Sunday 18th January 2015

East Anglian locals Team Bash were victorious in the 22^nd staging of the Icebreaker, the country’s most prestigious team event for Unlimited Bangers, at the Norfolk Arena on Sunday afternoon, 18 January. Crewed by RDC drivers 116 Nat Cohn, 188 John Reeves, 673 Darren Fendley and 898 Andy Battle, they held off a determined challenge from 382 Jack Foster Jr and his Grey & Black ‘A’ team, runners-up for the second year running. Further local success was claimed by the Mad Hatters, as they scooped the honours in the day’s Entertainers League.

There were 90 cars in attendance which, while some way short of the event’s peak, is still a number that is rarely surpassed. A large proportion of those were in used cars, including a Daimler hearse for 300 Danny Harper (Team Ninja ‘B’) and a huge Lincoln limo for 267 Martin French (Team Ninja ‘A’) which the Midlander would go on to pilot with aplomb throughout the day. Bears ‘A’ and ‘B’ runners 266 Callum Hall and 521 Ash Riley also returned Yanks, the latter’s been the Imperial that had first seen service in 474 Matty Thelkeld’s hands nearly two years previously.

With some late arrivals, the start was delayed by half an hour but still a few failed to make their first heat, leading to fields in the 20s for each of the first three races. The day’s action begun with 604 Ross Cooper (Predators ‘A’) being turned into the back straight fence by the pack, before going on to spin himself a few more times as the race unfolded, while 768 Danny McSweeney (Shunters ‘B’) was blasted over the back wheel in the melee. Out front, Trackstar returnee 160 Shayn Winsor (Damage Inc ‘B’) looked to be resuming his form from a fantastic 2014 as a visitor to the track with a dominant display. That was until his car expired on the penultimate lap, bringing his day to an early conclusion. It was a blow from which Damage Inc, one of the pre-meeting favourites, never really seemed to recover, as their challenge didn’t really get going again after that, despite 209 Tom Waller’s second place in the opener. Winsor’s misfortune handed the win to 601 Chris Medler (Team Starky), while with limited action, no outright race entertainer was declared.

Heat two saw 221 Justin Riley (Bears ‘B’) blitz 89 Joe Barratt (Predators ‘B’) on the power station bend, before getting hammered by the latter’s team-mate 388 Taylor Sowter. At the other end, the tidy Mk2 Granada of 773 John Shaw (Bad News) was crumpled, while 81 Ashley Bell (Candyfloss) was taken in by French’s limo, then finished off by the pack, before red flags flew and a complete restart was ordered under Icebreaker rules. 334 Stephen Court (Team Ninja ‘A’), who had dropped off the lead lap, took full advantage by racing to the win in the restart, from 2 Luke Dawson (Dossers) and 611 Joe Geeves (Mad Hatters) who took the race entertainer award for his follow-in on 257 Timmy Aldridge (Dossers).

Heat three began with late-entry 617 Jack Overy (racing solo) turning 282 Bobby Daniels (Mr Men) into the home straight fence before the big action came with a wrecking train on bend four involving 43 Nicky Bishop (Wild Boyz ‘A’), 232 Justin Pollard (Bears ‘C’), 289 Ricky Haresign (Bad News ‘B’), 831 Shane Fry (Bears ‘C’) and 269 Greg Mulligan (Wild Boyz ‘A’). 579 Gary Beecham (Mr Men) then added 433 Ben Smith (Damage Inc ‘A’) to the pile. Out front, 898 Andy Battle opened the Team Bash account with a win from Foster and the sideways style of Overy and 99 Ritchie Ahern (Grey & Black ‘A’), while Mulligan was named the race entertainer.

Standings after first round of heats: Team Bash 22 points; Team Starky 17; Grey & Black ‘A’ 16; Ninja ‘A’ 12; Wild Boyz ‘B’ 12.

The car-counts moved into the 30s for the second round of heats which were split only two-ways. The first was generally lively without any terrific hits, but French continued to put his limo about, dishing out a head-on to 185 Polly Reade (Candyfloss). Court raced clear for his second win of the day, from 313 John Cullingford (Bad News ‘A’), with no race entertainer awarded 

Heat five was similar, with Hall throwing his Imperial’s weight around, including getting dumped into – and destroying – the stationary 790 Nathan Young (Shunters ‘B’) by Ahern. Battle raced clear at the front, eventually winning by more than a lap, with team-mate Fendley racking up the points in second and Cohn third. That gave the squad a healthy lead at the top of the table over Grey & Black ‘A’, for whom Ahern and Foster placed third and fourth in the race, picking up a decent haul in the process.

