Big Entry for Saturday

Another big entry is expected at the Norfolk Arena this Saturday night (15 May - 6.30pm) when the 2L Bangers are back in action in their fourth World Qualifier with action also coming from the 2L Stock Cars and the 1300 Stock Cars.

The 2010 Banger entries at the Norfolk Arena have been very strong indeed and once again we are expecting somewhere between 50 and 60 cars to race which is similar to the last 2 Litre meeting back on April 17^th. That meeting turned out to be crammed full of action and hopes are high for another first class session this weekend. At the top of the points, the situation this year is quite different to the 2009 season when 85 James Ellis was leading the way. Ellis is concentrating more of his time on family life this year and so the frontrunners so far have been 349 Michael Allard, 348 Sonny Sherwood and 119 Davey Cox. Allard has quite a lead now as 348 Mushy was taken ill and failed to make it to the last meeting where Cruncher also scored some points to pull himself further into the points battle. All three are expected to be in action this weekend and with Allard now back in the SuperStar grade, we will have to wait to see if he can keep on winning.

Whilst the track championship is one competition, the World Qualifying table looks slightly different and whilst Allard also leads the way in that competition too, there are a whole host of drivers closely bunched together in the top ten. As well as Mushy and 119 Cruncher, there are other drivers such as 730 Deano, 390 Gibbo and 791 Spud who are all doing better in the 2 litres than the overall points and should be on the World Final grid in July barring a complete disaster. Just to make sure, Deano is having a break from the Ford Mondeos and bringing a Vauxhall Calibra this weekend which he hopes will just have the edge over the Fords to get him past a few more drivers. Also looking rapid from towards the back will be the other regular Vauxhall pilots 566 Zippy Jnr, 897 The Duck and 898 Andy Battle whose Vectra was flying around here last month.

The Bangers are not all about the racers however and we have a good crop of drivers who like to crash as well. Often providing a big chunk of the entertainment are the regulars from around Sheffield and once again we welcome 50 Munch, 60 Shakey and 70 Ant whose black and white cars will no doubt be in the thick of the action although none of them should be ruled out of a win if they get a clear run and no tempting crashes are presented in front of them. Also from South Yorkshire are The Outsiders who have been with us for every 2 Litre meeting this year and whilst the numbers are slightly down this time because of the busy schedule, 73 Crucko and 75 Mush will be here to represent the team and hopefully notch up some more points on the Entertainers League. Also likely to mix things up and cause some damage are 100 Callum White from Team Aftermath, 525 Wesley Starmer and even 247 Bro if he catches up with 99 Ricky or 338 Terry Garrod as those drivers just love to trade bent body panels!

The National Saloon Stock Cars have been nothing short of breathtaking on shale this year and with 38 drivers booked to race at this Lynn fixture, we should be set for another very fast and very bruising night of action. The early part of the season saw some very consistent performances from some of the white and yellow tops with 127 Steve and 191 Shaun McMillan both scoring well and taking some wins along the way together with 190 Waggy who has shown massive improvement and is now very fast despite his car looking very battle-scarred at times. All of these drivers have now climbed the grades but an interesting fall has been 641 Willie Skoyles Jnr who hasn’t had the best of starts to 2010 but from yellow he must be considered to be the ‘danger man’. All of the top dogs have been fast here too – local drivers such as 499 David Aldous, 156 Darren Goudy, 219 Luke Grief and 360 Carl Waterfield have been setting some blistering times on the electronic lap scoring equipment as has 120 Shane Brown whose trips from Somerset have seen him put in many miles but he has also gained the results to make it all worthwhile. Unusually, 511 Craig and 512 Darren Barnett have had a mix of bad luck and have also been take out more often than usual and both will be looking to change their fortunes. Craig will certainly have to go on the offensive if he is to lift another King’s Lynn track championship this year.

Completing the action are the 1300cc Stock Cars which have been producing grids in the mid-20s for the last couple of meetings which is a nice climb from the opening meetings of the season. Their April meeting was incredibly fast but nearly half of the cars went home with blown engines at the end of the night which certainly isn’t something we want to see on a regular basis and as a result we have taken the step of shortening their race distances a little to try to preserve the cars. Last time here for the 1300s was on May Day Bank Holiday Monday when the white tops were having the run of the track producing victories for 126 Tom Longhurst and a first-ever win for 236 Stuart Sharpe in the heats. The Norfolk Final was won by 240 Todd Shales who was racing his first meeting at Lynn from the red grade having climbed from yellow where he has spent most of the last year. We often see drivers struggle when making a big leap up the grading chart but Todd has got both himself and the car on top form at present and is probably the pick of the reds and superstars for speed at the present time. Another driver to watch out for is 33 Warren Porter who is making very good progress from the blue grade and is very quick around here. So far, he has struggled to find an engine that will last the distance at a race meeting, but once he sorts out the reliability of the car, we should expect him to climb back up to red again although it may be too late for him to make up the early season lost ground and challenge for the track championship.

Admission

Adult £12

OAP £9

12 - 15 year olds £5

Kids to 11 Free