Mildenhall Stadium Saturday April 16 2016
National Bangers British QF, BriSCA F2 Stockcars and Reliant Robins World QF

The third round of the National Banger British Championship qualifying series raised an average field of 43 cars to Mildenhall on April 16 but was perhaps a number which was more decent considering the near 24 hours of rain which had hit the stadium including a brief flurry of snow and hail in the hour before start time. It was an all Ford line up with the entry boosted by a handful of TSR visitors plus welcome Northern traveller 901 Jake Westlake.

Fortunately the rain had stopped by start time and as forecast never returned and the opening stockcar heats offered the 21 cars field for heat one improved track conditions which would get better and better as the night wore on. A big push into the first bend saw 220 Tom Pavitt stuff 730 Brandon Mayes which also claimed 317 Callum Jacobs and 219 Luke Betts with the former then stuffed himself by 36 Ricky Lewis as 227 Ash Bysouth fenced 178 Kieron Bowman. 841 Stu Carman landed a shot on 720 Martin Webb as 148 Ian Redden attacked Bysouth which in turn put 726 Nathan Cooper in the wall before 73 George Hannah stuffed Carman into the stricken 220 Lurch. A push along the home straight involving the leaders saw 148 Shorty crack the spinning Cooper with a T-bone before 26 Robin Ash was spat into the fence on turn one and back on the pit bend 51 James Licquorice added 730 Bubba to the growing heap. Bubba fought back but was fired into Betts by Bysouth which allowed 178 Slim to blast Bubba in the rear wheel with a hard hit. Bysouth then homed in for a hard hit on Cooper but smashed himself into the infield blocks in the process as Carman zeroed in for a bruising hit on Slim and he continued to assault Ash as 327 Mick Maskall Jnr won a most lively affair from 817 Kurt Jacobs and Licquorice.

One more for heat two but it was a much quieter affair. 959 Martin Shaw attacked 200 Ashley Grieson but only managed to fence himself as 209 Tom Waller delivered the highlight of the race when he smashed 713 Ashley Ward into the concrete blocks. 459 Todd Archer fenced 375 Jamie Childerhouse, the latter recovering only to spun into the infield wall along with 898 Andy Battle by 527 Michael Norman as 303 Wayne Linsdell raced to the win from Norman and 10 Ben Collins.

20 returned for the consolation and Hannah lunged at and buried 212 Jack Maryon from the start before Slim turned round and blasted 444 Charlie Jackson in the passenger side rear wheel. Betts meanwhile stuffed 551 Stu Franklin as 317 Stress fenced Hannah. The race ended in lively fashion as Jackson turned round and Betts happily met him in a hard head-on with 370 John Cobbold blasting the latter as he crossed the line for the win from Stress and Shorty.

24 qualifiers for the final with 209 Tombo firing into and spinning Shaw before Shorty span 327 Little Legs into the infield blocks and Tombo continued to lunge at and fence 411 Matt Franklin before Stig attacked Collins. 337 Ashley Garrod then fenced Webb with Bubba clocking the latter as he tried to recover with a hard hit. The second half of the race was much quieter with 328 Dan Lathan reeling in and passing Stress for the lead with two and a half to run before 339 Jack Garrod homed in for a crunching hit on the spun Cobbold as Collins repaid Stig with a package as Lathan raced to the win, 337 Pretty Boy besting Stress in the closing laps for second.