Standings after second round of heats: Team Bash 47 points; Grey & Black ‘A’ 31; Ninja ‘A’ 24; Team Starky 22; Dossers 16. 

Multiple follow-ins livened up heat six, including Geeves on 319 Wayne Cunnington (Wild Boyz ‘B’), 51 Simon Heilds (Team Ninja ‘A’) on 125 Roy Preece (Black Rats) – with 390 David Gibson (Mad Hatters) then blitzing the latter – and 421 Nigel Riley on Reade, with 513 Sean Harvey (Shunters ‘A’) then weighing in for good measure. At the head of the field, Court was heading for his hat trick until spinning out on the back straight. That allowed Dawson into the lead but his banana-shaped machine was handling evily, allowing Waller to catch and pass him for the win. Ash Riley picked up the race entertainer award.

The 35-car heat seven saw Cohn spin from the lead, only for team-mate Battle to take up the running, as further back 133 Karly Day (Bears ‘A’) blasted 331 Jason Jackson (Grey & Black ‘A’) who, having won four out of four races two years ago, was yet to score a point on this occasion. Battle lost his lead when taken onto the infield by Cooper before a big pile-up developed on bend four. Only a few were able to punch their way through the near-blockage which provided plenty of action, including Cohn getting ‘caged’ by Hall’s Imperial. Overy fought his way through for the win from Ahern and crucially, both Battle and Foster. With two scorers in the race for Grey & Black to Team Bash’s one, the fight for the title was getting close moving into the final, and appeared to be a two horse race.

Standings after third round of heats: Team Bash 55 points; Grey & Black ‘A’ 47; Dossers 31; Ninja ‘A’ 29; Team Starky 22.

A huge field of 44 cars lined up for the final, with the inevitable carnage soon following. Red flags were called to assist 711 Alex Elliot (Bears ‘C’) as a fire broke out on board 17 Kyle Overy’s Jap (Dossers). 516 Carl Gould (Damage Inc ‘B’) led the restart before spinning and being hit on the nose, allowing Fendley to take up the running from the Grey & Black ‘A’ trio of Ahern, Foster and the well-repaired Jackson. Reds were required again when Cohn took another pasting on bend one, whilst Predators Barratt and 79 Ricky Twell put in some big shots with McSweeney a little further round the same end. With Fendley now having to face the Grey & Black onslaught alone, things weren’t looking good for the Team Bash underdogs, particularly when Ahern moved ahead on the resumption. But the Londoner soon slowed, allowing Fendley back through and the King’s Lynn local continued to race out of skin to hold off the world title winners queuing up behind. Grey & Black ‘B’ runner 82 Tom Foster waded in on opposite, in an attempt to help his sister squad, managing to deliver a blow to Fendley’s rear wheel, damaging his suspension and bringing Jackson much closer to his tail. But amazingly, Fendley managed to pull away again as Jackson and Foster had to pick their own way around the many stranded motors, and went on to take the flag and, with it, the Icebreaker XXII title for his team, by just two points. Barratt was named the race entertainer but it wasn’t enough for his team to overhaul the Mad Hatters in the entertainers points, with the Bourne-based team adding another piece of silverware to their burgeoning collection 

Result:

Supporting the main event was a Junior Banger invitational, featuring 36 of the country’s leading youngsters, including World and English Champion 364 Bradley Lee, who would have a surprisingly subdued afternoon. An attritional white-top whirlwind race was won by 854 Aiden Storr in his very well-presented modern Nissan Micra. Heat two saw a good battle for victory between 186 Brett Gedney and 730 Brandon Mayes, with the latter just failing to hook out the former on the run to the flag. The third heat went the way of 10 Leeson Briggs, before the final was absolutely dominated by 130 Kyle Warren in an impressive display, taking the flag from the much more experienced duo of 997 Wayne Cottrill and Lee

The action continues in just two weeks’ time with 1500cc version of the Icebreaker. With an enormous entry booked to race it certainly looks like one not to be missed.