Mildenhall April 6 2002
National Bangers, Saloon Stockcars and Ministox

Another strong entry of Bangers assembled at Mildenhall for the second Saturday night fixture of the year with 67 cars including a few visitors from TSR, PRI & Incarace. The line up included a smattering of bilge while more note worthy were seven large Volvos, while hands down for car of the meeting with a well turned out Mk1 Granada Coupe for young gun 85 James Ellis. 

Ellis was the first to strike in the 34 car opener with a hit on 487 Dave Silley's Capri, the latter then rammed by 211 Barry Franklin as well as former F2 pilot 265 Troy Thiele was hit head on by 134 Darren Snare (Carlton) before 714 Tim Spinks landed a hard shot on 756 Michael Maskall (Cavalier). The Coupe was then planted into the wall by 324 Mark Latham (Volvo Est) & the lively 211 Bazza treated 159 Darren Scarrow to a T-bone. Spinks then turned 166 Dave Miller (Est) left very hard as newcomer 122 Dave Barber (Cortina) saw the event out with a large shot on Ellis. 132 John Snare guided his Mazda 626 to the flag from 22 Dave Vincent & long time leader 707 Mark Nottingham. 331 Jason Jackson (Cortina) was 7th for PRI.

28 cars out for heat two with 688 Shaun Regan's night quickly over as he was buried by 223 Simon Royal's Volvo Estate & T-boned hard by the similar mount of 23 Dave Stafford. 503 Daniel Hollinsworth (Est) homed in on Stafford as 243 Robert Boswell (Cortina) got involved with the Sierra of 258 Daniel Garner & took a package from 125 Lee Overy (Est) for his troubles, 125 Hitler then rammed by 99 Ritchie Ahern (Silverstone Cortina). 243 Batty bounced back to land a hit on 417 Dan Davey as 364 Sean Winchester picked up 401 Ian Phillips (Cortina Est) & followed him hard into the pit bend Armco, Phillips then taking T-bone from 161 Darren Bowers. 119 Davey Cox motored to the flag from 39 Steve Moore (Est) & 268 Steve Searles (Mk3 Granada). Ahern was 6th for PRI & 157 Michael Piggot (Volvo 340) was 7th for Trackstar.

The consolation raised 25 starters & it started with a head-on between 177 Darren Jones & the Cortina Estate of 751 Jason Allum leading to a small pit bend pile up, which was followed a few laps later by one on the top bend. Scarrow & 506 Marcus Hollis (Cortina) enjoyed a head-on, opening the door for 19 Joe Mullarkey in his smart Volvo estate to blast the former. Bazza produced hit if the race with a hard shot on 503 Tin Tin after he ha connected on PRI's 328 Paul Wilkes. Davey concluded the event with a shot on 682 John Quinn (Capri). Scarrow bounced back from his earlier incident to win from 166 Murphy &Hitler. 761 Rodney Thurgill (Sapphire) was 7th for TSR.

Out of the 30 qualifiers, just two were missing for the final, which started badly for Davey as he was steamed by 44 Piers Turner & given a head-on by 723 Luke Stafford (Cavalier). Searles fired in on Bazza as the luckless Davey took a head-on from Vincent. Quinn gave Hitler a package as 157 Pigglet blasted 446 Lee Greer but copped a large revenge shot from fellow Braintree man Davey. After burying 39 Peanut, 331 Boxer Jack took some stick from 249 Matt Frost as 723 Stafford rolled onto his side but was able to exit without the need for a red flag. Quinn meanwhile took punishment from Turner, Nottingham & 2 Martin Brinkworth (Volvo Est), Turner then attacking Scarrow as 119 Cruncher made it a double from Nottingham & Hitler, just nine finished all RDC with 168 Adam Leatham & 115 Gary Rose concluding the event with a hard head-on.

A decent 24 cars came back for the Accumulator, which would run into an official DD & a big turn one pile up started the race impressively as Rose was put down by hits from Boxer Jack & a stiff one from 629 Scott Turnball (Volvo Est) who was blasted in turn by Incarace's 291 Dean Hollin (Volvo) before 619 Karl Turnball destroyed 723 Stafford with a fine blitz. Boxer Jack set about Scarrow on opposite, finally finishing him with a hard T-bone, but not before he also scored on Bazza. Vincent rearranged the rear of 23 Stafford, his crippled Volvo then taking more punishment from Bazza & 564 Mark Cooper as a struggling Hollin was pounded by Vincent & Bazza, the latter taking a hit from Stafford. Vincent piped Hitler on the final bend to take his second Accumulator in a row & the few survivors began the death, Bazza & 564 Coatie having a large head-on to start, which finished them both before 619 Rhino polished of 23 Stafford with a top bend hit. Hitler homed in on Rhino but they both carried on for a large pit bend head-on, from which Rhino backed of for the spoils.

