Smeatharpe Stadium - Sunday 29th January 2012

Forget 'Dancing on Ice' - the 2012 season opener at Smeatharpe, 'The Winter Open' for the 2 Litre National Bangers, was more 'Banger Ballet'.........!! Yes, the weather forecast promised snow - and we got snow. The top-class list of Bangers booked promised fireworks - and boy, did we get FIREWORKS!!

Also on the packed programme were the non-contact Stock Rods in their annual 'Winter Supreme Championship' and the talented youngsters in the Ministox, and both these formulas provided some excellent entertainment in support of the crash brigade on what was a cold and eventually wet afternoon in Devon.

First up was the traditional Grand Parade for the competing Bangers and the extremely large winter crowd were treated to some amazing paint-jobs - the local DWO team particularly impressive - and, surprisingly, a field not entirely made up of Mondeos and Cougars, though these were by far the most favoured tool-for-the-job. There was not a single Nissan Bluebird in the entry but there was a brace of the modern version of the 'S-Type' Jaguar, one a very hard looking saloon and the 111 version, an estate - both Mondeo engined. Surprisingly neither made the list of 'oldest/rarest' but the two cars that did - a ripe old 1971 Humber Sceptre from 303 Nic Saintey (complete with 'old skool' 'jerry can' water-tank !) and a Cortina Mk5 estate from usual suspect 266 Ian 'Tiggy' Meaker (who else) - were certainly worthy winners. A walk around the pits earlier revealed some interesting visitors, including a serious looking 'Custard Cream' team from the Essex region among others. Anyone familiar with the blue and yellow cars - and their classic battles of old with a certain 'Suicide Squad' will know that this is a team that has always meant business. And so to the racing.......  

