Saints and Sinners

The Cornish season drew to a creschendo with nearly 30 cars in the pits for a spot of end of season shannigans, including a rare double Deeble display! With a new toilet block and a new green "board" to start the races, it was time to say farewell to United Downs for 2011

On a damp track, focus turned to the Whites and Yellows final, and the resident regenmeisters, steering wheel babysitter Andrew Bennett (830) and the father and son pairing of Jeremy (707) and Dan Moss (797), who with a name like moss usually thrives in damp conditions. Bennett took the win, along with the mother of last bends which Dan Moss became the main beneficiary with Dad crossing the line on top of Jamie Beere (954).

With one on the tight track championship, attention focused to the Stoxblog Babe botherers Justin Fisher (315) and Neil Hooper (676). Fisher was 10 points ahead going in. However, this allowed the returning "Naughty" Nathan Maidment (935) to get away. With his 3 month ban done with, he was itching to get it going - that he did! With the chequered came the doughnuts, and well, he deserved them with the past couple of months he has had - and well who can blame him! I bet there was someone up there smiling on him. Jay Tonkin (290) ended his Cornish season like he started it - with a busted blue roof after another rollover!

"I just bledey signed it n'all"

Hoops scooped heat 3, and then it was money time on the Old Motorcycle Club Trophy, a trophy with a huge heritage and worth a tidy sum! With each lap hitting a bonus of £25, Liam Deeble (785) was tempted out by his janner mates to come and play - and led 3 laps. But the impressive drive of the final was Dale Moon (302), who despite the stoppage still lead until, under pressure from Hooper, clipped the kerb, which allowed Hooper to retain the Old Motorcycle Trophy. The Track championship gap was now 3 points.... and Hooper had a handicap.

With the support of the "WAGS" firmly behind him, the Flying Fish only had to hope that Super Hoops finished no better than 10th if he wasn't to finish. However, he got off to a flyer, and set about catching the lead pack to truly cement his chances. With a mental table in this writers head like the Duckworth-Lewis method, it became apparent what Fisher had to do. Finish the race, and hope he had enough of a buffer between him and the reigning track champion. However disaster was to befall the plucky Newton Abbot driver, he got caught up in an incident with Bennett and Moon. He had a serious case of Speak bumper. And with no Eddie Darby to try and drive it out. So with his car going backwards, and smoking front right, Fisher had to try and defend from his Motorworld buddy Hooper. With the boards out, Hooper pounced, sending the 315 machine wide, however in the melee, a bevvy of cars joined the party and Hooper went into the Tip Bend and didn't come out. Car stricken. Game over. So for the 5th season, the track championship went down to the last race, proving that St Day is a track where everyone can have a go!

In other news.....

..the burgeoning relationship between TART members Dan Moss and Jessica Maidment has had a profound effect on the Fowey based youngster. Now with fellow TART's had been trying an experiment with different power sources - but as the Novice of the Year found out, Pintos and Duratecs have nothing over the power of a woman! So Dan has gotten himself a girl, and with that girl, comes a different kind of horsepower.

love me love my stockie just doesn't have the same effect

"Can you hear something? Nay!" What a wag about a nag!

Look out for next year's sponsorship deal from Evostik and Pedigree Chum on the 797 machine!

... Les Palmer truly showed support for the season long championship of the Pringle-  he wore a lovely purple and white number. It had to be seen to be beleived, sadly no pictures!

... it seems that Nathan Maidment (935)'s nemesis' Matt Stoneman, is still having a dramatic effect on the plucky Milborne Yellow top. In fact, it appears in a strange Dr Who type fashion that one time Nice Boy Nathan is turning into his arch rival, as in the GN, not only did he join the Grand Order of the Pringle (some might say unjustly) but then remonstrated his innonence with the officials. He then performed a lovely set of non celebratory doughnuts, to match his celebratory ones after Heat 2!

So another cracker of a season at St Day. Worth the extra miles folks. You don't need a great number of cars to have a good St Day, and if you haven't roughed it at St Day, you haven't lived!

Abandon all hope....

Firstly an apology for not updating this sooner. A culmination of reasons - a busy time away from the sport culminating a new job, the rugby and the first man flu of the winter. So let's have a round up....

BARF-BADOS CALLING

Marmite it might be, but 2012 F2 World Final is up in the land of the free roaming livestock. Barford Raceway. It's been met with howls of derusion aswell as joyful from the hardcore that race there week in, week out. Whilst the racing is good, the facilities are far from good. When it held a semi meeting, complaints were amde about basic things. Whether it is a good thing for the sport is a debate for after, but we wait to see if they can get near to the plaudits of King's Lynn's build up and presentation.

