Mildenhall Saturday June 30 2007
RDC's Big Night Out
Unlimited Bangers Suffolk Open Championship and Ministox Suffolk Open Championship

The annual Suffolk Open Championship for unlimited bangers raised a bumper field of 101 cars to Mildenhall on June 30 although not as many visitors as usual, the most noticable travellers being 190 Steve Bailey from the west country and northern young gun 474 Matt Threkeld. Despite the awful weather in the week before the meeting the track was in sublime condition for the night and even had to be watered prior to start time even though it had been raining lightly for about 90 minutes prior to the meeting although the skies would open later in the night making for some rather miserable and difficult conditions. However the level of tin in the pits was second to none as was the standard of presentation by many and the best material is shown in our Mental Metal selection. 

19 Joe Mullarkey Austin FX4 taxi
33! Simon Reed Austin A135 princess ambulance
40 Lester Freestone Daimler DB18
41 Lee Horwood Rover P5 coupe
93 Ady Chilvers Triumph 2000 Mk2
100 Andrew Parks Rover P5*
106 Brian Pfender Ford Granada limo Mk2*
117 Karl Dack Wolseley 6/110
140 Mark Lee Humber Super Snipe
168 Calvyn Girling Cadillac Seville
190 Steve Bailey Datsun 280C
204 Andy Bailey Toyota Cressida
207 Michael Woodward Ford Granda hearse Mk3
262 Jason Barnard Vauxhall Cresta PC
262 Kevin Lee Mercedes 123 limo
263 John Jacombs Daimler DS420 limo*
267 Steve Anderson Rover P5
273 Kevin McClagish Oldsmobile Delta 88 coupe
278 Tom Hills Ford Granada coupe
294 Steve Martindale Rover P5*
323 Paul Wilkes Datsun 280C estate
380 Trevor Wright Jaguar 420G
397 Stu Sandell Rolls Royce Silver Cloud
400 Kevin Shinn Lincoln Town Car limo*
401 Steve Hemmings Rover P5
476 Rosco Coleman Rover P5
488 Duane Collins Cadillac Eldorado*
503 Dan Hollinsworth Ford Granada Minster Mk2
547 Tony McNeil Dodge Royale*
553 Justin Garman Ford Granada hearse Mk2
587 Alex Humphrey Ford Granada hearse Mk2
679 Ben Bland Daimler 250 V8*
700 Jason Davies Rover P5
752 Sam Cunningham Rover P5 coupe
753 Billy Cunningham Rover P5 coupe
814 Mark Millen Wolseley 6/110
841 Phil Jennings Rover P5
877 Adam Perrin Rover P5*
924 Mark Millen Rover P5*
*=used car

Additionally the XJ entry included a series one for 506 Ricky Clark and a coupe for 421 Steve Adams and the Granada selection featured a stunning Mk1 for 474 Matty while 411 Matt Franklin had a used one. 898 Andy Battle dared to be different with a smart Omega and 176 Ady Gibbs braved it in a used Mondeo estate. Topping the bill were the epic pair of 40 Lester Freestone's Daimler and 33! the Legend's ambulance while 397 Boo's lush Silver Cloud was a close third. 

The evening began with the traditional grand parade in which more than 20 drivers received trophies for their tin and paint while cash awards went to Freestone, the Legend, Boo, 273 Mad Mouse, 380 Shaky, Matty, 278 Tom Hills, 401 Psycho, 814 Mark Millen and 117 Kamikaze. 

30 cars for the opening heat and 520 Craig Malling (Volvo 240 estate) was the first to show fencing 166 Ash Sheppherd and 85 James Ellis met 100 Andrew Parks' battered P5 on the nose with 364 Sean Winchester burying 267 Tufty into the latter trashing it. 277 Des Owen opened his account by thundering Adams before 76 Terry Mansfield (XJ40) gave 396 Graham Hyla a solid hit on the exit of the road bend. Millen nailed 520 Mince and Owen now dumped Winchester into the pile-up on the pit bend allowing Millen to hammer the Bad News man in turn. 148 Ian Redden scored on Mince with 379 Adrian Clifton then following the latter in triggering a series of big hits. Mansfield flattened 379 the Worm in style and Owen dished out a storming hit to Mansfield. The latter then took another big hit from 256 Tarantula's DS420 with Owen completing a lap before blasting Owen on the nose. 148 Shorty raced to the win from 206 Dave King and 131 Barry Wade (Volvo 240) with Owen taking the entertainer award. 

