Mildenhall Saturday October 29 2005
Halloween Havoc 2005
National Bangers Allstar Dash for Cash, Crazy Night and DD Night, Reliant Robins World QF and Ministox RDC Drivers Championship

National Bangers Allstar Dash for Cash sponsored by TDS Motors

Pictures by Steve Fraser

The 2005 Halloween Havoc session at Mildenhall featuring the second annual National Banger Allstar Dash for Cash, Crazy Night and DD Night raised one of its best turnouts ever with an excellent entry of 72 drivers with eighth of them bringing two cars to swell the field to 80 cars and hats off to 158 Shane Davies, 188 John Reeves, 364 Sean Winchester, 807 Chris Murfin, 76 Terry Mansfield, 469 Martin Baxter, 249 Matt Frost and 85 James Ellis. There were a handful of visitors from PRI and TSR plus a large contingent from Henham and most noticeably 133 Karl Day and 207 Michael Woodward from Autospeed. Car wise there was precious little of note with loads of bilge and loads of used cars too and not a single fresh Mk2 Granada among them with 137 Lee Turner returning his coupe and 345 Craig Hewitt a Mk1 estate. The only note worthy motors were a fresh Mk5 Cortina for 543 Luke Townsend and Capris for 539 Danny Allen and 787 Steve Blackman while there two Wedges in the hands of 168 Wayne Clarke and 550 Dan Green and 193 Steve Roberts returned a Mk2 Triumph 2000.

The programme opened with the first Crazy Race which was a spin and start affair with 31 cars although no-one realised to turn round after the first lap but when they did chaos developed with Turner T-boning the Sapphire of 96 Paul Robinson as 551 Luke Townsend powered his Mk1 Cavalier head-on into 470 Tom Black's Cavalier while Turner continued with a good hit on 543 Lukey Boy which also claimed the Granada of Winchester as 52 Nick Potts met the Mk3 Granny of 15 Lee Weekes in a stiff head-on. 304 Dale Rainer used his Mk3 Granada to T-bone 507 Ben Rogers' Cavalier with the latter's team mate 506 Luke Howell copping it from Black as 369 Jay Barrett and the luckless Robinson met in similar fashion. Only about a dozen survived the turn around process with the 10 lap race a bit tame but Turner continued to entertain blasting Rainer with 228 Andrew Scott using his Cavalier to hammer the latter further as the leading 324 Mark Latham was stopped by 313 John Cullingford on the back straight in an all Volvo 240 estate encounter leaving it to the returning 43 Robert Boswell to beat the Cavalier mounted 339 Lee Pullen to the line with Winchester third. 207 Compo ended the action by piling 43 Batty's Granada into the pile-up on the top bend.

Disappointing just 14 drivers contested the £600 dash for cash from over 30 qualifiers with pole starter 56 Phil Coe spinning his Cavalier early on and 148 Ian Redden slipped passed fellow front row starter Winchester to grab the lead as 188 Victor delivered the best action by burying 396 Graham Hyla into the wall back wards before 53 Dave Palmer put away 35 Peter Lewis. Davies got passt 148 Shorty on lap seven and spun Hyla en route to the win with Shorty, 249 Frosty, Winchester, Victor and 262 Trevor Buckley filling the prize money spots in a Bluebird clean sweep.

The top three in the dash for cash

The second Crazy Race was a Le Mans start event which also had 31 cars and featured an even more hectic start with a big pile-up forming on the pit bend in which 871 Darren Stanion T-boned the Sapphire of 729 Dan Chaplin before 111 Lewis Buckley blasted the Sunny of 748 Ian Rawlins. TSR's 562 Gavin Barnes buried 313 Cully with Victor then planting Shorty into the latter allowing 807 Murf to attack the former as 652 Dave Fisher used his Volvo 740 to hit Baxter's Sapphire on the nose. Palmer scored on Stanion but was buried by Shorty shortly after. 432 Mark Munson then powered his Cavalier into 399 Darron Atkins' Volvo 240 estate with Shorty planting them both into the pit bend heap while 345 Chewy did the same to Baxter. Shorty then gave Victor a solid revenge hit as Munson treated Winchester to a T-bone. Atkins gave Baxter a fine hit but copped one in turn from PRI young gun 319 Darren Fuller as Murf blasted Chewy. Munson then put Atkins away as the lively Murf nailed Fuller and Cully scored on Victor only to take a hard hit from the crash happy Murf in turn as Shorty took the win from Victor and the Sierra powered Mansfield.

