Mildenhall July 8 2000
Unlimited Bangers and Ministox World Final

The eagerly anticipated Unlimited cc session at Mildenhall for the Brian Wheeler and Danny Sutton Memorials on July 8 raised a slightly disappointing 65 car entry including visitors from PRI, Trackstar, Northampton and four from Dover. However, it was quality over quantity with some top tin on show. Pick of the Granadas was the smartly turned out Mk1 of 396 Graham Hyla, eight big Volvo's in total including 256 Andy Whyte who returned his Pre 70 Volvo 164, a pair of Datsun Laurel's in the Hands of 429 Rob Peachey & 576 Colin Aldred, two Cedric's, a smart 280c for 136 Mark Simpson & 300c for 202 Ian Horton plus a pair of Toyota Crown's, a fresh & typically smart example for 22 Dave Vincent & a returned one for Nigel White. Plenty of Jaguars with 11 XJ's in totally, in the hands of 8 Vince Wolf, 18 Rob Burbridge, 97 Dave Allen, 115 Gary Rose, 119 Davey Cox, 151 Justin Woolner, 274 Paul Coker, 405 Mark Blackwell & 617 Jack Overy whilst 82 Wayne Quinn had RDC's first series 4 & 184 Rob Murchie raced an XJ Coupe. Onto the real steel now with 148 Ian Redden returning his Father Humber Hawk from Swindon last August, a used Austin 3 Litre from 346 Scott Saunders, a pair of Taxi's in the hands of 213 Steve Fuller & 312 Tom Reynolds. Plenty of Rover's with fresh P4's for 007 Ian Laws & 515 Graham Coe plus a used P5 for 88 Speedy Reed with fresh examples courtesy of 39 Steve Moore & 166 Dave Miller. Which brings us to the scene stealers, the Yanks with six in all. 107 Colin Appleton brought back an AMC Rebel Estate that previously saw action at Swaffham, 775 turned out a Mercury Zephyr that failed to see action, 67 Mark Wittaker debuted a Caddy Seville leaving us with three real monster, a pair of Chevy Impala's for 54 Dave Armstrong & 147 Andy Davies & finally 7 Malcolm Mortamer's awesome Caddy Fleetwood. 

26 cars for the opening heat & it began as it meant to go on with a fenced 247 Martin Butts treated to a head-on from 202 Porky as a big turn two pile formed allowing 148 Shorty to blitz 243 Robert Boswell & 44 Alan Jones(Volvo) to run in the Estate example of 487 Dave Silley. Woolner then ran in 43 Chris Jones(Volvo) hard as Speedy treated Porky to a blast. 247 Butty's woes continued as 274 Giggler steamed him & 221 Michael Whitelock gave him a blast. Porky treated Woolner to a stiff T-bone as the unlucky 221 Mad Mickey took a heavy blast from Peachey. Speedy trashed Peachey where upon Porky latched onto Shorty & followed him flat out into Speedy ripping the axle from the P5 & jacking the Hawk nicely. 136 Simmo steamed 800 Elliot Dobson(Est) & then leaned the leading Hyla into the concrete wall as Dobson also fell foul of Woolner. Porky got a taste of his own medicine from 19 Joe Mullarkey as Giggler weighed in on Hyla with Porky ending the race on a high with hits on 44 Jones & Mullarkey. 9 Daren Wolf meanwhile motored to the flag from Aldred & Mullarkey with just eight finishing. 

24 cars for the second outing with a miscue from 107 Chuff burying team mate 392 Paul Byford but Chuff made up for it burying White only to take a shot from returnee 238 Tom Aldous(Volvo Est). The Yanks of 67 Sparky & 54 Stretch combined to bury Rose's XJ before 312 Turbo gave White a head-on & piled him into the wires where upon Chuff again set about White. A turn two pile up allowed the lively Chuff to steam 169 Len Brinkley as Burbridge scored in 346 Muttley's Oztin. 003 Marty Matless(Est) picked up & posted Stretch as Chuff set about 169 Lenny Boy again planting him into 003 Mad Marty. Stretch fired back to T-bone Chuff with Sparky belting Mad Marty , Marty then wasted by a T-bone from running buddy 007 Dangerous. Muttley then got hold of Sparky & planted him into Dangerous as 49 Billy King took the flag from Burbridge, 158 Shane Davies(Est) fencing Vincent in order to snatch third. Turbo ended the event by firing Lenny Boy into the stricken White Crown. 

A paltry 13 cars for the final heat with the only noteworthy incident seeing race winner 57 Stu Cummings firing in 711 Dave Fordham(Est).

