Standlake 29th December 2002 Under 2000cc        Report by Bill

A constant heavy drizzle failed to deter 54 racers from blowing away any Christmas excess, many having travelled some distance to do so; four from Spedeworth, one each from Paices Hill, Brafield and Ringwood, plus a sextet from Bristol. Car wise, 57 Basher Broad returned an A60 and 69 Neil Stone brought back a Justin Roff RWD Gallant. Fresh Swedes included four Volvo estates and three Saabs, including 4x Charlie’s 9000, whilst 91 Dave Beauchamp top mounted with a Merc 200 estate. Top ford belonged to 342 Potty for his very pretty mk1 whilst 45 Lips deserves a mention for his honesty in admitting his sierra estate had a 2.8 lump and 4x4 to boot! Full marks to the promotion for allowing him to race providing he started at the back. As it was Christmas, the £5 licence for visiting drivers was wavered for the day. As the Steamer would say: “Only at Standlake”. Good on you Keith!

Heat 1 (25 cars) - 34 Barry Williams (Sunny) beautifully controlled an early spin as 2 Jon Bricknell (mk3 Granada) showed Bristol visitor 7 Jamie Charles (mk5) the wall. 440 Andy Cooper (mk3 Cav) clipped Charles whilst Potty hooked out 402 Phil Cleverley (pujo 309), 155 Mr Demolition doing likewise to the mk1 in his Magacrash Bluebird. 12 Keno then superbly ran 11 Jason Cuddy’s Astra estate in, 445 Mark Dorrill (Capri) doing likewise to 536 Kev Hardie. The FBI star quickly bounced back only to be hooked out by 77 Bass (Bluebird) straight into the path of 54 Winnie who had no alternative but to apply a t-bone. In a monster hit Charles was then destroyed by 244 Bunny as Mr Demoltion saw the race out by following Cleverley in, a move which caused both cars to leap into the air as 4 Wildy in one of the Volvos gave 284 Justin Roff ((Belmont) a quick blast. Man of the Year, 537 Mitch (mk2) surprised nobody when he stormed through for the win, Winnie & Mr Demoltion his placemen, the latter passing literally no-one en route.

Result: 537 Mark Mitchell, 54 Alan Cartwright, 155 Craig Boyle, 58 Martin Dalton, 4 Dave Wilde, 342 Stuart Phillips

Heat 2 (25 cars) - Beauchamp used the Merc to run in 316 Big Ears’ smart Saab early in the second race only to be mullered when Winnie followed him in, whilst 547 Iain Beattie just bailed out of his stricken Donald estate in time to witness 104 Lee Gumm’s Sunny planted heavily into it, 126 Fred Casemore in another Bluebird the assailant. Dorrill was making steady progress until he made a hash of trying to remove 201 the Rev’s Bluebird estate. Wildy then executed a copybook follow in on 817 Richard Hands, snapping the Jackpot mk2 on impact as Mitch made it two in a row, 777 Paul Harris in an Astramax van a welcome 2nd ahead of 110 YoYo Man’s Children in Need Bluebird.

Result: 537 Mad Mitch, 777 Paul Harris, 110 Derek Tyler, 126 Fred Casemore, 4 Dave Wilde, 54 Winnie

Heat 3 (25 cars) - The third heat began with Cooper clouting a spun Cuddy whose sidekick Williams was neatly tossed aside by Hardie. In an all Bristol encounter, 499 Lee Charles (Vole estate) removed Cleverley as a recovered Cuddy ran Broad’s A60 in. Lips was using the all wheel drive to good effect on the wet surface until colliding with 578 Bert’s Capri as sadly the normally extremely amiable Broad blotted his copybook by turning it round to deliver a shot to the driver’s door of the vacant Cuddy Astra. Bass claimed the win this time in his first ever FWD Donald, Potty & 58 Martin Dalton (used mk3) upholding the RWD honour for 2nd & 3rd respectively.

