Standlake 30th March 2003 - Under 1400cc Bangers

52 cars in the pits greeted British Summertime with surprisingly just five visitors in town, three of which hailing from Grimley. 4 Wildy being another & he fielded the only Capri of the day. Two apiece for Tinas & mk2 Escorts plus a two door Sierra from 283 Webby completed the noteworthy Ford line up, whilst there were loads of Ladas, a brace of baby Voles, plus a cool Marina coupe from 587 Shane Horwood. 275 Ozzie returned his HA van which failed to run at the Alan Barton, leaving car of the day in the hands of 169 AJ Spiers in the guise of a HB Viva.

As it was Mother’s day it seemed a good time to allow the Ladies a go. Despite much badgering to get this event off the ground & a fair amount of hype on the net, just six took to the track, the race going ahead regardless & was won in style by 536 Rachael Adams, who used her PRI racing experience to good use, biffing Devil 575 at every opportunity en route.

Heat 1 (21 cars) - Now it was the turn of the fellas. 32 Podge (Lada) fenced 68 Neil Hain’s mk3 Escort, 385 Porky (mk2 Fiesta) firmly superglued to the 32 boot at the time. 143 Chicken Man (Sunny estate) picked 276 Mr Moo’s Maestro up & launched him into 102 Mr Fudge’s mk2 Escort at which point the reds emerged for an early race stoppage to check on Mr Moo. Fortunately he was perfectly OK & 410 Muppet rode his Pony to record I believe his first ever win with 24 Neil Cane (mk3 Escort) & the aforementioned Porky his placemen. How refreshing - Three new names in the places!

Result: 410 Matthew Tyler, 24 Neil Cane, 385 J Taylor, 69 Martyn Cane, 537 Mark Mitchell, 364 Michael Ridgley.

Heat 2 (31 cars) - 364 Mad Mike (Sunny estate) neatly caught 536 Kev Hardie (Lada) early in the second, though the FBI man was quick to recover only to be fired in by 578 Bert (Sunny) & then blasted by 4x Charlie (mk2 Fiesta). Hardie again bounced back only to cop a shot this time off an on oppo 817 Richard Hands (Skoda favourite), the latter then doing something silly that earned him an early load up. Charlie ran 70 Stu Read (Acclaim) into 007 Matt Cox (Astra) as 575 Paul Tritton (Cherry) & 576 Simon Hadland (Rover 213) cruised to a Devils 1-2, ahead of 54 Winnie (Volvo 340).

Result: 575 Paul Tritton, 576 Simon Hadland, 54 Alan Cartwright, 578 Bryan Tritton, 537 Mitch, 143 Martin Wilkes.

Heat 3 (26 cars) - The third commenced with 86 Naily Smith (mk2 Cav) hooking Webby out as 77 Bass (Pantry) collided with 301 Steven Morbey (Reno 9) allowing Horwood a free blast on the 77 machine. 291 Darren Mabbitt (Lada estate) in turn homed in on Horwood but he fell victim to a blast from 246 Jason Smith (mk4) – Yes, he was back! 68 Neil Hain (mk4 Escort) collided with a spun 2 Jonathon Bricknell (in the other mk2 Escort) with Morbey writing the Reno off on Hain as Hardie hooked Porky out, allowing Jason Smith to whack the latter. Mad Mike spun Podge as 316 Noddy (Maestro) took AJ’s Viva to the centre. Winnie charged from the back for a good win, passing 2nd & 3rd placed Charlie & Chicken Man to do so.

Result: 54 Winnie, 4x Andy Pullen, 143 Chicken Man, 364 Ridgley, 283 Bryan Webb, 536 Kevin Hardie.

Heat four (24 cars) - saw Bert in fine form, hurling aside 111 Steve Pritchett’s Jetta before thumping 543 Harry Booker’s mk3 Escort & then it was Pritchett’s turn to be on the receiving end again a lap later. Another man keen to impress in this race was 807 Greeny (Orion). He had 110 YoYo Man’s vole round & then 69 Martyn Cane’s Sunny before falling prey to the well keen Bert. AJ then fired the coke bottle up Greeny as Webby ran Pritchett in. Chicken Man nailed 141 James Ludlow (Nova) but broke a shaft in the process as Bert continued his crusade removing 72 Bernie’s Pantry. All the while 66 Barry Tweddle (Maestro) drove a steady race to collect the chequered flag ahead of red tops 537 Mitch (Corolla) & Tritton.

Result: 66 Barry Tweddle, 537 Mitch, 575 Paul Tritton, 54 Winnie, 576 Hadland, 72 Ian Byrne.

Heat 5 (32 cars) - Booker had Winnie out at the start of the last heat as AJ shortened 5 Ricky Pullen’s mk3 Escort. Bricknell flattened 11 Martin Heath’s Maestro as Tritton spun Webby whilst Ludlow took Wildy in before a recovered Webby picked up & ran Bernie in. The latter was quickly back in action only to be spun by 691 Mr Shifter (Orion) before once again falling victim to Webby, at which point the 72 Pantry alarmingly caught fire bringing about a premature halt. Bernie exited quickly & unhurt & Hadland was awarded the win ahead of Winnie & Bert.

Result: 576 Hadland, 54 Winnie, 578 Bryan Tritton, 69 M Cane, 537 Mitch, 575 Paul Tritton.

Final (23cars) - 86 Naily Smith (mk2 Cav) kicked things off in the final removing top dog Winnie & he followed this up with a length of the straight jacking to Ozzie’s van. Booker had Martyn Cane round only to be caught by 12 Smithy (Polo) as Bricknell superbly followed 600 Jason Emery’s Astra in. Winnie avenged his previous race treatment by Booker when he followed the 543 Escort in with 7 Kier Spiers (mk5) copying the move on Tweddle. Points champ Mitch romped home for the win this time, with Tritton & Martyn Cane 2nd & 3rd respectively.

Result: 357 Mitch, 575 Paul Tritton, 69 Martyn Cane, 576 Hadland, 578 Bert, 283 Webby.

Demolition Derby (17 cars) - A healthy line up for the demo saw Webby pick up & fire Hardie in only to be stopped by Podge. A bonnetless Bricknell followed Spiers into Horwood as 807 (now being driven by the Death Rattle) executed a fine steam to Webby. Hardie met 33 Matt Walker in an all Lada affair before the unnamed 75 mk5 Escort pilot wasted the Death Rattle impressively. Winnie thumped Podge, the latter having just recovered from a t-bone from Spiers, 32 then taking a thundering shot from Tweddle. Mitch blasted Spiers before engaging Mabbitt head on. Podge was keen for more & steamed Mitch only to get one up the chuff from Winnie. The latter in turn caught one on the front wheel from Mabbitt as Mitch died as did Mabbitt eventually leaving that man Winnie once again with the last word.

Result: 54 Winnie from 291 Darren Mabitt

Bill