Start of Season Newsletter 2009
Dear Drivers,
2009 got off to a superb start, with good racing and fields from all of our formulae, and although the crowd was pretty small on March 29th, Easter Sunday and Monday certainly made up for it with our best Easter attendances for quite a while. A good crowd always makes for great atmosphere, and raises the whole day, and with good weather and a good atmosphere from the drivers, it was a very enjoyable weekend.
Danger is always present though, and we had a very sharp reminder of that when there was a potentially very serious fire in the pits on Monday, before racing started. I must congratulate our quick thinking and brave marshals who managed to extinguish the fire, which was caused by an open can of petrol adjacent to a disc cutter being used. I have often considered having a permanent Fire Point in the Pits, but have always held back in case the extinguishers would be removed or used by unauthorised people, but this incident has made us think again.
Just remember - the Rules require all drivers to have a Fire Extinguisher either in the race car or in the transporter!
Stock Cars
Although we were three drivers down on 2008, our 2009 World Qualifier was much enjoyed and appreciated by the biggest Easter crowd for a while, and it certainly had a shock result, with three lower grades on the podium. Cameron Pugh (779) is this year’s stock car sensation, and has won a string of Finals on his way to superstar status. Monday May 4th is the first round of the 2009 Rookies Reward, and we have a new sponsor in Steve Stockley (Plasterers), who has a great interest in F2 racing, and races a Stock Rod and a Rookie Banger himself. We are pleased to welcome Steve and his party to today’s racing, and hope that we get a good race for him. This event, as always is for White and Yellow graded drivers only, and unlike other tracks, only white and yellow top drivers contest the final at the end of the year, when we hope to have the usual big prize fund. Unfortunately, perhaps a sign of the times, we have not got all of the rounds sponsored, so if you or your business would like to help, it won’t cost a huge amount, please get in touch via the website or the phone, or talk to Pat in the Office on race days.
TOP TEN
779 Cameron Pugh 29
742 Nick Rogers 28
116 Ashley Rundle 26
886 Chris Bradbury 24
677 Chris Roots 19
152 Mick Sworder 19
189 Paul Butcher 17
676 Neil Hooper 16
877 Eddie Darby 12
642 Dave Luscombe 10
Bangers
Two good fields of Rookies-34 and 37 for the two meetings, provided some good old tin and some exciting and entertaining racing. There was an unfortunate incident on March 29th involving Pete Stanley(40), Jason Burt(446) and Kenny Dalton(458), which led to a Mendips Raceway Management Committee discussion, which is an alternative Board of Control that can act quickly and easily should the occasion arise, where Pete and Jason agreed to accept a six month statutory ORCI ban for threatening behaviour, and as there was no complaint from Kenny, and both had previous good records with us, we agreed to suspend five months of the ban, which will stay in place until the end of 2009. On the same day, we received a complaint from visiting driver Nick Cottrell (917) that he had been deliberately fenced by James White(10), and having reviewed the dvd footage, the steward has written to him to agree that it appeared to be an illegal move.
ROOKIE BANGER TOP TEN
58 Martin Dalton 66
458 Kenny Dalton 55
133 Jody Jeanes 34
49 Rob Bevan 25
956 Steve Thompson 23
44 Steve Griffin 22
282 Steve Hunt 20
396 Scott Mowlam 18
941 Hannah Creed 15
441 Craig Griffin 15
If you are intending to race in the 1800cc World Qualifier or the £2000 Axminster Power Tools THUNDERBOLT IX, please phone or email if you have not put your name in the book. Everyone likes to see drivers’ lists on the internet, and if it looks good, then people will come. We have a couple of Midnight Runners booked as visitors for the 1800 meeting!
Filo’s CRASHMANIA – please make sure that you get your form filled in and your team entered as soon as possible, as the places are disappearing fast, and we really don’t want to disappoint any or our own teams. Forms will be at the Office, or can be downloaded from the website under the contact us button. The team is not entered until the form is filled in and the fee paid. It’s no good saying that we knew you were coming!
