A sunny afternoon greeted the large crowd which gathered for the annual Hallowe’en fixture at the United Downs Raceway. The event began with a fun-filled Fancy Dress Parade that was heavily populated with youngsters eager to walk a lap of the circuit.
National Bangers
Numbers for Judgement Day were again modest, but still a marked improvement on the previous year, and despite some trials and tribulations on the journey west, new World Champion 414 Jimmy Craig was in town for his track debut. The title race was a high speed chase. 62 Harvey Webb led from the green flag but could not repel the chasing duo of 562 Jayden James and 362 Johnny James. As the race evolved, Johnny overhauled his brother and then Webb to take the lead. Johnny saw out the rest of the race to take the win, with Jayden the runner-up and Webb in third. Much of the Captain Birdseye Trophy race was led by 91 Sam Bartlett. Early on, 739 Jason Moore was his closest challenger, but he retired with a safety harness issue, as Jayden James emerged in second place. He tailed Bartlett and grabbed the lead with four laps to run. That was how it ended, with Jayden James winning the splendid golden camera, Bartlett the runner-up and Webb third. To complete the day, the Allcomers race produced the only notable incident beyond pure racing, when 360 Jack Reynolds blasted 92 Liam Bartlett into the turn one plating, but unfortunately Bartlett needed assistance from his car which took the shine off the crash action. After two third places, Webb grabbed a win, ahead of Johnny James, Moore and 242 Toby Doo.
Bangers
Just shy of 30 drivers assembled to compete for the Cornish Championship which was the opening race on their programme, and it produced a stunning contest. 247 Alfie Blight and 459 Dean Blight disputed the lead with 773 Blossom Congdon, with the latter then exiting in turn three with 195 Lee Gregory. Amidst the chaos, Dean Blight sped clear and had a huge lead at the time of the first stoppage when 96 Harley Carr-Flamank rolled spectacularly in the turnstile bend. Blight was shuffled down the order when the race resumed, and defending Cornish Champion 230 Tom Shilling took command. He saw off challenges from 206 Matt Brewer, 621 Scott Kendall and 196 Phil Chapman. Shilling looked set to hold on to the title, but two laps from home, 144 Ash Worthington rolled on the back straight to bring about another stoppage. That brought the single file order close together again, and this time Kendall made a long dive into the turnstile bend and scattered Shilling very wide. As Shilling looked to recover, the damage from glancing off the plating saw him grind to a halt on the start/finish line. Kendall saw out the last lap to win convincingly, with 290 Jay Tomkins and Chapman completing the top three. At the start of the first Allcomers race, 747 Nicky Seery attacked 130 Chris Durrant and both crashed out together on the exit of turn four. Out front, Dean Blight and 816 Josh Taylor battled for the lead until Blight’s attempted spin saw Taylor invert on the entry to turn one, bringing out the red flags. 786 Grant Harris swept past Blight on the resumption, leaving the focus of the race on the scrap for second involving 743 Jake Bond, new Cornish Champion Kendall and Chapman, who duly finished in that order. Taylor spun 69 Stephen Clough out of his path at the start of the second Allcomers race, as Congdon led from Alfie Blight. Chapman lost a wheel on lap five which brought about a stoppage. Congdon lost her lead as 662 Jared Roe made short work of things when the race resumed. Roe won by a distance, whilst Congdon was harshly bundled into the turn one fence by a group of star graders.
Ministox
The youngsters finally got to race at St Day, for the first time in more than two months, and their trio of races produced a trio of different winners. 559 Aiden Phillips scored a maiden win in the first heat. He shot into an early lead and kept a strong pace out front, leaving 242 Amy Williams to battle with 202 Cody Bradford and 207 Alfie Flecken for second, once Bradford had spun 870 Bert Farrell on the back straight. Flecken and Bradford took the trophy positions behind runaway winner Phillips. An exciting second race was led by 511 Lexi Crosbie until the last lap when Bradford executed a stunning dive to unsettle her and sweep past her on the outside. Bert Farrell completed the top three. 770 Austin Farrell finally made it on track for the final, but his car conked out in the early stages, and when Bradford spun Bert Farrell, he careered in reverse into his brother’s car In the turnstile bend. That led to a caution period, and before the single file restart could begin, race leader Phillips retired to the infield, leaving 132 Rowan McAleer out front. Regrettably, sheer weight of numbers saw him edged wide during an untidy start. Worse was to follow, as McAleer was spun and then got inadvertently collected by 710 Louie Stuckey. British Champion 475 Mason Sealy broke free to win convincingly from Flecken, and Williams brilliantly spun 176 Jack Jones on the last lap to finish third. Fourth went to 575 Caden Clark – a fine result after he had started in the novice group at the rear of the grid.
Caravan Chaos
Six caravans were towed to oblivion, with an incredible caravan pyramid having been formed in turn one. 69 Stephen Clough was attacked by 156 Howard Cross, who leapt his car on to the roof of Clough’s car, before 511 Dan Crosbie did likewise to stack on top of the heap. That left just 862 Darryl Cock and 690 Tristan Clement circling, until Cock joined the wreckage, and Clement did the decent thing by being the last to bury in, which earned rapturous applause from the crowd who craved carnage and got exactly what they had asked for.