Perfect Conditions Set the Scene for Epic Unlimited Icebreaker

 

Unlimited Icebreaker XVII - HD PREVIEW CLIP from Impact Videos KL on Vimeo.

 

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The second Icebreaker Banger team event went ahead at the Norfolk Arena on Sunday when it was the turn of the Unlimited Bangers to contest their biggest team event in Britain. A spell of dry weather allowed the stadium team to get to work in preparing a near-perfect track for the event which provided massive crashes in most of the events during the afternoon. After a very close contest the spoils of victory went to Team 22, one of a number of teams combining some of the best Banger driving talent from various parts of the UK that flocked to the meeting.

 

213 Mark Watkins in action in his Caddy Coup de Ville

 

In total there were 42 teams at the event armed with a total of 156 cars which was about all the pits at King’s Lynn can hold. As well as the usual fleets of Ford Granadas, Volvos and Jaguars, there was a very high content of more unusual machinery on display. Not for the first time, the Bad News Classics team scooped the Best Material Team award having raided team-captain 280 Simon Goodale’s stockpile to bring out an incredible Daimler Majestic Major Limo for Goodale whilst 320 Julian Meakins piloted a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, 321 Andrew Newton wielded a Rover P5B and 313 John Cullingford completed the team with a Rover P5B Coupe. The oldest of the British classics was a very rare Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire for 324 Mark Latham of The Hogs whilst the classic Jaguars included a used Mk10 for 100 Russell Bull of the Barton Boys, a 420 for 38 Tom Chilton of The Predators, and Series One XJ6s for 726 Kalin Dawe from The Bears, 789 Rob Taylor of Team 22 and 917 John Millen of The Mob with the latter version having seen race action at a previous meeting.

 

324 Mark Latham's hugely rated Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire

 

Continuing with the British Beef theme, 152 James Dillon raced a Daimler DS420 Limo for The Mob and there were Rover P4s for 293 Nick Houghton of the Mill Green Mafia and a used example from 17 Aaron Gray of the Predators which didn’t see the track on this occasion. Callum Hall (Gilmorton) of the Ullesthorpe Red Devils had the second Rolls Royce Silver Shadow of the day.

 

 

266 Callum Hall in the middle of the action in his Rolls Royce Silver Shadow

 

The Japanese material was slightly scarcer although the modern examples had their biggest showing to date with Lexus being represented at the meeting by two Soarers, two GS300 and four LS400 models. The pick of the Japs though was the Nissan 300C of 439 Danny Sutton from Team Handsome which outshone the well-used Estate version of 97 Dave Allen from Team CrashAttack which also didn’t see action on the day. The lone German car of interest was from the Mr Men team with 581 Simon Fixter bringing out a Mercedes 230TE.

 

581 Simon Fixter in high speed action in his Mercedes 230TE

 

The American machinery on display was almost beyond belief. At the more modern end of the scale, 158 Tommy Hollingworth of The Headbangers raced what is believed to be the first Mercury Colony Park Station Wagon to see service on a UK Banger track and 303 Brian Cope brought out an unusual Chevrolet El Camino pick up for his team The Black Rats. There were two Chevrolet Caprice in action for 350 Ben Evans of The Predators and 785 James Taylor of The Bears whose example was on its second meeting whilst 79 Ricky Twell of the Predators raced a diesel-powered Cadillac El Dorado. 704James Street raced a very second-hand Lincoln Town Car Limo for Team Proper Laughing but it was the classic American machinery which turned most heads. 90 Adrian Harbord of the Mr Men brought a simply stunning Cadillac Sedan de Ville, 133 Karly Day of The Bears had a late ‘60s Cadillac Fleetwood and there were no less than two Cadillac Coupe de Villes from The Barton Boys for 213 Marc Watkins and 185 Lenny Smith whose example had some light damage from previous outings.

 

79 Ricky Twell put his big Yank to good use throughout the afternoon

 

The best presented team on the day were The Stanley Crew and they also managed to have plenty of material on hand too, 196 Ben Harrison having a Jaguar 420G, older brother 223 Brett Harrison in a Nissan 300C Estate and 237 Lee Millhouse in a very cool Buick Riviera which only left the Volvo 240 Estate of 648 Kyle Guyler as a ‘standard’ Unlimited car for the team.