National Bangers - Winter Open

A very encouraging 70 plus bangers filled the Smeatharpe pit area, 34 of which lined up for heat 1, with 133 Terry Hill on the inside of the front row and 14 Andy Eves on his outside, with the two 'gold' roofed, superbly turned out Cougars of 190 Steve 'Pikey' Bailey and 162 Brett 'Bad-Boy' Ellacott menacingly lining up at the back of the field. 133 Hill was the early leader as all hell broke loose on the pit bend (surprise, surprise !) which began with 99 David Spooner launching himself into a spin and then joined by the 111 Jaguar estate of Peter Street and several others, meanwhile 162 Ellacott was a surprising retirement on to the centre as 614 Chris Hide joined the carnage on the pit bend, closely followed by 422 Tristan Beresford, the unfortunate Jaguar seemed to be getting a lot of attention, the rear end of the pretty 'S-Type' looking very sorry for itself. With almost a track blockage on turns 3 and 4, still the cars were piling in, next being 190 Bailey who hit the stranded 187 car of Stu Harrop at an amazing speed, completely destroying it before taking a big hit himself from the very brave birthday boy 369 Gary Holmes. Holmes then reversing and continuing on his way, probably satisfied that he had done a good job but not realising, perhaps, that 'Pikey' too had somehow managed to get the now severely 'crabbing' Cougar mobile again and had set off in pursuit of the 369 car. Fortunately for some but not for others (!) a problem for the unfortunate 187 driver caused the need for a red flag and so the cars lined up for a re-start. 406 Chris Bridger was deemed to be the leader at the stoppage and so led away the 8 car field for the final 5 laps, a field that included 369 Holmes, just two cars in front of 190 Bailey - a man who is famous for having the slogan 'Pikey's never forget....' on the back of his motors ! From the flag 369 Holmes came under a lot of pressure from 133 Hill on turn 4 but the 190 car of Steve Bailey had a very bent rear axle and was proving a real handful to control and so the 190 man had more than enough to occupy him - though he did get very near to the rear of the Holmes Mondeo. At the front, 460 Lewis Barber of the 'Cream Team' removed 406 Bridger only to put himself in which allowed 422 Beresford to take up the running with 3 laps to run, followed closely by 842 Jack Perkins. Local favourite Pikey meanwhile was finding the pretty Cougar's handling not to his liking at all, no sir, and for once was using all his immense skill to keep the thing in a straight line and finish rather than flatten any other poor unfortunate driver - something that was going to pay dividends later in the afternoon. 369 Holmes spun on the pit bend and took a big one from the lively 460, while at the front 842 Perkins spun 422 Beresford to take up the lead which he kept to the chequered flag, followed home by 733 Ricky Stroud and the thoroughly entertaining 'Cream Team' man 460 Barber. There were only 6 finishers! A staggering 40 cars came out on track for heat 2 which included the crusty old Humber Sceptre and 341 'Jonesy' in another super-smart DWO Cougar, I am sure I was not the only one thinking 'how long were THEY going to last.....' 11 Lee Donnelly started on the inside of row 1, with 310 Luke Woolway on his outside and as the green flag dropped 341 'Jonesy' picked up the unfortunate 840 Stephen Sheppard and launched him toward the pit bend wall, 474 Darren Polden also getting in on the action, this began another huge pile-up involving 330 Matthew Warr, 47 Marcus A'Lee and probably half the field, and still they piled in, 714 Paul Smaldon couldn't resist getting stuck in either, nor could 4 Tony Hulland - but that might not have been entirely his plan. All this heavy action brought out the red flags for a problem at the opposite end of the track on turn 2 for 284 Leon Benjafield - and we hadn't even completed the first lap! So, a complete re-start for heat 2 and 22 cars managed to line up with 943 Paul Golden on the inside of the front row and 908 David Brown on the outside but as the green flag signalled the start, Brown gets picked up and clobbers the pit-bend wall and off we go again ! Surprisingly, as the field sorted itself out, 341 'Jonesy' was the man at the front of the pack - no really - and despite the now stranded 908 Mondeo of Brown sitting just on the exit of turn 4 and Brown actually waving him in, the DWO man did not accept the invitation and indeed, apart from giving the Cougar of 410 Dan Galley a bit of a hurry-up 3 laps from the end, carried on to take the win to shouts of 'Hot Rodder' from various sections of the crowd (well me anyway !). Though at one moment it did look like the 908 man was going to get his wish in part as 7 Jamie Charles came hurtling along the start/finish straight on opposite but thankfully he made contact with no one and the race was run - though 410 Galley did manage to re-arrange the 908 Mondeo's rear end before the end. Even more disturbing than 'Jonesy' winning was that 714 'No Show' finished in 2nd, and I suppose because of this the re-run race was a little tame compared with heat one, though 382 Jack Foster Jnr might argue this point as he did pick up and follow-in the unfortunate 474 Darren Polden a lap or 2 from the end. 452 Anthony Sleeman came home in 3rd with 239 Steven Carter 4th after a very quiet race by his standards. 'Jonesy' certainly looked pleased with his win, and then in true DWO style gave away his winner’s trophy to a very admiring little boy who I know will treasure it and be a fan of the loveable 'Jonesy' for life - top marks !

And so to the consolation. It was no surprise at all to see the 190 Cougar repaired and driving in a straight line once more after another superb repair job by the 'Team Pikey' boys, joining Stevie-boy Bailey was the still immaculate sister Cougar of 162 Ellacott that had retired early in heat 1. It did seem a bit bizarre to see TWO gold-roofed cars at the back of the grid - easy on the eye though! Quite remarkably, considering the earlier carnage, 37 cars graced the wet track which included the dear old Humber Sceptre of 303 Saintey. 451 Nigel Belfield and 282 Lee Treasurer it was that occupied the front row and led the field away but as the cars came to the pit-bend all hell broke loose once more, the 303 Sceptre being one of the early casualties, 100 Alec Jenner pulled out a thundering hit on 862 Darryl Cock, with 382 Foster dishing out a similar move on 719 Chris Storey, and then joined by 123 Scott Cooper flattening 237 Craig Launder - this is what we had come to see! 650 Jamie Seery, 642 Nigel Thomas and 862 again went in hard as the pit-bend suddenly resembled a scrap yard, accounting for the demise of almost half the field, as for who was in the lead ? Who cared - the mammoth turn 3/4 wrecking session was far more entertaining. Meanwhile out of the carnage the two DWO cars of Bailey and Ellacott were actually doing the laps, as 221 Troy Cooper put 123 Scott Cooper in hard on turn 3, followed by 208 Jimmy Randall doing likewise to 650 Seery, unlike the earlier heat 2 this race was anything but a Hot-Rod race. With 3 laps to go it was now 208 Randall that had taken it up at the front from 190 Bailey, but 'Pikey' then decided to give 240 Rob Setters a bit of a hurry-up and that allowed 162 Ellacott up into 2nd. 190 did manage to re-pass Ellacott before the flag demoting the Tedburn St Mary driver down to 3rd, AND managed to give 114 Nick Courtier a hit but all in all it was a good day at the office for the DWO boys with 208 'The Finger' Randall being the popular winner. And as the winner came forward to collect his trophy, in true Essex-boy style, it was good to see that the boy from Romford was bang-on-trend too in the fashion department - sporting a natty black 'Superdry' jacket over his race suit !

