Report by Mark Paulson

Pictures by Damien Widdows

The second day of King’s Lynn’s mid-August speedweekend featured two National Banger classes, Lady Bangers and a revenge meeting for the 1300 Saloon Stocks Cars who had contested their World Championship the night before. For the Unlimited Bangers, two wildcards to the World of Shale were on offer and were claimed by 331 Jason Jackson and 700 Gareth Cushion. The 1500cc Banger final went to 391 Ben Gibson, 1 Danielle Hewitt won the Ladies’ main event and veteran 71 Steve O’Dell dominated proceedings in the 1300s.

Unlimited Bangers

There was an excellent turnout of 44 Unlimited Bangers, bolstered by a number of late entrants and one returning from the previous night’s Pre-1970 racing. After a four-car mechanics race in aid of FORDS, nearly 40 cars made it on track for heat one. It proved to be a racy affair, no doubt the wildcard on offer to the meeting’s top points scorer on the drivers’ minds. Like the previous night’s racing, there was plenty of action without any huge hits, as 89 Joe Barrett raced to the win, which he celebrated by spinning 27 Will Longford who was then done by 331 Jason Jackson who had finished third, behind 348 Sonny Sherwood.

Decent levels of action again in heat two, with 79 Ricky Twell dishing out a head on to the spun 791 Nicky Young who clearly loved it! 742 Darren Parratt (Jaguar XJS) tried putting in 11 Ryan Leeks but only succeeded in adding himself to the pile. Out front, 99 Richard Ahern and 331 “Boxer Jack” were putting on a masterclass of sideways driving in their Scorpios. Ahern won from the Jaguar of 128 Andy Shipp, with Boxer third.

Nearly 30 survived for the final where Sherwood attracted much attention from the Gladiators and 768 Danny McSweeney, red flags eventually coming out to assist Sonny from his pummelled car. Former World Champion 399 Jonny Atkin was lively in his well-used Omega, before being done by Parrott. 382 Jack Foster Jr raced to an untroubled win in some style from Jackson and 247 Lee Clarke who were also both well-sideways. That left Jackson as top points scorer, earning him the wildcard. A second wildcard was also on offer to the driver who picked up the most entertainer points of the day. That was Ipswich’s Parratt but with the Team Simple driver unable to take up the offer, 700 Gareth Cushion, like Parratt on a rare unlimited outing, inherited the place on offer in the WoS Final.

1500cc Bangers

It was a “domestic” session for the smaller Bangers, which still raised 34 cars, despite being the fourth Banger class of the weekend. Just under 30 made it out for heat one which featured some jaw-dropping action, so much so that it required three complete restarts. At the first attempt, 88 Lyndon Stark followed in 341 Paul Johnson, with 257 Peter Beard then making it a train. 888 Lloyd Stark completed the action with an enormous shot on Beard, truly “caging” the latter’s car and leaving him a little shaken. Once that had been cleared up, the second attempt saw 691 Ryan Bartrum followed in by 390 David Gibson and more red flags. Down to 16 cars, 232 Steven Pope was put in by the pack before running mate 231 Alex Smith was done by 391 Ben Gibson. When 257 Jamie Neave rolled, red flags were required again. The restarted race was then relatively quiet, with 499 George Stark winning from David Gibson and 396 Graham Hyla.

Unsurprisingly, the field was somewhat reduced for heat two, 22 cars returning to the track. George Stark spun out leader 126 Dan Derbyshire but hit 511 Jack Licquorice’s parked car, letting 390 Gibbo through. The latter earned himself the entertainers award by giving up the lead to deliver a follow-in to 90 Simon Chapman, who had already been t-boned by one of the Starks. Nippy 566 Tony “Zippy Jr” Pallett came through for the win, from 7 Ashley Ling – like Pallett, on top form recently – and 22 Dave Vincent. The latter deserves massive credit for racing in all four Banger classes across the weekend.

