Meeting report Sunday Jun 26th
In contrast to Saturday's overcast and damp weather, Sunday was hot-very hot, and the racing proved also to be highly charged, with upsets in both the Juniors, and heavy action in the Bangers.
The top attraction of the day was the 2011 BBA English Banger Championship for 2litre bangers, which attracted a good field of 15 seeded drivers from other ORCi promoters headed up by Jack Overy (617) and Shane Davies (158), old adversaries with plenty of supporters, Brett Ellacott(162) and Steven Carter (239), JameS Rushton (169) from Buxton, and Craig Allen(38) from Incarace, who raced both days, with the top 15 Mendips drivers. There was a comedy moment on the Grand Parade when Dai Boy (107) making his Robins debut unveiled a huge banner asking his girlfriend to marry him , and there was a surge of relief when she held up the sign saying yes! The Last Chance Qualifer gave six drivers a chance to join the grid, and this was won by Paul Smaldon(714), with team mate Jonesy(341) runner up. The scene was then set for the 20 lap championship race, which was a random public draw for grid positions, which gave Lee Dalton(129) pole, alongside Ricky Beasley (67), with Spedeworth pairing Mark Welland(264) and Danny Sutton(439) on the second row Defending Champion Lee Clarke(247) drew row four, and incredibly all four Autospeed representatives drew two following rows-13 and 14. It was Beasley who led the race for 19 laps, with Pete Stanley(40) always in contention, but Ellacott (172) came all the way through to steal it on the last lap, with Beasley 2nd and Steve Carter (239) third. An Allcomers race followed, which turned into a wrecking match between the Condoms and Blacks, which led to Overy, Beasley and Cotty being loaded, and was won by Smaldon, from Ellacott. The DD was won by 191 Tyrone, after some savage battles.
20 Robins made it the best turn out of the year, and there was plenty of rocking and rolling!. Barry Richards(87) Lee Charles(499) and Jon Coombes(46) won all the money, but there was great entertainment from the other drivers. The Special Rods had some unusual winners, with Lee Robbins(17)m taking the first after leading almost all the way, Jack Stuckey(22) the second, and debut driver Leigh Ashworth(777) winning the Consolation. The toungest Howard, Sam (44) led the Final from start to finish with Ashworth for company all the way until lap 18, when he was overtaken by Steven Baker(370), making it a white top 1-2. The Junior Rods ran to a slightly different format this time with two heats, producing 16 drivers for the Final, and then an Allcomers race. The heats and Final were fairly straightforward, but the Allcomers saw some over agressive driving, and after a couple of restarts, the event was called off, and the win awarded to Jack Ayles(300), some consolation for being taken out of the lad of his heat. Macauley Mills(404) won the Final, with Louis Aldom(127) and Sid Harrison(510), the top two in the points, behind him.
RESULTS - 26.06.11
Junior Rods:-
Heat 1 - Conor Jeffries 6,14,796,313,109,703,362,127,24,16
Heat 2 - Sid Harrison 510,404,300,25,4,111,205,273,87,198
Final - Macauley Mills 404,127,313,796,510,14,25,4,111,109
A/C - Jack Ayles 300,16,14,404,61,198,510,87,796,24
BANGERS:-
Heat 1 - Paul Smalden 714,341,556,54,841
Final - Brett Ellicot 162,67,239,998,341,714,129,384,54,247
A/C - Paul Smalden 714,162,998,67,384
DD - 191
Robins:-
Heat 1 - Lee Charles 499,87,46,445,369,444,9,305,437,162
Heat 2 - Barry Richards 87,499,46,78
Final - Barry Richards 87,499,46,78,333,444,369,437,674,162
Special Rods:-
Heat 1 - 17 Lee Robbins,42,136,173,372,993,19,44,60,925
Heat 2 - Jack Stuckey 22,18,47,41,270,35,13,370,80,314
Cons - 777 Leigh Ashworth,122,925,60
Final - Sam Howard 44,370,17,60,173,136,18,41,372,925
View and Tag the Mendips Raceway Photo Gallery on FACEBOOK
26th June 2011 - CLICK HERE to see the full set in a slideshow at flickr.com
With thanks to Andy Page