Midnight Runners Take Top Honours at the Small Car Icebreaker

The 2011 National Banger season roared into life on Sunday 30^th January at King’s Lynn’s Norfolk Arena with the first of two annual Winter team events, known as The Icebreakers. The first event was for teams of four drivers racing Under 1500cc Bangers and raised a very impressive entry of 41 teams bringing a total of 156 cars into the pits. The defending champions were Wisbech-based WMS Recruitment.

Certain winners were decided before the racing got underway with a close battle for the best-presented team award with Great Yarmouth’s Team Wanger just beating fellow Norfolk drivers The Skunks to the prize. There were also honours for the most unusual collection of cars in a team and this went to the Mr Men from Boston. 230 Dean Moljourd from the team piloted a Nissan Almera which was one of the most popular cars to be raced at the meeting but the rest of the team were all in something a bit different with 579 Gary Beecham bringing a Volvo 340, 282 Bobby Daniels driving an increasingly rare Lada Riva Estate but topping the bill was car-restorer 581 Simon Fixter who raced a 1954 Morris Cowley. Other interesting cars in the pits area were another Volvo 340 in the hands of 34 Warren Burnham of Team Stinkbridge, Suffolk man 76 Terry Mansfield who raced a Mk5 Ford Cortina Estate for the Damaged Goods team and 323 Jim Riddell from North East Scotland who had a Lada Riva saloon as part of his team the Junkyard Dogs.

Each team was allocated a total of three heats out of nine staged during the afternoon after which all the remaining cars were invited to race together for the Team Final. The stadium team had worked hard to reverse the damage caused by two months of snow, rain and frost on the shale track and the circuit was in far better condition than many people expected it to be leading to some excellent racing and crashing all afternoon.

The opening race of the day set the tone with some good crashing performances from 851 Adam Storr of Team Starky who introduced Scotsman Dave Largue to the wall hard before doing the same to 566 Tony Pallett of Team Cruncher with another notable performance coming from Sheffield’s Gary Tingle of Team Stinkbridge who was also giving guided tours of the steel plate fence to some of the unsuspecting Scottish entrants. A good race for Team Starky was also marked by a win for 878 Luke Rowland. The second race saw the first appearance of national ‘superteam’ the Midnight Runners on track who had entered a total of three teams of four drivers in their distinctive purple, white and blue colours. They were immediately on the case with 382 Jack Foster Jnr taking the entertainer trophy for big hits on the Green Army’s 621 Scott Goodyear and Team Wally’s 517 Andrew Gould although fellow Runner Jamie Harding was also lively putting the roof up on Walsham Wrecker 452 Sean Parratt. 57 Max Stott started the day well for 2010 Winners WMS Recruitment by winning the race.

The third race saw the second team from the Mr Men in the limelight with 578 Lee Ranshaw taking the entertainer award for big hits on 11 Darren Race of Team Stinkbridge and 88 Lyndon Stark of Team Starky whilst Bourne team the Mad Hatters Young Guns scooped plenty of points with Ben Gibson winning and running mate Jonny Atkin following him across the line.

The crashing activity in the last of the first round of heats was dominated by another team of the Midnight Runners with 60 Kyle Stevenson taking the entertainer of the race award for his massive hit on the Green Army’s Bradley Ellis but other big shots from the team came from 730 Dean Mayes who blew up 231 Alex Smith of The Smurfs and 61 Darryl Theedom who ran Mad Hatter 910 Lee Mews around the wall hard. Race victory for 439 Danny Sutton and strong finishes by two other drivers from Team Wanger put them high on the scoreboard at the end of round one but leaders were the Welly Tops B comprising drivers from Norfolk and Suffolk who had managed to get all four of their team home in third to sixth places in the third race.

Victories in the second round of heats went to 717 Darren Pindar for Damaged Goods, 22 Dave Vincent for Team Cruncher and 730 Dean Mayes for the Midnight Runners C Team whilst the pick of the hits came in heat six for Entertainers Award winner 390 David Gibson of the Mad Hatters Young Guns who destroyed the Escort of 155 Sam Coote of the Mr Men leaving the driver very shaken but thankfully not stirred once he had recovered his composure. The Welly Tops B remained at the top of the points with Team Wanger also consolidating their second position although the victory for Mayes put Midnight Runners C up to third place.

The last round of heats saw the teams split into two groups with the eighth race seeing Team Aftermath go on the rampage with 400 Kevin Shinn land a massive hit on Yarmouth man 367 Barry Beevor of Team Wally and it was fellow Wally 517 Andrew Gould who suffered his second big shot of the day when Aftermath pilot 100 Callum White reduced his Cavalier to half the original length. 119 Davey Cox won for Team Cruncher. Heat nine saw Junkyard Mongrel 279 Andrew Swallow take on the Midnight Runners single-handedly to take the entertainers award when he was spun out early in the race by 382 Jack Foster Jnr but then saw his attacker stranded in the back of another car later in the race and powered in with a big hit. He then sat tight in his seat to take revenge shots from the other Runners in the race with 415 Scott Cornish and 180 Mark Foster both inflicting plenty of damage on his car. A second win for Mayes put the Midnight Runners C to the top of the points, Team Wanger moving up to second and Team Cruncher A coming through to third with early leaders the Welly Tops B sliding to fourth place.

The Final was a race of epic proportions with 63 of the original 156 cars taking to the track and there was an almighty pile-up on the second lap which consumed over half of the field with some huge hits taking place before a small oil fire in the pile brought the race to a halt. Just 22 of the cars were able to compete in the restart which saw Davey Cox motor home to another victory for Team Cruncher A which put his team to the top of the racing points chart at the close of proceedings. However, the rules of engagement saw bonus points awarded to the three most entertaining teams of the afternoon who had scooped the most of the Entertainer of the Race awards. This changed matters around with the Midnight Runners C getting enough points from their crashing performance in the first round of heats to put them to the top of the chart overall with Team Cruncher then finishing as Runners Up whilst the entertainer points earned by the Midnight Runners A pushed them up to third place overall and winners of the Entertainers League for the day.

Action returns this Sunday (12 noon start) with the Unlimited Bangers contesting their Icebreaker and with over 160 cars booked in to race including a significant collection of big American cars as well as the usual Volvos, Jaguars and Ford Granadas which will make for an event that should not be missed.