 

The Stanley Crew won the Best Presented Team award with 237 Lee Millhouse's Buick Riviera being a highlight of the meeting

 

The race action saw each team compete in upto three heats and a Final depending on how long they could keep their cars running with each round of heats seeing the 42 teams split between a diminishing number of races to keep the race grids packed all afternoon despite some of the cars falling by the wayside along the way.

 

 

98 Matt Harrison and 324 Mark Latham in the middle of the action

 

The first heat was simply devastating with a huge pile up forming in turns one and two which consumed most of the field. One of the biggest hits in the sequence came from 215 Chris Bull who blew up 710 James Herbert of the Bears although Bull then came under fire from big shots delivered by 779 Luke Allen of The Predators and 293 Nick Houghton whose Rover was then blasted hard by Tom Chilton in the old Jaguar. Despite getting caught in the pile at one stage, 185 Polly Reade escaped the worst of the damage to take the first win of the day for Team Candyfloss. 

 

215 Chris Bull re arranged 710 James Herbert's machine

 

The second heat was never likely to match the carnage of the opener but was still a highly entertaining race with Harbord using the Cadillac to good effect to blow up 128 Mark Atkins of the Damage Inc team before taking an entertainers award-winning shot from Alan Jackson. The other main exchange of the race came when Ricky Twell used the modern-day Cadillac to blow up the Jaguar of 169 James Rushton of the Barton Boys with 421 Nigel Riley of The Bears inflicting serious damage on Twelly in turn. World of Shale Champion 474 Matty Threlkeld won the race for Damage Inc. 

 

World of Shale Champion 474 Matty Threlkeld had another successful day at King's Lynn which started with a win in heat 2

 

The third heat started with a big rollover for 98 Matt Harrison of The Wild Boyz which brought out the red flags although Latham suffered a lot of damage to the Armstrong Siddeley in the aftermath of the rollover. 43 Nicky Bishop of the Wild Boyz won the entertainers award for the race with big hits to the Caprice of 785 James Taylor and a big T-Bone to 326 Shane Lynn of The Hogs after the latter had blown up the Limo of 152 James Dillon. 807 Chris Murfin won the race for the Midnight Runners who had dominated proceedings at the small car Icebreaker the week before but on this occasion, the points scored in the opening race would be the only points gained by the team all day. 

 

43 Nicky Bishop was in the middle of the action in heat 3 with him taking the Entertainer's Award with a destructive display

 

The fourth heat saw the Lincoln Limo of Street become completely decimated by a big head-on from Millhouse which was followed up by a big T-bone from 54 Terry Delacour from the Headbangers and when 185 Lenny Smith was then dumped into the Lincoln by the traffic, his Cadillac certainly won the contest! Smith took the entertainer award having previously landed a big shot on 174 Curtis Rathbone of the Ullesthorpe Red Devils. Other notable hits in the race came from 133 Karly Day who blew up Millhouse before he could escape from his head-on with Street and 97 James Maddison (Immingham) of the Mr Men whose burial of 516 Carl Gould from the Steam Team stripped the wings and doors from the floor pan of the latters Granada to leave it a most unusual wreck. 372 Martin Scully won the race for Team 22 with other drivers from the team getting results to bring the team score for the race to 25 points. However, after the first round of heats it was Damage Inc A that led the competition with 27 points whilst Team Handsome were not too far adrift on 23 points.

 

 

516 Carl Gould with an unusual looking wreck!

 

The second round of heats saw the top three teams continue to leave the rest of the contenders behind on the scoreboard, despite 474 Matty Threlkeld having his heat five victory for Damage Inc taken away following an enquiry into tyre irregularities giving the points to 252 Steve Bugler of the 3 Litre Magazine team. Watkins followed in the footsteps of his team-mate by using the Cadillac Coupe de Ville to earn himself the entertainers award for the race, a thundering walling of 702 James Dodge of the 3 Litre team being the most notable hit. Heat Six saw The Predators in the thick of the action with 500 Wayne Dolan T-boning 730 Deane Mayes from the Midnight Runners although later in the race Dolan was blown up by Scotsman 880 Neil Naismith from the Mob. Predator revenge was quickly on hand with 776 Ady Groom folding up Naisy’s Granada Estate before he was blown up in turn by 711 Alex Elliott of The Bears. The race was cut short when the wreck of Mayes started to catch fire bringing out the red flags for a Team Handsome victory with 439 Danny Sutton heading the pack at the crucial moment. 776 Groom took the entertainer trophy. 

