Report: Mark Paulson
A weekend of action at the Adrian Flux Arena began with top-class racing in the Two-Litre Saloon Stock Cars’ Steve Newman Memorial and some hard-hitting action in the revived War of the Worlds for Unlimited Bangers on Saturday night (25 June). 570 Simon Venni was the fourth winner of the Steve Newman Memorial, while the VS Massive team claimed the honours in the War of the Worlds.
Two-Litre Saloon Stock Cars
Despite several late withdrawals in the midst of a busy period, there were 41 cars in action for the highly-regarded Steve Newman Memorial meeting. Among them was 557 John Banwell, making a return in the car of his son, Jake, who won last year’s event. There were also first outings of the season for 106 Jamie Stafford and 126 Harry Barnes, a debut for track staff member 635 Gavin Goddard, and first appearances at King’s Lynn since graduating to the Heavy Metal Brigade for 52 Stuart Tointon, 399 Cole Atkins and 781 Scott Sparrow.
The opener, for Whites & Yellows only, raised 18 cars and was held on a track that despite a brief shower minutes earlier was slick and dusty, having been prepared to cope with the forecast rain. 16-year-old Atkins immediately pulled clear as others tangled. On the final lap, he was chased down by 537 Tom Alsop who was battling with lapped runner 538 Jake Swann. Both passed Atkin but he fought back and spun Alsop to take the win from brothers 321 Marcus Skeels and 124 Ollie Skeels, continuing the pair’s recent return to form.
Heat two was for all except the Yellow grade, tracking 28 cars led out by the recently crowned European Champion 641 Willie Skoyles Jr who was displaying his enormous trophy. Alsop led almost from flag to flag, only briefing dropping to second when passed by 570 Simon Venni, only for the latter to get caught out in a pile-up by the pit gate. After a yellow flag period to assist 304 Martyn Parker who had been put into the fence by Goddard, Alsop went on to win from star drivers 499 David Aldous and 428 Lee Sampson.
Without the Whites for the 26-car heat three, there were plenty of spins and crashes on the very slick track. The race proved to be a comfortable win for 998 Wayne Cottrill Jr, his first since switching to the formula, heading home 733 Kyle Picton and 349 Michael Allard.
The 36 finalists were led out by Steve’s family in his son Billy’s Junior Banger in which the youngster was making his debut that night. They would serve up an action-packed race befitting the title. With several early spinners, Sparrow was the early leader before local driver 177 Chris Masters moved in front. Marcus Skeels took advantage of Aldous unlapping himself to take the lead, as 26 Tommy Barnes, in his first race of the night, moved into third, only to be quickly demoted by Venni. The latter then picked off Masters and Skeels to take the lead, as Barnes spun and was collected on the nose by his younger brother Harry, also a very late arrival. Yellow flags came out to assist Skeels with just one lap to go, as Venni led from Sampson, Cottrill and Skoyles. Crucially, Venni had the backmarking 360 Carl Waterfield as a cushion, and with Waterfield appearing to hang back, eased clear to take the win. Cottrill just managed to beat Sampson to the flag for second, with Skoyles, Allard and Aldous completing the top six. As well as trophies being presented to the top three, there was a further driver of the day award, chosen by Billy and Charley Newman and presented to John Banwell after his all-action display.
After a heavy shower, a 19-car allcomers race rounded off proceedings. 192 Robert Heanes led before pulling off, allowing Swann to take over but he would slip to fifth at the flag behind World Champion 6 Simon Welton, Allard, 730 Deane Mayes and Venni.
Unlimited Bangers
There were nearly 70 Unlimiteds in action, spread across 15 teams, with each team being allocated two of three heats. Top cars were 93 Lewis Godfrey’s (Gremlins) Daimler DS420 limo which had previously seen action in the hands of Tom Reynolds, and the superbly turned out team full of Granada Mk2s of the Full Monty, crewed by 124 Richard Atkins, 128 Mark Atkins, 129 Jono Brook, 148 Ian Redden, 265 Steve Hyde and 800 Tom Hannah.
Heat one was relatively quiet but featured some good hits. 339 Jack Garrod (Team Jackpot) hit 726 Nathan Cooper (Mad Hatters) head on, while the leading 831 Shane Fry (Bears ‘B’) blasted 399 Jonny Atkin (Mad Hatters) after he had been held up by 100 Callum White (Gladiators). Fry also blasted 178 Kieran Bowman (Predators) before 521 Ash Riley (Bears ‘A’) charged into Garrod, only to suffer himself, leading to a red-and-chequered finish. 88 Lyndon Stark (Predators) was in front at the time, winning from 390 David Gibson (Mad Hatters) and 28 Neil Osbourne (Bears ‘A’).
Godfrey was taken into the scoreboard bend fence hard at the start of heat two, which led to a pile-up at the end which lasted for the rest of the race. 388 Taylor Sowter (Team Sowter) did 9 Tom Jordan (Shunters ‘A’) while Osborne dished out a shot on Jordan’s team-mate 768 Danny McSweeney. Sowter then came round again to trash Osbourne, with 321 Kieran Fry (Bears ‘A’), 514 Charlie Taylor (Shunters ‘B’) and 133 Karly Day (Bears ‘A’) joining in the wrecking train. At the same time, another train on bend two was also forming, featuring representatives of Team Mates, the Bears, the Shunters and Wild Boyz.
A quieter heat three produced a dominant display from VS Massive who provided the first four cars across the line, as well as seventh and eighth. 160 Shayn Winsor led home his team-mates 328 Daniel Lathan, 960 Ross Winsor and 326 Shane Lynn, as the squad opened out a near unassailable lead.
The all-in final was held with rain falling and raised 46 cars. It begun with 883 Tom Filmer (Team Sowter) blowing up Brook, while the Bears and Shunters also got involved as a pile-up developed on the scoreboard bend again. 206 Phil Milner (Gladiators) dished out a couple of big shots, including on Mark Atkins, as the reds came out with the track nearly blocked. 382 Jack Foster Jr (Mad Hatters) led away the restart but was pushed wide, as 421 Nigel Riley (Bears ‘B’) dumped cars into the pile, with Kieran Fry doing 513 Shaun Harvey (Shunters) and Jordan whacking the former. Stark managed to overtake the VS Massive runners out front who were then delayed by the track blockage, and came home to win from 757 Callum Gill (VS Massive) and 72 Billy Bond (Team Sowter). Gills’ points were more than enough to confirm a dominant win for his team, while Stark’s win clinched second for the Predators ahead of the Mad Hatters.
Junior Bangers
A good turnout of 27 Junior Bangers were also in action, almost half of them in the White grade. In heat one, 997 Wayne Cottrill III clipped a car and almost rolled, landing on top of 311 Billy Newman’s super-smart Ford Ka, ending the latter’s debut there and then. Red and chequered flags came out when 133 Jake Brown collected the crashed 667 Callum Self’s car, with Leicester visitor 16 Jamie Hopkins taking the win from 715 Josh Prince and 364 Bradley Lee.
Hopkins also took the flag first in heat two but was docked two places for jumping the start, handing the win to local youngster 229 Harry Cobb from 93 Marshall Waldron. The final was then won by 148 Jamie Blything on his last outing before graduating to National Bangers, with 340 Will Brazier and Hopkins completing the trophy positions.