Once light misty drizzle had cleared, and the weather improved, raceogers enjoyed a fine summer’s evening of racing at Smeatharpe.

Stock Rods

The non-contact Stock Rods produced their best car count yet for this season, which resulted in another two from three format.  In the opening heat, 441 Tom Major’s hastiness to get to the front saw him tag race leader 762 Charlie Edwards, who spun as a result.  Major was handed a black cross, and even though he kept clear of the chasing pair of brothers 103 Chris Horwell and 32 James Horwell, his post-race docking handed the victory to Chris Horwell.  Heat two saw Edwards significantly involved once more, as a queue of traffic lined up behind him.  That was until British Champion 909 Justin Washer burst around the outside, but by then, 286 Martin Walker Jnr was long gone, and he duly claimed his second win of the season.  The third heat saw Walker Jnr and James Horwell clash as they battled for the lead.  Walker Jnr spun, but a lap later Horwell got himself in a muddle all on his own, and that opened the door for 227 Jody Hawkins to nip past and take the chequered.  A decent showing of 20 cars gridded for the final, which began with a spin for 913 Ashley Bates.  Comeback racer 40 Rick Cornell, at the wheel of the Stock Rod Hire Car, took over at the front, and proceeded to set a fast pace.  426 Keith Channon and James Horwell were in pursuit, but Cornell maintained his advantage.  Further back, as the pack congregated, there was an untidy lap in which 275 Jeremy Hatch came under pressure.  Cars scattered in all directions, with 9 Chris Drake being spun to the infield on the back straight.  This was to have no bearing on the leaders though, as Cornell held on to win, leading home Channon and Horwell, as blue graded drivers filled the top six positions.

Special Rods

The larger non-contact cars in the Special Rods were slightly down on numbers, but all drivers in attendance did receive a commemorative mug for their efforts, courtesy of Mugged Off.  The trio of races for the Special Rods did produce a different winner each time.  Former BriSCA F2 Stock Car racer 278 Andrew Bressington hunted down early leader 61 Beth Stevenson to win the opening heat, and 6 Tim Bristow, another former F2 driver, did likewise in heat two.  Stevenson again made the running in the final, but for the third consecutive race she drifted a little wide on the exit of a bend and relinquished the lead.  On this occasion, it was 60 Tom Bristow who swept by to win, as he led home 303 Jason Oliver, whilst a commendable effort from 135 Jim Cannon saw him claim third, as earlier heat winner Tim Bristow spun on the exit of turn four, clobbering an infield marker tyre as he did so.

Bangers

A healthy entry of Bangers saw drivers afforded plenty of racing opportunities.  In the first heat, 303 Josh Jones swept past 44 Liam Boswarthick early on, and held the lead for many laps.  However, track debutant 171 Jamie Strange soon settled into a rhythm, and he pounced as the lap boards appeared, to win from 929 Sam Baker.  In heat two, 785 Nick Craddock relieved 114 Luke Niles of the lead, and survived a late run by star grader 23 Barry Staples.  In the consolation, long-time race leader Jones was caught up in some home straight chaos, which led to 8 Darren Rundle challenging for the lead.  As they duelled, 898 Jack Semmonds edged past them both to take the chequered.  There was a lively conclusion to the feature final.  Jones and Rundle were involved again, but as they lost out in the closing stages, Staples momentarily took over, but when he was delayed, Strange grabbed his chance to secure win number two, as he led home 991 Ben Hale and 2 Harrison Staples.  A third win went to Strange as he took the honours in the first Allcomers race.  Just nine drivers gridded for the second Allcomers race, run to National Banger rules.  Having been parked in the west bend fence, 348 Michael Beard stormed into 522 Chris Orchard, as Boswarthick resisted all efforts to bundle him fencewards.  Harrison Staples won, which was the trigger for the Destruction Derby in which Barry Staples thundered into 275 Liam Best.  The two cars seemed inseparable until Boswarthick’s attack parted them.  However, Boswarthick’s car went on fire, and once that had been extinguished, Best was declared the winner as the only driver left ready for any restart, thereby concluding a brutal last event of an entertaining evening.