Photos: 1 - 10 Alex Catley, 11 - 20 Kevin Wickham, 21 - 30 Jim Harrod, 31 - 40 Damien Widdows
Report: Mark Paulson
Over 100 Unlimited Bangers gathered for the annual Unlimited Spooktacular, the last Adrian Flux Arena track action before 2020’s second nationwide lockdown, with Saloon Stock Cars providing support on only their second appearance of the season at the track.
Unlimited Bangers
First up was the Supernatural Championship for hearses, limos and Westies, which raised 11 cars including four hearses and the Austin FX4 of #256 Mark Ginders. After a lot of rain earlier in the day, the wet track made things hard going initially with the early action surrounding Ginders who spun and was then t-boned by #882 Nathan Grant’s hearse. Ginders then stayed on oppo and caught out early leader #396 Callum Woods (Mercedes limo). That allowed #129 Jono Brook’s hearse briefly into the lead before #103 Jack Deacon and #551 Brett Jackson slipped inside in their limos. While they contested the lead, the main action came from behind as #577 Alfie Lee blasted #267 Martin French in some hearse-on-hearse action. #224 James Burrows further splintered French’s Granada hearse before it was finished off by #57 Mark Gilbert’s similar machine, ripping the roof off in the process. Out front, Deacon eased clear for the win from Jackson and Lee.
#60 Kyle Stevenson (used Toyota Crown) was the star of heat two, first blowing up #13 Malc Gilbert (Jag) on the home straight. A fire on board #191 Kieran Greenway’s Rolls Royce after a stiff head on with #119 Davey Cox (Volvo) brought out red flags, after which it looked like #321 Andy Newton (Mercedes) would have it easy. He pulled clear and was heading for victory until taken out by Stevenson, who then took a stiff hit from #288 Carl Sowter. That allowed #43 Nicky Bishop through for the win, while Stevenson capped his performance by t-boning Newton after the flag.
The annual 25-and-Under Championship of Great Britain doubled up as heat three and was won by Mercedes-mounted #217 Sid Madgwick, who was runner-up in the Saloon Stock Car version of the event back in 2015. From the outside of the front row, defending champion #165 Ben Randell was beaten away by polesitter #328 Ben Nichols but the teenager’s lead didn’t last long. #349 James Guppy also had a spell in front before being taken out in front of the scoreboard, allowing #178 Kieran Bowman into the lead. Bowman had to fend off the attack of 2018 champ #757 Callum Gill, who got turned around himself in the process, allowing Bowman to break free. But Madgwick had the pace to come through to take a comfortable win from Bowman and Gill.
The 28-car heat four began with plenty of spinners causing chaos on the home straight. The best action came on the scoreboard bend as #791 Nicky ‘Spud’ Young (Austin FX4) and his brother #790 Nathan exchanged big hits with #247 Lee Clarke, before Spud was on the receiving end of a savage t-bone from #455 Ricki Finney. Out front, #721 Dan Clarke led most of the way before getting caught out with a lap to go, allowing #830 Lee White to take the win.
The cars were split into two groups for the second and third rounds of heats. Long-time leader #334 Stephen Court threw away the lead of heat five to follow in #288 Carl Sowter, and he himself was then blasted by #604 Ross Cooper, with Deacon joining in to form a wrecking train. #43 Nicky Bishop was then shown as the leader but had in fact been delayed earlier on by a half-spin inflicted by #617 Jack Overy, so it was #279 David Rushton who came through to take the win from #181 Grant Doe and Overy.
Like the previous race, heat six raised nearly 40 cars. It began with Finney splintering Brook’s hearse before a back-straight wrecking train led to red flags to assist #185 Polly Reade. Callum Woods led away the restart but was spun out by #9 Ben Cox, allowing Madgwick into the lead. He built a massive gap of nearly half a lap as Woods went on oppo to remove #77 Russell Gill, with second-placed #400 Lee Kingsnorth delayed in the process. But Madgwick lost his huge advantage avoiding trouble on the home straight so Callum Gill came through to win from #549 Phil Smith and Madgwick.
A quieter heat seven was enlivened by #100 Callum White blasting the spun #155 Sam Coote at full pelt on the home straight, and #715 David Allen dishing out a massive hit on #623 Ricky Hutton. #171 Tommy West took the win from a fast-closing Overy and Rushton, while Callum Gill took his second win of the night in a similarly low-key heat eight.
The King of the Fens final raised 28 cars and proved to be a racy affair. #51 James Licquorice led until a spin, when Doe took over. He was unchallenged as he went on to victory, while Overy snatched second from #281 Lewis Tingle on the final lap.
The destruction derby began in lively fashion with around 10 cars all piling flat out into a heap at the scoreboard end. It then quietened down but #229 Dean Jarvis kept things lively until eventually expiring. After a head on between Finney and #662 Dalton Smith and then another between #515 Gareth Flatters and #873 Kyle Roberts, it was Flatters who was last man standing.
Saloon Stock Cars
On their first appearance at the track since February, 32 cars were in the pits, although newcomer #365 Deano Day failed to race. Running an all-in format meant that that title race for the Bumper Trophy was up first with the track now in good condition following the opening round of Banger heats. Star men #161 Billy Smith and #600 Barry Russell had a reprieve after clashing onto the infield when early yellow flags to rescue the stranded #888 Shane Emerson were upgraded to red and a complete restart. Smith didn’t last much longer second time around though, collecting the spun #570 Simon Venni and picking up damage which he retired from when yellow flags were needed to assist #296 Craig Mitchell. At that stage #192 Robert Heanes , who hadn’t raced anywhere since the last meeting here in February, had spun #425 Tom Balls from second and taken the lead from #250 Sam Parrin, who then retired. #182 Lewis Gallie was second in the restart queue from #600 Barry Russell, world champion #116 Diggy Smith and #172 Jack Rust. Gallie quickly moved into the lead, but was shoved on by Russell who took over, only for Diggy Smith to spin him out and take up the running. Thereafter it was easy for the multi-champ and he reeled off the laps to take one of the few titles he hadn’t previously won, from Rust and #120 Luke Dorling.
After the lively main event, we were down to 24 cars for the first allcomers race, but they didn’t disappoint. Gallie overtook #250 Sam Parrin to lead before a caution period to collect debris. On the resumption, top red-graded driver #149 Jamie Sampson made light work of those in front to move into second and reel in Gallie. He had a few nibbles on Gallie’s back bumper before successfully half-spinning him on the back straight to take the lead, only to be removed by lively backmarker #131 Timmy Barnes. That promoted the latter’s brother into the lead and he went on to take a comfortable win from Billy Smith and Barry Russell.
A great battle for the lead of allcomers 2 ended when Billy Smith and #349 Michael Allard spun together under pressure from the pack behind. That allowed Jamie Sampson to escape to victory, although he did have a lot of backmarking traffic to deal with in the closing stages. His brother Lee (#428) followed him home having demoted Simon Venni on the penultimate lap, while Venni also lost out in the final-lap sort-out to Rust.