30 again for heat two with 587 Humps leaning 400 Shinny's massive Lincoln straight in as 465 Andy Scarlett and 417 Dan Davey met on the nose allowing 348 Sonny Sherwood (Volvo 240) to blast the former. 547 the BFA splintered Humps with a fine shot as 555 Anthony Clarke (Volvo 740 estate) buried himself in the back of Shinny. 37 Dave Lewis (XJ) pounded 235 Danny Rainer (Volvo 740 estate) as the BFA continued with a shot on 348 Mushy as 545 Karl Hough (Volvo 740 estate) scored on the smart XJ of 384 John Golden. 106 Bumper blasted the tidy Volvo 740 estate of 155 Lloyd Mullins as a recovered Humps buried 446 Lee Greer into Davey. 380 Shaky thundered his smart Jag hard into 555 Matrix as 436 Matt Arnold put away Spedeworth's 894 Marc Almedia and Humps put away Bumper allowing Lewis to score on the hearse. 679 Ben Bland followed in Battle well on the bend with the former then scoring on Arnold. The race then ended in epic fashion as Arnold turned round and build up some steam but a shot from Bland resulted in him meeting 262 the Verger in a titanic head-on. Goldie, 503 Odd Job and 587 Humps piled in seconds later as 336 Nigel White treated Greer to a roof bending hit only to take a fine shot from Shaky in turn with 311 Lee Bradbury nailing the Management man in turn. The reds then came out for the Verger whose Cresta had snapped alarmingly but he was able to exit ok with 119 Davey Cox (Volvo 740 estate) the winner from 115 Gary Rose and Goldie, the BFA taking the entertainer award.

Up to 35 cars for the final heat with 176 Gibo powering up the back of 209 Ben Haywood from the off as Freestone rolled his Daimler to bring the reds out but not before 328 Mark Hughes (Volvo 240 estate) attacked Clark only to be T-boned by 294 Trigger in turn. The race resumed and what a race it turned out to be. 19 Joe Mullarkey treated the spun Boo to a head-on as 117 Kamikaze used his stunning Westy to bury 553 Garmo's tender hearse. Mouse meanwhile collected the P5 of team mate 41 Lee Horwood on the nose with the Legend catching the latter in the door. 65 Steve Chopping (XJ40) zeroed in on Psycho as Hills blasted the Princess ambulance and Boo turned round to nail 649 Dan Foreman. 752 Mad Sam blasted the Volvo 240 of 343 Lee Edwards and 79 Ricky Twell (Volvo 240) homed in for a fine hit on 514 Marty Eighteen as 789 Rob Taylor became the next to stick it to the Legend. 460 Lewis Barber scored on 65 the Reaper as Boo attacked Mouse and 229 Ritchie Holmes gave the Reaper a T-bone, the latter then having Boo run into head-on by Gibo. Holmes now assaulted 343 Steady Eddie before he met the Motley Krew man on the nose with Mullarkey scoring on Holmes in turn. Matty weighed in on Steady Eddie but the Team V young gun copped it from 488 United's rated Caddy in turn as Holmes continued with a shot on Mullarkey. 190 Pikey zeroed in on United for a hard hit but came under fire from Gibo in turn as the Reaper and Mullarkey enjoyed a head-on. This allowed 487 Craig Farrow to used his smart Mk2 Granada to blast the Reaper but he felt the force of Mad Sam in turn. Gibo hammered Mad Sam's Rover and Kamikaze arrived for a solid T-bone on 487 Bungle with Boo blasting the 6/110 in turn. Pikey duly weighed in hard on the Silver Cloud as did 205 Kieran Briddock before Mad Sam turned round to stop Team Black foe 789 the Boy with an almighty head-on. The Legend dug himself out of the pit bend heap to the crowds approval and met Gibo on the nose allowing Barber to hammer the former as Holmes took the win (although he would later be stripped of this) from Barber and Gibo and they were the only finishers, Holmes celebrating his trashing the Legend tearing the flapping bodywork off the ambulance in style. Pikey took the entertainer award. 

Not quite 40 returned for the consolation although sadly by this time the weather had started to turn and this race followed a short downpour. The race started in franctic fashion as the Worm was blown up by 249 Matt Frost before Coleman weighed in with a head-on. 14 Colin Lacey then took a psycho run up and delivered a storming balls out hit to Coleman's smart P5. 328 Thrush buried 700 Jason Davies and Mince also scored on the latter. 545 Huffy met 753 Young Gun on the nose with United blasting the former in turn as 877 Adam Perrin connected with a T-bone on Arnold only to take a big hit in turn from Matty as Garmo went in hard on 169 Len Brinkley. 79 Twelly blew up Almedia in style as Tufty scored on Matty. Mince meanwhile buried 841 Phil Jennings unpainted P5 with Garmo blowing up Mince only to take his hearse leathered superbly by Almedia. Sadly in the midst of this Perrin had taken a very nasty knock while exiting his car bringing the reds out. With it taking some time to attend to Perrin the decision was taken to declare the consolation null and void and make the final an allcomers affair. 