We then moved onto the DDs with 23 for the first with 472 Mikey Wood setting off on opposite and meeting Allen in a mental head-on with Blackman blasting the latter as Davies fired into 410 Andy Neale's Mk3 Granny pushed all the way by 133 Karly's Mazda 626, the latter then firing into Blackman as Rogers met the Sierra of 644 Nathan Godfrey on the nose allowing Shorty to assault the latter as Victor gave Gladiator 323 Sam Rigby a package. Godfrey battled back to hit Pullen on the nose as Ellis nailed Cully and Shorty scored on Murf before Manfield blasted 198 Steve Pyle in an all Volvo 240 encounter. Latham hit Batty on the nose with the former shrugging off a hit from Winchester to meet 52 Pottsy in a stonking head-ons. Murf fired into Mansfield and Davies blasted Batty as Pullen put away both Karly and Shorty in one move before Ellis did the same to Cully before Mansfield hit Karly and Pullen gave Murf a fine follow-in. Winchester blasted Godfry and Karly came back to hit the Volvo 740 estate of Frosty only to take one in turn from Pullen as Shorty continued with a hit on Cully as Winchester nailed Pullen and Godfrey T-boned Shorty allowing Winchester to hit the latter on the nose but he took one shortly after from Ellis as Frosty scored on Shorty. Pullen hit Frosty in turn as a T-bone on Shorty from Godfrey finished both cars. Winchester met Frosty on the nose with Pullen blasting the former finishing them both as Victor stopped Batty with a shot leaving just him and Frosty. The latter then cried enough on the home straight but Victor was able to get round and seal his win with a stiff head-on. Latham took the best wrecker award following his two big head-ons.

A few less for the second demo which started with Clarke burying Victor before hitting Atkins on the nose as 504 Carl Smee used his Mk3 Granada to hit the Cortina mounted 808 Tom Meekings on the nose before Munson dished out a storming T-bone to the Volvo 740 estate of 8 Marc Grogan. Black and Smee met on the nose as Victor assaulted Grogan only to take one in turn from Victor as Fuller blasted the Granada of Ellis but he was hit in turn by Atkins as Ellis fired back with a head-on to Munson as Winchester scored on Buckley with Munson also hitting the latter only to be put away in turn by Turner. Ellis and Atkins met on the nose with Victor blasting the former in similar fashion but he took one in turn from Turner who continued to nail Grogan on the nose but the Essex Boy then took hits from Victor and Winchetser with the latter then firing into Grogan. Victor delivered a T-bone on Fuller but copped it from Ellis who was buried on the top bend by Winchester. Buckley took hits from Victor and Winchester before Victor took himself out of the running after beaching himself on his own rear wheel which he had shed earlier in the event. Winchester meanwhile silenced Ellis with two big hits to claim the win with the lively Turner voted best wrecker.

The final DD raised 17 cars including Winchester and Victor who had done all six races after loads of hard work, the latter making it for this one with just three wheels. 366 Clive Revell was in his first race of the night and made it count by using his Volvo 740 to pick up 562 Gavo who latched onto Davies who was buried head-on into Blackman with Victor T-boning Gavo only to take one in turn from Davies as Mansfield gave Roberts a fine follow-in with Pullen nailing the former's Volvo 240 estate in turn as Victor gave Davies a revenge blast and Palmer thundered in 655 Lloyd Mullins with a good hit. Winchester stuck it to Gavo as Palmer blasted Rogers and then ran in Winchester hard on the top bend. 139 Sean Fuller blasted Rogers who fired back to T-bone Palmer with the latter turning round looking for Sean Fuller who sadly avoided him for several laps and took a nasty one in the door when he turned out of the head-on at the last meeting. A lap later Palmer and Fuller did meet in a fine head-on with Rogers firing into the former to take the win but Palmer was compensated with the best wrecker award.

