A cold but dry start to the 2011 season at Mendips Raceway, where Special Rods, Hot Rods and Micro Bangers under 1200cc arrived to do battle.
There were 40 bangers, with some superb efforts from drivers finding something a little different to race, with Scott Weldon (Austin A40), Adam Rowell (Standard 8) and Sam Trim (Hyundai Pony) being the pick of the bunch. The Pony proved to be the car for the Destruction Derby, demolishing all the rest of the runners, but it was a bit slow for the races, which were won by Scott Weldon’s A40, Visitor Paul Brown(322), Dean Quinn(27) and Dominic Gumbleton (790) on his return to racing.
There were a couple of exciting rollovers, some massive jackings, and all in all, a very good humoured day that everyone enjoyed, and it was great to see a whole lot of new drivers to the Raceway, that we hope to see again.
Ross Stuckey (23) celebrated his birthday in style by winning the Special rod Final. 26 cars arrived , and the 2/3 format worked well, with good grids of cars in all races. Nephew Jack (22) nicked the first heat from Ross, and newcomer (although not a novice, it has to be said!) Paul Robbins (13) won a heat and took a second place. Craig Harris(39) was the other winner in four races that were very unpredictable in their results.
Not the case in the Hot Rods, when Colin White(718) returned to his domineering ways with a clean sweep of wins, although it was good to see Larry Langmead(18) finally getting some better results from his Focus. New driver Rick Lee(578) had car problems all day, and Mike Norton was sidelined early on after a collision that broke his steering rack.
Not forgetting to welcome our two new Trophy Girls for 2011 - Sammy and Carla.
Hot Rods:-
Heat 1 - Colin White 718, 18, 282, 89, 205, 117, 55, 258, 578
Heat 2 - Colin White 718, 117, 282, 18, 55, 258
Final - Colin White 718, 18, 282, 55, 258, 578
Special Rods:-
Heat 1 - Jack Stuckey 22, 23, 39, 18, 10, 47, 122, 43, 42, 173
Heat 2 - Craig Harris 39, 13, 42, 731, 173, 925, 372, 44, 6, 365
Heat 3 - Paul Robins 13, 731, 22, 23, 43, 925, 10, 18, 26, 993
Final - Ross Stuckey 23, 10, 47, 39, 17, 42, 18, 43, 21, 173
Micro Bangers:-
Heat 1 - Scott Weldon 517, 801, 303, 8, 144, 7, 18, 441
Heat 2 - Paul Brown 322, 790, 517, 363, 303, 205
Final - Dean Quinn 27, 790, 502, 322, 303, 363, 517, 441, 8
A/C - Dominic Gumbleton 790, 144, 322, 502, 27, 517, 54
DD - Sam Trim 363
27th March 2011 - CLICK HERE to see the full set in a slideshow at flickr.com