PREVIEW - Caravandalism Weekend 2012

Sunday August 26 and Monday August 27 2012

Mendips Raceway will be back in action this coming Bank Holiday weekend with two meetings, with racing on Sunday and Monday with a vast mix of classes over them, something for everyone with Bangers, Stock Cars, Hot Rods and a lot more besides.  

On Sunday, The BriSCA F2 Stock Cars are back in action for the first time since June, and 886 Chris Bradbury, who is looking for an unprecedented fifth track championship in a row here, but also is yet to be defeated in a Final around here this season.

However, his season has been very much up and down, and a written off chassis a week after the last meeting here has seen him have to qualify for the World Final at Barford next month in a rented car but should have his own new self-constructed for this meeting.  Local star 522 Chris Mikulla is chasing hard, but Mendips is still very much the playground of the 886 car.   The annual Freddie Funnel Memorial will be the main trophy on the Final, won last year by, of course Chris Bradbury.   Can he be beaten this time?  

The National Bangers have a rest this weekend and instead it is the last two sessions of the year for the Rookie Bangers where the emphasis is more on ‘racing to win’ and ‘spin and turn’ rather than any out and out wrecking and blowing up and with slightly lesser preparation involved it is designed to encourage potential drivers from the terraces to the track and it certainly has the desired effect with good entries expected on both Sunday and Monday which include a few son’s of Banger drivers from the past, and several others that are set to have their first taste of competing at Mendips, even if they have had some experience on other circuits.  

The Rookies were last here over for the Diesel car meeting last month, which was more of a novelty event, thus the last time we had the full field was back on Easter Sunday when 384 Scott Benjafield took the Final honours.  The points chase is very close with 129 Lee Dalton just holding on ahead of 13 Chris Jeanes and 475 Ben Sealey which is all building up to October’s West of England Championship which has switched from the Unlimited’s to the Rookies this year.  

The Banger fun will all culminate on Monday as we will reach Carvandalism 10.  The annual caravan race for the Chris and Becca Trophy, which was won last year by 54 Tom Davey, and there is extra money on offer for well presented caravans and it looks likely that we will see a fair few meet their end on Monday afternoon, which will be a perfect tonic for all those who despair when the M5 is clogged with them at times!

The youngsters in the Junior Rods will reach their penultimate meeting of the season, the Final will come at the end of next month and and in their points battle and in what has been a very close battle 510 Sid Harrison looks like he has a slight, slight bit of breathing space coming into the  meeting.  796 Dan Steeds was the Final winner last month as he swapped the rear wheel drive to the front, but as ever, it will be wide open amongst the 10-16 year olds.

The August Bank Holiday Monday always has a special feel about it especially with the day concluding with the annual afore mentioned caravan race.   We will have the last of the season for the Reliant Robins, who have once again had a good season of racing – these ‘cars’ were never designed to be racing vehicles, and the fun and games as the drivers try to do so is legendary.  And this is the only track in the country where you can see Figure of Eight racing on the three wheels, where they will go for the annual Caterers Cup which was won last year by 499 Lee Charles, who is the local master of the art but they were all shown the way last time out by the World Champion – yes – there is one, in 702 Allen Cooper.   The points championship reached its conclusion here at the meeting last month with veteran 282 Steve Hunt taking another title to his name.  The West of England Championship will be their main race and their first and was won last year by 718 Colin White who, assuming present, will again be very hard to beat with his vast experience.

The all Sierra Special Rods will round out the programme with their usual brand of close and competitive racing. The Monday is always a good meeting for them, with many of the local drivers’ family and friends coming to watch the racing. The points are remarkably close coming into the meeting with defending silver roof 23 Ross Stuckey holding a very slender two point lead over 47 Richard Howard who in turn is only a few points ahead of West of England Champion 210 Paul Barnes. Like the Junior Rods they gear themselves up for their big climax to the year with their own West of England Championship, defended by the afore mentioned Barnes, coming on October 7.  But, the lower graded drivers so very often get away, just as 44 Sam Howard did last year – it really is anyone’s race, and anyone’s title.