DD damage for 808 Tom Meekings, 432 Mark Munson and 472 Mike Wood

Crazy Race One: 43 Robert Boswell, 339, 364, 188, 102, 313, 207
Dash for Cash: 158 Shane Davies, 148, 249, 364, 188, 262, 119, 53, 37, 396
Crazy Race Two: 148 Ian Redden, 188, 76, 53, 313, 807, 139, 319, 323, 399
DD One: 188 John Reeves from 249 best wrecker 324 Mark Latham
DD Two: 364 Sean Winchester from 85 best wrecker 137 Lee Turner
DD Three: 507 Ben Rogers from 53 best wrecker 53 Dave Palmer

The first Reliant Robin World Qualifier towards the 2006 final raised a fine 23 car field but just 20 for the opener which amazingly passed with just one rollover although there was still action to be found. 490 Ian Barnard T-boned 785 Barry Murphitt while 737 Jamie Mitchell walled 857 Dan Hill before 38 Gary Palmer removed the luckless Murphitt and 351 Tut Knowles did the same to 215 Michael Croxon. 576 Colin Aldred came close to falling over getting it onto two wheels as 490 Barney did a quarter wall. 576 Porkey came back to bury Palmer and Mitchell did the same to Murphitt as Knowles took the flag from Porkey and Mitchell.

21 cars for the second heat with 68 Andrew Lake rolling from the off as 66 Steve Willis sent 379 Peter Graham over bringing the yellows out, the restart being short lives as 16 Ray Layton buried Croxon rolling him to bring the yellows back out but the action resumed with Hill rolling 553 Daniel Douglas as Porkey put Croxon away and Murphitt attacked 143 Sam Begley. 552 put away Hill and 143 Screamer took out 379 Yogi while Lake went over again before Douglas blasted 69 John Cope rolling both on impact. 96 Ian Robins took the win with 66 Pork Pie spinning Mitchell on the final bend to snatch second and Porkey third.

Down to 19 for the final with 552 doing a monster two and a half roll on the top bend to start with before Douglas did a full flip and Porkey again put Palmer in with Barney also attacking the latter. Pork Pie then buried Yogi but rolled himself in the process to bring the yellows out but he restarted to roll Porkey as 242 Jill Knowles also went over. 45 Paul Clappers then buried Barney before Yogi sent Murphitt into a full roll, the latter then falling over again when he tried to recover. A close finish saw the leading 69 Copey go outside of the stricken Murphitt and so Tut Knowles was able to slip through and steal it with Mitchell third. The final action saw Clappers roll Barney which saw him fall over as well.

379 Yogi had a lively night

Heat one: 351 Tut Knowles, 576, 737, 553, 96, 143, 66, 16, 552, 38
Heat two: 96 Ian Robins, 66, 576, 251, 351, 552, 143, 490, 553, 785
Grand Final: Knowles, 69, 737, 96, 433, 143, 38, 215, 379, 66

A fine field of 25 Ministox gathered for the RDC Drivers Championship with a full field for the title race which started with 313 Timmy Barnes spinning 330 Jack Thompson as 370 Kyle Overy removed 317 Dwayne Powell and 339 Ashley Garrod had 340 Wesley Freestone out before 316 Jack Wheelwright collected the spun Thompson leaving the latter in trouble and the reds came out with a complete restart ordered. This time pole starter 371 Jason Cobbold didn't get away as 331 Jack Garrod attacked him and 307 Jack Tuffen moved into the lead before 348 Kerri Witherington fenced 369 James Clements and 396 Chip Howland attacked 320 Ben Burbridge as Jack Garrod spun Barnes and had Cobbold out shortly after. Ashley Garrod then removed 342 Lauren French as 344 Max Stoodley spun Powell before Ashley Garrod moved Tuffen wide with five to go and went on to retain the title from Tuffen with 325 Charlie Overy and Witherington filling the trophy spots. Cobbold provided the final action spinning Kyle Overy.

The top three in the RDC Drivers Championship

22 came back for the Allcomers with 395 Thomas Sutton spinning French from the off as Clements made the early running before 314 Scott Sands spun Burbridge who was collected by 387 Ollie Ovenden. 391 George Chambers spun Clements but 312 Sam Shepherd came through for the lead only to be spun by Sands who took over as Clements took his frustrations out on Burbridge spinning him and 305 Robin Ash had a pop at Charlie Overy only to be spun in turn by Jack Garrod. Sands held off Kyle Overy to win with the latter spinning the winner on the run down lap with Ashley Garrod in third.

314 Scott Sands spins 312 Sam Shephard en route to winning the Allcomers

RDC Drivers Championship: 339 Ashley Garrod, 307, 325, 348, 313, 305, 344, 340, 370, 371
Allcomers: 314 Scott Sands, 370, 339, 316, 331, 325, 313, 395, 396, 391

A cracking night's entertainment, possibly the best Halloween Havoc yet with the large crowd clearly entertained as they were much more vocal than usual. Top action from the bangers with each of the DDs being action packed as was the second crazy race plus some very decent action from the robins and Ministox.