A large crowd were on hand to witness the inaugural hosting at St Day of the ORCi Stock Rod World Championship, and thankfully the threatened rain showers stayed away to ensure a fast and furious afternoon’s entertainment.

Stock Rods

The afternoon commenced with Time Trials to determine the starting order for the grid.  In each of the four minute sessions it was evident that track experience was critical with the top two positions in each block filled by South West drivers with all but one of the ten visiting drivers from Scotland and Northern Ireland making their track debut.  The crucial block one featuring the top two seeds from each of the three regions saw 351 Rhys Langdown take pole position at the track which had seen him take three wins so far this season whilst alongside him would start the National Champion 944 Callum Hosie.  Defending Champion 29 David Philp Jnr ended up in grid three, alongside UK Champion 272 John McAllister whilst Northern Irish duo 958 Shea Duff and 981 Andy McLeister completed the top six grid positions.

A last chance race of entirely Autospeed registered drivers saw a couple of drivers in the pits missing from the grid.  As such, nine drivers competed for the final four spots on the World Final grid.  913 Ashley Bates and 862 Darryl Cock converted their front row starting positions to qualify but behind there was an ill-tempered affair which saw 437 Lewis Trickey and 933 Darren Waters both receive a black cross from the race steward.  Waters had weaved across the path Trickey repeatedly, and Trickey then took matters into his own hands by pushing Waters deep into the turnstile bend.  Ultimately, this resulted in both being docked places, relegating Trickey outside the top four and denying Waters a place on the grid also with 131 Stephen Cock and 982 Sophie Daughtrey the drivers to benefit by shuffling up into third and fourth respectively.

The World Finalists came out to warm applause from the spectators to be presented with mementos from sponsors Southern Motorsport, with a special mention to 728 Kris Woods who in fancy dress made a very convincing Elvis sat atop his trusty Starlet, adding to the feelgood nature of the afternoon.  After driver introductions and gridding, it was a particularly nice piece of detail that the rolling lap music of the formula was played by the St Austell Town brass band who were trackside as part of the pre-meeting entertainment.  At the green, Langdown and Hosie set off at rapid pace, Hosie taking to the outside line and racing side by side with the pole sitter for the first couple of laps before settling in right behind Langdown.  After a few laps it was evident that Scotsman Philp had got his tyres up to temperature and was closing fast on the lead duo.  The race was progressing at high speed with little in the way of the much-feared carnage, although 32 James Horwell was one of the few casualties as he came to a halt in turn three and Duff’s race ended early in turn four.  As such, the leaders were quickly in amongst the back markers and heading down the back straight it was at this point that Langdown decided to move to the outside to pass some of cars ahead.  This was all the invitation that Hosie and Philp needed and in a matter of just a few metres they had found a way up the inside of the same cars and Langdown was down to third.  Philp was now challenging for the lead just as a race suspension was called with 76 Martin Larcombe finding himself embedded in the side of Horwell.  On the resumption, Hosie quickly extended out a three-four car lengths lead taking advantage of the clear track as the half distance flag was shown, but it was not long again until there was traffic ahead and again the World Champion was closing in.  Behind, 909 Justin Washer (who had set one of the fastest times in the lap trials) and 216 Cameron Doak got past 272 John McAllister for fourth and fifth respectively.  Hosie had begun rebuilding a bit of a cushion on Philp as the laps ticked by.  Just seven laps remained when, heading round the pits bend the 944 car twitched one way and then another and it was evident all was not well.  Instantly, Philp pounced, a rear puncture being the culprit on Hosie’s machine much to the heartbreak of the driver and the local supporters.  Hosie quickly dropped out of the race as Philp seized the opportunity up front, and despite Langdown trying all he could to close the gap it was Philp who continued his fine championship form to take the spoils in what had been a highly competitive and dramatic race.

