Dover Raceway
Sunday August 14 2016
Micro National Bangers, Bangerstox Kent Championship and Super Rods Southern Championship

The first ever Micro National Banger meeting at Dover raised a very, very decent and much better than expected field of 26 cars on August 14 with the field an all Kent one and it was pleasing to see many making their first National Banger outing of the year at the track.

All but one for the opener and 165 George Sedgwick got things rolling with a shot on 28 Darryl McCadden before 710 Sam Topley and 47 James Macey joined forces to bury 35 Lewis Winterbottom with Sedgwick homing in for a big hit on Macey which was eclipsed by an absolutely stunning revenge hit from 787 Nathan Macey. Elsewhere and 316 Sam Dace nailed 731 Callum Anderson and 78 Lee Macey stuffed Topley and 502 Kayligh Dighton homed in to blast 78 Mad Mace on the nose. Ministox graduate 303 Jacob Bromley turned 11 James Spriggs into the banking and continued to fence 200 Ash Grieson to move into second but his bid for the lead when he launched Mad Mace into Topley to try and get to the leading 96 Aaron Chapman saw him fence himself in the process. Grieson recovered to nail Nathan Macey before 502 the Chief fired into 97 Dave Chapman and ran him in to boot before Mad Mace found Topley for a wicked hit Mad Mace continued and ran in 354 Tom Brown a treat but it left him open to a package from the Chief with 383 Shane Harvey zeroing in for a massive head-on to Mad Mace as Aaron Chapman took the win from 188 John Reeves and Bromley, just eight finishing.

18 repaired for heat two and pile-up formed immediately on the pit bend with 444 Charlie Jackson following 270 Mark Hutton in a treat while 83 John Gilman found Brown for a head-on and McCadden turned Dave Chapman into the fence. Topley took a wild lunge at 248 Mark Taylor but fenced himself in the process as the recovered Brown was followed in by the Chief and Chapman bounced back to attack Dace which in turn fenced Gilman. Chief then fired into Chapman and kept pushing to take his man to the wall as the leading Bromley clobbered the spun McCadden on the nose which in turn claimed Taylor and 383 Chimp homed in for a big hit on the latter before Chapman rolled off the infield banking on the bottom bend to bring the race to an early end with Bromley claiming the win on his banger debut from 11 Penfold and Jackson.

18 again for the final but a couple failed to start and Grieson barged his way past Bromley to take the early lead as behind Brown followed in Dave Chapman to trigger an early pile-up with Gilman adding 500 Gary Tannahill to the misery while 188 Victor span Dace into the infield banking. The now leading Bromley struck Anderson on the nose as Jackson nailed McCadden and Grieson smashed Tannahill into the luckless Gilman as the lively Bromley stuffed Chimp and running mate 144 Jordan Godfrey did the same to Topley. Gilman’s misery continued as Jackson span him into the wall and Dace zeroed in for a shot on Chapman, the latter fighting on only to be turned into the infield wall by the Chief and Topley ended Gilman’s rough ride with a stonking follow-in on the pit bend. The Chief meanwhile attacked Anderson as Victor took the win while a lively finish saw the struggling Chief reverse Chimp into the wall and Dace arrived for a cracking hit on the latter as 144 Bungle found Chapman for another wicked hit to end a cracking race with Bromley and Chimp the placemen.

Impressively 15 came back for the Accumulator including Sedgwick who had worked all day to fix only for the car to expire on the grid. Things started with a bang as Nathan Macey leant an assist to Jackson to follow Brown in hard while Mad Mace thundered in Winterbottom and this was eclipsed when the Chief followed 47 James Macey in superbly. Chimp ran in Bromley as Topley homed in for a titanic head-on to Mad Mace and the determined Winterbottom was drilled into the wall big time by Bungle, who threw his lead away to do so. Penfold nailed the latter in turn as Jackson turned round to hammer Mad Mace and Topley also turned round to deliver hits on Nathan Macey and Mad Mace with Penfold also weighing in on the latter. After a quiet couple of laps Jackson blasted Penfold with a hard T-bone while Grieson earned his dismissal with an infield attack on Nathan Macey as Topley did a lap against the flow before destroying Penfold with a big hit. Victor claimed a second win from Bungle and Chimp and the disqualified Grieson trashed James Macey to signal the start of the DD which was contested by everyone who was still running. Victor connected with a hit on Grieson as the Chief trashed the game Sedgwick and Jackson weighed in on Victor which left him open to a big hit from Bromley. This allowed Victor to regroup and he blasted Jackson with a T-bone as Bromley with a revenge hit on Chimp, fencing his target to boot but leaving him open to a shot Grieson. Bungle now laid into Victor and he was flattened by a killer hit from Jackson who copped it with a fine shot from Jackson with Bromley completing the train with a big hit of his own but amazingly all these cars still ran. Chimp now set about Jackson which allowed Victor to weigh in with a fierce hit on the former and he continued to smash Bungle with a head-on while Bromley also set about Chimp. Victor turned round to nail Jackson in the middle of the pit bend wreckage before reeling in Bromley and smashing him into the heap on the put bend. Bungle set off on opposite to meet Chimp in a big head-on as Bromley emerged from the heap to trash Chimp with the event halted for a fire for Victor and Bromley was named the winner with Bungle the best entertainer in a superb end to the afternoon.