The Accumulator qualifier had the best entry of the night with 26 cars and was the best race of the evening by a landslide although it wasn’t without its share of issues. The race begun with Stig nailing 551 Brett Jackon while Tombo stuffed Matt Franklin and 212 Mario Kart turned Betts into the wall. Hannah nailed the latter but was flattened by Shaw who then copped a simply colossal hit from Grieson which brought the reds out for Shaw and unfortunately it took several minutes for him to exit the car but he was eventually able to and walk away with some assistance. The race resumed with 551 Jacko Jnr cracking the spun Mario Kart in the rear wheel and 173 Daniel Gant hit the latter on the nose as 326 Shane Lynn assaulted Betts and 188 John Reeves met the latter on the nose which left him open to a solid hit from Gant with Pretty Boy then bundling Little Legs into 188 Victor who took further stick with a shot from 326 Ratty. 103 Jack Deacon connected with a hit on Pretty Boy as Tombo destroyed Jacko Jnr with a wicked hit and a few laps later Cooper clipped some dead cars on the pit bend and ploughed into Jacko Jnr which brought the reds out to check on the latter but not before Battle drilled Betts into the pit bend wreckage. Sufficient laps had been completed and Lathan was declared the winner of the race from 164 Jack Turner and Tombo and we restarted with the DD and most pleasingly the majority of those still running took part. Lathan fired into and span Betts and shortly after 817 Stig fired Gant into the post and the end of the back straight only to be thundered in himself by Tombo. Bubba nailed Matt Franklin and 713 Crashley attacked 164 JT who duly blasted Cooper in the rear wheel before Betts homed in with a belting shot on the fenced Gant and he was pasted in turn by Crashley. Battle now assaulted Cooper but came under fire from Matt Franklin who continued to lay into Battle after he had assaulted Cooper. Bubba then delivered a wicked hit on Grieson, who’d crashed into the pit bend wreckage, although none of the following cars saw him as a worthy target and he was able to escape any retribution and he continued to lay into Cooper who continued only to come under fire from Lathan with Franklin turned round to deliver a wicked T-bone on Cooper and again the reds were shown to assist the latter. The event restart with Lathan laying into Franklin as Crashley turned round to meet Bubba on the nose and Lathan arrived to deliver a massive hit on Bubba with Battle blasting the race winner hard in turn. Crashley again hit Bubba in the front wheel before the pair met in a hard head-on which finally silenced Bubba and JT nailed Crashley in turn as Franklin set off on opposite to power into Battle before meeting him on the nose, the latter then meeting Crashley on the nose. Lathan then zeroed in for a hard hit on the determined Battle which allowed Crashley to crack the latter in the rear wheel before he came under fire from Franklin. Crashley continued to meet Battle on the nose which ended the former’s night and Lathan duly set about Battle with a series of hits before Franklin re-entered the fray to nail Battle, Lathan showing his appreciation with a front wheel hit to Franklin. Lathan then finally put Battle down with another front wheel hit before he and Franklin enjoyed a lengthy battle to the end with a series of head-ons which also saw Franklin have licks of fire repeatedly come from under the bonnet but he was able to continue until one final, much harder head-on saw the flame from 411 get much greater and the event was duly stopped and Lathan named the winner, Bubba the entertainer trophy winner while entertainer points went to Gant, Tombo and Battle for their efforts.

Heat One: 327 Mick Maskall Jnr, 817, 51, 36, 316, 720, 730, 164, 841, 26
Heat Two: 303 Wayne Linsdell, 527, 10, 326, 209, 339, 328, 337, 103, 188
Consolation: 370 John Cobbold, 317, 148, 103, 898, 188, 517, 411, 219
Grand Final: 328 Dan Lathan, 337, 317, 209, 326, 148, 527, 898, 103, 411
Accumulator qualifier: Lathan, 164, 209, 326, 411, 817, 337, 713
Destruction Derby: Lathan from 411 Best entertainer: 730 Brandon Mayes

Round two of the BriSCA F2 Stockcar track championship raised another respectable field of 36 cars, an entry made all the more respectable given the weather in the lead up to the meeting as well as considering there were five cancellations from the entry list on the day of the meeting, admittedly replaced by nearly as many extras on the day which included welcome Dutchman H103 Chris van de Elst and there were many regulars noted by their absence underlined by the fact that 10 of the drivers in action were not present at the season opener which included the track debut of 471 Malcolm Kaye.

Owing to the wet conditions the grid for heat one was purposely made lower than that of heat two but still the 15 car grid was not as small as intended but nonetheless the smaller grid allowed the drivers to battle the conditions easier although to be fair given the amount of rainfall it was arguable the conditions were not as bad as expected. 715 Scott Aldridge made a dream start to open a commanding advantage with 136 Kyle Taylor battling into second before 226 Billy Webster fired him wide for the spot but at this point Aldridge was the best part of ¾ of a lap in front but one mistake saw him slide into the wet shale on the outside and Webster overhauled him for the lead and he raced to the win, lapping everyone up to fourth in the process. Aldridge recovered for second and Taylor was third.