A massive field of 44 returned for the Final but sadly as the cars waited for the start again the heavens opened and this time it showed no signs of stopping and persisted until the end of the night. The race began with Lewis burying 792 Johnny Warby's smart XJ into the inner blocks sending the latter flying into the air as 249 Frosty put away the Legend in what was left of his A135. Pikey continued his fine display with a package on Mince as 206 Dave King followed Ellis in hard before the impressive Owen did the same to Kamikaze. Bumper put away Bland as Lewis nailed the XJ mounted 138 Steve James as Foreman turned round to lay into 207 Compo's smart hearse. The BFA zeroed in on 133 Karl Day (XJ) for a head-on as 119 Cruncher blasted United and Thrush turned round to pound the BFA. Pikey dished out a T-bone to 311 Helm and Thrush fired into the latter as 140 Sass turned round to pile his Humber into 169 Lenny Boy although the latter shrugged it off to meet Shorty on the nose. Cruncher now attacked Helm as 168 Calvyn Girling T-boned United in an all Caddy affair. Young Gun turned round to give Lenny Boy a big hit as Cruncher continued his show with a big pit bend follow-in to Shorty. Sass now enjoyed a head-on with 133 Karly as Lewis buried Girling but was followed in well by Barber seconds later. Young Gun now met Pikey in a big head-on as Foreman came inside out to catch 206 Kingy over the front wheel. Helm battled back to meet 792 Bravo on the nose as Winchester stuffed Franklin and Girling weighed into the luckless Helm. Mark Millen scored with a T-bone on Franklin as Ellis laid into White only to take one in turn from Cruncher. Girling now met Mark Millen on the nose but took one himself from Cruncher as the leading Winchester expired. This handed Kingy the lead but he had little choice but to T-bone the lurking BFA which allowed Mark Millen to ram the Spedeworth star before the Ant Hill Mob man gave Franklin a hefty hit on the top bend. Kingy then expired half a lap from home leaving Mark Millen to take the win in his Westy as pretty much the last car running for a very cool win. The trophy places were decided on laps completed and so Kingy, Ellis and Franklin took the silverware with Cruncher declared the best entertainer. 

With the rain showing no sign of easing and the time getting on the it was decided to merge the Accumulator into the DD with around 20 braving the conditions for one last crash although not everyone managed to start the event. The race saw Mouse silenced Rainer with a big T-bone as Compo treated Jennings to a solid head-on. Young Gun powered up the back of Mouse's Yank as Holmes destroyed 93 Ady Chilvers with a big follow-in on the pit bend before he hammered Bungle. Young Gun blasted the latter with a head-on before he enjoyed one of the same with Foreman. Holmes took the flag with Mouse the only other car lapping and we moved into the DD. Shinny set off on opposite immediately and Trigger was happy to meet him in an almighty head-on with United flattening the latter's P5 in turn as Mouse came from the other side to blast Shinny. Odd Job and Foreman enjoyed a head-on with the latter continuing to T-bone Almedia as Holmes destroyed Foreman. Mouse connected with a T-bone on Eighteen although the Spedeworth man hit back with a pair of shots on the larger Oldsmobile only to then be buried into some dead cars by Mouse. Almedia got going and Eighteen was happy to meet him on the nose which finished the latter but Mouse made sure with a hard package. Holmes then strangely decided to pile into the long stationary United which handed Mouse the win and he celebrated with a fine hit on the obliging Almedia. After the event Holmes failed pre race scrutineering and was duly stripped of his two wins from the night. 

Heat One: 148 Ian Redden, 206, 131, 85, 364, 168, 814, 277 Best entertainer: 277 Des Owen
Heat Two: 119 Davey Cox, 115, 384, 37, 336, 380, 311, 204, 503, 587 Best entertainer: 547 Tony McNeil 
Heat Three: 460 Lewis Barber, 176 Best entertainer: 190 Steve Bailey
Consolation: Null and void
Suffolk Open Championship: 814 Mark Millen, 206, 85, 411 Best entertainer: Cox
Accumulator qualifier: 273 Kevin McClagish
into DD; McClagish

A cracking field of 44 Ministox assembled for their Suffolk Open Championship with the majority from RDC including 339 Natasha Garrod on his debut while a handful of visitors from Spedeworth and PRI were on hand. 

