The first day of a summer speedweekend was a special night, featuring the National Bangers World Championship and the Bill Batten Tribute meeting for BriSCA F2 Stock Cars, filled with special moments. Also in action were Ministox, contesting the qualifying heats for their ORC Championship. The great British weather did its best to spoil proceedings, but thankfully the worst had blown through before racing commenced, allowing the track to gradually dry as the meeting progressed.

National Unlimited Bangers

An entry of 43 drivers for the 41st staging of the World Championship was the best for many years.  Among them, both four-time champion 617 Jack Overy and 372 Jay Matthews turned out very smart cars adorned in the livery of the late Martin Lawrence who died last month. Indeed, to open the meeting, Overy handed his car over to 2018 world champion Cameron Bradford, Lawrence’s grandson, for an emotional series of demonstration laps.  Star car was another hearse for 842 Jack Perkins, while 99 David Spooner’s Ford Granada Mk1 was the oldest motor in action.  Eighteen cars took part in the last-chance qualifying race, from which seven would qualify for the main event.  Beyond a number of spins on the wet track, the race was relatively quiet, highlighted by Overy’s charge through to win ahead of 760 Joey Reynolds, 252 Steve Bugler and 62 Harvey Webb.  The qualifiers were completed by early leader 916 Luke Thomas, 838 Jamie Peters and 2022 champion 582 Corey Hunt.

The 32 World Final qualifiers drew their grid positions as they paraded in front of the crowd, with 278 Shaun Brokenshire scooping pole position for his very smart Mercedes.  Thomas’s equally well turned out Lexus would start alongside, ahead of 360 Jack Reynolds and Manchester-based 318 Wilf Speak, with 246 Ryan Sparks and Hunt likely threats from row three.  Overy drew row six, while a number of other fancied runners would have to start from much further back including defending champion 133 Terry Hill on row 12.  Following a chorus of fireworks, it was Thomas who surged into an early lead while early pile-ups on the busy track claimed last year’s runner-up 639 Tye Williams among others.  The race settled into a rhythm with Thomas leading from 360 Jackstar and 262 Rob Bugler as Overy broke into the top six.  The veteran East Anglian picked off those in front and had reached second before half-distance.  But Thomas was long gone and continued to stretch his advantage.  Accompanied by another round of fireworks, he crossed the line to become World Champion for 2024.  Overy was briefly threatened by Hill before reasserting himself for second, and 739 Jason Moore completed the trophy placings.  The top six was rounded out by Sparks, Joey Reynolds and Hill.

A generous time allowance helped 36 cars get on track for the first Allcomers race, which produced a fine wrecking train by the pit gate.  That led to a stoppage for a brief flash fire, with Moore leading from 348 Sonny Sherwood and 341 Andy Jones.  Further action came when Speak got piled into the dead cars, while 239 Steve Carter was treated to a follow-in by Rob Bugler.  Young gun Webb took the win from new gold-top Thomas and 247 Lee ‘Bro’ Clarke.  Twenty-four cars for the second Allcomers race included Perkins’s heavily smoking hearse although it soon gave up the ghost.  Jones was the target of plenty of action, as he was followed in by 362 Johnny James, then blasted by 186 Lewis Fasey and then again by Steve Bugler.  Bugler broke clear, completed another lap and weighed in with another shot for good measure.  Williams led much of the way but was being closed down by Webb in the latter stages.  Webb’s last-bend lunge failed to dislodge the leader though, so it was Williams who took the win.  Though a destruction derby was programmed, there were no takers.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

