Unlimited Bangers Championship of the World - Ipswich,
Saturday 15th November 2008
The first World Final away
from its traditional Wimbledon home attracted an excellent entry of around 150
cars, with strong representation from Stinkbridge, Posh Wash and the Blue Crew
along with a host of other top line drivers. Car paintwork and prep was top
notch on many of the motors, and there was a large number of Mk1 Grannies -
smart saloons for TSB's 450 Glyn Platts and 455 Rick Finney and Posh Wash's 199
Bona and 133 Werzal, the latter's being a rare 2 door model. There were
immaculate examples from 330 Old Roy for the Blue Crew and World Finalists 331
Boxer and 439 Danny Sutton and lastly 782 Gladis. Coupes came from 451 Willy
Blackwell, 298 Showman and 341 Jonesey. 804 Ben Small and 248 Daisy had Mk2 Limos
with 106 Gungebucket at the wheel of a Mk2 Hearse. Further hearses came from 409
Carlos Pears and 111 Daft Daz with well presented DS420s, and there was a trio
of XJ Coupes from 306 Turkish, 173 Steve Reynolds and a gorgeous one from 564
Coatie. 209 Animal had the lone XJS, Ringwood's 515 Willie Irvine brought an
Austin 3 Litre and 377 Hammer had a smart Caddy Limo. Generally the Granada was
the favoured tool with a few Jags and Volvos and a couple of Omegas to complete
the line up. Heat one
saw more than 40 motors on track, 341 Jonesey walling 248 Daisy's Limo before
595 Drew Tarn rolled to bring a stoppage - he was all OK and we resumed with 514
Marty Eighteen leading the field away, and the battle for second between 194
Cecil, 149 Billy King and 470 Steve Nelson helped him to pull clear, 47 Andy
Davies removing 470 but it was Eighteen and Cecil who took the spots on the
back of the World Final grid, 67 Sparky and King just missing out, the rest of
the places filled by 47 Davies, 460 Lewis Barber, 148 Shorty, 146 Wiggy, 262
Buster and 46 Maverick A
bigger field of around 50 for the second last chance race with 90 Bartz taking
advantage of a front row position to lead away in his typically immaculate and
very quick Jag. Double champ 617 Jack Overy saw his chances vanish as he was
taken out by 160 Windsor and given a rough ride by the traffic, while the
Runners/Blue Crew war continued as 208 Jimmy Randall put his smart XJ to good
use by walling 593 Tommy Harrell. 589 Simon Smith looked to liven things up by
turning round to collect 45 Lips head on before the waved yellows appeared,
although it didn't stop 271 Deano spinning Randall. We got racing again and 294
Lee Hughes led Bartz and 537 Bruno away until the latter was put away by 61
Flash, while Smith attacked 552 Blacknuts before T-boning 269 Popeye and
finishing off with a shot on 209 Animal's XJS. 99 Ritchie Ahern shoved Hughes
wide with a lap to go and went on to win with the Condom holding on for second
to join Ahern on the big grid while
Randall saw the race out by walling 270 Roots. 245 France and Bartz just missed
a place in the World in third and fourth, followed by 670 Tricky, 298 Showman,
269 Popeye, 208 Randall, 270 Roots and 2 Bricknell. A
huge grid of well over 50 cars for the World Championship race, the smart car
awards (a thankless task to pick from so many) going to 190 Pikey, 292 Keith
Saunders, 331 Boxer, 379 The Worm, 433 Ben Smith and 516 Gouldy, 741 Luke Parfitt
and 49 Finbarr drew the front row with 27 Dale Hughes and 202 Kilf behind them, it
was the Damage Inc man who made the early running while 528 Jethro put 311 Gary
Lown away and 377 Hammer used his big Caddy to do likewise to 564 Coatie.
Parfitt went out, handing the lead to 27 Dale Hughes and with brother 294 Lee riding
shotgun much of the time he was looking good, although his cause was helped when
the closing 331 Boxer was spun out by 218 Rob Speak. 730 Deano was also going
well and looked to be gaining on Hughes before 294 shoved him wide on the
scoreboard bend and so 27 Dale Hughes took the flag after a faultless drive, 730
Mayesie proving he can drive RWD too in case anyone doubted it by bringing his
Mk2 home in second from grid 37 and 158 Shane Davies also driving a blinder to
finish third from grid 52. 206 Kingy was a popular fourth, 439 Danny Sutton
continued his successful year with fifth in the gorgeous Mk1, 331 Boxer
recovered for a decent sixth and who knows what might have been without Speak's
intervention, 188 Victor an excellent seventh as just reward for
a lot of hard work to qualify from RDC's hard fought points chart, then 437
Chris Bailey, 125 Hitler and 516 Gouldy rounding off the places. Just
one Allcomers was programmed and it duly attracted almost 80 cars, so don't be
surprised if I missed much of the action! 549 Phil Smith attacked 451 Blackwell
on oppo before 747 Danny Filmer rolled onto the shale and 528 Jethro walled 340
Colin Jones, then 10 Paul Whiteman gave 60 Steve Laybourne a decent shot and 331
Boxer took a roof bender from persons unseen. The ever lively 537 Bruno buried
111 Daft Daz's DS Hearse a treat with 545 Huffy and 706 Danny Lucas then
combining to thunder the second pink DS of 409 Carlos into his team mate. After
a period of waved yellows, 67 Sparky led 158 Shane and 61 Flash away, as 730
Deano took out 460 Lewis Barber which led to further hits on the shale, while
549 Smith continued to wreck as he took out Flash on oppo with a hit over the
axle and 552 Blacknuts ran 2 Jon Bricknell round the wall. Sparky took the flag
from Shane and 22 Vincent. Just
under 20 for the demo including 46 Maverick in an unmarked XJ, 270 Roots spinning 10 Whiteman (who had worked hard to
repair), allowing 592 Mark Marchant to pile head on into Whiteman, the Blue Crew man
bailed out only for 190 Pikey to waste his empty motor with 360 Jack Reynolds
delivering a fine shot to the 190 car. Blacknuts also hit Whiteman with 208
Randall immediately doing the Bad Co XJ before taking one in turn from 271 Deano,
the pair trading blows before a big hit from 46 Maverick's Jag finished the
Runner, 96 Tank appearing from nowhere to hit the long dead 208 car before
Maverick and 44 Pikey Mikey traded several blows with the 46 XJ proving the
stronger as it survived the last solid head on to win. A
decent enough night overall, certainly at least on a par with any of the
Wimbledon Worlds of recent years, and well done to 27 Dale Hughes on his title
win which is well deserved, all the placemen can be proud of their efforts too
as the result contains some of the sport's most dedicated names. Click
here for the photos from this meeting
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