SHOOT OUT!

So after Brisca 50 last year, the same format was taken to this years effort named "The Shoot Out". Not to be confused with the equalling confusing National Series Shootout that the Formula 1 guys have to play with. The Gala night should be a good conclusion, and the People's Champion race - sounds like Speak versus Moodie all over again, and with the retirement celebrations over in the 1's.

LUSKY CALLS IT A DAY

Sad to say that one of the true greats of the sport is calling it a day. 1987 World Champion Dave Luscombe (642) is hanging up his helmet. His Randall has been sold and the East Allington has said that's yer lot. More of an occasional racer of late, he could still mix it with the best. With the European and Nationals titles on his bonnet, aswell as the Scottish, he was certainly one of my favourites when I was younger. One of the true racers has gone.

A sad weekend for the sport

At Hednesford yesterday, our sport of short track oval racing was hit a devastating blow. At the Pre 68 banger meeting, a driver was killed.

When I heard the sad news of the death of Dave Weare, (78) who drove Bangers with Autospeed, it sent shivers down my spine, and my thoughts went instantly to the family and friends, the spectators who witnessed it and the officials who had to deal with it.

It is something, that gratefully we seldom see, but this doesn't make it easy for any involved.

Driver and spectator safety should be, and always be paramount. We are responsible for our own actions ultimately - these accidents happen.

The investigations and whys and wherefors will no doubt take place, but one thing we should never forget is the risks that these drivers make for the sake of entertainment.

And as a final point, to the sick scum of the earth that are posting pictures of the event on the various forums and on Facebook, have some moral fibre. Or failing that some intelligence or the merest hint of a brain, and remove this. There's a family without a dad, brother and son tonight, just put yourself in there shoes.

I hope Incarace hand out life bans to these people, they don't deserve to be fans of our sport.

RIP Dave - race in peace, mate.

Dominator Standings: The Mendips Maestro....

Collated from the Dominator Chart, and seeing as the Mendip F2 season is over- here are the standings to see who was the most dominant at the Bristol. It hasn't been the best seasons there by their own admission-  numbers have been down. I hope better cooperation between St Day and Bristol can avoid unnecessary clashes. So, in the dominator stakes not a great deal of points up for grabs...

The facts and figures.....

6 Meetings - 44 Point Scorers

The boy who's doing his GCSE's in his RCE takes the title, as Jack Aldridge holds off Bradbury and Hooper, who both missed a meeting or two. Chris Mikkula's home track consistency pays off, and top 5 is completed by Justin Fisher.




921 Jack Aldridge
120
886 Chris Bradbury
116
676 Neil Hooper
102
522 Chris Mikkula
101
315 Justin Fisher
74.5
990 Paul Rice
72
14 Mike Priddle
70
189 Paul Butcher
68.5
783 James Rygor
64
76 Chris Rowe
60
954 Jamie Beere
59.5
677 Chris Roots
51.5
797 Dan Moss
51.5
254 Richard Beere
50
605 Liam Rowe
45.5
438 Mike Rice
42.5
126 Jamie Avery
40.5
835 Matt Westaway
38.5
374 Gary Stephens
37.5
53 Phillip Mann
37
24 Jon Palmer
36.5
544 James Rogers
32
606 Andrew Palmer
29
464 Matt Linfield
29
276 Murray Jones
22
935 Nathan Maidment
22
245 Paul Milsom
20.5
162 Rich Swales
19.5
916 Luke Thomas
18
823 Sam Wagner
17.5
116 Ashley Rundle
13
120 Luke Loveland
11.5
785 Liam Deeble
11
NI 271 Gary Chambers
11
744 Tom Smart
9.5
127 Matt Stoneman
9
290 Jay Tonkin
8.5
768 Tom Adcroft
8
505 Ivor Collins
7
305 Colin Gregg
6
830 Andrew Bennett
5
707 Jeremy Moss
5
550 Andy Sobey
5
658 Dean Mason
3

The Waffle is back.

Ian Bennett, known affectionally hereafter as "Beaks", has been one of the fiercest critics of the decision to award to 2012 World to Barford. Since his Batten bothering days as a member of the feared and revered "BLT" (Beaks, Lee and Terry) which used to adorn Lee Guinchard's cars in the Elite days. Nowadays he's very much part of the proper racers, mingling with the likes of the touring car folk, and well to be honest, always has a soft spot for F2 boys. He even used own the "Waffle house" page in Unloaded. He isn't happy

....and Beaks is off a long run akin the West Indian bowlers of the late 1970's. Hope you've got your helmet on Cyril - he's gunning for you...