 

Great piece of Auto Sculpture involving 880 Neil Naismith, 776 Ady Groome and 711 Alex Elliott

 

The last heat of the round saw 648 Kyle Guyler take the entertainers award for the Stanley Crew for his big hit on 454 Danny Thompson of The Mob but there were other big shots as The Predators took out 275 Joe Morgan of Damage Inc with both 779 Luke Allen and Jason Chilton landing big hits on him. Despite this, 525 Wesley Starmer won the race for Damage Inc albeit his scores counted towards their second team, rather than the ‘A’ Team who were flying high in the points.  At the end of the round of heats, Damage Inc still headed the pack with 50 points whilst Team 22 and Team Handsome both moved forward to 44 points.

 

648 Kyle Guyler was the Race Entertainer in heat seven

 

The last round of heats featured only two races, the first of which was cut short with concern for a driver stranded in the middle of a growing pile-up. The chaos started with 160 Davey Patton of the Surrey Street Squad(!) blowing up Dillon who had done well to get the Daimler Limo back on track with 382 Jack Foster Jnr then nailing Patton. 360 Jack Reynolds of 3 Litre Magazine then blasted Foster with 207 Michael Woodward of the Bears nailing Reynolds in turn. At the other end of the track, 98 Matt Harrison blasted Cullingford only to be blown up by Harbord in the big Caddy before the reds emerged, Harbord taking the entertainer award for his trouble whilst the winner at the time of the stoppage was 333 James Cooke for Team CrashAttack. 

 

360 Jack Reynolds pu on another super entertaining performance at King's Lynn!

 

The last heat was also stopped right at the beginning when 401 Steve Hemmings of the Predators followed in 331 Shane Fry of The Bears rolling the latter on impact. In the restart, 421 Nigel Riley took the entertainer award for his big hits on 742 Ian Gregory of Team Stinkbridge and 779 Luke Allen of The Predators although Nige didn’t have it all his own way as he was run hard into the pit gate by 372 Martin Scully towards the end of the race. 119 Davey Cox took the victory for Team 22 putting them into the lead with 72 points, Damage Inc trailing 7 points behind and Team Handsome still in the hunt with 48 points.

 

This attack by 401 Steve Hemmings saw 331 Shane Fry roll over in heat 9 - Fry bounced back to get the Entertainers Award in the Destruction Derby

The all-in Final had 56 cars on track and featured an astonishing home-straight pile up where the speed of the hits was barely believable and a red flag was the inevitable result when 221 Justin Riley of The Bears destroyed the Jaguar XJ Coupe of Westcountryman Andy Jones from the Midnight Runners sparking a fire in the middle of the heap. The restart was much quieter and Matty Threlkeld motored to another victory for Damage Inc but he was the only driver from the team to finish whilst Team 22 scored more points further down the result to retain the overall victory.

 

The final was super hectic!

 

Shane Fry bounced back from his rollover to register a lively performance in the Destruction Derby with a big hit on Twelly but the spoils of victory went to Lee Millhouse in the rated Buick. 

 

Team 22 featuring 119 Davey Cox, 22 Dave Vincent, 372 Martin Scully and 789 Rob Taylor

 

Unlimited Bangers return to the Norfolk Arena on Saturday 19^th March for the Annual East Anglian Championship which is expected to attract another strong entry of cars.