The 19 car Consolation got off to a bang as Chuff latched hold of 166 Murphy & with 277 Gary Staples also pushing, Murphy's P5 was followed in on the top bend completely destroying it. Muttley duly fired up the back of Staples as Dover man 592 Mark Marchent blasted 575 Andy Ellams(Volvo Est). Marchent was duly wasted by a big blitz from 119 Cruncher. Whyte attacked Porky as did Lenny Boy on Blackwell. Whyte crashed into the empty Cruncher machine where upon he was steamed by Porky & given a rated head-on by White. This however, set up White for a titanic blitz from 147 Mr Mess' Impala. The reds came out for a shaken White who was thankfully OK, but not his Crown which was a epic mess whilst the Yank was hardly scratched. 100 Ritchie Ahern inherited the win.

31 of the 32 cars returned for the Grand Final with the Brian Wheeler Memorial trophies up for grabs. Davies began with a hit on Woolner whilst 348 Sonny Sherwood attacked 243 Batty. Batty responded with an attack on 57 Dino as Woolner fell foul of Young Gun Mullarkey. Giggler then blitzed 39 Peanut, his XJ tipping onto its side on impact & as a pile up formed around him the reds came out to rescue the unharmed driver. Mr Mess commenced the restart with an attack 617 Jack Overy(XJ) before Woolner bounced back to T-bone Lenny Boy. 20 James Medley assaulted Fuller's cab before 531 Andrew Donovan belted Blackwell & Fuller & Woolner enjoyed a head-on. Burbridge landed a T-Bone on Hyla. Fuller then took a double hit from Porky & Burbridge with Blackwell also attacking the Cab which brought the reds out again for a shaken Fuller. 8 Vince Wolf(XJ) began the restart planting Overy into Hyla as Aldous enjoyed a head-on with 279 Colin Coker(Est) & 82 Quinney fired in on Donovan. Overy meanwhile got stuck into Mr Mess who hit the brakes stopping the pair on turn one where upon Davies threw away his third place for a monster blitz on Overy. 279 Gizmo ended the event burying Quinney & himself as Vincent took his second Mildenhall final win on the trot, Medley, Dino & 9 Wallace the trophy men. 

21 drivers returned for the Demolition Derby the winner receiving the Danny Sutton Memorial trophy which started in style as Stretch used his Yank to waste Batty & a big pile up formed on the top bend. Mr Mess attacked Ellams as did Quinney before 43 Jones was blitzed by Mortamer's Fleetwood. Ellams & Davies enjoyed a big head-on with Davies then giving Muttley a big head-on on the pit bend piling him into the fence where upon he was blitzed full bore by Mad Mickey. Jones repaid Mortamer with a T-bone & was attacked in turn by 348 Mushy as Stretch used the Impala to give the helpless Muttley a monster T-bone. Mr Mess attacked Aldous as did Mortamer to 515 Cling On with Mushy also piling in on the Rover. Mr Mess then steamed Mortamer into Cling On wasting the P4 but not before Cling On could repay Mr Mess with a head-on. It boiled down to Mr Mess & Mushy & after several moments of near misses & lame hits on the top bend, Mr Mess targeted Mushy on the home straight, meeting in a big head-on killing both cars to conclude the event a tie. 

HEAT ONE: 1) 9 Daren Wolf 2) 576 Colin Aldred 3) 19 Joe Mullarkey 4) 243 Robert Boswell 5) 396 Graham Hyla 6) 274 Paul Coker
HEAT TWO: 1) 49 Billy King 2) 18 Rob Burbridge 3) 158 Shane Davies 4) 348 Sonny Sherwood 5) 8 Vince Wolf 6) 22 Dave Vincent
HEAT THREE: 1) 57 Stu Cummings 2) 97 Dave Allen 3) 617 Jack Overy 4) 72 Gary Turner 5) 20 James Medley 6) 39 Steve Moore
CONSOLATION: 1) 100 Ritchie Ahern 2) 213 Steve Fuller 3) 202 Ian Horton 4) 238 Tom Aldous 5) 147 Andy Davies 6) 405 Mark Blackwell
GRAND FINAL: 1) Vincent 2) Medley 3) Cummings 4) 9 Wolf 5) Sherwood 6) 158 Davies
DEMOLITION DERBY: 1) Sherwood & 147 Davies

Joining the Bangers were the Ministox contesting their World Final with 46 drivers from all over the UK attending, with all the ORC promotions save Autospeed represented. 