Result: 77 Steve Beasley, 342 Potty, 58 Dalton, 537 Mad Mitch, 536 Kev Hardie, 34 Barry Williams

Heat 4 (25 cars) - 104 Lee Gumm (Sunny) caught Winnie napping & quickly spun him to commence the fourth heat as the former’s running mate 101 Richard Watts (Reno 11) tasted Armco courtesy of 26 Darren Mabbitt, the stricken 101 then had Bricknell fired into him by 3 Neil Hain (Pujo 305 estate). A now fired up Winnie twice steamed Stone’s Gallant as returnee 453 Ben Baum hooked Mr Demolition out, though 155 was quickly back in the action, tossing Hain aside before following Mitch in & engaging 582 Steve Tustian’s Volvo estate on the nose. Potty meanwhile drove a steady race to win, half a lap clear of Bass with Charlie bringing the 9000 home in 3rd.

Result: 342 Potty, 77 Bass, x4 Andy Pullen, 58 Dalton, 104 Lee Gumm, 69 Martyn Cane

Heat 5 (30 cars) The last heat was the best of the bunch. It began with Keno spinning whereupon 79 Jim Hickman (Reno 21 estate) met him on the nose. Cooper fired up 79 with 248 Dave Stopp (Rover 216) in turn homing in on 440. Baum attacked 248 with Mabbitt quickly doing likewise to Baum to complete the jacking train whilst the Rev spun Broad who had somehow avoided the load up. Mabbitt steamed Stopp next time round as Charlie reversed Broad in at which point Bass was clipped by Gumm, causing 77 to roll off 816 Brian Hands. Potty braked but just caught the upturned 77 motor whereupon the track became blocked & the reds emerged to allow Bass to exit perfectly ok but not before 197 Peter Dodge (Volvo estate) had administered an awesome t-bone to Broad’s A60, putting the passenger door over the tunnel. The race was declared at this point with 143 Chicken Man ahead at the time with the consistent Potty & Winnie making it a granny clean sweep.

Result: 143 Martin Wilkes, 342 Potty, 54 Winnie, 600 Marcus Chant, 537 Mad Mitch, 58 Dalton

Final (27 cars) There was much pushing at the commencement of the final, Dodge not surprisingly in the thick of things. First he removed Dalton & then he clashed with Mitch before picking up & firing Baum in. Winnie dumped Hain on the centre as Cleverley “cleverly” leaned both Charlie & Tustian in. Dorrill meanwhile renewed Brafield acquaintances with 364 Flumpy until Gumm took a psycho lunge at the Womble, 445 avenging by taking out the passing Keno and then meeting the Mendips legend on the nose. Mitch rounded this little battle off with a blast on Dorrill as Wildy leaned Flumpy in. Gumm meanwhile had extracted himself from the above melee & ran 600 Marcus Chant’s Bluebird in only to go down to a similar shot from Chicken Man as Fred turned Tustian’s Vole left, the other Tustian 580 Dave (Sierra) copping a blast from Bricknell. Fred it was who came home first, racing in his first meeting since September, Winnie & Chant his placemen, the latter a superb performance. Chant hasn’t missed a meeting for some time now & regularly makes the long haul from Salisbury.

Result: 126 Fred, 54 Winnie, 600 Chant, 342 Potty, 77 Bass, 110 Yo Yo

Demolition Derby (20 cars) Chant indeed featured in the first action of the D/D when he spun 582 Tustian & then clattered into Mitch. Tustian then met Baum in a stonking head on, the latter eager for more until he was finally finished off when 69 Martyn Cane (Saab) nailed him with a juicy t-bone. Richard Hands (now in Mabbitt’s motor) met Wildy on the nose only to be destroyed by Dodge with Bricknell firing up the latter as Cane launched Brian Hands (who was out in the 77 motor) into Mitch. YoYo Man fired up 77 with Gumm treating Hickman to a stiff jacking before YoYo Man finished Gumm off for the win. Perhaps this is a fitting end as today Derek Tyler was competing in his 100th consecutive meeting here.

Result: 110 Yo Yo from 104 Lee Gumm

My Driver of the Day award is another tricky call. Craig Boyle didn’t go past anyone, so he gets a nominee. The Volvo pilots Peter Dodge & Dave Wilde will be remembered by many, the latter for his storming shot on Richard Hands, the former – well, whenever he races, you know he’s the man to watch. Sadly Peter was beset by teething-problems which forced him to miss the first four races, so (and remember this is just a personal choice) my nomination goes to Lee Gumm. He had the smallest car and put it about to good effect and nearly took the D/D in it to boot.

Bill