Hey kids.

I don’t post on here much these days – one too many #7 threads... and not enough thinking before typing... but still... I feel the need to comment on the decision to run the 2012 world at Barford.

Now, as many of y’all know I’ve been around this sport for many years – seen drivers and tracks come and go... all part of the cycle we call life... however...
The decision to allow Barford to have another world final is just a joke. A joke that only raises a smile when you laugh at the sheer lunacy of it all. We all know that the place is an ‘action track’ and yes, I do agree that it’s a proper old school ‘stock car track’ but it doesn’t deserve to have world final status.

When there are so many good stadiums around, this choice is just absurd. I’m fully aware that the WF is on a rota system and it’s the turn of Barford, but there really should be some guidelines drawn up as to what is and what isn’t required by a world final venue. I agree that the ‘promotion’ as to whom is given the right to run a semi can still do this... but just at an alternate location as has been done (successfully) in the past.

Irrespective of the above, you also need to look at the World Final held at Barford before. The way it was staged, presented and run clearly shows that the folk involved clearly didn’t give two shits about putting on a show. I’m sure I’ll be attacked for saying that and cool, that’s fine – but I have no doubt whatsoever that most racing folk would agree with me.

I recall at the time it was advertised as a ‘no frills stock car world final’ and a big deal was made that the price was lower than what one would expect from a world final (due to the lack of frills etc). Now as far as I’m concerned that’s bullshit. It points more at a promotion that really can’t be bothered for the paying public and also the event itself.

OK, so times are hard for everyone – I fully appreciate that. But one would imagine that folk would rather pay another £4 or so to go to ‘an event’ – not just another domestic meeting with a flash trophy. The fans appreciate a big, exciting meeting and also, which some would perhaps forget the drivers also do too. Extra costs are never fun – but for those who would find it hard to pay that little bit more can always do one meeting a year less – that’s pretty much all it’d take.

When you have folk like Paul Brown et all working tirelessly to promote the sport (of which, it is obvious that things are improving, steadily), why on earth would you run a WF here ?? Would you even want your sponsors to be taken to a place like Barford ??

I’ve heard many horror stories about how people are treated at Barford – from drivers to photographers to fans. It’s not the place here to discuss, pull apart and analyse them as it’d solve nothing. But those of you close to the sport and the drivers will be aware that it’s not the friendly place that it’s often made to be.

Right, that’s all you’re gonna get from me.

Peace and love, always.

Beaks

Rumour - Wood Widening his World??

Rumours abound that everyone's favourite marmite promoter, Deane Wood, is in the market for a new track. There are rumours that he is freeing up some money to take on an assualt for another track, and there are quite a few to potentially choose from....

SKEGNESS

It's been no secret that Skegness has been up for sale for some time. Hazel Cooke, the promoter is looking. for a way out. She is promoter designate for the cash cow that is the F1 world final, and would be a fitting way to retire. It would be a useful fit for Wood - the Spedeworth lot would have another East Anglian track to race on, and Wood would love to have the Uk Speedweekend, one of the biggest (if not the biggest) meetings of the year.

BUXTON

Now Dave Pierce has been looking to retire from promoting duties, especially now he is a major part in the FORDS benevolent fund, again he has been stepping back. A northern track with all the necessary and not under threat from the developer, it could be a very good fit.


RINGWOOD

Deano's been here before, he took over after Reg Slack's death, but pulled out soon after, leaving the track out of the ORCi fold with the Trojan organisation. However rumours abound that they are looking for a cash injection, and Barford Cyril's there too, which is too beleived with a pinch of salt.

ARENA

Constantly struggling for car numbers for the 2's, Arena is potentially a track that could benefit from a superstox influx. Deep in the heartland of Spudworth, and with Wimbo under threa, it would be a perfect fit for Wood.


Stilll all rumour and conjection, and my source is a friend of a friend, but he certainly seems to be a behemoth in the UK oval racing scene.

Super Simmo - Ruddy Muddy Marvellous!

Apologies for the delay in this report going up, a combination of driving back to Cornwall and being generally knackered from the trevails of the last couple of weeks of solid updates!
 
So I woke up at the crack of Dawn, which was a suprise to the girlfriend because she's called Sharon, and set out the plan for the big world final drive. Bacon butty in my fuel tank, diesel in the car, it was King's Lynn bound.With this World final being the most hyped ever, it was time to deliver!

The View from J-ho K Coral!

We arrived just after 12, in the field/car park, to a light shower. Ok, that was expected says I, clinging to my forelawn hope that the weather forecast might be right. On entering the track it was apparent lots of money had been spent since 2000, and it looked really good. A really professional looking stadium - exactly what the sport needs more of-  especially as many tracks are in various states of delapidation. We set up camp for the prime position, by the pit gate coming out the opening crucial bend, for that crash that was potentially going to happen between him and you know who.

