A day of blustery showers tried its best to put a dampener on proceedings but the drivers across all three formulas on show entertained the hardy crowd in attendance.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

The entry included long distance travellers 446 Josh Vickers and 881 Jamie Ward-Scott from the north west.  With drivers racing to a two-thirds format there were 17 cars on the grid in the opening heat.  Vickers spun out alongside 970 Archie Farrell on the opening lap as 540 Dayne Pritlove led the field over the opening stages.  315 Justin Fisher moved aside 418 Ben Borthwick on his charge towards the front but was unable to make an impression on the battle for the win which saw Track Champion 302 Dale Moon close in on Pritlove with a lap to go, grabbing the lead in turns one and two.  Just 14 cars gridded for heat two including 572 James Lindsay who was returning to the track following his extrication at the last St Day meeting.  On a damp track Vickers again saw himself in trouble on the opening lap whilst a short while later 835 Matt Westaway made heavy contact with the turn two plating.  890 Paul Rice took over from 605 Ritchie Andrews at the head of the field, but Fisher was again on a charge and up to fourth within the first quarter of the race.  Fisher followed Rice through into second and behind them there was a tremendous battle between 689 Joe Marquand and 24 Jon Palmer, the two trading bumper blows on successive laps which allowed 35 Charlie Fisher to close in fourth.  When the two red tops delayed each other, Fisher nipped past to steal third behind his father, whilst Rice held on for the win.  It was back up to 17 cars for heat three, which saw 114 Jamie Pepper leading the opening stages on an extremely greasy track following an earlier shower.  Archie Farrell and 636 David North were early spinners as Marquand again showed his speed to reach the front where he stayed with a lead of more than half a lap over Rice in second.  The Final was for the O’er the Border Trophy, the first time it had been raced for at the track and saw 23 cars make the grid.  After an initial false start, the green flag was shown at the second time of asking although it was less than an exemplary start by the drivers.  There was early drama as Borthwick’s front bumper hooked onto the rear of Justin Fisher’s car heading down the home straight.  Borthwick went for a wild ride as Fisher tried to dislodge the 418 machine heading into turn one, which whilst having the desired effect, lost both time, Borthwick in particular dropping to the rear of the field.  A yellow flag stoppage was required shortly after Archie Farrell was collected by Andrews and 33 Matt Peters.  On the restart Rice got past Westaway and quickly built up a lead as Borthwick made remarkable progress back up through the field and was up to third as the lap board came out.  He forced his way past Moon for second but could not get close to Rice who won by half the length of a straight.  Borthwick remarked in the post-race interviews that he was very happy with second after doubting he was going to finish the race following his earlier travails, whilst Rice was happy with how well his car was going of late and that he was making a quick return back to the star grade.  Following the trophy presentations, it was revealed that this meeting marked the 20th anniversary of the debut appearance by Justin Fisher in the formula.  Justin received a special framed picture marking the achievement, the picture featuring the 2002 Fisher machine racing side by side with his 2021 car.  Fisher remarked over the PA system that he was aware that the milestone was approaching and whilst he was of the view that the sport was a young man’s game, it was pointed out to him that his current rich vein of success demonstrated that there was much to be said for experience out on track.  The Grand National took to the track as another heavy shower passed over.  736 Josh Weare hit the front but was passed by Palmer as the halfway point in the race was reached, whereupon the superstar driver led the field home for a comfortable victory.

