Mildenhall September 23 2000
National Bangers & BriSCA F2 Stockcars World of Shale Final

No less than 89 Bangers showed up for a domestic Mildenhall bash on September 23 including several new faces, a few old ones & plenty of visitors from PRI, Northampton, Trackstar, Spedeworth & a lone Dover man. Car wise, half a dozen large Volvo's, three Mk1 Granadas from 166 Dave Miller, surprise visitor 05 Carlos Perez & a fresh one for 703 John Seex, 71 Lee Overy returned a Trummy, 348 Sonny Sherwood did likewise with a Mk2 Minster, 636 Jamie Eggland returned a Mazda 929 Estate & finally 2 Martin Brinkworth turned a few heads with RDC's first Mk3 Cavalier. 

The night started with the seasons final Novice of the year qualifier with rookie 606 Kevin Head starting with a head-on to silly Billy team mate 605 Anthony Clarke(Cortina) Est as 714 Timothy Spinks fired in on 161 Darren Bowers(Volvo Est) before Clarke ran in 130 Johnny Trett which also buried Head rolling the latter onto his side bringing out the reds. 694 Tom Hazleton(Capri) commenced the restart with a hit on 207 Lee Weekes(Volvo Est) with Spinks doing Hazelton to commence a big start line blockage. 320 Trevor Hook T-boned 141 Steve Bennett(Est) as 21 Jason Colbert(Est) wasted PRI's 597 Chris Clarke (Cortina Est) well. Clarke fired in on Trackstar's 211 Barry Franklin with 776 Michael Aldred doing him in turn. 184 Rob Murchie Jnr set about Spinks who fired back to bury 576 Colin Aldred(Est) who then suffered a double T-bone from 115 Gary Rose & Colbert as 213 Steve Fuller blasted 97 Nicky Tucker (Volvo) en route to the win from Murchie Jnr & PRI's 792 Craig Polley(Cavalier).

24 cars for the second heat which started with a head-on between Seex & 797 Andy Ashman(Cortina) as 944 Barry Cannel did 243 Robert Boswell before Seex was blasted by 24 Matt Stroud(Volvo Est) as was 336 Nigel White by 676 Steve Lister(Sierra Est). The unlucky Seex was then T-boned by Spedeworth's 980 Andrew Westgate. White fired back to fence 291 Jason Giddins but was belted in turn by Stroud as 215 Michael Croxon did a suicide lunge on 396 Graham Hyla fencing them both. 372 Martin Scully ended the race on a high, first wasting Seex & then a lap later after White buried 243 Batty, he wasted White with a big turn two blitz. 214 Marcus Ballard(Capri) held off 22 Dave Vincent for the victory. 

A massive 35 car grid for the final heat which started spectacularly for 917 Lee Brown(Cortina Est) who did a full roll at the end of the home straight as 274 Paul Coker(Volvo Est) gave 62 Trevor Buckley a T-bone. 249 Matt Frost(Est) opened his account with a hit on 37 Dave Lewis(Est), Lewis suffered again at the hands of Perez before 274 Giggler blasted 564 Mark Cooper. 810 Roger Gwillingham followed in the Cavalier mounted 555 Chuck Morris as 53 Dave Palmer won & was buried on the run down lap by runner up 130 Jason Harrison(Est).

30 cars returned for the consolation with Bennett starting things with a head-on to 354 Darren Bewers (Cortina) as 762 Johnny Bolton blasted Spinks. Bowers then put away 675 Scotty Griggs as Cannel rose to the occasion to follow in Bennett. Bowers then feuded with Ashman as Gwillingham again impressed with a follow in on Hazleton. Bolton then fired up the back of Ashman as the race was ended early after 798 Ben Stollery(Volvo Est) went for a head-on with Weekes but caught him in the door, although mercifully Weekes was OK. 131 Barry Wade(Cortina) was the winner from 576 Aldred & Head. 

29 qualifiers made it back for the final with 348 Mushy & Buckley enjoying a head-on at the start as did 811 Pete Winter & 147 Andy Davies later on. Winter fired back to fence Winter. Giddings bounced back to meet Stroud head-on as Vincent went in on Lewis & then put away the luckless Giddings as 133 Damien Whall turned round to paste Gwillingham only to cop a T-bone from 417 Dan Davey(Cortina) as rookie Head took the flag from Colbert & Rose. 

With no race between the final & the Accumulator, just 20 cars made it back for a lively conclusion. Scully began with a hit on Clarke with Winter T-boning Clarke, who responded with a hit on Stollery. Winter then followed in 866 Lee Hackett only to cop one from 39 Dickie Raymond as 151 Justin Woolner met Stollery head-on. Vincent went in on Woolner who battled on to do Hackett. Returnee 730 Mark Hurrel T-boned Franklin but was T-boned himself by Hazleton with Winter blasting Hazleton. 279 Colin Coker(Lada Est) went in on Head before he blitzed the baby Volvo of 56 Phil Coe. Vincent took the flag & turned round to treat Winter to a stiff blitz as the Cokers met on the nose. A pair of head-ons with Vincent finished Giggler, the former finishing Coe to wrap things up. 

