The first meeting of the weekend on Sunday was headlined by the Unlimited Bangers ‘Thunderbolt’ and there was a very good entry of 50 cars in attendance, with plenty of big machinery on show with several drivers returning their Hearses and Limo’s from the Easter Monday meeting amongst several Jaguars, Volvos, Granada’s and even a Lexus. There was a trio of long distance travellers from the north-west too, with 75 Steve Thacker along with 218 Rob Speak and 318 Wilf Speak.
The first heat saw victory from flag to flag for 40 Pete Stanley, with veteran star ‘Super Stan’ lapping all up to second place on his way to the win. The second heat got off to a spectacular but bad start, as 502 Kai May crashed and was collected several times which resulted in him receiving an injured knee. There was some action after the re-start and it was eventually 179 Stu Nightingale who went on to win. The consolation saw a big pile up on the top bend, with the ‘Midnight Runners’ in particular in the midst of it all. A red flag was called to restore order and when the race was re-started 239 Steve Carter was the winner.
With qualifiers only for the big money feature Final there was not a huge field of cars, but never the less it was a good mix of racing and crashing throughout. 179 Nightingale was the early leader until 58 Martin Dalton took up the running on the fifth lap. Defending title holder 303 Jason Oliver was not too far back and battled with Nightingale for second as Dalton pulled clear at the front.
The battle was resolved when 136 Paddy Connelly accounted for 179’s demise and then Oliver went missing too. All of this left Dalton well clear to take a well driven win. 62 Brett Ellacott was second and 989 Dean Arm was third. The Allcomers saw lots of top bend action once again and 62 Ellacott was declared the winner when the race was stopped a few laps early.
The heavy action continued in the Destruction Derby with the ‘Midnight Runners’ giving several heavy hits to 235 Chris Elkins which left him shaken and the DD was declared void at this point.
The Special Rods again saw some close racing, which is how things got going in heat one with 47 Richard Howard coming through to win whilst heat two saw the field more spread out and a win for 17 Lee Robins. 171 Shane Newman won the consolation before the Final was won by 122 Joe Rowe.
The young driver held his line and his nerve to fend off several who tried the outside during the race and none more so that 18 Russ Colenut. The reigning points champion made up a lot of ground in the second half of the race and was able to challenge Rowe on the last lap, and just failed to make his swoop around the outside stick. 42 John Mayjor was third but was dropped two places for contact which promoted 41 Dene Howard.
Unfortunately another disappointing entry of Hot Rods, but there was some good racing to be seen once again, with the first race being the most tight of the three. This was won by 282 Steve Hunt whilst the other two saw the victory go to 904 Wilson Hamilton, who therefore took the Hamilton Motors Trophy with it. Hunt was second and 18 Larry Langmead third.
RESULTS - 1ST MAY 2011
Hot Rods:-
Heat 1 - Steve Hunt 282,904,18,205,258,55
Heat 2 - Wilson Hamilton 904,18,282,55,205
Final - Wilson Hamilton 904,282,18,205,55,89,258
Special Rods:-
Heat 1 - Richard Howard 47,18,42,122,22,173,39,993,171,372
Heat 2 - Lee Robins 17,41,23,43,210,19,44,48,13,925
Cons - Shane Newman 171,372,35,731,925,13,668
Final - Joe Rowe 122,18,41,173,42,39,47,210,993,372
Bangers - Thunderbolt:-
Heat 1 - Pete Stanley 40,303,58,162,318,4,446,107
Heat 2 - Stu Nightingale 179,45,820,136,555,363
Cons - Steve Carter 239,989,62
Final - Martin Dalton 58,62,989,446,40,303
A/C - Brett Eddicott 62,218,517
DD - Null and void
1st May 2011 - CLICK HERE to see the full set in a slideshow at flickr.com
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