On a very wet and windy day at Mendips Raceway... there was Special Rods, Hot Rods, Reliant Robins, Rookie Bangers, and Banger Caravan Racing. A fair size crowd who braved the weather and was treated to a very good day of racing on a very slippery track.
A group of people walked from Bristol in memory of Ricky Heathcote (ex-Banger Driver) to raise money for brain tumour research at Frenchay Hospital. 270 The Slug had a Morris 1000 for the Banger Caravan Race.
The Top Tin Awards for the Banger Caravans went to 49 Rob Bevan and 122 Jimmy McDermott in a Mr Blobby Colours!
In the first Special Rod Heat, 26 Andy Bennet soon relieved 51 Rob Price of his early lead, and 44 Sam Howard and 43 Andy Howard crashed into each other. 35 Mark Johns tried for a long time to go round the outside of Bennet. By the halfway mark 47 Richard Howard had got up to 3rd place, then Bennet slid wide taking Johns and a few others out, leaving Johns stranded in the middle of the pit bend, and in the confusion 440 Steve Griffin slipped past into the lead... R.Howard managed to recover and get back up to second.
With a few laps to go R.Howard tried to round the outside off Griffin losing time going round the stranded Johns, but eventually made it stick R.Howard went onto win from Griffin.
In the second Heat 175 Kevin Scammell took the lead with 136 Jason Horseman soon up into second. 668 Rob look got spat out of the pack. Horseman stayed in second for a while until 304 Tim Weare got passed with 23 Ross Stuckey closely behind from 14th on the grid.
R.Stuckey got round the outside of Weare and Scammell to take the lead, then Scammell and Weare collided forcing them both to retire. R.Stuckey went onto win from 122 Joe Rowe.
There were 6 cars out for the consolation which was ran in monsoon like conditions. 6 A.Wadley, 21 P.Barnes, and 224 D.Edwards span out and Horseman led from start to finish although nearly spinning on more than one occasion!! With 18 R.Colenut second from S.Howard.
There were 19 cars out for the final on a very slippery track and there was a lot of spins and crashes! Price was the early leader before he spun, handing the lead to Scammell with Horseman in second, then Horseman spun giving 210 P.Barnes second and Griffin third they both got passed Scammell then backmarking 83 Andy Bevan spun and collected 210 P.Barnes giving Griffin the lead, then the win from 23 R.Stuckey then 47 R.Howard.
There were 10 Hot Rods again giving some very close racing. In the first heat 258 James Griggs soon disappeared into the lead from pole and 205 Mike Norton got up into 2nd with 117 Dave Tossell in 3rd. 718 Colin White got past 282 Steve Hunt as he was working his way up from 8th and they both went round the outside of Tossell then Norton then set about reeling in Griggs and caught him with 5 laps to go. White then Hunt got round the outside of Griggs to relieve him of the lead. White went on to win from Hunt.
In the second heat 55 Alistair Lowe, 904 Wilson Hamilton and Hunt got passed 35 Neil Muddle to relieve him of the lead then Hunt and Hamilton had a coming together, letting 18 Larry Langmead through, who then found a way past Lowe for the lead.
White who had started at the back got up to second and found a way past Langmead to take the lead then on to win from langmead.
In the Final, Hamilton led from pole with Griggs not too far behind with a gap to 3rd place. White was again flying from last on the grid with Hunt close behind and by the half way mark, he was up to 3rd place. White then passed Griggs, and then got round the outside of Hamilton to take the lead then onto win from, Hamilton then Griggs.
There were 20 cars out for the first Reliant Robin Heat, which was also run in monsoon like conditions! 4 cars managed to fall on their side in the first lap causing a stoppage!
On the re-start there was quite a few other spins and rollovers, and two other stoppages. There was a double rollover and the race was declared - 26 Russ Gillingham took the win from 499 Lee Charles.
The second race was chained pairs with 7 pairs starting and only 3 pairs finishing! There was plenty of action and the race was declared when one pair was T-Boned by another pair and a totally unsighted pair jacked them up!! 116 Same Summerhayes & 115 Josh Collins were declared the winners.
The last race was a figure of eight race 33 Jack Carnell was the first of many rollovers. After quite a few near misses on the cross over, 674 Matt Ashmore caught 115 a pearler sending him into a Barrel Roll!! There was a few more contacts made on the crossover. L.Charles went on take the win. 115 josh Collins won a very hard hitting D/D with Gillingham second.
There were 25 cars for the First Rookie Banger Heat which was very lively with some cars crashing even before they crossed the start line! Which was won by 242 Ben Ellacott from 45 Tony Bevan.
The 20 cars out for the second heat started quieter before there was a 6 car pile-up causing a bit of mayhem, and there was a stoppage for a lost wheel. 209 Russ Neville took the win from 149 Lee Norman.
There were 20 cars out for the consolation which was fairly lively and was won by 113 Arry Brown. 20 cars turned out for the Final which was fairly quiet compared to the other races. 75 Paul Fisher led until the halfway mark when A.Brown shoved his way past into the lead before 13 Chris Jeanes then removed him from the lead then onto win from Neville.
There were about 14 cars out for the Banger Caravan Race which led to a pile up on the turnstile bend involving most of the field causing a stoppage. Most of the cars made it out for the re-start which was won by 49 Rob Bevan then 54 Tom Davey the only other finisher!!
RESULTS - 27.8.12
Special Rods:-
Heat 1 - Richard Howard 47,440,83,173,120,51,43
Heat 2 - Ross Stuckey 23,122,441,210,41,46,386,175,6,242
Cons - Jason Horseman 136,18,44,224
Final - Steve Griffin 440,23,47,122,136,46,18,173,43,41
Hot Rods:-
Heat 1 - Colin White 718,282,258,205,55,904,18,117,35,7
Heat 2 - Colin White 718,18,55,282,205,258,35
Final - Colin White 718,904,258,205,18,282,55,35
Reliant Robins:-
Heat 1 - Micky Ford 266,499,1,644,264,3,33,144,26,364
Pairs - 116/115, 443/266, 144/644
Fig 8 - Lee Charles 499,26,364,144,266,362,444,100,111
DD - 115 Josh Gifford
Rookie Bangers:-
Heat 1 - John Quinn 242,45,929,13,70,27,111,718,816,744
Heat 2 - Russ Neville 209,145,58,129,74,406,364,75,59
Cons - Arry Brown 113,938,438,475,744,270,111,189,54
Final:13 Jody Jeanes, 209, 438, 242, 475, 149, 75, 929, 113, 938
Caravandalism 12 - Rob Bevan 49
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