 

a

The Bears A featuring 421 Nigel Riley, 521 Ashley Riley, 331 Shane Fry and 221 Justin Riley got the award for the most entertaining team

  

Results

Heat 1

WINNER - 185 Polly Reade, 2^nd – 51 Simon Heilds, 3^rd – 440 Peter McVay

33   125   nof

Race Entertainer – 215 Chris bull

 

Heat 2

WINNER – 474 Matty Threlkeld, 2^nd – 148 Ian Redden, 3^rd – 113 Mark Sutcliffe

213   247   421   521   221   16

Race Entertainer – 114 Alan Jackson

 

Heat 3

WINNER - 807 Chris Murfin, 2^nd – 160 Shane Winsor, 3^rd – 439 Danny Sutton

382   349   341   320

Race Entertainer – 43 Nicky Bishop

 

Heat 4

WINNER – 372 Martin Scully, 2^nd 119 Davey Cox, 3^rd 433 Ben Smith

525   101   310   789   275   223   370

Race Entertainer – 185 Lenny Smith

 

Heat 5

WINNER – 252 Steve Bugler, 2^nd – 128 Mark Atkins, 3^rd – 148 Ian Redden

33   247   113   213   450   146   360

Race Entertainer – 213 Mark Watkins

 

Heat 6

WINNER – 439 Danny Sutton, 2^nd 160 Shane Winsor, 3^rd – 124 Oris

361   207   785   13   333

Race Entertainer – 776 Ady Groome

 

Heat 7

WINNER – 525 Wes Starmer, 2^nd – 101 Keith Roberts, 3^rd – 97 James Maddison

22   572   215   119   433   372   28

Race Entertainer – 648 Kyle Guyler

 

Heat 8

WINNER – 333 James Cooke, 2^nd – 160 Shane Winsor, 3^rd – 474 Matty Threlkeld

917   247   439   252   766   785   148

Race Entertainer – 90 Adrian Harboard

 

Heat 9

WINNER – 119 Davey Cox, 2^nd – 22 Dave Vincent, 3^rd – 521 Ashley Riley

372   254   843   158   221   572   28

Race Entertainer – 421 Nigel Riley

 

Final

WINNER – 474 Matty Threlkeld, 2^nd – 439 Danny Sutton, 3^rd – 22 Dave Vincent

789   213   922   215   450   521   252

 

DD

WINNER – 237 Lee Millhouse

Entertainer – 831 Shane Fry

 

Final Team Scores

Team 22	87
Damage Inc A	77
Team Handsome	67
Bears A	45
Damage Inc B	33
Crashattack	29
Team dave	19
3 Litre Nagazine	18
Candyfloss	18
Barton Boys B	17
Midnight Runners	17
Barton Boys A	15
Predators C	15
Bears C	13
Black Rats B	13
Predators A	10
Stinkbridge	9
Wild Boyz A	9
Bears D	8
Mob A	8
Mr Men B	8
Mob B	7
steam Team	7
Black Rats A	6
TCM	6
Surrey Street Squad	5
Ullesthorpe Red Devils	5
Bad News Classics	4
Headbangers	4
Team Liestra	4
Bears B	2
Stanley Crew	2
The Gravediggers	2
Team Proper Laughing	1
Bad News	0
Barton Boys C	0
Headwreckers	0
Mill Green Mafia	0
Mr Men A	0
Predators B	0
The Hogs	0
Wild Boyz B	0

 

Final Entertainer League Scores

Bears A	40
Predators C	35
Predators A	30
Stanley Crew	25
3 Litre Nagazine	15
Mr Men A	15
The Gravediggers	15
Bad News Classics	10
Barton Boys A	10
Barton Boys B	10
Bears C	10
Crashattack	10
Headbangers	10
Mob B	10
Predators B	10
Wild Boyz A	10
Wild Boyz B	10
Black Rats B	5
Damage Inc B	5
Headwreckers	5
Midnight Runners	5
Mill Green Mafia	5
Mr Men B	5
steam Team	5
Surrey Street Squad	5
TCM	5
Team 22	5
Team Liestra	5
The Hogs	5
Bad News	0
Barton Boys C	0
Bears B	0
Bears D	0
Black Rats A	0
Candyfloss	0
Damage Inc A	0
Mob A	0
Stinkbridge	0
Team dave	0
Team Handsome	0
Team Proper Laughing	0
Ullesthorpe Red Devils	0