Words by Steve Linfield
The third of the Easter weekend meetings unfortunately brought wind and rain, and whilst it is true to say that during the course of the afternoon the weather was not as bad as had been forecast, it never the less kept a large number of would be race goers away and also a fair few drivers who had been booked, especially in the two Stock Car classes did not attend. Never the less, the show went on and those that were there were actually treated to an entertaining afternoon.
BriSCA F2 Stock Cars
The BriSCA F2 Stock Cars entry suffered with the weather and also coming at the end of the long weekend with damage suffered prior and so on. Never the less there were 27 cars present, which was the highest tarmac turnout of the day across the country. The two from three heat format was deployed and in the damp conditions 830 Andrew Bennett took heat one at a canter before 76 Chris Rowe was first on the road in heat two, but was docked two places for jumping the start which placed 886 Chris Bradbury as the victor. Once again Bennett proved uncatchable in the third heat which set him up nicely going into the Beeches Holiday Park sponsored Final. 252 Jamie Pepper was the early leader until 31 Simon Bassett took over but all the while Bennett was closing in and he was back at the front, just as he had been all meeting long soon after. However, 464 Matt Linfield chased him hard but was never able to get close enough to attempt a telling blow and so it was Bennett’s hat-trick of wins. The battle for third came right to the line with 290 Jay Tomkins holding off a last ditch attempt by 676 Neil Hooper, which actually saw the 290 car spin across the line and backwards into the unfortunate 596 Richie Mead, whose stricken car was parked to the edge of the centre. The Grand National was probably the race of the day for the F2’s. There were two yellow flags, both for stranded cars, the first being 252 Pepper and the second 797 Dan Moss. When the race settled down it was a big battle at the front between Linfield and Hooper. The pair swapped and changed places several times, with the hits coming in harder until a telling blow by Hooper established him at the front and he went on to win.
Saloon Stock Cars
The 19 Saloon Stock Cars was a disappointment as there were numerous locally based drivers missing, presumably down to the weather. But, making up for it were some great travelling efforts with three from Scotland, including track debuts from 57 David Hughes and 620 Ayrn Triggs and also Northern Irishman 153 Ryan Wright who completed his English Easter tour. In the first heat 916 Ross Thomas picked up from where he left off at St Day the previous afternoon by winning, and although it was a comfortable victory, Triggs was the only one to keep him in his sights. Thomas again opened out a big lead in heat two, but 382 Danny Hunt chased him down and made his move late on to take a good win, a long way down the road ahead of his fellow star men. The second heat had featured a set-to between 57 Hughes and 995 Ben Goddard and it carried on in the early stages of the Final when Goddard sent the Scotsman thundering into the plating on the Honiton bend, and himself, and the pair then collected the stranded 153 Wright who required medical assistance as a consequence. Triggs was the leader at the time of the yellow flag and he was immediately bundled wide by 2 Paul Tuppen at the re-start, but his lead did not last long as 120 Shane Brown spun him to take over. 402 Shaun Webster followed him through to second and that is how the race panned out with the English Champion right on Brown’s rear end for lap after lap, clearly biding his time. When it did come it was not quite as expected. Brown lost time lapping Hughes and Webster saw his chance and took a dive. The pair then had a bizarre looking game of ‘cat and mouse’ going into the pit bend for the last time, but Webster was able to just get to the line first to take the win. Behind them there had been a similar battle for third too between 184 Marty Colliver and 618 Stuart Shevill Jnr, and a perfectly timed and executed last bend move from the Scottish Champion saw him grab the last podium place.
Bangers
The Autospeed Bangers as ever appeared in good numbers at Smeatharpe for their now standard three heat format to be run. The first heat saw 991 Ben Hale come through from the back of the grid to the front to win and heat two saw a clear win for 222 Justin Herbert for what was his first victory at the track and it was 438 Dan Rice who took heat three. There were lots of big names in the consolation, including the defending title holder of the Easter Hop trophy 246 Ryan Sparkes and he just scraped through with a fourth place finish, with the win going to 83 Ben Styles. The large grid for the Final as ever saw plenty going on. Herbert opened out a good lead at the front but was reeled in by 451 Mickey Reed and he took up the running just after the halfway stage. Despite having to pick his way through lots of back marking traffic he held on for the win whilst Hale and 186 Leon Fasey came through for second and third, right from the back of the pack. The annual chained pairs race rounded out the day, and there were ten pairs up for the laugh. As ever, some managed to get themselves into all sorts of awkward situations and in a couple of cases unchained altogether. However, just as they did last year the brothers Sparkes of 246 Ryan and 247 Richard showed the rest how it is done by taking the win whilst 644 Mark Pope and 87 Paul Lawer and 438 Rice and 242 Ben Ellacott were the only ones still running at the end of the race.
Heat 1 |
916 |
620 |
199 |
382 |
120 |
995 |
618 |
1 |
56 |
65 |
Heat 2 |
382 |
916 |
120 |
618 |
1 |
402 |
153 |
184 |
100 |
199 |
Final |
402 |
120 |
618 |
184 |
1 |
100 |
56 |
65 |
620 |
2 |
Heat 1 |
830 |
254 |
31 |
302 |
290 |
954 |
126 |
676 |
315 |
189 |
Heat 2 |
886 |
126 |
76 |
105 |
464 |
605 |
596 |
990 |
797 |
676 |
Consolation |
830 |
254 |
464 |
596 |
302 |
886 |
105 |
290 |
31 |
954 |
Final |
830 |
464 |
290 |
676 |
886 |
990 |
126 |
302 |
31 |
254 |
Grand National |
676 |
990 |
886 |
464 |
302 |
290 |
254 |
105 |
935 |
189 |
Grade Awards |
W 950 |
Y 830 |
B 464 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Heat 1 |
991 |
46 |
186 |
154 |
113 |
15 |
735 |
183 |
881 |
977 |
Heat 2 |
222 |
451 |
42 |
929 |
320 |
820 |
41 |
158 |
87 |
667 |
Heat 3 |
438 |
816 |
804 |
242 |
877 |
475 |
938 |
45 |
293 |
130 |
Consolation |
83 |
199 |
100 |
246 |
first 4 |
to final |
|
|
|
|
Easter Hop Trophy |
451 |
991 |
186 |
222 |
100 |
113 |
804 |
242 |
475 |
154 |
Chained Pairs |
246/247 |
654/87 |
438/242 |
nof |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Best Presented |
869 |
455 |
222 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
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