The evening commenced with a last chance qualifier with the final four spots at the back of the world final grid up for grabs, 272 James Unitt led the field away whilst behind him a thrilling scrap was going on for the remainder of the places between 1 Mark Nason, 141 Willie Skoyles, 118 Lee Sampson, 43 Mark Lammas and 670 David Vaughan. Sampson was making the best progress, one by one picking up the places until he was in a position to briefly take the lead away from Unitt. Unitt however, kept his cool and fought back to reassume the lead as disaster struck for Sampson and he was spun by Lammas. An excellent recovery kept him in contention and he quickly worked his way back into third. Unitt meanwhile scored the win followed by Skoyles and Sampson as Lammas spun aside Vaughan for fourth. Nason was also in luck finishing fifth and duly replacing 366 Gary Knott who was a non-runner for the main event. 

32 cars lined up for the world final, the first time the race has ever been held on shale for the formula with 69 Barry Radcliffe drawing the pole spot alongside National champion 59 Lee Dimmick. Radcliffe grabbed the lead as the green fell whilst local driver 341 Daniel Marston made a cracking start to take second followed by 9 Lawrence Davey as 41 Dennis Middler became the first casualty hitting the fence. British champion 83 Michael Bethune turned aside 99 Gavin Payne as Davey moved up to second, 350 Michael Sanderson then going into third as 86 Chris Bradbury began to emerge in fifth behind Marston. Then as 128 Nic Tandy turned out 93 Eric Morrison, Sanderson bested Radcliffe to take up the running. It was short lived though as Davey worked up his inside to retake the lead, even taking the time to spin 51 Carley Barnett giving the now second placed Bradbury a chance to close the gap. Marston was then also spun whilst lying fifth by chaser Dimmick as a big crash on the exit to turn two involving Tandy, Bethune, Payne, Nason, 380 Colin Cooper and Skoyles gave the leaders a fright but they all survived with Davey still heading Bradbury and Sanderson with Radcliffe, Dimmick and now 26 Mathew Newson in tow. Davey then came behind Barnett a second time and took no chances spinning her again but this was the opening Bradbury needed as he grabbed the lead, Sanderson also slipping up the inside for second. Newson meanwhile crashed out following an altercation with 541 Steve Butler and Sanderson took the lead for the second time in the race. Marston was cruelly spun again, having worked his way back to fifth, by 368 Justin Sorial. Sanderson's second run at the front was again short lived as Bradbury wasted no time in taking back control whilst Dimmick was turned aside by Morrison. Another spinning was 66 Steve Willis, hooked out by Cooper and subsequently battered by Sampson as a massive crash on turn two saw Radcliffe crash out of fourth whilst Cooper was shunted very hard into a post by Sanderson, claiming the second place man and Davey and handing Bradbury, for the first time in the race, a comfortable lead. However, it would all come to nothing as the red flags came out for a shaken Cooper and the race would be restarted for the concluding six laps. Bradbury however, kept his cool and at the sight of the green he burst away with Sanderson desperately trying to make up ground. Heartbreak for Davey for suffered fuel line damage in the crash and he fell down the places allowing 816 Andy Joblin to come into second where he enjoyed a fantastic duel with 126 Tommy Barnes. Meanwhile Bradbury drove his way to the chequered flag and the world title, Sanderson settling for second whilst late use of the bumper earned Barnes third over Joblin. 

The first of two, half car, post World final races was led away by 320 Shane Burbridge until 527 Steve Laybourne was able to seize control, with high drama at the end as 419 Luke Griff hit the fence hard by the pit gate and rolled heavily onto his roof bringing out the red and chequered flags with Laybourne inheriting the win. 

The final race of the evening for the Ministox saw Sampson record an untroubled race win chased home by 16 Raymond Layton and Radcliffe. 

LAST CHANCE QF: 1) 272 James Unitt 2) 141 Willie Skoyles 3) 118 Lee Sampson 4) 43 Mark Lammas 5) 1 Mark Nason 6) 466 Daniel Holden
WORLD FINAL: 1) 86 Chris Bradbury 2) 350 Michael Sanderson 3) 126 Tommy Barnes 4) 816 Andy Joblin 5) 99 Gavin Payne 6) 466 Daniel Marston 7) 368 Justin Sorial 8) 69 Barry Radcliffe 9) 54 Stuart Walker 10) 306 Dave Polley 
ALL COMERS ONE: 1) 527 Steve Laybourne 2) Holden 3) 17 Robert McDonald 4) Skoyles 5) 123 Toni Mills 6) 24 Craig Riches
ALL COMERS TWO: 1) Sampson 2) 16 Raymond Layton 3) Radcliffe 4) 128 Nic Tandy 5) Lammas 6) 22 Richard Grinrod

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