The 2018 running of the ORCi 2LTR National Bangers Championship of the World took place at the Birmingham Wheels Raceway on a warm May evening this past Saturday on the 12th May.
Around 50 cars from the 2L class found their way to 2nd city, including some of the sport’s best racers and entertainers. The field was mainly dominated by Ford Mondeos and Cougars with 194 ‘Cecil’ Steve Anscombe piloting a Nissan Primera, a late entry made as he would have been there anyway supporting his son Jack, a seeded driver, and daughter Abbie in the junior class. 72 Billy Bond bringing out his Nissan Bluebird, first raced at Standlake’s Heavy Metal Classic earlier in the year.
Last Chance Qualifier
The final chance to qualify for this year’s World Final raised roughly 20 cars and was a quiet race with only a few spins occurring. 194 ‘Cecil’ Steve Anscombe raced away from pole position to take the win followed by Dreamers team mate 525 ‘Ginger’ Terry Boxell.
Speaking to Caged! after the race, Terry Boxell said that he had a brilliant night overall, and that to qualify for his first world final was amazing, especially that his car was on the key and on injection but was still well on the pace, showing that there is still a place for building cars without having to spend a fortune. His car also was brilliantly presented, not that we are biased at all, considering he had Caged! loud and proud on his front bumper!
Race winner: 194 ‘Cecil’ Steve Anscombe
2018 ORCi 2L National Banger World Final
The World Final raised about 40 cars with there being 30 seeds plus another 10 who qualified via the last chance race earlier in the evening.
257 Timmy Aldridge and 309 Michael Lane were spun as the green flags dropped on the home straight. 178 Kieran Bowman was also turned around by 186 Sophie Fasey on turn’s three and four. 228 Sam Beasley was turned around on the home straight and hit by 196 Joey Palmer who actually won the title when it was raced back at Hednesford. This took Palmer out of the running with some front right suspension damage. 880 ‘Naisy’ Neil Naismith was spun on the entrance to turn one and received a big hit over the rear left wheel by 72 Billy Bond, but not before he could follow in 883 Chris Thomson on turn’s three and four. That hit on ‘Naisy’ subsequently brought out the red flags.
On the restart, current Unlimited World Champion 59 ‘Leadfoot’ Steven Bolton was followed in by 455 Ricki Finney on turn’s three and four damaging Bolton’s front left suspension and ending his dreams of another World title, with the irony of the events of last years Unlimited final not being lost on the Wheels crowd.
521 Jack Coveney’s car had come to a stop on the entrance to turn one and was jacked by 201 Phil Milner. The red flags were brought out again, this time for a lose wheel. On the second restart, 239 ‘Nemesis’ Steve Carter slowed up to allow 82 ‘Big-T’ Tom Foster to run into the back of him just as 201 Phil Milner took out 552 Karl Douglas on the exit of turn two taking out 699 Stacey Holdsworth in the meantime who was actually running in the top three or four. This caused a bit of a traffic jam with long time race leader 331 ‘Boxer Jack’ Jason Jackson coming through un-scathed fending off a hard charging 27 Dale Hughes who won this event in 2017.
In a race where it would be easy to say Jason Jackson, leading for a lot of the race, had it easy, it was a testament to his driving ability that despite two red flags that came out when he was a good third of a lap ahead of Dale Hughes in second both times, he controlled the restarts very well, and dealt with backmarkers in very composed fashion, barging his way in a way we have seen stock car drivers do here for years with their nerf rails. Boxer spoke to Caged! after the race, saying how pleased he was with the pace of his car, and jokingly commenting that now he has one the one world title he had failed to claim, he can now retire.
2018 ORCi 2LTR NATIONAL BANGER WORLD CHAMPION: 331 ‘Boxer Jack’ Jason Jackson
Second place: 27 Dale Hughes
Third place: 403 Marcus Sprawling
Allcomers 1
The first allcomers of the night raised roughly 30 cars and began with 521 Jack Coveney attacking 201 Phil Milner on turns three and four. 542 Craig Oliver then weighed in Coveney who was then hit by 152. 76 Ryan Scott then rolled on his roof on the same bend bring out the red flags. On the restart, 201 Phil Milner turned it round on the exit of turn four and met 552 Karl Douglas with a cracking head on. 327 Mick Maskell Jnr followed in 194 ‘Cecil’ hard on turn’s one and two causing a bit of air time.
Race winner: 257 ‘Waterboy’ Timmy Aldridge
Allcomers 2
The second allcomers of the night raised a field of somewhere in the mid 20’s and began with 525 Terry Boxell following in 159 Callum Campbell into the turn three armco. 239 ‘Nemesis’ Steve Carter then followed in 178 Kieran Bowman at serious speed over on turn’s three and four damaging his own car in the process. 720 Kenny Gabriel then turned his car around on the exit of turn two and was t-bonned hard by 114 Liam ‘Lakey’ Lake. Gabriel then repeatedly hit the Lake car getting black flagged. 542 Craig Oliver then got spun around on turn four and was met on the nose by 327 Mick Maskell Jnr. Oliver was then subsequently hit by 455 Ricki Finney.
Race winner: 570 Jordan Cumming
Destruction Derby
Something that is quite rare in National Bangers in the 21st century is having a DD, and that’s exactly what we got Saturday night. A decent field of roughly 10 cars gathered for the Destruction Derby and began with 196 Joey Palmer following in 284 James Head into the turn three armco. 525 Terry Boxell and 327 Mick Maskell Jnr then met each other head to head. 94 ‘Little Cecil’ Jack Anscombe then jacked the Maskell Jnr car. Joey Palmer then delivered a shot to the Anscombe estate as Maskell Jnr tried to get free. After much effort in a badly damaged car, he did succeed only to be met on the nose by a very fast Jack Anscombe. However, that didn’t kill Maskell’s car and so Anscombe came in again, this time hitting him over the front left wheel. With rev’s going high, Maskell Jnr somehow kept his car moving and came around to meet 196 Palmer with a head on. Maskell then hit Palmer over his rear left wheel to end a great night of racing!
Destruction Derby winner: 327 Mick Maskell Jnr
All in all, I thought the National Bangers provided some great racing and some very hard crashing throughout the night leaving some very badly damaged cars. Well done to 331 ‘Boxer’ on yet another World final win!
