Dismal weather made for a wretchedly damp afternoon at Smeatharpe, with the covered area on the home straight unsurprisingly proving particularly popular with racegoers.

Stock Rods

Underlining the importance of the season ahead, the Stock Rods were in sufficiently good numbers to adopt the two from three format.  Newcomer and one-time Ministox racer 955 Frankie Radmore led away the first heat, chased by 220 Richard Short.  Eventually Radmore got a little too sideways in the west bend, and that hindered Short.  841 David Hosking inherited the lead, and he was chased by former British Champion 9 Chris Drake as the race reached halfway.  A messy tangle involving 101 David Horwell, 14 Ross Montgomery and 441 Tom Major on the back straight brought about a race suspension and closed up the leaders.  351 Rhys Langdown and 933 Darren Waters traded paint when the race resumed, but 944 Callum Hosie took full advantage to take the win.  Heat two saw 285 Martin Walker as an early casualty with a puncture, and another driver whose hopes were deflated was Drake.  He clashed with Short for the lead, but as the two cars connected side by side, Drake’s tyre exploded, forcing his retirement.  Langdown capitalised, to take the chequered, with 728 Kris Woods the runner-up, after a lively display in the borrowed Corsa of Mike Belcher.  Heat three was suspended after Horwell, Woods and debutant 84 Paul Faralewski got in a muddle on the back straight.  When the race resumed, Drake edged past 913 Ashley Bates and Radmore, before seeing out victory.  There was disappointment for 77 Tom Larcombe in the closing stages, when he suffered an engine failure.  The final was a dramatic race.  First Radmore, and then Short, made the early running.  Drake began to move into contention, but he lost out in a tangle with Bates and Hosking.  Short led into the last quarter, but Langdown now had him in his sights.  As Short caught backmarker 286 Martin Walker Jnr, he opted to go around the outside, and Langdown swiftly grabbed the inside line.  Langdown nosed ahead, and as Short looked to defend his place, he and Major clashed.  On the soaking wet track, it took the lightest of contact to send Short spinning.  The flag fell on Langdown, and Major held on for second, with Hosie completing the top three.  The unfortunate Short recovered for eighth.  Short and Drake were the leaders of the Grand National, but a late charge by Hosie saw him claim his second win of the day.

2 Litre National Bangers

The Winter Open Championship proved to be a lively contest with an exciting conclusion.  From the front of the grid, 99 David Spooner and 206 Matt Brewer disputed the early lead, with 133 Terry Hill in swift pursuit.  When Spooner spun, Hill took over and began to carve out a lengthy advantage.  720 Kenny Gabriel was spun around on the back straight, and that was an open invitation to 275 Liam Best who blasted into him.  Shortly after came the best crashing phase of the race, which was triggered by 74 Adam Hitchcock running in 355 Aaron Dark.  As the two cars locked together to a halt on the start-finish line, Best arrived to blitz Hitchcock.  838 Jamie Peters was next on the scene, and he parked in the rear of Dark.  Gabriel then scored with a stonking hit on Best, and 205 Charles Pearcey thundered into Gabriel, and the action was concluded in spectacular style by 2 Jack Hodges who clattered into Peters.  With Dark having hurt his ankle, the race was halted, and that threw a different light on proceedings for, with just two laps remaining, distant leader Hill now had World Champion 743 Jake Bond right on his tail, whilst the stoppage had also given renewed hope to Brewer and Spooner.  On the penultimate lap, Bond looked down the inside of Hill, and momentarily nosed ahead, but Hill responded to keep hold of first place heading into the final lap, but Bond’s challenge into the pits bend send both drivers wide and in a frantic scramble to the line, it was Bond who got there by a slender margin, as Hill turned into him and took them both into the marker tyres at the end of the straight.  Brewer completed the top three after another last bend scramble that involved 278 Shaun Brokenshire and 264 Shane Jennings.  The first of two Allcomers races was a relatively tame affair save for 303 Josh Jones attacking Brewer in the west bend.  Hill won, convincingly, with Spooner the runner-up.  Hill also took the honours in the second Allcomers race, after he saw off Hodges in their duel for the lead.  Gabriel, Peters and Brokenshire served up an abundance of hits in the Destruction Derby, with Brokenshire seeing off the other two to score a deserved victory.

Ministox

The grid of young racers included four drivers who were making their debut.  919 Oscar Berry stormed away from the front of the grid and led past the midway point in the opening heat.  He was still there as the lap boards appeared, but 202 Cody Bradford was closing fast.  Berry glided wide on the exit of turn four and after he glanced off the plating, the car lost power, coming to a halt half a lap later.  The yellow flags were called, but Bradford was untroubled as he sped to victory, leading home 217 Josh Dent and 970 Millie Farrell.  Heat two was dominated by lower graders.  920 Wayne Wadge spun 242 Amy Williams to take the lead, but then lost out to 567 Mia Batten.  Wadge responded to retake the lead, but back came Batten again, to hit the front for a second time.  Batten saw out the rest of the race to win from 917 Troy Hemmins and Dent.  The white tops battled for the lead at the start of the BB Van Hire final, but when Williams and Wadge baulked one another, Batten pounced to take the lead.  From there, she calmly swept clear, and scored an emphatic victory, receiving the coveted trophy from her father, former BriSCA F2 star, Rob Batten.  Hemmins and Dent rounded out the top three – each having enjoyed a decent day in such miserable weather.