WORLD champion Luke Wrench of Crewe will head a hugely impressive entry of Formula Two Stock Cars when Smeatharpe Stadium hosts its qualifying round of the World Championship on Sunday, June 22.

Last year’s World Championship was contested at Smeatharpe, and Matt Stoneman of Uffculme was the first across the line. However, his car failed the post-race technical checks, and Stoneman was subsequently disqualified from the result. After that massive disappointment, Stoneman has bounced back with a brand new car for this season. The self-built car broke cover in late May, on June 22 Stoneman will be back at Smeatharpe as he seeks to add to his World Championship points score.

With Stoneman excluded, Wrench was elevated into the winner’s circle, and the official result recorded Ben Lockwood of Huddersfield as the runner-up, Tom Bennett of North Killingholme as the third place finisher and Jamie Jones of Stoke on Trent in fourth. Besides Wrench, the rest of last year’s top four – Lockwood, Bennett and Jones – are all set to be at Smeatharpe on June 22.

Points scored in the qualifying rounds are tallied, and the top 56 on the chart after the final round, which is scheduled for Skegness in early August, will then progress to two World Championship Semi Finals. This year, those semi finals are due to be contested at Smeatharpe on Saturday, August 23.

It has been sixteen years since Smeatharpe last hosted the World semi finals fixture. From the two semi finals, the top ten drivers to finish each race will then advance to the World Championship. This year, that huge event will be staged at Cowdenbeath in Fife, Scotland, in early September.

The June 22 date at Smeatharpe will also boast the National Championship for Saloon Stock Cars. Among the favourites heading into the event will be World and British Champion Archie Brown of East Huntspill, Warren Darby of Newton Abbot and Brad Compton-Sage of Templecloud, near Bristol.

The Saloon Stock Cars begin their quest for the National title by contesting a series of qualifying heats at St Day in west Cornwall on Saturday, June 21. The scores from those heats will then determine the starting grid for the feature race at Smeatharpe the next afternoon.

The non-contact Stock Rods will also feature at Smeatharpe and that will mean a first appearance at the track for teenager Callum Faulconbridge since he won the National Championship at Buxton in May. The programme at Smeatharpe will be concluded by the Back 2 Basics Bangers.

On the horizon for Smeatharpe Stadium, there is a high profile weekend of racing in July. Over the weekend of Saturday, July 19 and Sunday, July 20, two of Stock Car racing’s legendary names, Bill Batten and Colin Higman, will be remembered. The drivers became superstar names in Stock Car circles as they rose to the top of the sport in the 1970s.

Colin Higman became the first driver to successfully defend the Formula Two Stock Cars World Championship when he won the event in 1975 and 1976. His long-standing friend and rival Bill Batten scored the first of his World title wins at Smeatharpe in 1977. Batten then went on to win the World title on three more occasions - in 1981, 1982 and 2004.

A host of the nation’s top drivers will converge on Smeatharpe on the July weekend to remember them.