Just under 20 returned for the final, where Derbyshire again led for some time.  He was half-spun by 319 Shaun Clarke, allowing Ben Gibson through for the win – that after the latter had spun George Stark from second. Pallett pushed Derbyshire further down the order by spinning him on his way to second, while 338 Terry Garrod came third to salvage some points from the weekend. Having had a healthy lead in the national points standings, Garrod has now been overhauled by reigning champion Vincent’s supreme effort which netted him over 100 points in a single weekend.

1300 Saloon Stock Cars

It was a case of the day after the night before for the 1300 Stox, with around 30 cars surviving intact and returning for a second day’s racing, plus one additional runner. New World Champion 344 Ross Fisher had painted his roof gold overnight and proudly took a lap of honour to display it prior to proceedings.

When racing resumed after a caution in heat one, 644 Nathan Godfrey found himself in front, from 316 Danny McCluskey and 71 Steve O’Dell. O’Dell stormed into the lead as Godfrey dropped back to third before retiring. McCluskey had to settle for third after 64 Mark Whybra – continuing his strong pace from the previous night – overhauled him. Further back, 46 Paul Aylward and 686 Pete Beldom had a few ding dongs in a classic piece of South/East Anglia rivalry, while 473 Dean Moat also joined in after the chequered flag.

Having done well to avoid too much attention in the first race and come home fifth, new World Champion Fisher copped a few more hits in the second. O’Dell and Whybra continued their cracking form to come home first and third, 323 Sam Rigby scoring his best result on shale with second. 450 Luke Jackson was the leading runner from the home promotion, finishing fourth.

O’Dell completed a stunning hat trick in the final with Whybra back up to second and Godfrey third. Further back, the 46 machine was on a one-man rampage, seemingly out to inflict as much damage as possible on as many cars as possible. 312 Jamie Jackson was first on the receiving end, being blasted into the fence and picking up extensive damage. 838 Ady Wales (back in his old Almera for the day) was followed in too, while Aylward’s car also turned hard into 450 Luke Jackson, who was already stranded against the fence. The latter incident was probably partly caused by Rigby getting involved in the action, but 46 was hardly blameless. He then went on take in Whybra, who managed to survive the attack, also targeted 177 Chris Masters and finally went for fourth-placed 447 Richard Hampshire, although in that incident the aggressor ended up worst off. Goodness knows the cost of repairs inflicted as he ran amok, but those on the receiving end were clearly unimpressed. Aylward should perhaps consider a move to Banger racing, although there were suggestions that it wasn’t him in the car.

It failed to spoil an excellent weekend’s racing for the small saloon class though, with another 1-2-3 rounding out a day of complete domination from the Spedeworth drivers, something few would have predicted prior to the weekend. At least Fisher hadn’t read the script in the race that mattered!

Lady Bangers

There was an excellent field of ladies present, 26 cars being the highest entry of the season. 79 Stacey Lightfoot and 730 Marie Mayes both returned after spells out for maternity, while there were debuts for 107 Lauren Cooper and 160 Emma Stannard.

The packed field made for plenty of action, crashes and some of the best racing served up the ladies so far this year. 897 Abbie Smith won the first after the leading 88 Alice Sullivan failed to avoid the spun 95 Jade Harboard. 74 Caroline Garner and 369 Jane Allard completed the top three. Heat two was won superbly on her return by Mayes after she put the leading Smith into a marker tyre on the last lap. 1 Danielle Hewitt was second with Allard again third. Hewitt went one better in the final after a track blockage on bend four spiced things up. 419 Laura Quadling spun out of second with a couple of laps to go, allowing Garner to take her second second and Allard her third third of the day.

Next action at the Norfolk Arena is on August Bank Holiday Monday. Big van Bangers will have their Vandemonium Revenge Meeting, the Reliant Robins contest their World of Shale Championship and they will be joined by Junior Bangers and the 2-Litre Bangers, contesting their East Anglian Team Championship.