Mildenhall Stadium Saturday September 19 2009
RDC's No Hype Needed
National Banger Old Skool team championship and Reliant Robins British Championship

AF=Aftermath, AL=Allstars, BN=Beck Row Bandits, CM=Common Crushers, DV=Dover Boys, FL=Team Flash, GC=Gypsy Crew, GR=Team Green, KM=Team Kamikaze, MR=Midnight Runners, MK=Motley Krew, PR=Predators

The 2009 staging of the National Banger Old Skool team championship saw the biggest entry of cars in the events history as the tweaked format of 12 eight-a-side teams saw a full compliment of 96 cars in the pits. As expected it was a Mondeo dominated field with just seven drivers in alternative cars which were either Cavaliers, Vectras or Bluebirds. A few long distance travelers with MR190 Steve Bailey and MR239 Steve Carter again making the trip from the west country while MK388 Steve McGrath and KM173 Steve Reynolds came from Ireland on guest appearances for their respective teams.

It was Team Flash v Motley Krew in the opener, the latter at an immediate disadvantage when 320 Paul Seymour expired before the start. MK46 Wayne Pecker attempted to even the odds as he buried FL381 Craig Upson before he blasted FL61 Karl Totham, the latter recovering to fence McGrath as MK210 John Ellison turned round to have Upson round before hitting him head-on with MK170 Darren Teak opening his account with a shot on the latter. FL388 Emmerson Fairweather meanwhile stuffed MK311 Lee Bradbury, Teal blasting the former in turn which sent his team mate crashing up the wall. 210 Slim again homed in on Upson for another head-on as Teal followed 388 Emmo in superbly on the road bend with 61 Flash blasting the former in turn but Teal shrugged it off to ram FL122 James Woodley. FL262 Jason Barnard now treated Teal to a head-on with Flash again blasting the latter but the determined Teal bounced back to have a pop at 262 the Verger who quickly recovered to stuff Teal into the stricken McGrath. FL128 Andy Shipp meanwhile motored to the win to book Team Flash’s place in the final with Teal taking the entertainer award.

The second heat pitted defending champions the Gypsy Crew against the Allstars in what would prove to be the best head to head by far. AL291 Jason Giddings fired the first shot with a hit on GC85 James Ellis before AL21 Jason Colbert stuffed GC183 Bobby Wilmer as Giddings again attacked Ellis. AL236 Rob Everitt kept up the good work for his team and he followed in GC407 Ricky O’Neil, Colbert then turning round to score on the latter as Ellis turned round and connected on AL321 Andy Newton only to come under fire from Giddings in turn. AL192 Terry Nightingale assaulted Wilmer as AL277 Des Owen and GC370 Mark French went head to head with 236 Robo blasting the latter in turn as GC285 Sean Dyer turned round to belt Owen. Colbert now homed in on French as AL280 Simon Goodale bashed Ellis with a head-on and GC516 Carl Gould scored on Robo only to take a head-ons from Colbert and Giddings for his trouble. Ellis dished out a revenge head-on to 280 Slick as AL313 John Cullingford (Cavalier) hammered 516 Gouldy and GC273 Kevin McClagish struck Slick over the rear wheel with Giddings administering a head-on to the former. Ellis now enjoyed a solid head-on with Nightingale, 273 Mad Mouse then laying into the latter as Ellis scored on both Giddings and 313 Cully. Slick T-boned Ellis in turn before the former was shown the black flag for going across the centre for a second time. This proved to be a turning point as Ellis silenced Cully with a solid head-on before surviving a head-on with Robo at which point Colbert showed a little life, but one final hit from Ellis left him as the last car running and booked the defending champions into the final, Robo’s early flurry earning him the entertainer award this time.