BANGER TOP TEN
83 Andy Bevan 41
404 Rob Mills 18
162 Mike Cox 17
58 Martin Dalton 16
198 Marcus Goldsmith 10
728 Spike Dray 9
517 Scott Weldon 9
364 Darren Feltham 7
179 Florence 7
Special Rods
The decision to adopt the Yokohama A0 21R tyre as the control tyre has proved a success, with the racing apparently much closer and the cars more controllable. A good number of new drivers in the formula, and one or two more yet to get out in the 2009 season. Dave Ruby is doing a good job with the scrutineering, and learning all the time, and is pleased by the co operation that he has had from drivers.
Below are the grades for the next meeting, on Sunday May 3rd. Please paint your roof correctly, all over, and down to the waist line please ! Another quick reminder is that if you win your heat, you automatically race the Final from the back of your grade, not back of the grid! Please remember to line up there to save the marshalls’ legs.
SUPERSTAR
47 Richard Howard 41
23 Ross Stuckey 39
144 Mark Thompson 36
BLUE TOPS
8 Andrew Morgan 18
83 Doug George 14
111 Jim Munden 13
41 Dene Howard 10
25 Robin Bath 10
407 Nigel Gissing 9
136 Jason Horseman 7
7 Matt Weston 3
30 Andrew Harrison 3
RED TOPS
42 John Major 33
930 Nick Simons 32
10 Stephen Hine 30
43 Andy Howard 27
198 Marcus Goldsmith 26
173 Alan Cambridge 26
17 Lee Robins 26
33 Shaun Norton 25
48 Steve Hodge 20
19 Matthew Tegg 19
MiniRods
A good start this season for the Minis, with many new drivers, and more to come soon. On April 13th, Sam May (501) was loaded for ignoring the black flag after two avoidable collisions. Drivers have to understand the two basic rules-No contact, and overtaking round the outside wherever possible, and not barging through down the inside. There is a terrific speed difference between novice and skilled drivers, which can be very dangerous.
RED TOPS
60 Steve Sayer 52
7 Aaron Charles 39
127 Louis Aldom 38
22 Jordan Puddy 37
91 Sam Bartlett 30
23 Jack Stuckey 24
43 Sam Howard 20
23 Jack Stuckey 20
61 Alex Slogget 18
56 Ryan Mulley 18
BLUE TOPS
404 Macauley Mills 17
15 Shane Jennings 17
21 Emily Moulton 11
501 Sam May (silver) 8
9 Jasmine Skyrme 8
446 Aston Burt 7
121 Kieran Gillard 7
18 Jack Caulfield 7
16 Daniel Milverton 5
5 Tom Major 5
31 Ben Faulkner 5
Hot Rods
There was a lot of optimism in the Hot Rods this meeting, with more cars around that we should see soon, and new drivers looking to come into the sport. Let’s hope Colin doesn’t do every meeting! Our sponsor next meeting is Chris Page of Sealrite, also now known as Mr Scrutineer, so we shall have some nice trophies for you.
Top Ten
718 Colin White 30
26 Ross Loram 20
117 Dave Tossell 19
18 Larry Langmead 19
205 Mike Norton 19
88 Alan Shelper 19
734 Ralph Sanders 17
35 Neil Mewdell 6
24 Paul Bennet 2
Reliant Robins
Not a bad turn out for the beginning of the season, and good to see some new faces in the sport, even if they all had the rollover treatment! Shane and John Brereton are the first father and son team for a while, since Kenny Poole and his boys, and the sport has changed quite a lot from when we started nine years ago, and not always for the best.
We did notice later in the day that there are still some drivers using wheel spacers, which are specifically banned, so make sure that you take them off before the next meeting on May 4th. Maybe it’s time for some novelty races!
Top Ten
59 Mike Jones 28
87 Barry Richards 27
58 Martin Dalton 21
3 Dan Tytheridge 18
46 Jon Coombs 17
658 Ken Burrows 16
159 Katie Jones 9
39 Simon Faulkner 8
250 Danny Withers 6
348 Shane Brereton 5
Sales and wants
MiniRod required, ready to race Simon Hart 07798 877104 (Chippenham)
Would anyone be interested in buying a Mazda 626 executive 2.0 litre in good working order drives fantastic no problems its been sat on my drive for months mot expired slight damage to rear bumper and small scrape lower back wing full leather elec windows mirrors etc ideal for banger racing £200 drive away cheers Martin Perrett Email:martlimelight@blueyonder.co.uk Phone:07724868274
Graham and Pat Bunter.
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