Halloween Carnival Cracker

The Annual Halloween Carnival Night at Norfolk Arena went ahead on Saturday night with a change to the racing format as compared to previous years. The BriSCA F1 Stock Cars retained their regular slot for Halloween but following a switch of dates for the usual classic car Banger meeting, the other classes on show were the under 1500cc Bangers and the Reliant Robins. As usual, a bumper crowd descended upon the stadium for the show, tempted by the Halloween Fancy Dress parade and the huge fireworks display as added entertainment over and above the race action.

The fancy dress parade was a big highlight on Saturday night

The review of the race action starts with the BriSCA F1 Stock Cars which had 36 drivers in action with the main contenders challenging for points in the penultimate round of the National Series Shootout. The night started however with the regular race for the White and Yellow grade drivers which was well supported by 16 of the ‘bread and butter’ drivers of the sport. Following some dramatic exits and terrible misfortune in many of the similar events earlier this year, things came together for 307 Tim Warwick who took a highly deserved victory by keeping clear of the rapidly closing 244 Mick Rogers and 330 Graham Wagstaff.

A superhuman effort by Team Wainman saw a complete Chevy engine change

The remainder of the Formula One racing programme was run to a two-thirds format where all drivers were eligible to take part in two out of the three heats with all cars then eligible for the Final and Grand National events. The first heat was brought to a temporary halt fairly early in proceedings after a crash between 246 Ian Brickley and 54 Hayley Parkinson left them stranded in the turn which would have been fine if 13 Andy Ford hadn’t arrived on the scene to forcefully climb aboard the bonnet of Brickley and get himself stuck up there! Once the race resumed, Wagstaff led the way for a number of laps until the flying 515 Frankie Wainman Jnr passed him just short of half way through the race. However, Wainman suffered a catastrophic engine failure just a few laps later which appeared to end his night and also effectively end the competition for the National Series. 259 Paul Hines came through to win the race. 415 Russell Cooper made a fine start to the second heat and built up a lead that would ensure he remained at the front of the race for more than half of the race. However, as the pressure from Rogers behind continued to mount, Cooper drifted a little wide in one of the bends which was enough for Rogers to steal the lead. Rogers then duplicated Cooper’s error a few laps later, which probably only speeded up the inevitable as World Champion 1 Andy Smith was closing up fast and he dived through the gap to take the victory. In the third heat, 13 Andy Ford made a forceful start battering the white grade drivers out of the way in the first couple of laps and then powering off into the distance into a lead which looked unassailable. However, in a very close replica of Wainman earlier in the night, Ford disappeared in a cloud of smoke and steam just before reaching the half way point in the race and Andy Smith moved to the head of the pack. However, it was younger brother 390 Stuart Smith Jnr who had the greater determination to score more points towards his lead in the National Series and he reeled in Andy and fired him wide in the last bend to take the win.

390 Stuart Smith Jnr moves brother Andrew aside to take the chequered flag in heat 2

After a night of mechanical attrition, just half of the original entry were able to contest the Final and there was more drama for 121 Kevin Shinn in the opening laps of the race whose car suddenly started to shower sparks from the front whilst running in second place prompting Shinn to pull off the track and stop the car immediately. Frankie Wainman had managed to rejoin the meeting by swapping the engine out of younger brother Daniel’s car into his own after a superhuman effort from his team but the car didn’t seem to have enough speed to get right to the front of the results and a miserable night for Wainman was sealed when 21 Mark Gilbank span him around, Wainman then leaving the track with a puncture. Russell Cooper once again was the leader for a decent portion of the race but the star grade drivers came through in the later stages with 97 Murray Harrison taking the win ahead of Andy Smith and Hines. Surprisingly, the Grand National went back up to a 20-car entry and had plenty of drama with 55 Craig Finnikin taking 338 Chris Brocksopp into the wall hard in the early stages before a stoppage was required when 4 Daniel Johnson hit the wall hard backwards and gave himself a nasty shaking although thankfully there was nothing worse for the driver. Cooper led the restart but was immediately under fire from fellow white-top 267 Graeme Robson who took the lead from him and held out at the front for a few laps until the SuperStar drivers arrived to challenge. First one to reach Robson was Hines but he was a little too enthusiastic with the bumper and the hit sent both drivers very wide through turns one and two and 84 Tom Harris ducked underneath both of them to take the lead. Yet another retirement for Wainman two laps from the end resulted in a very rare zero score for the night and he could only watch as Harris took the last win of the night.

Wheel to wheel action with World Champion 1 Andrew Smith & 515 Frankie Wainman Jnr

In the 1500cc Bangers, the main event of the night was the Riley Lown Memorial Final which was the first race of the night, staged as the first annual tribute race to the two year old son of regular racer 311 Garry Lown who passed away earlier in the year. 673 Darren Fendley was the earlier leader of the race until engine problems forced him to retire and despite having an early crash into 870 Mark Spicer, it was 635 Gavin Goddard who then moved to the front of the pack. Goddard then remained at the front until the last lap when he was taken out by 375 Jamie Chilverhouse allowing 385 Roy Gedge to come through and win by a small margin ahead of 566 Tony Pallett and 333 James Cooke.

Top 3 in the Riley Lown Memorial Final which was won by 385 Roy Gedge with 566 Tony Pallett second and 333 James Cooke third

The remaining Banger races were unusually quiet on the crashing front and except for 14 Roland Bullock getting blown up by 338 Terry Garrod at the end of the first allcomers race and a wrecking train involving 100 Martin Broomfield, 316 Sean Haller and 115 Chris Wagg in the second of the races, the rest of the drivers were unusually able to keep racing at some very rapid speeds. Both victories went to drivers from the Lown family or friends with 345 Richard Lown  winning the first and 310 Luke Holdsworth winning the other. The Destruction Derby had the best outcome of all with 311 Garry Lown himself giving plenty of punishment to both 928 Richard Steele and 897 Matt Battle (Suffolk) to lift the last trophy of the night as the last car running.

311 Garry Lown won the Destruction Derby

The three-wheelers provided the usual blend of racing and rollover havoc with a decent field of 16 drivers gathering for action. The first race was their Grand National Final and it started in fine style with 7 Darren Burkitt and 385 Roy Gedge performing a double rollover which brought about a premature end to the night for Burkitt in his ultra-smart three-wheeler. Also very smart but prone to rolling over was the car of 203 Martin Reeson who toppled with style whilst pushing too hard to hold onto a good place in the race.  Reliant ace 576 Colin Aldred motored to victory ahead of Reliant newcomer 155 Mick Walker and 195 Pete Bowley.

576 Colin "Porky" Aldred with his many fans following his race win

Reliant Robin action from 379 Peter "Yogi" Graham and 385 Roy "Boy" Gedge

In the remaining races, Aldred tipped up Reeson once again whilst Gedge entertained by rolling himself on two occasions with no help required from any other drivers! Walker was the winner of the first event whilst the second of the races saw a feud develop with 791 Nicky Young taking a big hit from Bowley before Reliant World Champ Danny Douglas nailed Young as well. Gedge completed his showing by performing another huge unassisted roll as Aldred took his second victory of the evening.

Super smart Reliant Robin from 203 Martin Reeson

Reeson ends up on his roof follwing a ride on the wild side!