It was the Dover Boys against Team Green in heat three with GR682 Paul Sparrow finishing DV346 Scott Saunders with a burial right at the start as DV349 Lee Saunders stuffed GR370 John Cobbold (Vectra) only to suffer similar fate thanks to GR371 John Cobbold as DV188 John Reeves’ on opposite attack went all wrong and he ran head-on into team mate DV898 Andy Battle (Vectra) while GR17 Kyle Overy ran in 349 Finbarr and Jason Cobbold thundered DV81 Lee Greenwood in hard on the pit bend. 188 Victor’s race went from bad to worse as a second on opposite attack resulted in him being collected in the drivers door by DV20 Andy Burbridge (Bluebird) and opened the door for GR362 Liam Friel to turn round and destroy 20 Baldy with an almighty head-on by the start line. Battle bounced back to fence GR159 Darren Scarrow as John Cobbold hammered DV465 Andy Scarlett (Bluebird) with 682 Sparra Boy also pounding the latter. DV148 Ian Redden then piled Sparra Boy into 362 Tilly only to take one from the on opposite GR801 Jack Foster as Finbarr met Sparra Boy on the nose only to be blasted in turn by 17 the Little Chief. Foster and GR382 Jack Foster Jnr delivered hits to Battle as Scarrow met Scarlett on the nose. Finbarr and John Cobbold met in similar fashion which allowed Foster to T-bone the former with Scarrow then blasting Finbarr hard. The Little Chief met 148 Shorty on the nose as Battle turned round and hit Sparra Boy on the nose with Scarlett T-boning the latter only to take one from the leader Foster Jnr. Amazingly this prompted the latter to join the pit bend DD despite being on the final bend of the race and he met Scarlett on the nose. The Little Chief blasted Battle on opposite with Foster Jnr hitting the latter on the nose only to take one himself from Scarlett’s wrecked Bluebird. Battle repaid the Little Chief and T-boned Foster Jnr only to take one from Sparra Boy as the Little Chief rammed Scarlett head-on. A head-on from the Little Chief and a T-bone from Foster Jnr finally finished Battle before the Little Chief finally stopped the impressive Scarlett with another big hit which left the latter’s Bluebird a massive mess. Foster Jnr then completed his last lap to seal the win and Team Green advanced, the Little Chief the best entertainer this time.

It was the Common Crushers against the Beck Row Bandits in heat four but to the surprise of many it was the quietest heat by some distance. BN119 Davey Cox fired the first shot when he fenced CC70 Ant Long hard with CC60 Kyle Stevenson doing the same to BN318 Terry Chapman who recovered to bury CC807 Chris Murfin with BN125 Lee Overy hitting the former over the front wheel. 60 Shakey Jnr turned round to connect on BN67 Mark Whittaker before taking one himself from BN22 Dave Vincent as 67 Sparky turned round to hit the leading CC450 Glyn Platts but he shrugged it off to take the win and put the Crushers through, Shakey Jnr the best entertainer.

In a rematch from last year the Predators faced the Aftermath in the penultimate heat which began with PR404 Luke Brinton laying into AF391 Wayne Shinn as PR296 Liam Brinton blasted AF602 Shaun Cooper hard and PR519 Lee Middleton scored over the rear wheel of the luckless 391 Ol Matey setting the latter up for a head-on from 404 Spook. AF1 Gareth Flatters blasted the latter in turn while AF415 Scott Cornish homed in for a head-on to 519 Knuckles and PR157 Michael Piggot dished out a hard hit to 602 Mr Moody. 1 Flats meanwhile picked up Spook and ran him in before they crashed into Mr Moody while 157 Piglet homed in for an almighty head-on to Cornish before the reds came out for AF604 Ross Cooper who was in trouble on the road bend. The Math were heavily outnumbered for the restart but AF417 Dan Davey made the running and spotted the slowing Spook and duly nailed him and when the Predator turned round a lap or so later he happily met him on the nose. AF400 Kevin Shinn meanwhile turned round and met PR38 Wayne Dolan in a massive head-on as 296 Brat also piled in with a head-on for Davey while Flats enjoyed head-ons with PR879 Reg Reed and Spook, the latter hit allowing 879 Wrecked Reg to deliver a revenge T-bone before Spook also T-boned the TSR World champion. Davey battled on to meet Reg on the nose as Brat hit the still mobile 400 Shinny head-on with Spook blasting the latter in turn. Davey enjoyed another head-on, this time to Brat as Reg T-boned the game Shinny with PR79 Ricky Twell blasting the latter en route to taking the win with Spook destroying Shinny just as the reds came out, the latter compensated with the entertainer award.