Heat One: 96 Aaron Chapman, 188, 303, 144, 316, 383, 444
Heat Two: 303 Jacob Bromley, 11, 444, 248, 96, 500, 502, 354
Grand Final: 188 John Reeves, 303, 383, 144, 710, 444, 316, 200, 500, 97
Accumulator Qualifier: Reeves, 144, 383, 303, 444
Destruction Derby: Bromley
Best entertainer: 144 Jordan Godfrey

Bangerstox numbers remained healthy and consistent for the Kent Championship as while the 43 car field matched the previous meeting as lowest field of the year it was well worth remembering it was still slightly better than the best turn-out of 2015 and it was pleasing to see just one no show from the entry list with numbers swelled by six extras on the day.

The field was split into two groups, those seeded into the championship who would race for grid positions and the rest who would race three times in a battle for the remaining three spots in the main event but those who failed to book in were excluded from heat one leaving 16 cars for battle and early incidents saw 37 Liam Clubb send 74 Jay Gilbey around only to suffer a similar fate from 5 Dan Clubb with 29 Liam Hover also spinning before 62 Phil Cook and 64 Jake Clubb crashed out on the back straight, the former getting stuck on the banking as 3 Tracey Gilbert was another to spin. Hover and 13 Mrs B had led until the aforementioned spins which promoted 45 Harry Marsh to the lead but just after half way 20 Andy Burbridge muscled his way into the lead but a lap later Marsh fought back only then clash with 83 Paul Apps who tried to snatch the lead and this allowed 20 Baldy to take back control and cement his advantage as Apps suffered a spin as did 69 Chloe Pelling before Marsh sent 91 Ben Lawrence around earning him a penalty along with Dan and Liam Clubb from earlier in the race and with Baldy winning 85 Alfie Hover and Jake Clubb inherited second and third thanks to Marsh and Liam Clubb’s penalties.

The seeded entries contested heat two with 17 cars and lone white grade driver 60 Nathan Port set the pace as behind 11 Heather Powell tangled with 7 Joe Marsh and 77 John Kingsley, 39 Ashley Colvin and 94 John Armstrong did the same as 58 Owen Charles blasted up the inside of Port for the lead with Marsh soon doing the same as behind 43 Steve Cross bested 94 Rolly and 88 Nick Dash jumped 92 Amy Harper to become the first red grade with 70 David Leaton also slipping past the former as 39 Bash went round on the bottom bend and was collected by 78 Bobby Miles which also claimed 9 Chris Yoing to spin. Harper passed defending champion 15 Jay Powell in the second half with the latter dropping out of the top 10 with a puncture as Dash muscled past 11 Mrs Powell for fifth but Marsh as clear for the win with Charles holding off 17 Guy Payne for second with cross just behind and a spin on the final bend for Kingsley gifted Harper seventh.

Up to 22 for heat three for the non-qualifiers with 23 Shane Spencer setting the pace as behind 98 Phil Epps battled Liam Clubb for second and 55 Tony Winter clashed with 100 Howard Belson as Baldy blasted round the outside of Liam Hover for third and a clash with Harry Marsh saw 59 Adam Port clobber the banking. Baldy eased past 21 Nathan Moat for second and caught Spencer for a close race to the flag but the latter held his nerve for the win with Baldy and Moat shadowing him home.

16 seeded entries for heat four with Nathan Port again setting the pace as Dash lost time with a half spin as Joe Marsh eased into the lead with Charles snapping at his heels before Cross earned a two place penalty when he sent 94 Rolly spinning as up front Marsh extended his lead and just after half way the recovered Dash bested Miles for seventh and behind this 15 Powelly got the better of Leaton for a place and then joined Young and Miles in their fight as ahead Dash stepped up to join Mrs Powell, Cross and Bash in the race for third and the fight for tenth raged on between Payne, Rolly and Harper. Marsh raced to a trouble free win from Charles with Bash inheriting third thanks to Cross’ penalty.

