Pictures Damien Widdows

Report Mark Paulson

Cambridgeshire racer Danielle Hewitt was crowned Lady Bangers British Champion at King’s Lynn on Saturday night, 8 June, fending off the challenge of the other fancied runners. The Two-Litre Bangers contested their annual team event which was successfully defended by the Mad Hatters. Also in action were Two-Litre Saloon Stock Cars and Junior Bangers, whose main events were won by Jake Swann and Harry Steward respectively.

Lady Bangers

The British Championship attracted a strong field of 26 cars, several in particularly smart efforts, earning 85 Kate Calver, 396 Kirstie Rix, 609 Georgina Norton and defending champion 369 Jane Allard merit awards. 

Two standard heats were run to determine the grid for the final. The first had an early stoppage when 8 Holley Sack took a hefty hit on the fence. The lead of the restarted race was fought out between Calver and 818 Tiff Collins before Calver gradually dropped back and was spun by the lapped 257 Anna Piggott on the final lap. Collins therefore eased to the win from 74 Caroline Garner and 3 Danielle Hewitt who had had a good race-long scrap which went Garner’s way by inches.

Heat two also required a compete restart after a big pile-up on the road bend. Calver jumped into a huge lead on the restart but was rapidly closed down and passed by the pacy Garner in the closing laps. Garner had built a comfortable lead over Calver and the battle superstar trio of Hewitt, 477 Amy Brown and Allard when a red-and-chequered finish was called for after former British Champion 319 Jodie Grief had gone into the fence with Rix in close attendance.

Garner’s results were comfortably enough for pole position in the big race with Hewitt alongside, and Collins and Calver on row two. The full grid, with non-scorers starting at the back in graded order, lined up as follows:

Garner shot into the lead, with Hewitt just behind, and Allard and Collins also in close order. But on lap two Garner got caught out by the backmarking 17 Kelly Smith, allowing Hewitt and Allard past. Allard put the bumper in to challenge for the lead, but the move didn’t come off and Garner slipped back past into second. Allard’s luck then ran out completely as she tangled with a backmarker and dropped much further back.

 Garner managed to nip back inside Hewitt for the lead, only to crash into a pile of backmarkers. She managed to recover still in second, albeit a quarter of a lap back but was quickly passed by Brown and, nursing a puncture, spun out by Collins to end her race. The top three remained unchanged thereafter, with Hewitt winning by over half a lap and third-placed Collins almost a whole lap back.

 “I loved it. There was so much action on track,” beamed the delighted winner, while Brown was magnanimous in defeat: “I’m happy with that and Danielle’s not had it [the British title] before.”

Result

Two-Litre Bangers

The Norfolk Team Championship raised just 24 cars across eight teams, with only three of them fielding the full quota. Unsurprisingly, heat one, with 23 cars on track, would prove the most lively. A pile-up on the back straight saw 551 Brett Jackson (Team Jackpot) and 701 Kevin Cooper (Aftermath) take some hits, with red flags being called to assist Cooper. The restarted race saw 412 Jake Burgess (Team DTs), 677 Matt Bradshaw (Team Hunter) and 51 James Licquorice (The Mercenaries) go in hard together, and when Licquorice backed off, 604 Ross Cooper blitzed Bradshaw. That sequence earned the latter pair entertainers awards, while further action came when 390 David Gibson (Mad Hatters) followed in 78 Gavin Oakes (Team DTs). Thereafter the action eased off. 392 Sam Baines (Mad Hatters) had led, closely pursued by 337 Ashley Gibson (Team Jackpot) until the latter pulled off, but Baines lost ground in the closing stages. That let 285 Sean Dyer (Aftermath) take the win from Mad Hatters duo 399 Jonny Atkin and 695 Mark Mason, giving the defending champions an early lead.

The 16-car heat two saw the main action confined to 375 Jamie Childerhouse (Team Bash) following in 10 Ben Collins (Team Mates), who then had team-mate 430 Andy Jones pushed head-on into him by Mason. Team Mates revenge came a lap later when 830 Lee White walloped Mason on the next lap. Out front, Jackson took advantage of early spinners to lead until 673 Darren Fendley (Team Bash) moved ahead. Baines and 338 Terry Garrod (Team Jackpot) then had a good battle for the lead with Fendley, Baines triumphing from Fendley and Garrod. That gave the Mad Hatters a healthy lead of 12 points over Team Jackpot going into the final, with the Aftermath also still in contention.