Heat One: 1) 132 John Snare 2) 22 Dave Vincent 3) 707 Mark Nottingham 4) 15 5) 2 6) 446 7) 331 8) 44 9) 122 10) 168
Heat Two: 1) 119 Davey Cox 2) 39 Steve Moore 3) 268 Steve Searles 4) 249 5) 564 6) 99 7) 157 8) 364 9) 723 10) 392
Consolation: 1) 159 Darren Scarrow 2) 166 Dave Miller 3) 125 Lee Overy 4) 129 5) 115 6) 211 7) 761 8) 177 9) 23 10) 417
Grand Final: 1) Cox 2) Nottingham 3) Overy 4) 2 5) 564 6) 249 7) 22 8) 392 9) 23
Accumulator: 1) Vincent 2) Overy 3) 564 Mark Cooper
Into DD: 1) 619 Karl Turnball 2) Overy 

23 Saloon Stockcars turned out for their first Mildenhall of 2002 including 308 Dean Hannay on his debut, a further four on their track debut & Autospeed traveller 104 Matt Horwell.

And it was Horwell who struck at the start of heat one spinning 6 Horry Barnes as young gun 26 Tommy Barnes led them away with 807 Chris Murfin removing 312 Neil Payne as did 42 Paul Corney did likewise to 150 Andrew Parrin. Barnes spun from the lead handing control briefly to 41 Jonathan Church but he was passed by 338 Michael Kent as 2 Paul Tuppen was taken out by 562 Trevor Gray. Tuppen bounced back but crashed head-on into Hannay, which also claimed 126 Willie Barnes as 216 Julian Smith spun 140 Andy Meen. Kent still led as Horwell, 26 Barnes & 399 Darron Atkins all went spinning, Atkins recovering to be taken out again by Church as 51 Paul Licquorice flicked out Gray for second. Murfin removed Church as did 499 Dave Aldous on Meen as Licquorice passed Kent & took the race win, 511 Craig Barnett third. 

Down to 19 for the second heat with Gray & Payne the first to go as again 26 Barnes led from Kent & 377 Mick Oslar, Tuppen then spun Barnett & put himself in hard as a consequence while Oslar spun from his place along with Meen, shortly followed by Aldous as Parrin hooked out world champion 368 Steeve Santry. Aldous turfed out Licquorice , who recovered only to be spun again by Oslar as Smith took up the running & motored to the win, 26 Barnes slowing at the end so Kent was runner up & Horwell took third. 

One more for the final which was sheer bedlam. It started with Gray spinning Payne, only for him to spun by Parrin as 26 Barnes again led & Kent removed Oslar. Payne & 126 Barnes then tangled & crashed out as a spinning Murfin was clobbered hard by Corney, which took out 126 Barnes, the 42 car then collected by several others. Horwell now led from the charging smith & Licquorice with the leader then taken out by 93 Adrian Haddon. A spun Meen was rammed by Tupper as a frustrated Licquorice fired back for a spin to remove Oslar. Payne did the same to 26 Barnes & Tuppen to the luckless Horwell before 26 Barnes went for a second time thanks to Santry, who was spun by Murfin. Parrin took out fellow young gun 402 Shaun Webstar as 26 Barnes collected father Willie, and they crashed into Corney tearing a wheel of his car & bringing out the reds. Smith was declared the winner from Barnett, these the only two on the lead lap with Parrin third. 

Heat One: 1) 51 Paul Licquorice 2) 338 Michael Kent 3) 511 Craig Barnett 4) 216 5) 499 6) 150 7) 93 8) 368 9) 402 10) 126
Heat Two: 1) 216 Julian Smith 2) Kent 3) 104 Matt Horwell 4) 402 5) 26 6) 126 7) 511 8) 93 9) 150 10) 368
Grand Final: 1) Smith 2) Barnett 3) 150 Andrew Parrin 4) 51 5) 368 6) 499 7) 93 8) 402 9) 338 10) 807

12 Ministox gathered for round five of their track championship with 348 Gary Manning failing to turn a wheel in anger all night while 417 Dwayne Powell made his track debut.

The grid set off in heat one with not a blue or red grade car in sight so it was a great chance for the lesser lights to shine but not 301 Mark Amoss this time as he retired early & 347 Sam Fiddy led them away. Powell was spun by 460 Carl Waterfield as Amoss was collected by 462 Carl Waller-Barrett & 418 Steven Jode poked 333 Vicky Whittaker into the Armco for third. Waller-Barret attacked Waterfield only to spin himself as Fiddy motored to his first Mildenhall win from Jode & 429 Jamie Sampson.

All 11 runners again gridded for the second heat with 319 Shaun Clarke the pace setter this time but Jode was the man on the move & took the lead soon into the race. Waller-Barret & Fiddy were both retirements as Clarke spun 419 Luke Grief in the fight for second but this promoted Sampson who followed Jode across the line, Clarke taking third.

Down to 10 starters for the final, which started with Jode spinning Sampson as did Waller-Barret to Amoss. Fiddy led as a recovered Sampson got revenge on Jode while a spinning Clarke was collected by Whittaker. But no-one could catch Fiddy who romped to his second win of the night from Grief & Sampson, his third top three finish.

Heat One: 1) 347 Sam Fiddy 2) 418 Steven Jode 3) 429 Jamie Sampson 4) 319 5) 419 6) 333 7) 460 8) 462 9) 336 10) 417
Heat Two: 1) Jode 2) Sampson 3) 319 Shaun Clarke 4) 333 5) 301 6) 460 7) 419 8) 336 9) 417
Grand Final: 1) Fiddy 2) 419 Luke Grief 3) Sampson 4) 333 5) 301 6) 462 7) 319 8) 418 9) 336 10) 417 

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