Next race up, after a suitable time for repairs, was the big one - the 2012 Winter Open - and as the qualifiers streamed out onto the rain-soaked track you realised why certain drivers had taken it a little easier in the earlier races as regards the wrecking as a goodly number of DWO team members had made it through. 114, ex-World Champion and returnee Nick Courtier lined up  on the inside of the front row and the smart men (and ladies) in the crowd suddenly realised that a good start could see the Ipplepen man a good bet for the win - though also realising that just being Nick Courtier was going to surely draw more than a little attention from some of the other competitors......  240 Rob Setters lined up on Courtier's outside ahead of a 20 car field and after the green flag waved, to everyone's surprise all the cars actually managed to complete the first lap, with 114 Courtier's inside line advantage putting him clearly ahead at the front of the chasing pack, with 252 Steve Bugler holding a watching brief in 2nd. Lap 2 and still everyone was facing the right way and running and it looked like we might have a race as 114 increased his lead a little over 252 and 262 Robert Bugler - with 190 Bailey, 162 Ellacott and 341 'Jonesy' still bringing up the rear where they had started. Lap 3 came and went and STILL the race continued without any real incident and suddenly, for a brief second or two, my mind wandered back to a particularly boring National Hot-Rod race I'd seen at Ipswich many years ago...... Lap 4 and 114 continued to lead 262 but 460 Barber had now worked his way up to 3rd but several drivers had now pulled onto the infield, either with mechanical problems or out of boredom (!) and still no-one had actually drawn first-blood. But of course this couldn't last and soon National Banger normality was restored as Stevie Bailey spun 943 Paul Golden as the popular Whitestone driver made his way (at last) through the field. 460 moved up into 2nd but Courtier was still out front, with 252 running 3rd and as we reached half-distance this is how it looked with only 'Pikey' looking like a real threat at the time. 460 Barber then began to haul in 114 and with Barber being, well, Barber anything was likely to happen. Action at last as 252 Bugler attempts to put 'Pikey' in as the DWO man attempts a pass for 3rd but the 190 man manages to hang on and slide his way out of trouble, making a mental note I'm sure of the 252 number as he does so. Well into the second-half of the race now and suddenly Courtier has what looks like a steering problem and slides gently, unaided, into the turn 1 wall and his race is run. This suddenly ignites the pit-bend crowd into life and almost as one they point to the stricken 114 car waving in and encouraging anyone at all to flatten it - such is the popularity of Nick Courtier with the Smeatharpe crowd - but no one accepts the invite! 252 Bugler now takes over at the front, from 460 Barber and 190 Bailey. Lap 9 and 841 gets spun out on the start/finish straight by 240 Setters and 460 Barber relieves 252 Bugler of the lead with 'Cream Team' mate 717 Jack Tuffen now up into 4th by spinning or firing in anyone unlucky enough to get in his way. 3 laps left to run and the order is 460, 252 and 190, and this is how it finished with Barber a deserving winner as he had been entertaining for most of the day and 2nd place man 252 Bugler rewarded for keeping it all together from the start. The defending Champion 190 'Pikey' coming home in 3rd was a credit not only to himself but his excellent crew who had somehow straightened out the Cougar from the first race and done so to such a standard that it had been almost as competitive as it was at the start of the meeting. And as seems traditional, once more the 190 driver gave away his hard fought-for trophy to an admiring little boy in red overalls - but it must be noted that the big man absolutely refused to share his box of cakes from meeting sponsor 'Totally Lush Cupcakes’!! 717 Tuffen was certainly good value for 4th, the Essex youngster obviously picking up some tips from father Dave's days racing at Arena Essex against the Suicide Squad all those years ago! So, not an epic race by any stretch of the imagination and certainly not as good as the earlier heats and consolation but the awful track conditions caused by the weather obviously didn't help. 

