An afternoon of blazing Autumn sunshine greeted racegoers at the United Downs Raceway for the closing Cornish Stock Car fixture of the season.
BriSCA F2 Stock Cars
In view of the array of prizes and bonuses on offer, the 21-car entry was disappointing. Of the 23 drivers who had scored points in the track’s White & Yellow grade series, only eight were present, and the rear of the grid was duly supplemented by three more drivers who had raced at St Day during the season (as a White and/or Yellow grade driver), but who had failed to score a point. Thus, eleven drivers took the green flag for the big money White & Yellow grade series final, with 141 Harry Neath-Rogers quickly building up a good lead. 475 Leah Sealy saw her hopes dashed early on, as she retired to the infield, with her meeting ended before it had barely begun. Whilst 222 Adrian Watts had gamely held on in second place, by the midway point he had dropped back, with 828 Julian Coombes and 895 Ben Goddard leading the pursuit of Neath-Rogers. Coombes hit the front just before the 5-laps-to-go board was shown, and fortune smiled on Coombes as he suffered a puncture right at the very end of the race, but that did not stop him from taking the chequered flag to record a third win in five years in the competition. Neath-Rogers held on for second and Goddard just repelled the attack of 460 Adam Pearce to finish third. In heat two, 935 Nathan Maidment reeled in Watts around the halfway stage, and sped off into the distance. All eyes were on Track Championship combatants 302 Dale Moon and 980 Charlie Lobb, until Moon’s engine expired to end his day early, and put paid to his hopes. Maidment won convincingly, from 890 Paul Rice and 127 Matt Stoneman, who enhanced his outside chances of stealing the Track Championship. The top three repeated their placings in heat three, as Maidment recorded another emphatic win, with Rice the runner-up and Stoneman third. By now, Stoneman had reduced the points deficit to Moon, from twenty to eleven, setting up a potential close finish later in the meeting. 510 Matt Stone, making his first St Day appearance of the season, set the pace in the final, as he led the opening six laps, before Maidment again took over. The race was suspended on lap seven after Goddard had obliterated 259 Daz Purdy in turn three. When the race resumed, Maidment edged clear, and Rice settled into second. The gap remained fairly constant until Maidment was slightly hindered by backmarkers. However, Rice was never close enough to mount a challenge. Maidment thus made a successful defence of The Old Motor Cycle Club Trophy and revealed post-race, “I told the boys that I would bring the trophy home again, else the sideboard would look empty!” Rice and Stoneman completed the top three, but fifth for Lobb gave him a nine point advantage heading into the last race of the day. Rice took a comfortable win to land the Bob Netcott Trophy, and second place for Lobb put the seal on the Track Championship. Lobb was also confirmed as the winner of the All Saints series. A spirited drive by Watts saw him clinch the day’s Best White Top award, which brought him another hamper of Cornish goodies and a new tyre courtesy of race fan Roy Bentley.
Stock Rods
On their last appearance of the season, the Stock Rods produced some slightly unexpected results. The Grand National Championship went to form, as front row starters 522 Chris Mikulla and 909 Justin Washer set the early pace, breaking free from the rest. English Champion Washer looked inside and outside, but could not make any attempt at a pass, stick, and worse was to follow in the final third of the race as Washer coasted to a halt on the infield. Mikulla was thus untroubled in the latter stages, as he won the Grand National title in his first season, with 32 James Horwell and 944 Callum Hosie completing the top three. Heat two was halted after a multi-car crash on the home straight involving Mikulla, 31 Adam McAleer, Washer and 285 Martin Walker. 311 Liam Shipway was already in the lead by this stage, and he won the restarted race comfortably. In heat three, McAleer bounced back from his earlier misfortune to win handsomely, with 77 Tom Larcombe a distant second. The final involved some wayward driving, as 204 Georgie Polley defended her position, and 231 Simon Bassett took to separate trips to the home straight infield; the second of which resulted in Hosie clobbering a marker tyre. Out front, McAleer edged past 982 Sophie Daughtrey to take the lead, and 572 James Lindsay did likewise to move into second. That was it for positional changes at the front, as McAleer led home Lindsay and Daughtrey for an all-lower grade top three.
Bangers
Just shy of 20 drivers contested the penultimate round of the Supreme Championship. Heat one was led for some time by 315 Karl Sandercock, despite the hazard of 959 Justin Payne being stranded on the back straight. Late on, Sandercock lost time, as 275 Liam Best established himself as the leader. A late charge by 206 Matt Brewer saw him close on Best, and there was only half a car’s length at the line as Best scored a narrow victory. 8 Darren Rundle made a heavy exit from the second heat, in which 23 Barry Staples swept from the rear of the grid to the front, leading home 621 Scott Kendall and Brewer. The final was led from the start by 823 Tyler Phillips and whilst the rest of the mid-order grid got in a succession of muddles by the pit gate, Phillips stormed clear, and he crossed the line a long way ahead of those chasing. However, Phillips failed post-race scrutineering, with unmatched tyres across the same axle, and was disqualified. That handed the win to Kendall, with Cornish Champion 230 Tom Shilling second and 633 Nathan Ferrett third. A trio of drivers took up the option of a Destruction Derby. 53 Chris James laid in wait for 270 Oli Knight who blasted him twice, but the second time left him prone to a thumping hit by 11 Grubby Frankson. James was then able to break free, spin around and silence Knight, which was the last of the action in a short, sharp, shock style event.