The remaining 21 cars contested heat two by which point conditions had already improved tremendously with 260 Anthony Winters wasting no time in firing into 81 Mark Clayton as 331 James Di’Guillio set the pace but was soon overhauled by 376 Darren Seneschall but he then went wide allowing Di’Guillio to reclaim the top spot briefly before Seneschall regained his advantage as elsewhere 788 Stephen Mallion tangled with 710 Brett Townsend and 597 Barry Clow. 103 Carl Issit was making good progress and fired Di’Guillio wide for second with 289 James Waterfall and 38 Dave Polley close behind but it was Waterfall who managed to break through and he fired Seneschall wide for the lead on lap four as elsewhere Winters charged up the inside of 724 Tom Pell before Coelman span Polley from contention. At half way Waterfall still led from Issit, 5 Josh Coleman and behind Seneschall, Di’Guillio, 225 Tony Blackburn and Clayton were fighting over fifth. Issit then ran into the span Polley and came to a complete halt dropping him down the order and leaving Waterfall with a comfortable lead. Late race action saw 662 Steve Wycherly spin both Clayton and Mallinson as Waterfall motored to the win from Coleman with Issit besting Blackburn in the final lap for third.

Just one non qualifiers contested the consolation to produce a 19 car grid and 372 Steve North set the pace this time as Seneschall suffered an early spin and Winters fired Di’Guillio wide for fourth place before the waved yellow flags flew on lap five to assist 623 Rob Dobie who’d come to a standstill by the pit gate. North led the restart but this proved short lived as Pell got out of shape exiting turn four and Polley finished the job going into the pit bend sending him spinning towards the fence and he was collected heavily by 235 Bradley Blyth which left both cars stuck on turn four and again the waved yellow flags flew. 184 Aaron Vaight wasted no time in firing Townsend wide to take third and Winters did the same to North to grab the lead just after half way as 341 Drew Lammas span from contention. Polley now moved North wide to claim second only to then clash with the recovered Lammas which in turn span North into the wall ending the latter’s race with Vaight then charging at Polley. This left Winters clear and he claimed the win with Clow second and Polley holding off Vaight for third.

Even with conditions greatly improved from start time it was elected to limit the number of qualifiers for the final to 24 and they all returned for it with Clayton again under immediate fire, this time from Clow as Aldridge set the pace from Seneschall and Taylor while 150 Mark Thoms and 104 Rob Cowles suffered spins. Blackburn fired into 977 Dave Massey as van de Elsh fell by the way side and Coleman was another high profile spinner, Clow then dumping out Clayton who was collected by Winters as Thoms span for a second time. Aldridge led the race at the five lap stage with Seneschall and Taylor still in pursuit and now 259 Simon Farrington, Issit and Di’Guillio next as Massey became the next retirement from the race. 298 Jake Walker fired Vaight wide towards the rear of the pace as Issit climbed to fourth with 377 Daz Shaw behind and Waterfall and Blackburn tangled and span on the exit of turn two. Aldridge continued to lead as the race hit half way with Seneschall and Taylor still his nearest rivals and Issit and Shaw still fourth and fifth with Farrington, 842 Ben Kerry and Webster next as Clow and Di’Guillio span before Seneschall finally took the lead from Aldridge on lap 11 with Issit bursting into second with Shaw on his tail as Kerry also suffered a spin. With five to run the fight for fourth intensified between Farrington and Webster and the latter was able to grab the place as the battling Issit and Shaw caught Seneschall with the former able to get past the white grade racer much quicker than Shaw and this proved to be the difference as Issit took the win in an excellent contest with Shaw besting Seneschall for second, the latter taking a fine third and on the line Mallinson just best Winters home for seventh.