And so to the Allcomers, traditionally a heavy wrecking session at any big banger meeting and fingers crossed this one would be no exception. 123 Scott Cooper the first casualty, taking a bit hit and then having the rear of his car further re-arranged courtesy of 51 Danny Saunders, who in turn gets clobbered by 4 Tony Hulland. 262 Bugler and 240 then exchange paint as heavy action breaks out all around the raceway until the red flag comes out on lap 3 after a big pile up at the end of the start/finish straight involving 262, 662 Jamie Harding, 511 Dan Crosbie, 310 Luke Woolway, 327  and 123 Cooper. 310 Woolway's car looking very much the worse for wear. So, a complete re-start which surprisingly sees 20 cars fit and able to continue with 614 Chris Hide the early leader as 190 'Pikey' takes a big hit from old adversary 99 David Spooner, 221 Troy Cooper also wading in on the DWO man leaving him stationary on the exit of turn 4 for a second or two but Steve again manages to coax the battered Cougar into life and sets off once more. 162 Ellacott's Cougar on the other hand is still looking remarkably straight and lapping the track in fine style, just as 650 Jamie Seery takes a filling-loosening package from 208 'The Finger'. The conditions are appalling, it is cold and it is wet but the wrecking spirit it seems is hardly dampened but then by half distance the race has settled down a bit and although it is difficult to follow exactly who is running where it seems that Essex-boy Randal is somewhere near the front, with fellow Essex resident 662 Jamie Harding also there or thereabouts. But who really cares, the huge pile of bent and flattened cars at both ends of the raceway are testament to heavy session of wrecking, and that is what we all came to see. 208 it was who indeed took the win, and top marks to Mr Randall too as he not only took the race he also made a right mess of a few cars along the way ! 662 Harding gave the 'Cream Team' something more to celebrate, with DWO duo 239 Steven Carter and 162 Ellacott in the still fresh looking Cougar home in 3rd and 4th. There were 11 finishers - 7 of which were DWO or DWO affiliated (!) drivers!! 

And so to the final 'race' of the long day, the King of Crash/DD and as the snow fell on the Smeatharpe raceway, giving it a Christmassy winter feel, there was still a few heavy presents to be handed out. A creditable 12 cars lined up at various points around the track, including the by now hanging Humber Sceptre of Nic Saintey and a good showing of non-DWO drivers keen to finish off their cars in style. 303 Saintey was keen to finish off his vintage Humber by steaming into anything that he could but his race came to a quick end as 330 Matthew Warr flattened the Rootes machine. 341 Andrew Jones was in usual blistering form, 415 Scott Cornish also getting in some big hits until taking a large portion himself from 7 Jamie Charles, 662 Harding also getting in on the act. Meanwhile 341 'Jonesy' was intent on completely destroying his once immaculate Cougar, crashing into anything he could at an alarming speed. No change there then...... 662 and 208 'Fingers' exchange blows as 'Jonesy' circles menacingly, looking for prey but is beaten to it as 714 'No Show' launches himself at the 662 machine - which amazingly is still running and mobile. With 662 Harding now the only non DWO runner left, the writing looks on the wall for the 'Cream Team' man, and 341 'Jonesy' duly gives him an almighty head-on on the start/finish straight - but Essex-boy Harding is not finished yet. To a huge round of applause, the 662 car creeps forward but another hit from 'Jonesy' extinguishes the life of the once straight Mondeo and Harding is out. All that remains is for the three remaining DWO cars of 'Fingers', 'Jonesy' and 'No Show' to finish each other off, with Randall starting things off by hitting Jones on the nose, which stops the 341 car dead. With the snow now falling quite heavily 714 Smaldon's car now expires but 'No Show' waves Randall in anyway, as does 'Jonesy' in the 341 car and 'Fingers' obliges in usual style. The chequered flag comes out to bring to an end an excellent, if cold, afternoon of motorsport mayhem, with a hat-trick of wins for 'Fingers', small boys with trophy's, cupcakes for the lucky few and frostbite for the masses - but of course we will ALL be here again, same place, same time, next year.

Finally, a big thank you and total respect, to the spectators on the pit-bend that stayed put after the DD finished in order to applaud the winner Randall - now that is dedication far beyond the call, you know who you are.