Stock Rods

The Stock Rods contested their National Championship with a strong showing of seven drivers from North of the Border including the defending Champion 41 Stuart McKinnon.  The format to determine the championship grid saw drivers contesting two out of three heats with each driver seeing their grid position reversed for their second heat race.  The opening heat saw former Autospeed Points Champion 9 Chris Drake break free at the front of the field, but a yellow flag stoppage was called for after 54 John Tait connected with one of the large marker tyres at the end of the home straight.  The restart saw Drake again make the break at the front with Scots 351 Stuart Wedderburn and 491 Sandy Galbraith in the top five.  Galbraith made heavy impact with the 275 Jeremy Hatch car, losing the passenger side door in the process and eventually dropping out of the running.  Fellow Scotsmen 216 Cameron Doak and McKinnon made their way up into the top six from the back of the grid, but up ahead 909 Justin Washer, English Champion 944 Callum Hosie and 441 Tom Major battled for second place, the trio finishing in that order although Washer was docked for jumping the restart.  Heat two was a stop-start affair, the first stoppage coming with 862 Darryl Cock spun in the middle of the track entering turn three.  On the restart Points Champion 437 Lewis Trickey found himself under pressure from Doak and McKinnon but the race was quickly brought under caution once more with turn three again the focus, this time with half a dozen cars or more were strewn across the track.  Once the race got back underway Trickey and Doak broke away at the front, Trickey leaving the door open up the inside for the visitor to squeeze by and take the win on his first visit to the track.  The third heat ran flag to flag with former British Champion 909 Justin Washer leading from the off on a damp track.  Running well in second was 20 Sandy Allen, the veteran Scottish racer contending well in the tricky conditions.  He was eventually passed by Hosie but managed to withstand the challenge of 32 James Horwell and Trickey who had made progress from further back in the field.  The National Championship race saw Doak on pole with Hosie alongside.  It was a quality front end of the grid however with Drake, Washer, Trickey and McKinnon completing the top three rows of the grid.  With the rain falling and for the first time in their races a proper wet track, it was Hosie who made the perfect start, Doak not unsurprisingly a little tentative and unsure of how much grip the track would give up on the opening lap.  In the opening stages 14 Ross Montgomery and Wedderburn tangled heading into turn one but with a gap to their inside, the race continued.  As the race settled down, Doak appeared to gain momentarily on Hosie, but it was short lived and as Hosie started encountering the back marking traffic his lead once again extended.  Whilst navigating his way through the traffic on a slippery track could never be described as straight forward, Hosie was never under enough pressure to yield to a mistake, and he crossed the line to add the gold stripe to the St George Cross on his roof.  Doak was a fine second on his track debut and Washer third.

Ministox

The junior class’s afternoon’s racing commenced with a White & Yellow grade race featuring eight cars.  567 Mia Batten was spun in the early stages by 770 Austin Farrell but at the front of the field 055 Olivia Herzig led home 902 Reagan Davies to take her first victory in the formula.  Heat one proper featured 19 cars and saw a lively start with 242 Amy Williams spinning on the inside of turn two as Batten was again spun around by Farrell.  Earlier race winner Herzig was shoved sideways down the back straight but recovered well to rejoin further down the grid.  970 Millie Farrell got past Davies to take up the lead and was eventually followed through by 917 Troy Hemmins and 577 Harry Darby.  A busy track with backmarkers created lots to think about for the lead trio but in the end no one gained an advantage, and it was in the order previously described that they took the flag.  Heat two began with a turn two spin for Williams as 907 Cadan Davies and 525 Harrison Stone also tangled.  As the race progressed, Millie Farrell and 202 Cody Bradford raced side by side for the lead spot, Farrell eventually being squeezed out towards the pit gate plating.  Almost immediately after, Bradford found himself sent into a half spin on the home straight with cars being sent in all directions.  Most managed to avoid him, but he was hit by 617 Christina Sillifant and Darby.  A yellow flag was required a few laps later with Batten facing the wrong direction on the home straight after being spun out by Hemmins.  Whilst Herzig led the field away, there was an impressive train of six cars behind battling it out for second.  British Champion Darby managed to climb through the melee and into the lead on the back straight on the final lap as Herzig and Hunt dived to the line in a close finish for the other podium spots.  The Final got underway with the now familiar site of Williams spinning on turn two this time being joined by Batten and 922 Kaydi Butcher.  Reagan Davies took up the running, but the race was brought under caution with heavy front hub damage for Austen Farrell on turn four.  On the resumption there was a great four-way battle for the lead between Millie Farrell, Bradford, Darby and Hunt.  Once more it was Darby who eventually came out on top as Batten was spun by Cadan Davies entering the home straight.  The yellow flag period and subsequent restart set up an enthralling battle for second between Hunt and 290 Alfie Tomkins with an equally exciting battle for fourth between Hemmins and Millie Farrell.  With a dryish line appearing, Hunt managed to close in on the rear of Tomkins and with three laps to go squeezed up the inside, but Tomkins comes back at Hunt on the following lap where they were joined by Hemmins.  The Tomkins challenge came to an end after he bounced off the home straight plating, Darby being following home by Hemmins and Hunt.  The fun was not yet at an end as with a plethora of trophies being distributed thanks to generous sponsorship by H & N Sillifant & Sons there were so many youngsters for their parade lap that instead of all aboard the pace cars, the youngsters set off at pace running around the track much to the delight and applause of the crowd on hand, bringing a suitably cheery curtain down on the afternoon’s racing for the youngsters.