi Ministox and the day did not fail to deliver with a great afternoon of action in a busy 16 race programme.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

For the BriSCA F2’s it was Remembering Rog day, the annual event that remembers the life and all too short racing career of Roger Willcock and once again there was a very pleasing turnout, just shy of 40 cars, that included several long-distance travellers, most of whom opted to come here instead of another tarmac meeting far closer to their home bases.  126 Jamie Avery took the first heat whilst heat two had a dramatic conclusion when long-time leader 828 Julian Coombes crashed out whilst leading on the last lap and it then came down to a sprint to the line between 689 Joe Marquand and 468 Sam Weston, with Marquand just getting there ahead.  527 James Riggall was the winner of the consolation.  The Remembering Rog Trophy Final saw a complete re-run called for after several crashed out in a pile up on the Honiton bend of the track.  It was a slightly depleted field for take two and the first part of the race saw 325 Ryan Sheahan hold sway at the front with Avery reeling him in and the pick of the stars were 38 Dave Polley and 886 Chris Bradbury, on his first appearance of 2017. Just past the halfway mark, Avery moved into the lead but Polley had him in his sights by then and made his move with little resistance from Avery into the final quarter of the race.  From that point Polley kept a safe distance in the lead and the battle for third ended up being between Bradbury and 575 Tom Clark, with the duo swapping places at least once, until Bradbury came back with a decisive hit to grab the other podium slot.  The Grand National saw the largest grid of the day for F2’s and again went all the way without a caution flag and saw Avery complete a good day with his second win.

Saloon Stock Cars

The Saloon Stock Car entry saw an improvement, enhanced by a selection of East Anglian visitors making the long journey.  760 Joey Reynolds had the use of the Autospeed hire car, testing the water ahead of a potential move to the formula, and he acquainted himself well, proving to be hard to catch in all the races.  It was 399 Cole Atkins who took the opening heat and then in heat two 158 Shane Davies came through from the back of the grid to the front to win.  Reynolds held on for longer in the Final but as the race went on the gap between he and Atkins chasing was coming down.  However, Davies was on a charge once again and was in a position to strike on the penultimate lap.  He sent both Atkins and Reynolds wide, the latter going into the plating courtesy of the double whammy.  Davies took the lead and went on to make it a heat and Final double.  Atkins held on for second and 591 Aaron Morris made third.

2 Litre Old Skool National Bangers

A fantastic turnout of 44 2 litre National Bangers (Old Skool) and with them all available cars in all the races, it led to plenty of drama and action.  It was 938 Ashley Rice who picked his way through it all from his front of the grid start to win the opening heat and then 104 Lee Mitchell was very fast on his way to winning heat two, so much so that the lap charts had to be re-checked after 38 Kevin Styles was initially given the chequered flag.   The Final saw a big pile on turns one and two, which saw the track momentarily blocked at some points but in the true essence of Banger racing, a route through was forged.  242 Ben Ellacott hit the front until he was passed by 804 Treve Wills.  The pair swapped places until the Cornish driver kept ahead and went on to win.  Ellacott held on to second and Ash Rice was third.  There was a disappointing number of cars for the Allcomers, run to full National Banger rules, but nevertheless the action served up was very hard and just three of the 11 starters completed the race.  Ellacott was the runaway leader at one stage, but he made the mistake of driving past 74 Adam Hitchcock and ‘Scratchy’ duly followed the 242 car in hard.  It was 383 Bradley Hutchings who took the victory.

Ministox

The strong number of ORCi Ministox necessitated a change in schedule, to a two from three heat format.  The first of them saw a historic Darby family moment as 577 Harry headed home 677 Warren.  970 Archie Farrell found himself disqualified for spinning 917 Gemma Robbins ‘inside out’.  Harry Darby then went on to make it two from two in heat two whilst heat three came down to a last bend move from 907 Cameron Lawrence on to 619 Max Langmaid.  The annual Esau Family Trophy Final saw Harry Darby’s chances of the hat-trick evaporate at the start, when he was slowly away.  The race was all about 654 Harley Soper who was at the front from flag to flag, and picked his way through back marking traffic with ease on his way to a convincing maiden win.  Lawrence made the most progress once again, but never looked likely to catch Soper on this occasion and 980 Charlie Lobb completed a solid set of results all afternoon with third.