Pleasingly 23 cars returned for the Grand National and Pell sent Aldridge spinning from the off as Clow, Webster, 871 Mark Simpson and Mallinson all crashed out on the exit of the road bend but were all able to get moving again to allow the race to continue and it was Blyth who emerged as the leader ahead of Wycherly and van de Elst although Waterfall was soon into third as Wycherly claimed the lead and Vaight was cruelly disqualified for a lose rear wheel guard after climbing to fourth with a brilliant start. Winters was now third with Polley fourth, the latter then barging past Aldridge with an aggressive move as Massey came under fire from Blackburn before the recovered Aldridge charged at and fenced Pell. Wycherly meanwhile motored to the flag from Waterfall and Polley with Shaw getting the better of Blackburn in the final laps for sixth.

Heat One: 226 Billy Webster, 715, 136, 871, 377, 104, 259, H103, 341, 184
Heat Two: 289 James Waterfall, 5, 103, 225, 788, 298, 81, 977, 597, 38
Consolation: 260 Anthony Winters, 597, 38, 184, 842, 331, 150, 376, 442, 341
Grand Final: 103 Carl Issit, 377, 376, 226, 259, 871, 788, 260, 715, 38
Grand National: 662 Steve Wycherly, 289, 38, 260, 226, 377, 225, H103, 977, 788

The latest round of the Reliant Robin World Qualifying series raised a slightly lower than recent meetings entry of 15 cars although again given the weather prior to the meeting it was perhaps a number that shouldn’t have been sniffed at, the field again including long distance travellers 122 Lee Waddington and 143 Sam Begley.

All 15 for heat one with 9 Dale Russell spinning 885 Chris Bailey who fell onto his side but did so on the infield which allowed the race to continue with spins for Waddington and 81 Darryl Garratt as Russell set the early pace and 385 Roy Gedge fought over third with 66 Steve Willis before the recovered Bailey span 3 Daniel Hewitt which rolled her onto her side and brought the yellow flags out or the first time. 81 Flymo tipped onto two wheels on the restart as Russell slid into the fence handing Gedge the lead with 66 Pork Pie on his tail but the latter was then spun by the back marking Hewitt and he fell onto his side but bounced back onto his wheels to allow the race to continue. 515 Tommie Lee did the same but when he landed on his wheels he was collected heavily by 185 Ben Oliver and then Gedge as 664 Ryan Sutcliffe attacked Ellis which in turn caused Hewitt to roll but she landed on her wheels as Bailey removed Waddington and Gedge raced to the win with 664 Gump and 143 Screamer next home.

Down to 13 for heat two and again Russell set the pace as Waddington span and rolled onto his roof to bring the caution flags out early on. The race resumed with Hewitt removing Flymo who then fell over as he tried to re-join the race and again the yellow flags were issued. Russell continued to lead as the race his half way with Gedge and Bailey next and just as Gedge looked to challenge for the lead he was sent spinning by the back marking Flymo, the latter then falling over again to bring the yellows out. Disaster for Bailey who crashed into the recovering Flymo as he got going again and this left Russell clear and he won from Hewitt and Gedge, Gump ending the race by spinning 03 Scott Russell.

A dozen for the final with Hewitt setting the pace this time before Dale Russell and 215 Michael Croxon battled over second and Pork Pie had Waddington around with Screamer also suffering a spin as did Croxon before Gump removed Gedge. Ellis and Pork Pie were now enjoying an excellent battle for third and they traded the spot several times before Pork Pie sent his rival spinning from contention. This allowed Hewitt to maintain her lead and she won from Russell with Pork Pie dodging the lurking Ellis on the last bend for third.

Heat One: 385 Roy Gedge, 664, 143, 96, 215, 85, 9, 66, 885, 122
Heat Two: 9 Dale Russell, 3, 385, 66, 143, 85, 664, 122, 96, 215
Grand Final: 3 Danielle Hewitt, 9, 66, 96, 664, 385, 143, 885, 122, 215

An evening which offered precious little about an hour before start time with a very quiet pit area and the most miserable of weather but another which once again defied the odds, in no small part due to track conditions now being as bad as they maybe should have been given the amount of rain that fell and thanks to the determined efforts of the drivers to produce a decent night highlighted by the BriSCA F2 Stockcar Final and National Banger Accumulator and DD although the unfortunate but unavoidable hold ups in the last race did result in a later finish that hoped for, the race taking over 30 minutes to complete having started just before 10pm which was most pleasing to report given the conditions on the night.

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