Sunday 4th December marks the end of an era as Caged concludes its partnership with Standlake Arena for the foreseeable future with the Caged Classic.
Since 2018, we have witnessed some stellar Caged associated fixtures at the venue. Not only will we be saying goodbye to Standlake, we also bid farewell to our founder Matt Josey, who moves on to pastures new with his non-league football video blogs. Matt has been the catalyst behind the Standlake December fixtures, which played host to our annual Caged Open for the Unlimited Bangers & Under 1800 Non-Mondeo Bangers.
Sunday sees the fixture undergo a name change to the Caged Classic, with the Caged Open having moved to Mendips earlier in the year. The format remains unchanged, however, with the Unlimited Bangers and 1800 Non-Mondeo Bangers back, alongside the Teen Streets who return for their third annual Caged Open title.
At present, we have an impressive amount of drivers booked in, with 35 Unlimiteds, 66 Unders & 46 Teen Streets.
209 Tom Waller heads the Unlimited line up, having won the Caged Open here 12 months ago, and he’ll be looking to take the Caged Classic too. Tom has had a strong year, seeing him finish high among the World of Shale qualifying points at Trackstar. Another driver that has had a top season is 739 ‘Meerkat’ Jason Moore. Jason secured the Thunderbolt and Judgement Day titles both in the Unlimited discipline back in October, and will look to add a third honour to that list. There is a plethora of local talent that certainly know how to get a car around the notoriously slippery Standlake Arena. 7 Aaron Charles, 32 Callum Reed, 528 Alan Hunt, 585 Luke Holdsworth, 625 Joshua Gooch and 699 Stacey Holdsworth will all be ones to watch. Stacey has had some good form recently, seeing her secure the Cash or Card win on World Final night at Ipswich, opting for the Wildcard, before taking second place in the Champion of Champions event. We have BRCM in attendance, well, ‘RCM’ in particular as 262 ‘Roona’ Rob Bugler, 333 ‘Chaz’ Charlie Randell and 440 ‘Big Mac’ Macauley Mills look to do battle. Unfortunately, there is no DWO booked in for them to have a play with, as was the case at the Caged Open Weekender where they ruined 838 Jamie Peters’ Mercedes W210. 639 Tye Williams has had a standout 2022 season and will be looking to end on a high.
The Unders have a superb contrast of racers and wreckers booked in, which should hopefully serve to provide a top day of entertainment. 760 Joey Reynolds made a welcome return after a substantial absence due to injury here last month for the Bonfire Bash. It would be hard pressed to overlook Joey when it comes to contenders for the podium spots. 7 Aario has many a win around here; expect to see him up the business end of the grid. Last year’s Caged Open winner 422 Samuel Lewis is also booked in for contention. 746 Deejay Tyler has had a top season, seeing him win the Grimley Points Championship as well as the Back to Basics Caged Open title, where he took a hattrick across the weekend. There’s several entertaining factions booked in, with TYB, Equalizers, Wallbangers and the likes set to feature, along with 150 Lewis Richards, 644 Reece Davis, 350 Ryan Yeo, 241 Jack Broughton, 817 Toby Hodgkinson & 720 Kenny-Joe Gabriel, you can rely that there will be some big hits.
The Teen Streets have put their stamp on the meeting, which wouldn’t be the same without their involvement. The formula boasts several stars of the future. Youngsters like 06 Tommy Rawsthorne, 209 Zac Pears, 252 Finlay Bentham, 363 Billy Jarvis, 475 Archie Spiers, 476 Freddie Spiers, 710 Tyler Rayner are all promising talents, and Standlake serves as a top learning ground for these drivers. 622 Alfie Harper has one of the rarest ‘Junior Bangers’ to date with his Toyota 1000. It will be interesting to see how that fares against the more modern alternatives used in the formula.
We hope to see you all at Standlake on Sunday. The first race is at 11am.