Stock Rods - Winter Supreme Championship

Running to a two-from-three heat, reverse grid format, 16 cars lined up on a dry track for heat 1 with 54 John Tait on the inside of the front row and 49 Kev Lock on the outside. After a rolling start the green flag dropped and it was 54 that took an early lead with 49 Lock tucking in behind just in front of 151 Simon Vincent. The conditions meant it was not going to be a good day for the two 'RWD' Toyota Starlets, the beautifully turned out 306 version proving a real handful for veteran star Neil Truran. 286 Rich Crowther was an early spinner, the graduate from the Ministox finding it particularly difficult getting to grips with his 'new' formula and the Smeatharpe track. As young Rich got going again 49 Lock moved up into the lead and the unfortunate 54 Tait pulled onto the infield with a problem which promoted 151 Vincent up into 2nd. The unfortunate Crowther spun again and 40 Rick Cornell also pulled off onto the centre and 54 Tait rejoined just in front of the leaders which almost caused a moment. Meanwhile 394 Mike de Paiva moved up into 3rd and 264 Steve Olden into 4th, as the 286 car spun yet again, but it was 49 Lock and 151 Vincent that looked the serious contenders for the win as we reached half-distance. A mistake by Vincent allowed the 394 car up the inside into 2nd, 151 then trapped on the outside line began to lose places alarmingly, first to 251 Lee Ribbans, 92 Adam Daniels and then 264 Olden. As the lap boards came and went it was a straight battle between the 49 car, maintaining a steady tight inside racing line, and the pursuing pack all juggling positions in an effort to find a way past, but to no avail as the chequered flag came down on the Kev Lock Nova, the Exeter man having the honour of winning the first race of the new season, followed home very closely by 251 Ribbans, 92 Daniels and 264 Olden. A very wet track from the now constant rain greeted the reversed-grid field for heat two, and you just had to feel some sympathy for the RWD Starlet mounted 311 Neil Martin, he was never going to find it easy against the more suited FWD cars. With 315 Trevor Ashworth on the inside of the front row and 264 Steve Olden on the outside, the green flag dropped and once more it was the inside line that was favourable as 315 took up the early running, but somehow he got sucked to the outside which allowed 181 Lindsey Jones through, with 264 Olden in 3rd. The moist (!) conditions were certainly having an say in the pace of the race, with the Martin Starlet predictably finding the going tough - though it did look an exciting car to drive as it power slid round the bends at the back of the field ! Meanwhile at the front it was still points champion Jones leading from 264 Olden now up into 2nd with 46 Shane Hector in 3rd at the expense of 315 Ashworth who was finding that he was being pulled to that outside line like a magnet. 136 Stevie Gooch was definitely the man on the move and was quickly up into 3rd passing 46 Hector, who then slid into the turn 1 wall. The flying Gooch was soon up into 2nd and with designs on the lead began hunting down 181 Jones, just as it looked like we had a real race on our hands the 46 Hector Nova came to a standstill on the exit of turn 2 and in the interests of safety the waved yellow flags came out to bring the race under caution. With 7 laps left to run it was 181 Jones that led away 136 Gooch and 264 Olden at the re-start, but it was the West Drayton man Gooch that was soon at the front and pulling away from 181 and 264. 730 Brendon Sealy made a late charge up into 4th but as the lap boards came and went it was 136 that took an easy win from 181 Jones and 264 Olden. A good points haul from the Hoochie Goochie man looked to stand him in good stead for the Final. Heat 3 fielded 17 starters and the track condition was poor to say the least as 730 Sealy and 853 Sam Matthews lined up at the front for a difficult 20 laps. And for a change it was outside line man Sealy that got off to the better start and took up the lead with 853 fighting to keep the car facing in the right direction in 2nd. Already though 136 Gooch was working his way through the field with comparative ease considering the slippery conditions, with 348 John Brereton then parting company with his car's bonnet on the main straight  which couldn't have done his Corsa's electrics any favours but everyone managed to avoid it and Brereton carried on regardless. 730 Sealy continued to lead with 251 Lee Ribbans now up into 2nd, 348 in the bonnet-less Corsa in third and a storming 136 Gooch now up into 4th and looking threatening. 251 Ribbans then manages to catch and pass Sealy for the lead, the Worthing man then pulling away from the 730 car in a cloud of spray as 136 Gooch moves up into 3rd. 311 Neil Martin in the RWD Starlet was still finding the little car a real handful but top marks for making the effort to bring the 'old skool' machine out in the rain at all. At half distance it was still Ribbans from Sealy from Gooch as the leading trio got amongst the back markers and just as it seemed that the Worthing man had got the wet raceway sussed he got on the gas a little too early on the exit of turn 4 and off he went, spinning onto the infield, handing the lead back to 730 Sealy. 181 Lindsey Jones was now up into 3rd as 315 Trevor Ashworth had a bit of a moment on turn 3. With 5 laps left to run the order was 730, 136 and 181 but as the leaders negotiated the back markers the 136 car's 2nd place looked under threat as 181 Jones threatened to put one up the inside of the West Drayton man. As the last lap board came out though the threat passed and the chequered flag came down on convincing winner Sealy, from 136 Gooch and 181 Jones - with early leader 251 Ribbans managing to bring the car home in 4th. 

