4 Jason Preston Volvo 240 Estate*
51 Simon Heilds Mk2 Granada
169 Mark Bass Mk2 Granada*
241 Andrew Carter-Waller Mk2 Granada
250 Chris Newton Jaguar XJ40
251 Paul Chafer Volvo 740
266 Alan Roskell Mk2 Granada Limo*
300 Dan Kirkbride Jaguar XJS*
310 John Nicholson Mk2 Granada Hearse
340 Jonathan Atkinson Mk2 Granada
409 Carlos Pears Mk2 Granada Estate
450 Glynn Platts Volvo 240*
455 Ricki Finney Mk2 Granada
474 Matty Threlkeld Mk2 Granada Estate
587 Mario Bland Mk1 Granada*
617 Jack Overy Mk2 Granada*
688 Wayne Morphett Mk2 Granada
717 Ben Wood Nissan Bluebird*
810 Alex McBain Jaguar XJS*
811 Andrew Benn Volvo 740 Estate
815 Lee Farrington Mk2 Granada*
827 Nigel Hopkins Mk2 Granada*
840 Dan Waddingham Volvo 240 Estate
917 Derek Jones Mk2 Granada
998 Wayne Cotterill Jnr Jaguar XJ6*
A small, but decent enough for Belle Vue, field of 25 cars arrived for the 2006 Terminator. The line up split largely between 3 teams, TSB (plus 840 Waddy), Team V and the Levellers (plus 3 others from Millom/Barrow) with Team Black bringing two drivers as well. The rest of the field being made up of single drivers.
The main race was up first and was a nightmare start for Team V. 340 Atkinson was spun into the home straight ropes as he crossed the green and was blown up by 51 Heilds who was done in turn by 266 Big Al. This took out 310 Eno and 474 Matty and left Big Al in the ropes at the end of the straight. After this hectic first straight it went very quiet with plenty of spin outs but nothing more, until with 3 laps to go the leading 688 Morphett was squeezed into a parked car by the spun 815 Fazz, this slowed him down and allowed 409 Carlos to close the gap. This was followed by 455 Finney launching 917 Mr NSD off an infield marker tyre and into a full roll on the pit gate bend, Finney’s car getting hooked on and airborne which made for a spectacular crash. Morphett kept it together for the final 2 laps and took the win after leading virtually all race. This booked him a debut outing in the Spedeworth World Final.
The first allcomers was a much better race and started as hectic as the first, many cars lucky not to get tangled in the ropes. 998 Cotty landed a huge shot on Fazz down the back straight which left 300 Dog End with nowhere to go but plant himself into a marker tyre. Cotty then attacked Waddy down the home straight and they were both taken out by 169 Smelly before Coty received an accidental t-bone from Eno. 250 Squeaky was picked up by Carlos on the home straight and was run into turn 2, nicely catching a post before 450 Platts did the same to 811 Benno on the other turn although the 740 bounced off the ropes rather than catching a post. Atkinson and 241 Tiny clashed on the home straight which lead to Tiny leaning the Team V man into turn 1 up to the ropes, this allowed Platts to weigh in with a mega shot at the end of the straight, this being revenge for a spin out on the previous lap. The shot had taken the whole rear away on the left hand side. Cotty was back in the action as he delivered a cracking shot to Platts which almost blocked the track. Finney picked up Smelly going into the turn and planted him into the back of Platts before burying him into Squeaky. Carlos’ sideways style took him to the win.
The second allcomers was the last race of the day and will go down as one of Belle Vue’s best ever races and saw one of the best trains of 2006. Smelly started by picking up Benno going into turns 1 and 2 while behind Finney picked up Mr NSD and all 4 cars went into the fence in a train, Benno catching a post this time. Finney escaped and allowed 51 Heilds to give NSD a crunching hit, this followed by some Leveller revenge as Dog End nailed the reversing Heilds. Platts was the next man in, crushing Dog End against the post which really gave a sandwich effect. Waddy was spun aside by Eno and 810 Rugrat gave him a head on which broke the XJS’ steering and put himself into the ropes. Meanwhile down the other end, 827 Nogger picked up Eno and planted him into Dog End’s XJS, this followed by a huge blitzing from Finney which launched Eno’s hearse as it had sat on Nogger’s bonnet. A few opted out of a shot on Finney but Big Al wouldn’t and weighed in with a titanic shot wasting the TSB Mk2. It still wasn’t finished yet as Carlos arrived to destroy Al’s limo and he was then blown up by Waddy. 717 Benny would have been the next man in but he was picked up by Platts who presumably was looking to bury him into Waddy but Benny spun and connected with the Common Crusher sideways and left Platts to put the roof down on the Volvo. As the greens waved for the DD there were only 3 cars remaining. Platts was the first to connect, with a mega t-bone to Benny which completely caved the Bluebird’s passenger side in and snapped it badly, Tiny weighing in with a shot just to make sure. Whilst both TSB cars backed off, Platts soon expired in the fence and left Tiny as the winner, the TSB hopeful celebrating with a t-bone shot on Waddy’s Volvo to round off an epic race which had everything.
An average night really up until the epic wrecking train, although the first allcomers had provided some very watchable action too. The train going on to be known as one of the crashes of 2006 and a highlight of Belle Vue’s history.
