The first of the two day session was headlined, as has now become the tradition by the National Bangers “British Beef” meeting for all Ford cars rear wheel drive, backed up by both sets of the BriSCA Heritage Stock Cars and the Hot Rods.
Once again there was an impressive entry in the Bangers for the meeting with the Capri again being the most popular choice, but there were also plenty of Mk4 and Mk5 Cortinas, two very smartly turned out Mk3 versions for 54 Tom Davey and 184 Andy Nutley and also some Sierras too.
One of the smartest cars of the meeting, 91 Kelvin Cole was one that got trashed in the opening heat of the evening, and it was 198 Marcus Goldsmith who took the win, using the same Capri that he took to the runner up spot in the meeting Final in 2010.
The second heat was a race of two halves, with a huge pile up on the top bend bring the it to a suspension at the mid-way point with 239 Steve Carter, 363 Sam Trim, 714 Paul Smaldon well involved and also last year’s winner 303 Jason Oliver, whose Capri was wrecked beyond repair in the heap. 517 Scott Weldon was the leader at the time of the stoppage and went on to continue to do so all the way to the flag.
The heavy action continued in the consolation, once again with the local drivers versus some of the Devon drivers taking centre stage. Only two drivers completed the full race distance with 84 Jerry ‘Bleach’ Ansell, the veteran racer from Sussex on his maiden Mendips appearance taking the win.
The qualifiers only Final was, as in previous years, much more of a race. 822 James Newland lead until the halfway stage when he was spun aside by Goldsmith who then went on to open out a big lead. After a close battle last year for the win, Marcus went on to take victory by half a lap this time. 790 Dominic Gumbleton made it a ‘Wacky Racers’ 1-2 whilst 58 Martin Dalton made it for third.
The Allcomers saw a flag to flag victory for 507 Paul Ashby before a relatively short and sharp but never the less heavy destruction derby saw a second victory for 84 Ansell.
The BriSCA Heritage Junior Stock Cars had their biggest event of the season with their World Final, which saw a good number of drivers, many having travelled a great distance to be present as well as Dutch driver 386 Leon Bekkers.
The big race was the first race and after only a lap there was a yellow flag for a stranded car. Bekkers held sway in the lead until 616 Darren Clarke took over. However he went missing a few laps later and 198 Alan Nicholson took up the lead. He was reeled in by 763 Andy Bateman who took up the running at the halfway stage and he went on to take the victory. Nicholson did keep Bateman in his sights though whilst outgoing champion 505 Mick Whittle recovered from a couple of tangle ups to make third.
The solitary heat came down to a very close finish with Whittle beating 886 Brian Owen to the flag by just a couple of inches.
The meeting Final was a fantastic race with a great battle between Bekkers, Bateman, Nicholson and 869 Mike Walmsley. It was Bateman who got to the line, just, ahead of Walmsley and Nicholson.
The big Senior cars certainly looked and sounded good. 3 Mike Shirley and 100 Rob Squire managed to trip over each other in the first of the two races which hindered the two more ‘open wheel’ cars charge to catch the 1954 spec car of 146 Roy Clarke who took the win, and then Clarke made it a double in the second of the two races.
The Hot Rods were dominated by two men. 904 Wilson Hamilton took both the heats, followed closely by 282 Steve Hunt. However, the roles were reversed for the Final where Hunt held off Hamilton to the flag with initial leader 205 Mike Norton getting third.
RESULTS - 25.06.11
Hot Rods:-
Heat 1 - Wilson Hamilton 904,282,18,55,258,205,35,578
Heat 2 - Wilson Hamilton 904,282,18,578,55,205,258,35
Final - Steve Hunt 282,904,205,258,55,18,578,35
Heritage Junior Stock Cars:-
Heat 1 - Andy Bateman 763,198,505,127,722,869,731,616,386,886
Heat 2 - Mick Whittle 505,886,869,722,762,205,731,198,59,386
Final - Andy Bateman 763,869,198,762,386,676,43,722,59,616
Heritage Senior Stock Cars:-
Heat 1 - Roy Clarke 146,100,161,25,691,42
Heat 2 - Roy Clarke 146,3,161,100,25,42
British Beef Bangers:-
Heat 1 - Marcus Goldsmith 198,40,75,184,733,372,240,127,58,54
Heat 2 - Scott Weldon 517,796,790,822,67
Cons - Jerry Ansell 84,38
Final - Marus Goldsmith 198,790,58,75,372,40,517,822
A/C - Paul Ashby 507,84,372,517,198,251
DD - Jerry Ansell 84
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With thanks to ThunderPix