 Sadly, only 14 cars made it on track for the final which was a subdues affair. It was led from start to finish by Licquorice. He was chased home by Fendley and Ashley Garrod who had spun out Lee White, setting him up to be blasted by 339 Jack Garrod (Team Jackpot). Atkin’s fourth place was enough to secure the title for the Mad Hatters, ahead of Team Jackpot and the Aftermath. With no appetite for it among the remaining runners, the destruction derby was cancelled.

Two-Litre Saloon Stock Cars

When a 33-car turnout is the lowest of the season so far, you know the formula must be in very rude health indeed. It included a debut for former 1300cc racer 450 Luke Jackson, joining his father in the formula, a return for former multi-champion 116 Diggy Smith, and a taster in Chris Masters’ car for 334 Dale Blake.

The white and yellow grade race saw 888 Shane Emerson lead much of the way until passed by fast-looking 218 Jacob Downey as he was trying to lap 312 Neil Payne. Downey had earlier spun out 391 Jake Banwell, with whom he was having a good battle, along with 328 Daniel Lathan, who went on to complete the top three.

An early yellow flag in heat one to assist Banwell wiped out 270 Matt Fuller’s lead and brought the charging Downey onto his tail. He soon moved ahead and benefited from leading blue tops 641 Willie Skoyles Jr and 321 Marcus Skeels being spun by the pack on bend two. Downey was however delayed when Luke Jackson spun across his bows and looked in trouble when another yellow flag came out, this time after 220 Casey Englestone had been left with some heavy damage in the middle of the back straight. Downey led from 158 Shane Davies and 730 Deane Mayes on the resumption, with Mayes quickly passing Davies, and 26 Tommy Barnes joining Davies for a good battle for third. It ended badly for Barnes who got turned into the home straight fence and performed a complete rollover. He got his car to safety himself though and then rejoined the race before finding his car hobbled and opting for retirement. Another yellow flag was required to assist Blake on bend one, but still Downey held on to the lead. Mayes eventually found a way past with four laps to go and was followed through by 499 David Aldous. Downey held on to third, ahead of the squabbling pack behind, from which 306 Daniel Parker emerged to take fourth.

The whites and yellows were thin on the ground for heat two which saw 4 Paul Brown lead initially but he was delayed by the squabbling red tops at the back and it wasn’t long before Downey emerged in front once more. After a yellow flag, Aldous quickly pushed through into second. He survived a last bend lunge from third-placed 349 Michael Allard but couldn’t catch Downey who took the win, his first national points scoring success of the season.

Down to just 21 cars for the final, Brown led the opening laps until passed by Lathan and Downey. But Downey was soon gone, leaving 538 Jake Swann and Skoyles to fill the top three, the latter making the most of starting at the front of the blue grade. Swann managed to spin Lathan from the lead while Skoyles was having a good battle with 360 Carl Waterfield, passing and re-passing. Barnes, Mayes and the lapped Allard then joined the battle, with the group having an excellent battle almost all the way to the flag. But that was all behind Swann who stretched his legs to take the win. It was his first of the season too, and his first in a final for at least a couple of years. Mayes prevailed in the battle for second ahead of Waterfield, Barnes and Aldous. Skoyles and Parker tangled on the final bend while in the top six.

Junior Bangers

There were 27 youngsters present – more than half of them being white graders, always an encouraging sign for a formula. The white & yellow grade opener was won by 246 James Butts, surviving a few skirmishes with backmarkers on the way. Heat one proper was led from start to finish by the visiting 15 Declan Thomson who then led much of heat two as well. Thomson was eventually passed in that by the charging trio of 997 Wayne Cottrill, 69 Brad Bartrum and 823 Jamie Murrell. An early halt was called when Bartrum took a hard trip into the fence, leaving Cottrill to win from Murrell and Thomson.

After a couple of complete restarts, 119 Harry Steward quickly moved to the front of the final, bouncing back from retirement in the previous race which saw him embedded in the back of 854 Aiden Storr. Steward, in his final meeting as a junior, went on to win by half a lap from Murrell and Cottrill who had a good battle with 78 Kieran Bowman.