20 cars emerged from the pits for the 20 lap Winter Supreme Championship, with the grid was made up of the top points scorers from the earlier heats at the front, this meant that 136 Steve Gooch was on the inside of the front row, with 730 Brendon Sealy on his outside, with 181 Lindsey Jones on the inside of row 2 with 251 Lee Ribbans on his outside. 136 Gooch it was who led from the green, tailed by 730 Sealy and 181 Jones in 3rd, Jones then slipped one up the inside of Sealy to take 2nd as 315 Trevor Ashworth had a brief moment on the start/finish straight. 49 Kev Lock, an earlier heat winner, then joined in with the battle for 3rd, as 136 began to stamp his authority at the front, pulling away from 181 Jones. By lap 3 the leader was already insight of the back markers, such was the 136 man's command of things, but 2nd place was not so clear cut as 730 Sealy re-took 181 Jones for the place. 315 Ashworth had another moment and decided to pull the car up on the infield, as 136 Gooch increased his lead at the front. Martin in the ill-handling Starlet sensibly keeping his car to the outside line to allow the leading cars through, with the track conditions still resembling a skating rink. At half-distance it was 136 Gooch, from 181 Jones now back into 2nd, with 730 Sealy 3rd and 49 Lock in 4th, but the 49 man had not given up and two laps later was up into 3rd at the expence of 730 Sealy. As the lap boards came out, it was evident that 181 Jones was catching the 136 car and with 4 laps to go was certainly within striking distance but Gooch managed a better line through the back markers to maintain his lead and go on to take the chequered flag and the Winter Supreme Championship, though it was not in the end an easy victory as 181 Jones hounded him to the flag. 49 Kev Lock did very well to hang on to 3rd, just from 730 Brendon Sealy. An excellent performance once more then from the non-contact Stock Rods.