The final heat was Team Kamikaze against the Midnight Runners and began with MR180 Mark Foster following in 173 Hot Socks hard only for the former to be planted into the pit gate hard by KM278 Tom Hills as KM117 Karl Dack followed in 239 Nemesis on the pit bend and stayed glued to his boot to follow him in on the road bend as well. KM217 Neil Smyth leaned MR88 Josh Fuller into the pit gate but put himself away in the process but it allowed KM741 Luke Parfitt to blast the latter as KM247 Lee Clarke turned round and met 180 Sparky in a crunching head-on. 190 Pikey now homed in for a stiff T-bone to 217 the Mad Irishman as MR730 Dean Mayes hit 247 Bro over the rear wheel and 117 Kamikaze blasted Sparky. Nemesis bounced back to meet Bro on the nose with the recovered Mad Irishman nailing the Autospeed star in turn. Pikey now hammered 741 Capt D with Bro dishing out a big head-on to the World champion, made even harder as Pikey was being pushed by KM439 Danny Sutton at the time. This allowed Sparky to turn round and dish out a big hit on Bro with KM199 Jason Dack (Cavalier) hitting the Runner over the rear wheel in turn by Sparky to hit Capt D on the nose. MR158 Shane Davies meanwhile stayed out of trouble and took the win to put the Runners in the final, Pikey hitting Bro on the nose with MR208 Jimmy Randall nailing the latter just as the reds came out, Kamikaze deserving credit for pulling out of his intended hit on Pikey having spotted the flags, which played a part in him edging his nearest rivals to take the entertainer award.

Just 13 of the non qualifiers made it out for the Allcomers with Slim scoring on BN349 Michael Allard from the off as Kamikaze stuffed 320 Smiler allowing BN436 Matt Arnold to score on the latter before MK179 Shaun Rushton nailed Kamiakze with a decent hit on the start line. The latter bounced back to blast McGrath only to fall foul of an opposite 436 Arni who then also had 439 Sutty out on opposite before he was T-boned by Slim in turn. Smiler took the win from 179 Cool and Slick with Arni the best entertainer.

The six victorious teams returned a fine 40 out of a possible 48 cars for the final with only the Common Crushers raising a full squad. 180 Sparky got the ball rolling with a package on O’Neil as the Verger assaulted the Finger and Upson hammered the luckless O’Neil as a pile-up quickly formed on the road bend. 807 Murf opened his account by following in Spook while Wrecked Reg did the same to Sparky and Pikey followed Brat in hard only to take a good shot from Upson. The Verger then picked up Sparky for a meaty head-on which left him open to a brutal hit from Pikey as Murf dished out a storming hit to Brat by the pit gate. Reg meanwhile nailed Davies only to take one in turn from Murf with Davies sparking up as a result. Murf then treated Brat to a second big hit while Nemesis nailed Reg and the fired up Murf belted Jason Cobbold. The race then turned quiet for a couple of laps until the Finger span Woodley into the concrete while Davies got running again and met Foster in a big head-on with Flash striking the former over the front wheel as Pikey scored on Murf only to be clobbered by team mate MR514 Marty Eighteen. Meanwhile 285 Mr Misery hassled the second placed Finger which allowed the leading GC41 Lee Horwood to open the lead only for the reds to come out as Foster had collapsed on the track just after exiting his car. Thankfully the cars stopped very quickly and despite initial concern Foster was soon back on his feet and seemingly ok. Meanwhile this played very much into the hands of the Gypsy Crew as with just four laps to run the race was declared with the result taken from the last completed lap meaning pole starter 41 Loopy Lee had registered a flag to flag win in the drive of his life although you had to feel sorry for the Runners who had three of the top five at the time of the stoppage and were looking poised to make a last minute strike. Murf was the best entertainer on this occasion.

A good field of 20 returned for the death which began with CC51 Simon Heilds blasting Kamikaze as Long nailed the amazingly repaired Shinny. Dolan meanwhile blasted CC448 Paul Dean with McCrath hitting the latter over the rear wheel before Arni followed Sutty in hard and Long homed in for a massive T-bone to Dolan. Bro also connected with a T-bone to the latter as Jason Cobbold stuffed Ol Matey and Long dished out a hard head-on to Shinny leaving the latter pinned against the blocks. 179 Cool blasted Long in turn only to take one himself from Bro as Arni connected with a T-bone on Jason Cobbold, the latter swift to land a revenge hit which allowed Ol Matey to blast Arni. Bro then powered into Ol Matey before following the Aftermath man into the post on the back straight as a T-bone from Kamikaze silenced Jason Cobbold. Bro meanwhile dished out a head-on to Greenwood before T-boning the still running but unable to move Shinny, a final T-bone to Greenwood leaving Bro a worthy winner while Long took the entertainer award.