Fifty-nine cars survived pre-meeting practice to contest the second edition of The Master Trophy and the third meeting at Smeatharpe celebrating Bill Batten’s life since his passing in 2022.  Among them were Northern Irish visitors NI918 Shea Fegan and father NI998 Graham Fegan.  Adopting a similar theme to last year’s event, the four heats were split by grades, and with a slightly uneven spread of cars, the number of qualifiers varied.  Eleven white-tops fought over four qualifying places in the opening heat, with 131 Dean Rogers taking a dominant flag-to-flag victory.  762 Mike Cocks, 856 Jamie Cocks and 235 Alfie Brimble followed him home, with 510 Matt Stone just missing out after slipping down the order.  Two drivers broke away in heat two, contested by 17 yellow-grade drivers, with 53 Phil Mann and 194 Luke Johnson making light of the difficult conditions.  A similar number of blue-tops were in action in heat three, won by 126 Jamie Avery from 27 Kieren Bradford.  931 Rebecca Smith was running in third until spun out by 605 Richard Andrews, who recovered from delaying himself to scrape through in seventh.  Fourteen stars and superstars produced the heat with most action as light rain returned to the raceway.  776 Dan Roots was an early spinner, delaying both Ulstermen, with a number of other cars piling into the melee a lap later, leading to a caution period.  It was 542 Steven Gilbert who led the way, but he was nudged wide by 286 Kasey Jones just before half-distance.  The pair then engaged in a thrilling scrap, trading the lead multiple times, which allowed superstar 24 Jon Palmer to close in.  Palmer dispatched Jones who then retired with his bumper folded onto his front-right wheel.  Palmer then took over Jones’s role in battling with Gilbert before a game of chicken coming down the back straight for the final time, with neither seemingly wanting to lead into the final bend.  But that brought 302 Dale Moon into contention and his pressure on Palmer allowed Gilbert to surge ahead and stay out of reach.  In a very close finish, he took the win from Palmer, Moon and last year’s Master Trophy winner, 581 Dan Fallows.  Thirty-three cars made for a very busy consolation on what was now only a damp track.  325 Ryan Sheahan and 844 Jack Prosser enjoyed a fine lead battle and were later joined by 895 Ben Goddard, who snatched the lead on the final lap.  But Sheahan’s last-bend lunge sent both cars wide and almost allowed Prosser to sneak through on the inside.  However, Goddard just held on from Sheahan, with Prosser third in a blanket finish.  Unique to this event was a third chance for non-qualifiers to make the feature final via a ‘B’ Final with two places up for grabs.  Matt Stone built a commanding lead before eventually being chased down by 501 Jason Ward.  But a caution period to assist 884 Pete Osment – after he’d thundered around the wall – brought the rest back into contention.  Ward was clearly eager to get away on the restart but took off on the back straight before green flags flew, and although he crossed the line first, it was a costly error – he was docked two places and lost his qualifying place.  The same fate befell 213 Tom Bennett in second who had overtaken second place Stone before the green.  So, it was Kasey Jones who inherited victory, with Graham Fegan scraping into the final by the skin of his teeth.

The Master Trophy was preceded by a special demonstration of two Batten cars – the replica of his 1981/82 ‘supercar’ and his 2004 World Final-winning car – piloted by Eddie Darby and son Warren.  The pair conducted five high-speed demo laps before turning on the style with synchronised donuts, ahead of the customary rendition of The Beatles’ Hey Jude played over the circuit PA systems.  With the track now virtually dry, the 34-car field put on a spectacular high-speed display under the lights, with a number of early spinners.  It didn’t take Prosser long to relieve Jamie Cocks of the early lead and he began building a significant advantage, with 976 Dan Kent, 960 Adie Whitehead and 468 Sam Weston some way back in the battle for second by half-distance.  But Avery and Palmer were looking particular threats as they advanced through the pack at rapid pace.  Avery pushed sixth-placed 979 Paul Moss wide, with Palmer seizing the chance to pass both in one go.  Yet as the lap boards came out, their progress was halted.  Moon got turned into a spin on the back straight and an almighty pile-up ensued on turn 3, with Palmer and Avery among those thundering in.  Moon took a pounding in the incident and required the assistance of medics before thankfully extracting himself from his car.  Palmer picked up a misfire, which ended his hopes, while Avery was spun out shortly after the restart.  Prosser had lost his hard-earned advantage but managed to hold on for the remaining four laps to put his name on The Master Trophy, ahead of Weston and Whitehead.  While Johnson fired in 654 Harley Soper, Moss took fourth from Graham Fegan and 418 Ben Borthwick.

Ministox

The 32-car turnout included many long-distance visitors, including from the far north of Scotland.  They would each contest three of four qualifying heats to determine the qualifiers and grid for the following day’s ORC Championship race, defended by Scotsman 629 Kerr Paterson.  Heat one was held on a very wet track and was won by 475 Mason Sealy.  The local star had carved through to third position by the time of a stoppage six laps from home, then made light work of 88 Kyle Rogerson and 505 Louie Herzig to win from 60 Bailey Millar and Paterson.  The track was drying by the time heat two took place after the Banger World Final.  While the star drivers traded blows, yellow top 644 Owen Marshall raced to a clear win.  Sealy snatched second at the death from 922 Kaydi Butcher, while one-time British champion 202 Cody Bradford was treated to a heavy trip into the wall.  Rogerson took a clear victory in heat three while 6 Hamish Plenderleith charged through from the back of the field, only to undo his hard work with an attempted last-bend lunge on Marshall for second that only succeeded in spinning himself.  Marshall held second, with 388 Cole Ford recapturing third.  Ford got a break in the fourth and final heat as the other yellow-graders tangled with each other, but lost his advantage to a yellow flag for Butcher.  That brought Rogerson and 27 Robbie Scott onto his tail and it was Scott who came through to win.  Ford still held second until the final bend when 207 Alfie Flecken’s attack on third-placed 306 Oliver Heron took him past both Scots in one go.