The final heat was again for those trying to qualifier and raised 20 cars but this was reduced with Liam Hover smacked the wall and was collected by the pack to cause a pile-up and the reds were flown and a complete restart ordered. Nathan Moa set the pace as Harry Marsh, Baldy, 4 Paul Harris and 49 William Parrish all crashed out in a heap on the back straight. Moat meanwhile broke away as behind the fight for third between Spencer and Mrs B saw them tangle with the struggling Dan Clubb and Mrs B clobbered the home straight banking which launched her over onto her roof to bring the race to an early end with Moat winning from 52 Justin Harris and Spencer and the former and latter advanced to the title race with Baldy and Liam Clubb.

18 qualifiers returned for the title race and Joe Marsh turned his pole position into the early lead from Cross and Dash while Young and Charles traded fourth, the pair tangling which allowed Marsh and Cross to break away with Dash relegate to fifth and behind Harper and Powelly squabbled over seventh and behind Bash and Miles banged wheels. Harper and Powelly now joined Mrs Powell to fight for sixth as Marsh led the field to half way but with five to run Cross had reeled him in and as the pair worked through the lapped traffic Young also closed in as Miles bested Harper for seventh. Into the closing laps and Cross was delayed by the back marking Bash which allowed Young to snatch second and on the bottom bend on the penultimate lap he shoved Marsh wide for the lead. The latter came back half a lap later but it opened a gap for Cross to dive through into the lead as Young was again able to get back past Marsh for second, the latter again looking to force a way past Young but this one proved far too forceful and took them, along with Kingsley to the fence before Young was dumped onto the infield earning Marsh an exclusion from the result. Cross meanwhile took a maiden title with Dash second and Rolly, somewhat unnoticed, had come from the back of the seeded entries for an excellent third, the top 10 completed by Charles, Powelly, Mrs Powell, Miles, Harper, 53 Leigh Garratt and Nathan Moat.

Heat one: 20 Andy Burbridge, 85, 64, 45, 37, 29, 28, 52, 74, 4
Heat two: 7 Joe Marsh, 58, 17, 43, 88, 11, 92, 77, 78, 70, 9
Heat three: 23 Shane Spencer, 20, 21, 37, 5, 64, 74, 98, 4, 13
Heat four: Marsh, 58, 39, 11, 43, 9, 88, 78, 15, 17
Heat five: 21 Nathan Moat, 52, 23, 37, 98, 91, 2, 4
Kent Championship: 43 Steve Cross, 88, 94, 58, 15, 11, 78, 92, 53, 21

10 Super Rods gathered for their Southern Championship with 72 Dean Worriner leading the opening lap of heat one before 88 Stacey Reeves took over but a lap later it was 75 Neil Parker who took the top spot and he duly motored to the win. Meanwhile the freshly watered raceway caught out 35 Cyndi Bradley and 86 Jason Wood who both span before Worriner retired which ended his afternoon. 85 Jack Miles slipped past 12 Dan Elliott for fifth, the latter then fighting Wood to the line with the latter making a last lap move to snatch the place as Parker raced to the win from 88 Doris an Robin Miles.

Nine for heat two but disaster on the pit bend as Parker and Doris hit a slippery patch and both hit the wall hard, the latter coming to a halt where she was collected heavily by Robin Miles ending her day while Parker picked up a puncture but managed to limp to the end for some points.34 Lisa Powell made the break and didn’t put a wheel wrong for the win while a great race for second was eventually won by Elliott who held off Robin Miles and Wood, Miles getting the better of Wood for third in the final laps.

Just eight for the final with Robin Miles getting the better of Parker into the first bend, the latter managing to stay with his man for a few laps before he started to lose ground and then smoke started to appear from the same wheel he had the puncture in the previous race and with a couple of laps he expired from the race where he joined early retirement Jack Miles. Wood got the better of 7 Nat Tutt for fifth early on and Robin Miles motored to a successful title defence with Powell inheriting second and Elliott getting the best of Wood in the race for third.

Heat one: 75 Neil Parker, 88, 87, 7, 85, 86, 12, 34, 35
Heat two: 34 Lisa Powell, 12, 87, 86, 35, 7, 75
Southern Championship: 87 Robin Miles, 34, 12, 86, 7, 35

Another very enjoyable session at the raceway, the Micro Bangers proving an excellent addition to the fixtures and one of the best banger meetings of the year thus far with several memorable hits while the Bangerstox were again enjoyable throughout although the controversial end to the championship was a pity while the Super Rods suffered from the number of retirements which reduced the number of cars on track, this the main disappointment of the afternoon along with it taking around half an hour longer than ideal to complete the 13 race programme which was very much down to the need for track watering which proved the highest of any meeting so far in 2016.