As race action switched to a Friday evening, heavy rain throughout tried its best to spoil the action on track which was of a remarkably high standard given the conditions.

Stock Rods

A good field of 15 Stock Rods provided a trio of excellent races despite conditions not being conducive to non-contact racing.  The start to heat one was delayed after the incessant rain had caused an electrical issue which plunged half the track into darkness.  Once light was restored, debutant 286 Martin Walker Jnr saw his race come to an end when his car ground to a halt on the entry to the home straight, although his position tight on the inside of the track and out of harm’s way meant the race could continue.  Another newcomer to the formula, 44 Andrew Worthington, looked to have the win in the bag until he too encountered mechanical gremlins; a driveshaft issue later being identified as the cause, which ending his nights racing.  That promoted 437 Lewis Trickey to the front to take what had seemed an unlikely victory.  The Final was led from the off by Walker Jnr who drove a solid defensive race, forcing his challengers to attempt to overtake on the outside line.  He withstood the challenge until with around three laps to go the car again slowed to halt in almost exactly the same position as in the opening race.  That promoted 426 Keith Channon to the lead with Trickey challenging, the English Champion being the only driver to make the outside line work for him, but he ran out of time to successfully make the pass on Channon who crossed the line first.  Returning for his first appearance after illness, 285 Martin Walker was third.  The Grand National saw an excellent dash to the line after long-time leader 32 James Horwell was delayed by the backmarking Walker Jnr, and that allowed Trickey to once again challenge on the outside, this time just making it to the finish line inches ahead of Horwell.

Bangers

With a few failing to make it out of the pits on time, 17 cars took to the grid in heat one which was led for much of the race by 729 Jez Hooper.  196 Craig Cornelius eventually forced his way through to the front only then to be passed by 775 Brad Hunt.  On the final lap however, Cornelius managed to make the move back to the front to take the win.  A larger field of 24 cars for heat two saw 995 Sammy Brenton swap her marshalling flags for a steering wheel to take an early lead, but when she crawled to a halt 944 Callum Hosie took over at the front to race home to a comfortable victory.  The consolation was halted with smoke emanating from the car of 37 Anthony Whell.  89 James Tuohey led on the restart but was being closed down by current Points Champion 898 Jack Semmonds until his path was blocked by a reversing backmarker, dropping him down the places.  Tuohey completed the remaining laps untroubled.  The Devon Championship Final was a high-speed affair with 6 Danny Greening leading for much of the opening half of the race.  13 Lee Radford forced his way past Greening to take up the lead, although at one point it looked to some as if 34 Lee Jackson was the lead car given his speed, but Jackson had been out for a time in a pile-up.  Radford crossed the line in first place however and after a few anxious moments during post-race scrutineering, he was eventually confirmed as the winner.  Greening was second and 916 Luke Thomas third.  Thomas then completed proceedings with a win in the sparsely populated Allcomers, whilst third for Greening completed a successful night which landed him a promotion to the star grade.

Ministox

The healthy number of local drivers was bolstered by the attendance by a trio of Scottish drivers.  One of them, 647 Lewis Clark-Burgoyne found himself nose first against the plating on the entry to the home straight, and when 917 Troy Hemmins was unable to avoid the stranded car, the race was  brought under caution to help Hemmins from his vehicle.  654 Harley Soper showed his liking for the wet weather conditions to win the race.  Heat two featured an early yellow flag with 684 Robbie Armit spun and stranded on the back straight.  A second race suspension was called when 970 Millie Farrell and 538 Kady Mills came together.  There then followed a tremendous race with any one of seven drivers in contention for the lead places, newly promoted to the red grade 290 Alfie Tomkins and yellow grader 202 Cody Bradford mixing it with the more established names.  Soper again managed to break free to take his second victory of the evening, 985 Sam Carter taking a hard fought second place with Tomkins in third.  The Final did not quite manage to reach the heights of the previous race with 577 Harry Darby making his way quickly to the front of the field.  He took the win, ahead of Soper and Bradford, whilst behind them 985 Sam Carter and 007 Charlie Hardie clashed on the final bend; Hardie picking up fourth with Carter unplaced.