by Mark Paulson
A four formula festive feast provided plenty of action at King’s Lynn’s Christmas holiday meeting on Sunday 30 December. Buster Chapman and his crew provided an absolutely superb racing track for the mid-winter meeting and the racers made the most of it to serve up 17 races of entertainment. Headlining the day’s proceedings was the micro bangers Norfolk Team Championship where Team Starky continued their superb run of success to claim the title from pre-meeting favourites Norfolk N Good.
Over 60 cars were in action, spread across 22 teams of up to three drivers. Amongst the standard fare Nissan Micras, Vauxhall Corsas and Ford Kas were a number of slightly more unusual motors. Those included what could have been the sport’s first Toyota Yaris, in the hands of 571 Mark Quinsey (Salhouse Breakers). Car of the day though belonged to 359 Simon Rolph. His Fiat Panda certainly lived up to his ‘Mr Mint’ nickname. With his Team Mint ‘A’ team-mates also in super-smart cars, the trio deservedly won the award for the best presented team.
The teams were split into two groups for the heats before an all-in final. The first two heats both featured 26 cars and saw plenty of spinning and bumping without any massive hits. The first was won by Team Jackpot’s 99 Ricky Garrod from 128 Andy Shipp (Team Bodge) and 328 Daniel Lathan (Norfolk N Good ‘A’). The latter’s squad were on the trail of a clean sweep of domestic team titles at King’s Lynn this year, having already won the 2-litre and 1500 versions. 72 Billy Bond (Team Mint ‘A’) took the entertainers award.
280 Simon Goodale (Bad News) supplied a smokescreen for the others to negotiate throughout a slightly livelier heat two which was won by Team Starky’s 886 Lewis Stark from pole position. With team-mate 601 Chris Medler in third, it gave the orange boys an early lead in the points. 791 Nick Young (Mad Mob) brought his smart Kia home second while guesting team-mate 390 David Gibson claimed the entertainers award for his follow-in.
The next pair of heats each saw an increase in cars due to a number of latecomers making it on track for the first time. One of those was 837 Martin Wesby (Norfolk N Good ‘B’) whose late model Corsa was a victim of the first bend push in heat three which also claimed a number of others. Shipp single handedly kept Team Bodge in the running by taking the win from the Norfolk N Good ‘A’ pairing of 730 Deane Mayes and Lathan. Their team-mate, 69 Johnny Wilkinson, then felt the full brunt of a big shot from 851 Adam ‘Intimidator’ Storr on the run-down lap, while Bond was again named the entertainer.
Heat four was won by Young but only after Lewis Stark spun 324 Mark Lathan (Hogs) from the lead on the penultimate lap. Stark held onto second and with 601 ‘Bling’ third it meant that Team Starky occupied the pound seats heading into the final. The last heat had seen plenty of action with Goodale again lively. Team Mint ‘B’s 930 Steven Baker claimed the entertainer award for an all-action display, including some cat and mouse with 768 Dan McSweeney and 514 Charlie Taylor of the Shunters with whom Team Bash ‘A’s 376 Jason Farthing also had fun. 34 cars repaired for the final which saw a stoppage for a monster t-bone by Bond on Lewis Stark, which reportedly left the latter with a broken collar bone, sadly. Mayes survived the carnage all around the raceway to take the chequered flag, but with neither of his team-mates making it, it wasn’t quite enough to secure another title for Norfolk N Good. Second place overall matched their results from last winter’s two Icebreakers and means that in five team events at Saddlebow Road, the team has never placed outside the top two – an outstanding record. Veteran 41 Kevin Freestone (No Mates) motored home second, ahead of Shipp whose successful day meant Team Bodge placed third overall, just ahead of fourth placeman 338 Terry Garrod’s Team Jackpot. But 887 Liam Stark’s eighth place was enough for Team Starky to secure the overall spoils and mean that his crocked brother still had something to smile about. The mainly Lincolnshire-based squad have hit a rich vein of form in the second half of the year in the small cars. If they keep it up, they will surely be one of the favourites for the 1500 bangers Icebreaker in early February 2013.
