Mildenhall July 14 2001
Unlimited Bangers Brian Wheeler and Danny Sutton memorial and Ministox

Just over 80 Unlimited cc Bangers assembled for the annual big car session at Mildenhall on July 14 with some serious machinery for the evening. Starting at the lower end of the scale, there were six large Volvo's, a Mk4 Laurel for 162 Mark Ashford, used Crown for 92 Roy Harper & just five XJ's in the hands of 6 Mark Holdsworth (used), 14 Brian McGuinness, 184 Rob Murchie, 297 Martin Tappenden & a smart series one for 007 Ian Laws. Plenty of Granada's, including a used Mk1 Coupe for 917 John Millen, fresh Mk1 for 380 Trevor Wright plus three Mk2 Limo's in the hands of 115 Gary Rose, 256 Alan Dorkins & 312 Tom Reynolds. There was also two Mk1 Hearse's, a four door for 56 Phil Coe & a signwritten low line one for 354 Darren Bewers. Onto the vintage with 149 Colin Mace in a Mk2 Triumph, tidy Merc 200 for 19 Joe Mullarkey, used Austin Three Litre for 142 Ricky Korpiela, a used P5b Coupe & P5 for 39 Steve Moore & Suicide Squad guest 17 Ray Sharrod while 22 Dave Vincent produced a fresh P5b Coupe. Meanwhile 173 Nick Gant & 303 Steve Latham turned out fresh P4's, the latter failing to race. Onto the scene stealers now with 211 Barry Franklin turning out a superbly presented Daimler Conquest, five Yanks in the shape on a Mustang Mach Two for 274 Paul Coker & an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme for brother 279 Colin. Ford Fairmont for 575 Des Burton, a huge Caddy Coupe De Ville for 314 Wayne Brown & Dodge Royal Monaco Estate for 147 Andy Davies, the latter pair superbly painted with car of the meeting going to 67 Mark Whittaker in his mega rare Jetson Interceptor. 

Following the grand parade, 29 cars gridded for heat one with a pile up early on with 326 Jay Ruddock going in very hard as PRI's 597 Chris Clarke struck on Coe's Hearse. 148 Ian Redden (Volvo Est) then extracted some payback on 184 Rob Murchie with a top bend follow in. Vincent blasted Dorkins & took him in, claiming Davies as well as Coe met 715 Joe Murkin on the nose. A pile up now built up on the pits bend with 488 Dave Callow firing up the back of 324 Mark Latham's Volvo Estate only to take one himself from Murkin. The race ended with 155 Mike Pitt's smart Granada being savaged by a series of hits from 148 Shorty, Hitman 238 Laurence Squires & Vincent.

Sadly the skies opened before the 26 car second heat, but thankfully stopped after the event, never to return. PRI young gun 530 Wayne Rowland started things with a head-on to Trackstar's 151 Justin Woolner as 136 Mark Simpson went in hard on Sharrod only to cop it from 380 Shaky, in his keenness to do the Squad man. 738 Elliott Dobson (Est) fired up the back of Smallfield Hitman 765 Mick Hill, but he fired back to treat TSR's 172 Andrew Bonser only to cop a T-bone from 82 Nigel Carrol. 602 Billy Lee blasted Woolner but fell foul of 392 Paul Byford as the lively 530 Burger homed in on 136 Simmo. 39 Peanut blasted the Aunty of Gant. 214 Marcus Ballard piled in on Lee only to fall foul of livewire Dobson as Sharrod met Burton on the nose. Dobson continued with a hit on Hill as Peanut wasted his Rover with a hit on Simmo as 249 Matt Frost blasted Dobson. Burton went against the flow to sort Sharrod as Simmo & Ballard met on the nose, Burton powering his Yank up the back of Ballard as Shaky met Burger on the nose. Burton continued with a hit on Lee as Woolner stuffed 249 Frosty. Holdsworth won it with 512 Kelvin Mayoh going against the flow to blast 354 Dabs & buried him in to wall, 2 Martin Brinkworth (Volvo Est) doing Mayoh as Shaky T-boned Dabs. 

One less for the final heat, which was a false start for a non starters. 312 Turbo began with a stiff hit on 142 Korps wasting the Oztin as Mullarkey buried 204 Andrew Bailey. The leading 752 Sam Cunningham was then picked up by 612 Peter Robinson, who latched hold of 279 Coker's all three going in hard. 364 Sean Winchester (Est) steamed 307 Richard Dalton (Est) as 298 Dave Bessanet charged up the back of 007 Dangerous. Rose T-boned 479 Ray Foot & buried him by the pit gate. Roberston took a mauling from 274 Giggler & 290 Jason MacMahon. Foot met Mullarkey head-on as Giggler's Mustand took a load of stick at the end from 290 Tramp, race winner 66 Lee West & Bessant.

25 returned for the consolation with the second Suicide Squad man 14 Brian McGuinness attacking Gant as Latham T-boned the well smart Granada Estate of 23 Dave Staffird. Sharrod blasted Bailey as 938 Lozza went in on Ashford who also took some hammer from 322 Mark Rowland. McGuinnes & Tappenden shared a head-on & Mullarkey went in on 576 Colin Aldred (Est). Stafford treated McGuinnes to a head-on in the midst of a track blockage on the home straight as Murkin blasted Bailey & 67 Sparky did the same on 392 Bernie. Sparky then pounded McGuinness as did 966 Mark Hackett as Pitts & 207 Lee Weekes (Volvo Est) went head to head as did Sparky & Sharrod. 331 Boxer Jack (Est) then ran Weekes into Sharrod, the latter bouncing back for a hit on Sparky as Latham won with just five finishing. 

