Report by Lewis Adams
Just over 80 cars travelled down to Foxhall Stadium for the second round of the Unlimited Banger World Series, with a large showing from the Gladiators, Cream Team, Team DWO and Team Grey & Black, who would become big talking points throughout the night. The cars of choice for this meeting were mainly the usual suspects for the unlimited class, with large smatterings of Ford Scorpio’s, Mercedes, and Jaguars, with a few other more interesting motors and of course a helping of the controversial Ssangyong Rodius. Car of the meeting was a fresh Ford Granada Mk2 for #226 Brian Youngston.
Heat 1 – Half Cars
Around 40 ish cars lined up for the first race, which contained the two rival teams of DWO and Team Grey & Black. #294 Lee Hughes gives #78 Lee Macey a hefty shunt and later follows in #880 Neil Naismith on turn 1 resulting in a race stoppage. Grey & Black and DWO were continuously going for each other throughout the race, #180 Mark Foster gives #162 Brett Ellacott a solid T Bone while #807 Reverses around turn 2 and is then T Boned against the armco by #190 Steve Bailey, who in turn receives a T Bone from #382 Jack Foster. 67 Rickie Beasley wins.
Heat 2 – Half Cars
Roughly 45 cars made it out for this race, dominated by the Gladiators and the Cream Team, who didn’t hold back when going for eachother. #549 Phil Smith delivered a monstrous head on to #552 Karl Douglas, completely snapping off his Previa, #549 then receives a number of hits from various Cream Team drivers, leaving his Ssangyong a complete mess. Team Sowter/Filmer were on a mission to get #57 Stuart Cumming, with #388 Taylor Sowter delivering a lunge on #57 sending him into #884 Tom Filmer on oppo. #161 Wayne Burn gets a big shunt from a Gladiator. #331 Jason Jackson wins.
Heat 3 – Wildcard Race
Around 50 odd cars start the Wildcard race, with #331 Jason Jackson starting from the rear and #67 Rickie Beasley on pole. #77 Patxi Beasley gives #469 Paul Quinnell a flat out shot over the rear wheel, completely ruining #469’s Jaguar. #469 is then given a small jacking by #757 Callum Gill. Meanwhile, #294 Lee Hughes attacks #247 Lee Clarke on oppo, T Boning him. #456 Nathan Roberts gives a solid head on to one of the Gladiators and subsequently gets a T Bone from #349 Lewis Price. #456 hits the Gladiators a number of times. #224 Lewis Canham goes on oppo and wipes out #589 Simon Smith. #617 Jack Overy wins the wildcard place.
Heat 4 – Showdown
Around 40 cars for the final race of the night. #349 Lewis Price takes a heavy T Bone on the back straight from #456 Nathan Roberts and then again from #433 Ben Smith although this appeared to be accidental. Race stoppage as #349 was drivers side in to oncoming traffic. One of the filmers hits the Previa of #367 Tom Keep, and is then blown up by #180 Mark Foster head on. #180 returns the next lap and gives the Filmer a savage jacking resulting in airtime, caging the Jaguar of the filmer. #331 Jackson Jackson wins.
The 2.0 Hot Rods and Historic Stock cars also delivered some great racing, especially the Hot Rods with three very close races each being won by a different driver, Heat 1 going to #35 Mitchell Souter, Heat 2 to #483 Sarah Cooper and Heat 3 to #43 Paul Wright respectively. The Historic stock cars also had three close, bumper to bumper races, with the final being won by veteran racer #417 Keith Taylor.
Overall, an excellent start to the 2017 season at Ipswich, with a nice ratio of crashing and racing. In my opinion the best BWS round at Ipswich to date.
