A huge crowd packed into Smeatharpe Stadium under bright warm skies for an afternoons of Bank Holiday excitement, and they were not disappointed.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

The afternoon commenced with the customary Grand Parade after which drivers and officials gathered on centre to pay tribute to former south west F2 star 505 Ivor Collins who had sadly died in the last week.  Following the tribute, presentations were undertaken for the winners across each grade of the Triple Crown Summer Series which had ran over each of the Monday night sessions during August.  525 Charlie Knight (white), 475 Leah Sealy (yellow), 126 Jamie Avery (blue) and 542 Steven Gilbert (red) picked up a handsome range of prizes courtesy of the series sponsors.

The opening race was the track’s White and Yellow grade final.  Despite the delayed start to proceedings, the race still commenced with more of the spectators navigating their way around the terraces.  There was chaos on the exit of the west bend with 115 Ben Fairbrother, 460 Adam Pearce, 931 Rebecca Smith and 979 Paul Moss all involved with bits of cars being thrown down the home straight bringing out the yellow flags.  528 Shane Hector moved past Knight on the restart, but it wasn’t long until the yellow flags were flying once again with 259 Daz Purdie stranded in the middle of the track on turn four.  35 Charlie Fisher and 605 Ritchie Andrews enjoyed a fine battle for position though this somewhat hampered their progress to the front but eventually Fisher broke free.  He hunted down and passed Hector, with Andrews and 390 Jessica Smith joining the previous leader in a battle for the final two podium spots, Hector just pipping Andrews at the flag.  Heat one proper saw Gilbert slow initially dropping him to the rear of the pack from where he was unable to climb back into the qualifying spots.  Up front 700 Adam Rubery moved swiftly into the lead from which he was unchallenged but there were some lively exchanges towards the latter stages of the race with 988 Charlie Lobb in hard on the rear bumper of 667 Tommy Farrell and 251 Craig Driscoll which Lobb received back in good measure on the following lap, before Driscoll’s race ending in a tangle with 468 Sam Weston.  Heat two saw a black cross given to Hector for being quick away on the rolling lap.  He was eventually chased down by 475 Leah Sealy in second, but she was unable to close sufficiently to make a challenge as there was some late drama after 435 Adam Paling spun on the entry to the home straight on the last lap but was avoided by the pack.  Sealy was awarded the win when Hector was docked two places.  Paling was the early race leader in the consolation, but Andrews moved ahead and ran home the winner as Paling’s race ended after a ferocious hit from Moss into the pit bend.  Paling connected heavily with the plating and Moss spun around, which cost both drivers any chance of advancing to the feature race.  The Final saw cars four-wide early on round the pit bend with Andrews and Weston both spinning around as Rubery in his efforts to take avoiding action was squeezed towards the back straight wall.  With Weston requiring assistance, a yellow flag was called.  North west visitor 960 Ady Whitehead moved through and into the lead shortly after the race resumed, and whilst he was some way clear and eventually took the chequered flag it was a far from easy run home as he carefully had to navigate a large number of back-markers, one of whom, 53 Phil Mann, almost managed to remove him from the lead on the final bend of the race.  127 Matt Stoneman was the runner-up, and early leader 291 Dan Baker was third.  The Grand National saw Rubery quickly into the lead but the west bend seemed particularly problematic for the rest of the field with multiple spins and shunts causing trouble for Fairbrother, Fisher and Smith and Gilbert, the last two becoming hooked together on the infield.  161 Ben Bate and Weston followed Rubery home, whilst Sealy made it hard for Andrews as she attempted to unlap herself.

Saloon Stock Cars

The Saloon Stock Cars entry was frustratingly modest with a few local drivers notably absent, but the field did include 319 Richard Regan completing his trio of days racing in Scotland and the south west.  The opening heat saw a relatively straight forward win for 720 Archie Brown with 677 Warren Darby making an impressive climb up through the field to second.  Heat two saw Brown again build up a healthy lead helped by both Darby and 902 Buster Jnr coming unstuck when encountering a slow moving 97 Jon Kingwell on the back straight.  By the final lap 199 Phil Powell had closed sufficiently to attempt a last bend lunge but he was unable to connect with sufficient force to dislodge Brown from first place.  Brown completed a hat-trick of wins in the Final, leading home 277 Jack Grandon and Darby.  To reward the fans and drivers in attendance, an additional allcomers race was added, complete with a closed grid.  This helped serve up a spectacular race as the entire field squabbled over the same piece of track with Grandon ending up in a heap on the west bend.  Buster Jnr was quickly on to the rear bumper of 27 Jason Kingwell, whilst 84 Carl Boswell launched an attack on Phil Powell and 799 Joe Powell which ricocheted them into Brown on the pits bend.  At the other end of the track 33 Peter Hollett, 28 Ian Govier, Joe Powell and Boswell all came together in a heap with a race suspension required to assist Govier from the car.  Once restarted, Buster Jnr extended his lead but behind on the final bend Brown launched himself at Darby with Jason Kingwell also involved as cars scattered across the finish line to cheers from the crowd.

2 Litre Old Skool Bangers

The opening heat saw 123 Sam Baker streak away into an unassailable lead as behind 246 Ryan Sparks was unable to close the gap on 133 Terry Hill for second.  908 David Brown led heat two away but was quickly overhauled by Sparks.  Further back, 298 Dave Greening attacked 205 Charles Pearcey though it was Greening who ended the race stuck in the middle of the back straight as Sparks took the chequered flag.  The Final was a very tame affair with Hill leading home Sparks and 83 Ben Styles for third.  An Allcomers was added to the programme to National Banger rules.  With only five takers it did not promise much but it burst into life in the most dramatic fashion after Pearcey attacked the rear of Hill.  In return, Hill lined up a revenge hit on the back straight.  Hurtling into the pit bend, Hill pulled off a stunning follow-in, as the Pearcey car shot to the left and into a half roll with Hill barrel rolling on impact.  The two came to rest side-by-side much to the astonishment of many in the crowd.  With both drivers quickly exiting their cars with the help of the track marshals, the crowd erupted in cheers, even more so when Hill climbed back into his car and fired it into life to join the restart.  The remaining laps then saw Styles, Sparks and 278 Shaun Brokenshire joining in the fun, repeatedly attacking the Hill car and each other much to the entertainment of those around the spectator bankings.  All the drivers were given a superb reception on a combined lap of honour.

Caravan Chaos

The day culminated with the event which was a key driver in such fine spectator attendance with the return of the Caravan Chaos event.  Five caravans entered the arena, and it wasn’t long until they were falling to bits.  908 David Brown attacked 912 Simon Rees, and 333 Craig Partridge came under fire in the west bend.  278 Shaun Brokenshire upended his twin axle caravan, and 76 Kaylee Spooner soon obliged in trashing the remains.  The Partridge caravan came crunching against the back straight safety fence in spectacular fashion as Brown shot up the trailer of Partridge, mounting the 333 car in comical fashion.  After another spate of crashing, a delay was called, to separate what remained.  For the restart, the race came down to a battle between Rees and Brokenshire, the latter coming out the winner to send the crowd home happy with the motorised mayhem they had witnessed, particularly over the last few races of the afternoon.