26 out for the Brian Wheeler Memorial final with Dabs buried into Clarke from the off by Bessantr , Winchester followed in 35 Peter Lewis as Mullarkey continued his feud with Shorty, following him in. 531 Andrew Donnovan buried Sharrid allowing Shaky to home in for a titanic head-on on the P5 jacking it against the Armco. Turbo treated Lewis to a head-on as Brinkworth stuffed Bessant into Sharrid & Boxer Jack piled West into Turbo. West & Holdsworth met on the nose with Winchester then following the latter in as 348 Sonny Sherwood spun 15 Malcolm Browne (Est) on the last lap to win from Vincent's flying P5, Harper & a recovered Browne.

24 drivers made it for the Danny Sutton Memorial DD with Carroll blasting 586 Ady Nicholls at the start & a massive pile up quickly engulfed the pits bend in which Boxer Jack wasted Lozza with a stunning hit. Dalton & Nicholls shared a head-on as Mullarkey T-boned the Volvo of 514 Matthew Cheeseman. 89 Mick South (Volvo Est) went in on 177 Darren Jones & Sparky connected on Frosty. South became the first victim of Davies' Dodge as 211 Bazza also blasted Frosty, but he fired back for a head-on to Jones. Cheeseman blasted Davies as did Dalton on the Conquest. Davies then pounded Mullarkey with a head-on before switching his attention to Dalton & giving him a huge package. Harper tried to stop Davies with a head-on, but the Yank brushed it off & repaid Harper with a head-on. 487 Dave Silley tried his luck also with a hit on Davies as Sparky went in on Clarke & Mullarkey finished Bazza with a head-on. Davies duly T-boned Mullarkey & repaid Silley with one of the same. A hit from Mullarkey on Davies, only served to kill his own car leaving it between Sparky & Davies, the former taking the initiative with a huge blast on the Yank, getting a cracking response from his audience, but the Yank merely shrugged it off & destroyed the Interceptor with three hits to earn Davies the memorial trophy for the third year in a row. 

Heat One: 1) 917 John Millen 2) 597 Chris Clarke 3) 22 Dave Vincent 4) 148 5) 15 6) 35 7) 531 8) 147 9) 715 10) 938
Heat Two: 1) 6 Mark Holdsworth 2) 348 Sonny Sherwood 3) 2 Martin Brinkworth 4) 92 5) 151 6) 354 7) 380 8) 530
Heat Three: 1) 66 Lee West 2) 19 Joe Mullarkey 3) 364 Sean Winchester 4) 177 5) 298 6) 258 7) 312 8) 115
Consolation: 1) 324 Mark Latham 2) 331 Boxer Jack 3) 297 Martin Tappenden 4) 17 5) 966
Grand Final: 1) Sherwood 2) Vincent 3) 92 Roy Harper 4) 15 5) 917 6) 147 7) 331 8) 364 9) 2 10) 177
Destruction Derby: 1) 147 Andy Davies 2) 67 Mark Whittaker 

Round three of the Ministox Mildenhall track championship drew a strong field of 27 cars to the raceway.
311 Mark Couszins was the first casualty in the 17 car opening heat for white & yellow graded cars as 301 Mark Amoss led 302 Andrew Shipp as further down 509 Paul Brown butted heads hard with rookie 333 Vicki Whittaker. Shipp took the lead as 388 Michael Williams spun 527 Steve Laybourne & Whittaker did the same to 418 Stephen Jode. Meanwhile in the closing stages 491 Tim Scullthorpe took the lead & the win from RDC's Shipp & Amoss.

Two more cars for the second encounter for yellow, blue & red grade cars with 519 Gary Brown the pace setter as 144 Marc Lamma hit the fence. Later in the race 341 Daniel Marston spun 566 Steve Willis & 428 Lee Sampson did the same to 176 Murray Jones. 519 Brown meanwhile led Williams & 191 Aaron Morris for the duration of the 12 lap race & they duly finished 1-2-3.

Same again for the final heat, for white, blue & red grade cars led away by Jode as 344 Gary Lee-Brown spun. 466 Daniel Holden spun Scullthorpe to take second before he passed Jode for the lead. The luckless Lee-Brown was then spun by 111 Owen Gibbs as 496 Tommy Barnes got the better of Holden in the closing laps to win with Marston third. 

Up to 23 cars for the all-in final with Lee-Brown spun at the hands of Scullthorpe early on as both 564 Scott Locke & Williams hit the fence & ship led from Scullthorpe. Shipp was then slowed in a clash with Lee-Brown handing Jode the lead as Holden spun 519 Brown who was collected head-on by Sampson. Morris went second as Williams spun Willis & Jode did the same to 519 Brown. Sampson meanwhile piled Shipp into the wall hard as 308 Dean Hannay was spun by Lammas. In the final laps a rapid moving 499 Gavin Payne took it up & went on for the honours from Jones & Marston as Sampson & Barnes combined to bury Laybourne.

Heat One: 1) 491 Tim Scullthorpe 2) 302 Andrew Shipp 3) 301 Mark Amoss 4) 388 5) 191 6) 564 7) 519 8) 527 9) 507 10) 308
Heat Two: 1) 519 Gary Brown 2) 388 Michael Williams 3) 191 Aaron Morris 4) 564 5) 466 6) 499 7) 428 8) 527 9) 176 10) 496
Heat Three: 1) 496 Tommy Barnes 2) 466 Daniel Holden 3) 341 Daniel Marston 4) 418 5) 499 6) 428 7) 566 8) 144 9) 491 10) 124
Grand Final: 1) 499 Gavin Payne 2) 176 Murray Jones 3) Marston 4) 191 5) 111 6) 527 7) 144 8) 566 9) 388 10) 496 

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