Mad Hatter sends crowd home happy

The Mad Hatter himself, 390 David “Gibbo” Gibson, delighted the home crowd with a last bend manoeuvre that saw him crowned Shale World Champion in the Two-Litre Bangers at the Norfolk Arena, King’s Lynn, on Saturday night, 12 July. The Bourne-based driver prevailed over RDC visitor 188 John “Victor” Reeves after a thrilling race, with Spedeworth’s 247 Lee “Bro” Clarke completing the podium finishers. Also in action was a good field of 1300cc Stock Cars, with points leader 340 Wes Freestone continuing his fine form, and the Junior Bangers where 51 James Licquorice claimed the final, his first race win of the season.

Two-Litre Bangers

A cracking field of 101 Bangers filled the pits and while, as expected, there was no “tin” to speak of – just a few Vauxhalls and one Honda breaking the Ford Mondeo/Cougar duopoly – many had made superb efforts with their paint jobs.

Two last chance qualifiers opened proceedings, with a slightly bigger field of 35 in the first. 888 Lloyd Stark was the early leader, from 602 Shaun Cooper and 519 Lee Middleton, as 210 Steve Haywood kicked off the action by following in 185 Dave Bonnett. Haywood’s running mate 326 Shane Lynn was making rapid progress and worked his way into the lead as Cooper got caught out by a backmarker, allowing Middleton to follow Lynn through. 389 Charlie Garrod then moved ahead of Middleton to take second, while the action continued with 32 Alan Wombwell blasting 07 Richard Bryan. The latter was caught again as he recovered, rolling onto his roof. Lynn was well clear and took the win from Garrod and Middleton, with that trio set to be joined in the World Final by the race entertainer Haywood.

Debutant 82 Tom Foster began his senior career with a bang by following in 778 Aaron Bowness to take the lead of the second LCQ. He didn’t look back from there, impressively reeling off the laps to take the win and clinch a World Final berth on debut. He was joined b 807 Chris Murfin who passed 287 Dean Quincee on the line, but the latter also qualified, along with race entertainer 180 Mark Foster. With 382 Jack Foster Jr a seeded qualifier, that meant the family would have three representatives in the big race. Behind the front-runners, action elsewhere included a mini-train forming on the back straight, including 44 Mark Jackson, 841 Stuart Carmen and M Foster.

The 44 qualifiers for the big race had the traditional parade before an Incarace draw left 392 Sam Baines and former 1500cc National Champion 601 Chris Medler on the front row of the grid which lined up in full as follows: 

With 382 “Chubby” not making the grid, there would be no chance of him adding the title to the tarmac version secured earlier in the year – something that he would surely have been short odds to do, otherwise. The two rolling laps then saw two more cars pull off – 203 Russ McBain with a fire, and local man 182 Ashley Watkinson. The only overseas entrant, Irishman 388 Steve McGrath, would also be an early retirement.

2012 champion 399 Jonny Atkin shot into an early lead, with team-mate Baines attempting to act as his rear-gunner as he edged inside Medler, before being spun by the lap-down Charlie Garrod. Action was going on all around, with Lynn managing to pick up and put away Murfin and Gaskill in one go, the latter coming off worse. Atkin was having to pick his way through traffic immediately and was doing superbly well to extend his lead in the process, building a cushion of a few backmarkers between himself and his pursuers which were led by Osborne after he found a way past Medler.

The laps ticked by, with Atkin driving on a knife-edge, only too aware that one wrong move or a slice of misfortune could spell the end of his hopes for a second title in an instant. It looked like that had happened when he was spun onto the infield by Stark, but he held his nerve and managed to rejoin still in the lead. He was then immediately turned into the fence by the chasing pack, but kept his foot and still managed to stay in front. With Osborne now out of contention, 188 John Reeves and 566 Tony Pallett joined Medler as the main pursuers, now right on Atkin’s tail, with 390 David Gibson just behind.

Then it really did all go wrong for Atkin, dumped into the parked 22 Dave Vincent by the backmarking M Foster. Medler pulled off and so Pallett led briefly before being spun by Gibson. That let Reeves through and he quickly built a gap over Gibbo, as Foster continued his rampage against the Mad Hatters by ‘caging’ Baines on the back straight. The lead looked insurmountable with only a couple of laps to go, but despite his crippled car, Baines was going to do all he could to help his team-mate. He just managed to delay Reeves enough to bring Gibson within striking distance. In went the last bend lunge and Gibson was through, with the crowd roaring in delight. He stormed to the flag to take an extremely popular win, ahead of an understandably disappointed Reeves. It took some time for the remaining places to be confirmed, with 247 Lee Clarke eventually declared in third, yet another strong result for the Norwich man at this track. The top six was completed by 898 Andy Battle, Lynn and 261 Dom Davies, with 415 Scott Cornish named race entertainer.