Following the World Final, drivers competed in two from three heats with points scored going towards their grid position in the ORCi Championship the following evening at Smeatharpe.  Heat one required a complete restart after 286 Martin Walker Jnr stalled on the line and 932 Anais McCreight was slow away.  A race suspension was required shortly after the green flag had dropped when a wheel departed the 415 Sean Gillett machine.  On the restart 172 Derek Conner made the most of his front row start to reel off the laps to victory as an excellent battle for second developed between 216 Cameron Doak and 92 William Donnell.  Both latched on to the rear of Conner with three laps to go but the race leader managed to withstand the pressure of his fellow countryman and Northern Irish entrant.  McLeister exited heat two at the green as he clattered into an infield marker tyre.  Duff led the field away, but he was eventually overhauled by both Hosie and Washer to finish third just ahead of the two-time World Champion Philp and McAllister.  Heat three was a hard fought affair with McCallister leading Philp from the off with three abreast racing further back at one point on the back straight, as Washer exited with heavy front end damage on the pit bend with 268 Kurtis Reid also involved.  Just as Philp was applying the pressure up front a race suspension was called with 299 Katy Dawe stranded facing oncoming traffic on the turnstile bend.  On the restart McAllister, Philp and Langdown raced line astern with that being the order at the flag whilst Hosie tried all he could to pass 612 Leon Stewart for fourth but was unable to get around the outside of the Scotsman to conclude an outstanding afternoon’s racing from the non-contact class.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

The 21 car entry could have been both better and worse, and that number dropped when 835 Matt Westaway encountered gearbox problems in practice.  However, with all cars in all races served up its moments during the afternoon.  828 Julian Coombes was the early leader of the opener as 935 Nathan Maidment went for a spin on the pits bend.  890 Paul Rice quickly moved up into third.  The pit bend was also the location of a tangle involving 667 Tommy Farrell, 460 Adam Pearce and 605 Ritchie Andrews that ruined all their races as Rice moved into the lead. 302 Dale Moon was keen to get through the field but his attempts to do so entering into the home straight saw Coombes, Pearce and Stoneman all ending up in a heap with Moon.  That brought out the yellow flags and eradicated second to fourth in one swoop.  On the restart and with just a couple of laps to go 542 Steven Gilbert and 184 Aaron Vaight had the first of several encounters during the afternoon as Rice chalked off the win.  Heat two commenced in spectacular fashion with Gilbert deftly using 418 Ben Borthwick as the bullet to fire at Vaight.  The North West star was catapulted up and over the bonnet of 303 Kurt Selway, impacting the plating on turns one and two requiring a race suspension.  Coombes led the restart but was overhauled by Maidment who was then joined with two laps to go by Rice.  The expected challenge from the Ben Fund Champion came heading into the final bend but it failed to connect and Maidment swept around the final bend for a first class victory.  The Final for the Silverline Trophy was as customary a clutch start.  The ill-tempered affair between Gilbert and Vaight continued with Vaight repaying the previous heat’s manoeuvre with a robust hit into the turnstile bend that scattered both cars into the plating, ruling both out of contention as they limped their damaged cars to the infield.  Moon headed the field by half distance and was never really challenged in what then became a rather pedestrian race, Coombes and Stoneman rounding out the top three.  Rice won again in the Grand National, with Maidment completing a fine afternoon as the runner-up.

Back 2 Basic Bangers

The Back 2 Basics Bangers were a widespread variety, where the focus of the day was the Cornish Caravan Chaos race.  Those who wanted a race to prepare for the caravan mayhem included the diminutive Ka of 250 Moss Janson, whose primary presence was to contest the Caravan race in aid of the Handstand Charity.  His car was dwarfed by 290 Jay Tomkins in a Jaguar, but Janson did try his best to dislodge the Tomkins machine from the lead much to the delight of the crowd.  Janson’s challenge spluttered to a halt as the car gave up the ghost with Tomkins powering to an easy win from 873 Beau Carlton-Barnes.  The vast majority of the expectant crowd had remained to see six caravans take to the grid as the Cornish Caravan Chaos returned to the track for the first time since 2019.  It did not take long until all the track was littered in debris.  692 Dave Gardner came to a halt on the start finish line and with his trailer and remnants of caravan still attached it was an enticing target for the remaining cars and so it proved with 837 Barnabie Carlton-Barnes being at the head of a train of cars which saw Carlton-Barnes pitched up into the air and onto his side in spectacular fashion with loud cheers circulating the arena as he climbed from his car.  Tomkins and 690 Tristan Clement ended up the two sole survivors and each took their turn to finish off some of the larger pieces of caravan wreckage, the two eventually entering tangling in clouds of tyre spoke on the turnstile bend.  Clement escaped with caravan chassis still attached, and as he tried to position his car just beyond race control Tomkins now shed of his caravan delivered a big head-on hit to rapturous applause and cheers.  Clement was declared the winner as the last car running with chassis attached, and he was presented with the Marshall Janson Award.