With the big screen looking dominant on turns 3 and 4, and showing the various races past including the insomnia inducing semi finals. It was also good to see that a good build up was being used to its full abilities, with Steve Linfield and Matt Black doing interviews on the infield and in the pits. Indeed, it's something I'd like to see repeated if its feasiable, gives the spectator a further insight, and well, helps everyone see the celebrations. If the sport is to improve its profile, more gambles have to be made on this.

Another good idea on paper was the autograph sessions for the drivers, it was just a shame that not all the drivers took to it, there were a couple of disappointed young faces coming back. I was reminded by ex F2 driver Geoff Bunn, that in 1989 at Newton Abbot - all the competitors put their cars in the track for a meet and greet the fans session on the track, which was a nice touch. It would only take an hour to do, and with most competitiors there from the start, again something that could be tried again.

Now to the programme. £5 did seem a little steep at first glance, but with a free mini air blower thingy with your favourite driver to make some noise with it certainly worked. 56 full colour A4 colour pages (remember Unloaded is 32 and £3.50) with plenty of things that you need from a World Final Programme, welcome, insight, season review, history, driver previews, and interviews, and loads of opinion pieces from such luminaires as Rosevear, Linfield, Hughes, Bunter and Randall. There was also a piece by some bloke called Jonny Hoare, don't know who he is. It certainly ranks up there with the greats and there certainly is a challenger to the Autospeed crown now.

Nice touches in the pits meaning that each world finalist had a pit bay marked and in order, so that they came out in order and there was no sorting required. Time to go racing.

The international time trials proved one thing - the need for an international semi final. There were probably 5 dutch drivers probably more than capable of filling a spot on the grid, including some title contenders. Still the Dutch were flying, the Irish slowly getting to grips and the Isle of Man making up the numbers.

The consolation semi was fast and furious. Goldin got away as predicted, but the battle behind, with Lee Dimmick (59) showing a good pair of heels. In the closing laps it became a battle between the shale "specialists", with Mark Simpson (871), Steve Wycherley (662), Rob Mitchell (905), Brian Shadbolt (70) and Carl Issit (103) making up the lucky half dozen. After a support heat aced by Anthony Winters (260), and another brutal Saloon race. I don't think I've seen a dull one this season.

Then a period of track prep took place, and then whislt we like omens on this site, the saloon world final was shown on the big screen. Hmmm, that could happen again you know...

Then as the immortal words was said, it was also time to "Specatators, put up your brollies!", as the heavens opened with the mother of all rain showers. For me, 2 first time experiences, a wet shale race and a wet world final. Skeg 92 was the last world final run in wet conditions. So what would become of Moodie and Speak? Would Palmer go for it?

This video from Stevie1C1 from youtube shows the entire race.


 

So congratulations to Skegness stalwart and all round thoroughly nice chap, Mark Simpson (871) who showed whilst others lose their heads, only the coolest of the cool rise to the top. It was a race of attrition, a last man standing competition, more familar to bangers than Stock Cars, as out of the 38 that started - only 6 finished, and only 3 of those were on the same lap. We saw plenty of lead changes, plenty of bumper action, and yet, the weather spoilt it
Wet shale made it near on impossible to distinguish cars, (apart from the luminous Allen Cooper (702))and with the PA so quiet it was guess work for the majority of the fans to make out who was in the lead. There was a "dubious" yellow flag with about 6/7 to go, Moodie gone in the distance, Cooper catching, Cooper moving Moodie on to the mud, then Cooper drowning in the same mud, allowing Simpson to take it through. Of the 6 finishers, 4 came from the consolation, so proof that once again- you have to be in it to win it.

So to Simmo, everyone's favourite camp site owner, now Champion of the World, massive congratulations. I stood with a fair amount of Skeggy regulars and drivers, and the utmost respect was given.

Covered in shale, but covered in glory! Simmo's smile is golden

Again another driver who woke up that morning thinking, "it's not my year", has woken up on Sunday morning having taken the big crown. It's becoming a bit like the lifetime achievement award at the Brits, so next year the Gold Roof is going to Status Quo.

And now an appeal to Brisca F2.
Wherever the next world final is going to be, it has to be as good as this one, in build up, in presentation and in memory. Think very carefully where you take the title next year, maybe its time to scrap the rota system and give it to the tracks that will make a show of it.

Congrats once again to Mark Simpson  (871) - the 2011 Brisca F2 Champion of the World