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Posted by ap Autospeed returned to Smeatharpe Stadium for the first time in June, with the attraction of the BriSCA F2 Stock cars, racing for the annual Dave Wilson Memorial Trophy, Saloon Stock cars, in the twentieth staging of their Devon Championship, and Bangers in the shape of Metro Madness, a regular crowd pleaser. F2 Saloon Stock cars Metro Bangers RESULTS SALOONS METROS
on June 13, 2004, 10:18 pm
81.79.174.31
Smeatharpe 13 June 2004
Another healthy 35 cars arrived to race under brilliant sunshine, and it was the veteran driver Dave Ruby (731) who impressively lead heat one away, before he had to give way to Dan Holloway (940) and Mark Mills (88). Further back a great battle between Mike James (717) and Bill Batten (167) resulted in the two stars being sent into a spin by a hard charging Tim Farrell (667). Meanwhile Chris Cuming (393) had got the bit between his teeth, and he eventually moved through into the lead, with Holloway and Mills completing the top three.
Tom Jones (113) took an early lead in heat two, and in fact was never to be headed, the Honiton based driver seeming to have really turned a corner with regard to his car set up.
Dave Luscombe (642) and Neil Hooper (676) strived to make their way through the field, whilst the returning Roy Goodman (800) and Rob Farrell (770) fought an entertaining race long battle. Luscombe eventually made it through to second, having overhauled the impressive Tom Louth (525), whilst Mike Priddle (14) came to grief on the back straight just as Jones took the victory.
Jamie Beere (954) led the consolation for a couple of laps, although he was always under pressure from Paul Butcher (189) and Chris Stephens (628), the Taunton based driver hitting the front just as the yellows came out for Chris Love (268) at one end of the circuit, and Chris Mikulla (522), who was left with a punctured fuel tank, at the other.
Batten and James had by this time worked their way through the field, and it wasnt long before they had moved through to first and second, with Stephens retaining third, and Goodman, who had earlier been disqualified from his heat due to losing his exhaust, taking fourth.
A very fast final saw Ruby as the early leader, before Jones took up the running. Further back some tremendous action saw Cuming and Tim Farrell coming together in the Honiton bend, and this also claimed one or two other runners, and delayed Luscombe. Mills was going really well on his first outing at Smeatharpe for quite some time, and he took up the running. He could not prevent the charge of Batten however, the veteran driver moving through with just three to go, and just as the yellow flags came out due to a clash between Hooper and the unfortunate Jones. Once underway again James made short work of passing Mills for second, but there was no stopping Batten, as he swooped to the victory, retaining the Dave Wilson Memorial trophy for the second year running.
Further awards went to the highest white, yellow, and blue graded driver in the final, Ruby, Mills, and Rob Farrell taking the honours.
A frantic start to the grand National saw Louth come to grief on an infield marker tyre, whilst the race had not been running again for long when the Honiton bend became a parking lot, James losing his front bumper in the process. Jones led the race away again from Holloway, Butcher, and Mills, whilst Cuming, having thrown away the shackles of Tim Farrell, worked his way through to challenge for the lead. Batten too was on a charge, and he moved inside both Farrell and Mills for second from the handicap, an impressive achievement on a dry track, although he could not catch Cuming, who took the flag for his second win of the day.
First up for the Saloon Stock Cars was the prestigious Devon Championship, in its twentieth season, and run in graded order it was newcomer Lionel Loader (362), using the ex Glenn Chalkley car, who led the race away. Vince Stone (710) was heavily involved in the action, but for the wrong reasons for his point a view, as he was buffeted and banged through every corner. Chris Horwell (103) took up the running, as further back Paul Soper (654) and some of his fellow star graders were delayed somewhat. Thus Phil Morgan (001) had his most impressive run to date, moving through to second, whilst Eddie Darby (677) eventually went into third. Neither could make an impression on the car in front, and so it was Chris Horwell who took the victory, and with it his first Championship victory.
There then followed two heats, with action bordering on the insane from the Saloon Stock Cars, fellow stars Darren Bradford (207) and Darby really setting about each other in heat one, the incident claiming quite a number of other cars, including Danny Hunt (382), Nick Courtier (114), and Matt Horwell (104). Chris Horwell led again for a time, before Morgan went one better to take the victory, whilst Soper, closing quickly on the equally matched Phil Powell (199) and Shane Brown (720), pushed both aside to take second on the line.
Richard Sparks (15) led the other heat, before Chris Horwell once more took up the running. Darby and Morgan indulged in a race long battle that saw Darby just get the break to take second, whilst Morgan moved inside Brown and Powell for third to round off a good day from the Saloons.
With a number of cars locked out for the opening heat it was left to Mike Thomas (911) to provide most of the attention, Thomas taking some big hits, but none more so than the hit that took Dean Arm (989) flat out into the Honiton bend, rendering the car unusable for the rest of the meeting. Ian Govier (28) took the victory from Phil Ross (271), with only a further two finishers.
Buddy James (262), one of the drivers locked out of heat one, certainly made up for it in heat two by taking Kenny Peters (469) flat out into the pit gate, bringing out the caution flags. Once underway again James was involved once more in a back straight clash that saw around half a dozen cars involved. This allowed Ross to come through and take the victory. The final had a lively start; Aaron Brown (118) was involved in a pit bend pile up slowing a number of cars in the process. Alan Cowell (232) was leading the final for a time, but he could not resist attacking Thomas who had come under attack from Ashley Cross (69), handing the win to Ross.
The DD saw virtually all of the cars come together on the home straight, with some excellent head-ons and jackings taking place, leaving just two cars circulating. This resulted in a shoot out on the back straight, a flat out head on between Ricky Walters (222) and Simon Foster (764) saw both cars die, and the result declared a draw.
F2
H1 393, 940, 88, 667, 731, 111, 315, 827, 243, 226
H2 113, 642, 525, 676, 890, 770, 254, 505, 628, 268
CN 167, 717, 628, 800, 430, 87, 226, 830, 95, 550
FL 167, 717, 88, 940, 642, 770, 111, 430, 731, 95
GN 393, 167, 667, 642, 940, 113, 254, 111, 88, 189
DN 103, 001, 677, 382, 720, 654, 207, 120, 199, 362
H1 001, 720, 654, 199, 120, 666, 114, 244, 710
H2 103, 677, 001, 720, 199, 382, 207, 654, 120, 244
H1 28, 271, 469, 96
H2 271, 232, 118
FL 271, 28, 69, 265
DD 222/764
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