“I’m a bit lost for words really,” said the delighted Gibson. “Definitely the hardest race I’ve been in. It was hard but we got through. I picked the car with the lowest mileage in the yard – 101,000. That will do!”

Three all-comers races and the traditional DD completed the day’s action for the Bangers. The first was led from start to finish by 511 Jack Licquorice for his first win of the season. It also featured a big follow in from 79 Ricky Twell on 04 Mikey Croft, who was then blasted by Bowness, earning Twell an entertainers award.

The second all-comers was stopped for attention to Carmen after he had had a couple of comings together with McBain. 100 Callum White then led away the restart and went on to take the win. 404 Luke Brinton had been second but gave it up to dish out a big hit on McBain, while 349 Lewis Price followed in 513 Sean Harvey. The race was completed by an excellent wrecking train on bend four, featuring Davies, 181 Craig Allen, Brinton, 548 Jamie Avery and Gibson, amongst others, earning most entertainers awards. PRI World Champion 331 Jason Jackson also took the opportunity to blast the new TSR World Champ Gibson.

The final all-comers race came after rainfall left the track more slippery and so saw plenty of carnage including a couple of near track blockages on the exit of bend two and the back straight. 930 Steve Baker led most of the way until he was taken out near the end, allowing 673 Darren Fendley to come through for the win. The traditional destruction derby then rounded off proceedings with around 20 cars returning and fighting to the death, 307 Jon-Joe Cunningham eventually prevailing.

1300cc Stock Cars

Another excellent turnout of 29 1300 Stox included three welcome Scottish visitors and led to some great racing. When the formula attracts very big entries, the superstars often find it hard-going to make their way through the pack and catch some of the lower-graded drivers. Not on this occasion – 2014 pace-setter 340 Wesley Freestone and 2013 World Champion 344 Ross Fisher showed their class all night.

The early leader of heat one was 82 David Norris but he soon pulled off, allowing former star-grader 316 Danny McCluskey into the lead, desperately trying to kick-start his wretched season. 781 Scott Sparrow and 85 James Ellis were on the move from the yellow grade though and both found their way through before Ellis nosed inside Sparrow to take the lead. Freestone was flying and soon followed through into third before snatching second with two laps to go. He was unable to catch Ellis though, who held onto to win, with McCluskey grabbing third after Sparrow dropped back.

Norris again led the early stages of heat two, as McCluskey was turned hard into the fence after a tardy start. It only took a couple of laps for Ellis and Sparrow to move to the head of the field, although Sparrow then gradually dropped back. While Ellis was pulling out a commanding lead, Freestone and Fisher were carving through the field and keeping each other honest at the same time. They were second and third before the halfway mark, from where they proceeded to pass and re-pass each other. Fisher made the decisive move with a couple of laps to go but was unable to catch Ellis. After those dominant displays, plus a win on debut last time out, Ellis was swiftly upgraded to blue for the final.

The field was only just over half its original size by the time of the final, whose first start was aborted after the blue grade went early. 794 Chris Brown set the early pace, with McCluskey not far behind, as Freestone and Fisher began another charge. McCluskey found a way through, only for Brown to strike back, followed by Sparrow. McCluskey then gave Sparrow a shove past the leader before pulling off into retirement, but again Brown fought back. By this time, Freestone had joined the lead pack, along with 235 Danny Rainer. Fisher was just behind but was turned around by Ellis as he challenged for fourth. Freestone threw himself past Brown whose strong showing was then brought to an end with a spin inflicted by Rainer. All that left Freestone leading from 09 Buster Ketteringham, Rainer and 473 Dean Moat. Moat moved into third with two laps to go, but Rainer fought back past, only for Moat to return the favour – the order then remaining unchanged to the flag. Asked about his chances of challenging for the World title at Lochgelly next month, Freestone replied, “We’ll have a go,” adding that he hadn’t expected to be so competitive this year: “I picked the car up cheap. It’s been going very well.”

Junior Bangers

A strong field of 25 Junior Bangers completed the programme. A couple of smart efforts from 952 Brandon Baker and 293 Harry Airey were deservedly rewarded with merit awards. The heats were blighted with messy starts, but eventually saw 997 Wayne Cottrill III show his class, winning both with relative ease, while points dominator 364 Bradley Lee claimed two top threes. 

The final was being led by 214 Connor Osbourne from 72 Breeze Atkin (second in heat one) and 51 James Licquorice when all three got caught out in a pile-up, allowing Startrax visitor 104 Ellis Hopkins to hit the front. She looked set for victory until getting caught up with 715 Josh Prince on the penultimate lap, which allowed a recovered Licquorice to come through for his first win of the season. Hopkins recovered for second, with 834 Ben Green completing the trophy positions.