Crashnet > Reports Index > RDC 1999 Index > Meeting 99/02

Mildenhall International Raceway (RDC) National Bangers 2l Stock Cars Stock Cars

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If you wanted really hard hitting action, Mildenhall served it up in spades this time around with an interesting feud in the making in the Bangers while the 2l Saloon Stocks tried their best to rearrange the fence arrangement. A reasonably dry weekend meant a fast track, and the drivers took advantage over a ten race programme.

Steven Biggs (309) became the second winner of the Novice of the Year qualifier series in a fairly tap and spin race, while Martin Scully (372) took the first main heat. It wasn't until the second Banger heat that things realy took off. If the Gladiators thought that entering the circuit mob handed was a method of protection, they were soon to find it a liability as Dean Kingsnorth (462) managed to drive the tail end of the Ian Smith (339) car into the home straight fence with a subsequent hit of Rob Peachey (429) and Colin Coker (729) into and under Smith's car making for a nice bit of modern sculpture on the home straight fence. Meanwhile Ian Laws (007) was leaving his mark in the Gladdies, starting off with a major t-bone of the already abused Kingsnorth car on the first turn followed by an abortive attempt on Dave Hammerton on the fourth which was finished off by Turbo Tom Reynolds (312) in fine style. A two point roll on the back straight by (250) capped the best Banger race of the day, which was taken by Justin Woolner (151), with Lee Overy (71) and Laws following. Mark Burbridge (347) took his fast Crapi to victory in the consolation and to second behind Davey Cox (119) in the final. The Accumulator qualifier was the usual mess of wreckage with Richie Ahern (100) leading for legitimate runners home, though Billy King (49), Matt Stroud (24) and Sonny Sherwood (348) managed to make life difficult, especially for Alan Dace (521)!

The biggest hits, however, came from the Saloon Stocks this time around as the cars suddenly had to remember how fast a dry Mildenhall track actually can be, and no one was exempt from making serious errors. Not even Kevin Shinn (121) who managed to collect a fair amount of the traffic after sliding out on turn three in the first race. However it also meant that we had some good, close racing which in race one meant that Dale Osler (45) reeled Daren Barnett (512) in before passing inside on the last lap to win, while ex-Ministox expert Andy Meen (140) got his best result at his first attempt by picking up third. Kevin Shinn made up for his first race booboo by taking the second ahead of John Smith (16). The heaviest racing was to come in the final, which was stopped three times in all, the first two causing complete restarts as first John Smith got stuck on the racing line on turn three, then Steve Webstar (401) ate a post by the start. Shinn made good progress to take the lead by the time that Willie Barnes (126) slung Trevor Gray (562) full chat into a home straight fence post, shattering the post base and bringing the reds out again for a declared result. Second place Julian Smith (216) took the somewhat pedestrian allcomers' race at the end.

If you thought that was madness however, there is more to come in six days time when 26 teams take to the Mildenhall shale in the 1999 Suffolk Team Open. That's a possible 156 cars! Miss it if you dare...

Results

1   Bangers Novice Q/R  309 Steven Biggs   /133/233/266/54/162
2   Saloons 1            45 Dale Osler     /512/140/51/126/4/175/562/6/16
3   Bangers 1           372 Martin Scully  /119/184/158/117/100/2/49/717/24
4   Bangers 2           151 Justin Woolner /71/007/231/521/72 NOCR
5   Saloons 2           121 Kevin Shinn    /16/293/126/140/511/2/512/116/409
6   Bangers Cons 1      347 Mark Burbridge /22/147/69/116/348/184/619/488 NOCR
7   Saloons Final       121 Kevin Shinn    /216/51/512/126/293/2/368/6/603
8   Bangers Final       119 Davey Cox      /347/117/49/54/184/116/24/372/69
9   Saloons A/c         216 Julian Smith   /293/121/512/51/126/6/511/603/140
10  Bangers A/Q         100 Richie Ahern   /22/285/372 NOCR

Result subject to confirmation by promotion