NOVICE OF THE YEAR QF: 1) 213 Steve Fuller 2) 183 Rob Murchie Jnr 3) 792 Craig Polley 4) 115 Gary Rose 5) 211 Barry Franklin 6) 192 Terry Nightingale
HEAT TWO: 1) 214 Marcus Ballard 2) 22 Dave Vincent 3) 417 Dan Davey 4) 151 Justin Woolner 5) 866 Lee Hackett 6) 291 Jason Giddings
HEAT THREE: 1) 53 Dave Palmer 2) 130 Jason Harrison 4) 249 Matt Frost 5) 71 Lee Overy 6) 147 Andy Davies
CONSOLATION: 1) 131 Barry Wade 2) 576 Colin Aldred 3) 606 Kevin Head 4) 788 Darren Gathercole 5) 24 Matt Stroud 6) 810 Roger Gwillingham 
GRAND FINAL: 1) Head 2) 21 Jason Colbert 3) Rose 4) 35 Peter Lewis 5) 100 Ritchie Ahern 6) Vincent
ACCUMULATOR: 1) Vincent 2) 05 Carlos Perez 3) 56 Phil Coe 

77 BriSCA F2 Stockcars filled the paddock for the World of Shale Final with the action which kicked off with a heat for the non championship finalists featuring a big 35 car grid, of which no less than 24 were from the white grade. After a few hectic exchanges early on, 60 Ben Majoran emerged the leader with 338 Darren Clarke & 905 Rob Mitchell on his heels until Majoran lost his lead to Clarke & 368 Steve Caton burst through into second. Majoran lost more time & places when he removed 413 Lee Veall as a big home straight crash took out Caton & others, including most noticeably, 515 Alan Veall, who hit the fence very hard. From this Majoran reclaimed second but couldn't challenge Clarke who took the honours, Majoran keeping 431 Andy Gibbs at bay for second. 

The World of Shale championship followed with a full quota of 32 qualifiers, including some nine reserves to compensate for missing qualifiers. 824 Rob Johnson used his pole position start to the best advantage & grabbed the lead as the green fell whilst behind chaos reigned. British champ 756 Phil Kaye was an early casualty as on the pit bend a pile up claimed 347 Mark Froggat, 342 Ian Richardson, 504 Matt Everald & 702 Allan Cooper. 559 Bert Finnikin dived up the inside of the crash to jump to third as another small pile up formed this time featuring 219 Chris Mitchell & 68 Dave Brennan as Johnson fell by the way side with mechanical problems. This handed the lead to fellow front row starter, 833 Rob Kaye but Finnikin was on a charge & soon relieved Kaye of the lead with 48 Garry Fox chasing in third. As Kaye attempted to remove the back marking 298 Mick Stubbs it backfired & Fox past him for second. Behind this 13 Andy Ford & 732 Daz Kitson engaged in an epic battle for fourth, swapping the place several time before Finnikin took the flag & the title from Fox, Kaye while Kitson got the better of Ford for fifth. 

A massive 38 car grid assembled for the consolation, which ended in disaster early on as a early pile up resulted in a stray wheel & a red flag straight away. 131 Andy Barnard & 197 Steve Whittle tangled early on the restart allowing 713 Martin Ford to take the early running as behind 479 Steven Harboard flew up the side of 955 Craig Finnikin, these two crashing out along with 71 Nic Hoyes as 388 Ian Broomhead moved into the lead spot while behind 162 Steve Featherstone & 766 Richy Kemp gave chase. Johnson meanwhile began his accent working into second but he couldn't catch the rapid Broomhead who took a well deserved win from Johnson & 885 Dave Tomlinson. 

Full compliment of 30 qualifiers for the Grand Final with R. Mitchell an early casualty as Majoran led the way from 379 Stuart Cayzer & 744 Tom Smart. A strong looking Ford then spun from contention & was collected by 333 Andrew Smalley as 228 Simon Ricketts went second behind Majoran with Johnson in third as Smalley was again involved spinning 448 John Wright which also claimed Kemp & 404 Steve Flatt. Johnson went second as B. Finnikin hit fourth as another big crash saw a spinning Stubbs result in a huge pit bend pile up claiming Majoran & Johnson amongst others whilst a held up Ricketts handed Finnikin the lead. In the closing stages Fox bested Tomlinson for third as Finnikin did the double from Ricketts.

Regrettably the Grand National was cancelled due to time restrictions. 

HEAT ONE: 1) 338 Darren Clarke 2) 60 Ben Majoran 3) 431 Andy Gibbs 4) 905 Rob Mitchell 5) 274 Trevor Bonnet 6) 379 Stuart Cayzer
WORLD OF SHALE: 1) 559 Bert Finnikin 2) 48 Garry Fox 3) 756 Rob Kaye 4) 732 Daz Kitson 5) 13 Andy Ford 6) 744 Tom Smart
CONSOLATION: 1) 388 Ian Broomhead 2) 824 Rob Johnson 3) 885 Dave Tomlinson 4) 756 Phil Kaye 5) 766 Richy Kemp 6) 448 John Wright
GRAND FINAL: 1) Finnikin 2) 228 Simon Ricketts 3) Fox 4) Tomlinson 5) Kitson 6) 177 Alan Skayman

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