20 cars for the opener with the Ministox coming onto the track just after the skies opened making the shale very slippery. 387 Ollie Ovenden made the early running before 329 Reece Laybourn suffered an early spin although he came back to spin Garrod before 173 Jack Harrington also went round. 362 Liam Friel removed the luckless Garrod as 340 Wes Freestone removed Harrington before the reds came out to rescue the stricken Garrod. A complete restart was ordered and 161 Billy Smith slapped the wall early doors as Ovenden again made the early running only to be spun by 381 Craig Upson in the race for the top spot. Freestone meanwhile reeled in the leaders and nipped up the inside to grab the top spot with Friel battling his way to second by half way. Action in the final laps saw 334 Aiden Court spin Ovenden as 327 Roy Laybourn attacked Harrington. Freestone meanwhile held off Friel to win with 399 Tom Atkins getting the better of Court in a fine tussle for third. 

A slightly bigger field for heat two with 372 Kyle Tuppen making the early running as 577 Alfie Lee fenced 390 Tom Waller and 351 Lewis Byron slipped past 330 Jack Thompson into third behind 352 Ben Mynott. Lee attacked Thompson as 320 Ben Burbridge and 370 Kyle Overy enjoyed a great scrap for a minor spot while Thompson rallied back to remove 506 Mitchell Hawkins. 345 Jamie Callis had 310 Cas Lee out as 371 Jason Cobbold dived past Overy and Byron to steal third. Tuppen took the win from Mynott and Cobbold while a dramatic finish on the run down lap saw 341 Emily Bryon spin and her brother Lewis collected the fence as he tried to avoid her with 552 Georgie Lee lending a hand. 

The rain had stopped for the consolation which fielded 23 cars with Ovenden again making the early running as 331 Rob Gamble attacked Emily Byron and Waller removed Gerogie Lee and 302 Jordan Murray in one move. The luckless Emily Byron was spun once more by 550 AJ Powers as 308 Alec Hannay grabbed the lead as they hit half way and Emily Byron's rough ride continued when Gamble fenced her. 349 Todd Payne now moved into the lead as Ovenden's bad luck continued when 350 Thomas Parrin spun him. Payne took the win ahead of Callis and 580 Rob Hull with Burbridge spinning Chas Lee on the final bend to steal fifth. Sadly after the race it transpired 319 Sinead Garrod was in trouble and a lengthy delayed followed as she was cut from her car.

All 26 qualifiers returned for the championship by which time it was raining heavily making some very difficult conditions. Mynott made the early running ahead of Tuppen and Lewis Byron as at the foot of the field Cobbold put away 313 Timmy Barnes and back at the front Upson moved through to grab the lead. He held on to the half way stage by which point Overy was the man on the move, up to second with Friel on his tail as Waller evened the score on Alfie Lee by running him in on the pit bend. Overy grabbed the lead in the second half with Friel chasing hard and with a couple of laps to go he got through on the inside to take the title, Atkins doing well for third while Waller spun Court en route to fourth. 

The Allcomers followed straight after the final and just a dozen contested it but full marks to Friel and Overy and their teams as they prepared their cars on the track so they could make the grid. Ovenden made up for his earlier disappointments by not putting a foot wrong to record a flag to flag win ahead of 328 Craig Banwell and Hannay although the latter was sweating at the end with Overy closing in and the Southern champion spun his man as they crossed the line before he turned aside Banwell on the run down lap. 

Heat One: 340 Wes Freestone, 362, 399, 334, 314, 329, 381, 313, 173, 308
Heat Two: 372 Kyle Tuppen, 352, 371, 370, 351, 325, 301, 577, 320, 345
Consolation: 349 Todd Payne, 345, 580, 390, 320, 331, 327, 157, 581, 161
Suffolk Open Championship: 362 Liam Friel, 370, 399, 390, 334, 371, 327, 345, 313, 352
Allcomers: 387 Ollie Ovenden, 328, 308, 370, 173, 550, 350, 166, 302

Although the banger did at times deliver some storming action and hits a meeting which couldn't live up to its full potential because of the horrendous conditions in the second half with that and the unfortunate injuries to Adam Perrin and Sinead Garrod and the subsequent delays taking the shine off an otherwise cracking night. 

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