Heat One: FL128 Andy Shipp wins, Team Flash qualify. Best entertainer: MK170 Darren Teal
Heat Two: GC85 James Ellis wins, Gyspy Crew qualify. Best entertainer: AL236 Rob Everitt
Heat Three: GR382 Jack Foster Jnr wins, Team Green qualify. Best entertainer: GR17 Kyle Overy
Heat Four: CC450 Glyn Platts wins, Common Crushers qualify. Best entertainer: CC60 Kyle Stevenson
Heat Five: PR79 Ricky Twell wins, Predators qualify. Best entertainer: PR404 Luke Brinton
Heat Six: MR158 Shane Davies wins, Midnight Runners qualify. Best entertainer: KM117 Karl Dack
Allcomers: MK320 Paul Seymour, MK179, AL280, BN67, KM439, KM117 Best entertainer: BN436 Matt Arnold
Grand Final: GC41 Lee Horwood wins for the Gypsy Crew. Best entertainer: CC807 Chris Murfin
Destruction Derby: KM247 Lee Clarke Best entertainer: CC70 Ant Long

A fine field of 26 Reliant Robins gathered for their British Championship, the entry boosted by a handful of fresh faces and a couple of banger regulars having an outing on three wheels although there was a lack of any long distance travellers.

It was all in for the title race with an Incarace draw for the grid and 30 James Donavan got onto two wheels at the start as 339 Lee Pullen suffered a spin and 576 Colin Aldred sent 28 David Donavan into a one and a quarter roll on the back straight. 285 Sean Dyer set the pace from the aforementioned 576 Porkey and 553 Daniel Douglas 54 Shaun Douglas sent 29 Steve Donavan into a full roll. 117 Karl Dack ran 564 Ryan Sutcliffe into the pit bend wall as 119 Davey Cox fell onto his side to bring the yellows out for the first time. The race resumed with 285 Mr Misery spinning Porkey as they battled for the lead but this allowed 85 James Ellis to snatch the top spot as 433 Andy Parker and Steve Donavan both fell onto the sides to bring the caution flags out again at which point 456 Nathan Roberts was shown the black flag for failing to slow down. 785 Sandy Villers perched himself on two wheels when the race restart while Shaun Douglas rolled 19 Joe Mullarkey to again bring the yellows out. The race continued with 117 Kamikaze stuffing 272 Martin Vella before 16 Ray Layton rolled onto his roof to bring the yellows out once more and with the race in the final three laps the result was declared Ellis taking the title, having only just managed to get past Mr Misery on the last completed lap with 197 Tom Tatham taking a fine third.

21 returned for the first Allcomers with 355 Mick Walker spinning and tipping Villers onto his side before Tatham rolled James Donavan as Porkey ran head-on into the spin Mullarkey sending the latter into a full roll. Sutcliffe removed 224 Dave Canham as rolls for 96 Ian Robins and Villers brought the yellow flags out. The race resumed with James Donavan and Porkey tangling which put the latter up onto two wheels but he quickly recovered to spin the former as Sutcliffe did a full roll while a second roll for Robins brought the race to an early end with 512 Chris Barnett taking the win from 275 Phil Rowbottom and the consistent Tatham.

Just 18 for the second Allcomers with Shaun Douglas spinning 272 Mert while Rowbottom attacked Robins as a roll for 185 Ben Oliver brought the caution flags out. Shane Douglas then rolled Robins with Layton and Sutcliffe also falling over to bring the yellows out. The raced resumed in epic fashion as Porkey did a simply monster three and a quarter roll on the road bend and coupled with Barnett falling over the yellows were shown once more. The race got going once more with Mullarkey stuffing Sutcliffe into 185 Killer as Robins did a complete roll. 66 Steve Willis spun Mullarkey for second place as an attack on Barnett saw Tatham spin himself and he rolled a short while later, the race ended with Pullen attacking Layton which in turn sent Sutcliffe over as 66 Pork Pie took the win from Canham and Shaun Douglas.

British Championship: 85 James Ellis, 285, 197, 275, 66, 433, 272, 117, 19, 576
Allcomers One: 512 Chris Barnett, 275, 197, 66, 54, 433, 117, 355, 272, 224
Allcomers Two: 66 Steve Willis, 224, 54, 275, 355, 272, 30, 433, 339, 512

An action packed night of racing with the Old Skool team meeting delivering plenty of action although it was certainly not the best event of its kind and it did suffer with a few quiet moments, coupled with a lively session from the Robins which contained some massive rolls.