The lady bangers had their first outing since the Gold Roof final in November. A qualifiers only race for the white and yellow grade series final kicked off proceedings, with nine cars in action. The pole-sitting 85 Kate Calver overhauled early leader and form-driver 127 Vicky Henderson to take the title and cap off a fine first full season for the Swaffham driver. If the race had been one lap longer it may have been a different story as 4 Steph Street charged through the field from her blue grade start, relieving Henderson of second on the final lap and latching on to Calver as they crossed the line. Henderson made amends by taking the first heat proper which featured 16 cars and saw a number of the bigger names caught up in a second bend pile-up. 147 Sarah Gould came home second, ahead of 67 Charlotte Whittaker and Calver, as the lower grades dominated.
A heavy rain shower before heat two made for a very slippery track and a number of incidents. 319 Jodie Grief slammed head on into the pit gate after struggling to control her fish-tailing machine. Red flags came out for the shaken Peterborough driver but she thankfully climbed out unaided and subsequently returned to the track for the final later in the day. The white graders again dominated as Calver took the flag from Henderson. Only 12 cars survived for the final where Henderson scored her fourth success in only two meetings after gradually overhauling early leader 330 Rachel Pokora. Calver’s run of results ended when she pulled off the circuit, but Whittaker secured another top-three by slipping inside Pokora on the final bend. Gould came home fourth ahead of debutant 465 Hannah Yates.
The 1300 saloon stock cars also contested the final of their 2012 white and yellow grade series but disappointingly, only six of those eligible were present. 5 Jonathan Upchurch led from flag to flag, surviving a last bend lunge from runner-up 55 Josh Harlock as the March pair dominated. There were still 21 cars present in total however – including 216 Dan Booth and 316 Danny McCluskey who completed their ever-present records for the season – and they all made it on track for heat one. On form newcomer 241 Beau Southgate again looked set for a good result until he tangled heavily with 838 Ady Wales. That allowed 653 Gemma Rainer to take the win from outgoing points champion 673 John Moat and Upchurch. World Champion 79 Barry Radcliffe, on a rare foray to Lynn despite his Norfolk base, endured a torid time, finding the shale track tricky in his rear-wheel drive machine before eventually retiring with a smoky engine. The day would get little better for the Spedeworth man, ninth in heat two his best result. That second heat saw a suspension to tend to 569 Kev Wales, with 781 Scott Sparrow leading on the resumption. Sixth in the queue 473 Dean Moat made light work of those ahead, dispatching of World of Shale Champion Booth before passing the squabbling Sparrow and 143 Sam Baguley to take the win. The latter, piloting the car that Carlos Pears had been so successful in earlier in the month, held on to second from Sparrow and 447 Richard Hampshire.
Things didn’t go so well for the European Champion in the final. A loose exhaust spelled the end of his participation in what was a cracking battle between the champions and superstars for what would eventually be third place. Booth triumphed in that but he couldn’t catch 177 Chris Masters who was second behind 09 Buster Ketteringham. For the latter it was a first success since returning from his mid-season lay-off.
The fourth formula in action were the ever-entertaining Reliant Robins. An excellent entry of 25 cars contested three races of rollovers galore. As usual, 385 Roy Gedge was in the thick of the action as he ended up piloting nothing more than a chassis and roll cage! 576 Colin ‘Porkey’ Aldred continued his fine run of form with a heat and final double to secure the points championship. In between, 551 Brett Jackson took his first ever win at King’s Lynn.
A full feast of action on the 17 race card was a fitting way to bring 2012 to a close. But we don’t have long to wait to kick things off in 2013 – the Icebreaker for unlimited bangers is less than three weeks away on Sunday 20 January (12 noon). Be sure to be there!