Ministox

A very good entry of youngsters in the Ministox promised some exciting racing, with a whole host of new/re-vamped cars on show and a good mix of visiting talent too - which included a certain 236 Ryan Polley of which much was expected. Heat 1 fielded 20 starters and on a damp track anything could happen, the fact that it had just started to rain was not going to help things either.... 994 Toby Johnson and 946 Emily Hector made up the front row and as the green flag dropped it was 994 Johnson that got his nose in front and began to open up a gap on 946 Miss Hector, the entire field initially coping extremely well with the difficult track conditions. At the back it was young 942 Steven Gilbert who made the best start from the reds - that was until he tangled with 989 Joe Marquand, meanwhile 936 Alfie Whitelegg, in his very smartly turned out car, was having problems of his own spinning on turn 2, 932 Sam Moore also was having directional problems and came to a standstill in a dangerous position on turn 4 which brought out the waved yellow flags in the interests of safety. On the re-start it was again 994 Johnson that led them away and made the early running closely shadowed by 274 Keiran O'Reilly, further back 916 Keiran Brodie tangled with 935 James Flint, with 907 Ben Sillifant spinning in sympathy. 274 O'Reilly got the better line through turn 1 and took up the lead with 994 Johnson hanging on in 2nd with 143 Danny Hansford now looking a threat as he carved his way through the field. 274 really seemed to have mastered the tricky conditions and began pulling away at the front, with 143 Hansford now hustling the 994 Johnson car for 2nd, this continued right up until the final bend when visitor Hansford just got his nose in front to take a creditable 2nd place in front of local man Johnson - with 274 Keiran O'Reilly running out a clear and deserving winner. 236 Ryan Polley only managing to finish 8th. Heat 2 fielded 19 starters and once more 994 Toby Johnson lined up on the inside of the front row, with 946 Emily Hector on his outside, these two leading away the field. As the cars rounded turns 1 and 2 for the first time 994 went wide allowing 946 Hector to take up the running, the young lady from Cullompton pulling clear with 994 Johnson hanging on in 2nd before being passed by 977 Kieran Bradford. 946 then spun, followed by 994 Johnson which brought out the waved yellow flags once more. On the re-start it was 977 Bradford that led the field away for the remaining 8 laps, followed by 955 Frankie Radmore in her very smart re-vamped car, but just as the race gets going young Tom Cadby in the 910 car spins on turn 2 and once again, in the interests of safety, the waved yellow flags come out and we are into yet another caution period. For the second time of asking 977 Bradford leads away the field at the re-start, followed once more by 955 Miss Radmore but now with visitor 108 Mark Cooper behind her in 3rd. As the cars round turn 2, Radmore and Cooper tangle which allows 903 Adam Neville up into 2nd, both recover and a right ding-dong battle develops between the 955 and 108 drivers, neither giving an inch as they trade places, all this allowing 977 Bradford and 903 Neville to pull away in 1st and 2nd. 942 Steven Gilbert then joins in the battle for 3rd place as 903 catches 977 as the race enters its final stages. 955 then spins on the start/finish straight as 942 Gilbert takes 3rd from 108, 903 then pushes 977 wide on turn 2 and takes up the lead with 2 laps to go, and this is the order they finish. Another thoroughly entertaining race from the youngsters in absolutely horrible racing conditions. The Ministox final had a creditable 16 starters with 946 Emily Hector on the inside of the front row with 161 Visitor Jacques West on her outside and at the green it was young Emily who took advantage of her inside line and headed the pack into turn 1. 161 continued to hustle the leader as he looked for a way past in the difficult conditions - with previous race winner 274 Kieran O'Reilly in very close company in 3rd. O'Reilly then making his intentions clear and passing the 161 car up into 2nd as 977 Bradford joined in the fun in 4th, meanwhile further back 942 Gilbert was carving his way through the field from the reds, as was 108 Mark Cooper. 946 was still going well but 977 young Kieran Bradford was going even better and before long had passed both 274 O'Reilly and 161 West and then moved up into the lead with a spirited drive. 274 then had a moment which allowed 108 Cooper out of nowhere up into 3rd, just as things were hotting up though young Frankie Radmore in 955 had a coming together with the fence and in the interest of safety the waved yellow flags brought the race to a stop. With 5 laps left to run 977 Bradford, not for the first time this afternoon, led away the re-start but he had 108 Cooper right on his back bumper for company. As the green flag waved there was nothing to choose between the leading two drivers, a little further back 942 Gilbert had made a cracking start passing 274 to take up 3rd, with 903 Neville also following him through into 4th. Next lap and 108 Cooper manages to pass 977 Bradford but the young Heathfield man was not finished yet and came back hard with the bumper on turn 3 in an effort to re-take the lead - which he did in fine style. But what goes around comes around and 108 certainly did with an almost identical move on the 977 car to once more head the pack, spectacular stuff indeed. Meanwhile 942 Gilbert was ready to pick up the pieces shadowing the leading pair as they exchanged paint, with 903 lurking in 4th. With two laps to go Gilbert puts his car up the inside of the battling Bradford to take over 2nd and set off in pursuit of Cooper but is there enough time for the flying Cornishman to catch the 108 man as they begin the final lap. Ever closer as they round turns 1 and 2, Gilbert produces an amazing turn of speed as the two cars hurtle down the back straight and launches the 942 car at the 108 rear bumper pushing the visiting driver wide into the final turn but some excellent skill from Cooper just sees the young driver keep it all together and recover to cross the finishing line inches in front of 942 Gilbert to take the win. Full credit to both these drivers and how good it is to see so much talent in the Ministox, after all these are the oval racing champions of the future. Top marks too to all the competing drivers as the conditions were truly awful and everyone showed great skill. So, the final result was a well deserved win for young Mark Cooper, with the charismatic Gilbert in 2nd and 977 Bradford holding on for an equally well deserved 3rd.