WorkingtonOpener
Workington,
6th March, 2 Litre Bangers Cumbrian Open
22
Bangers in total for the opening Workington meeting of the 2004 season,
though 4 of these were Unlimiteds who were given their own race meeting
even though they weren't originally on the program. Amongst the 18 2
Litres in the pits were a good showing of GMP's Mob and Barrows Jaks R
Us side. Car wise a trio of Sierra estates plus a hatchback
version, 1 Saab 90 with the rest of the field made up of Bluebirds. The
Unlimiteds, although very short in numbers, had a little variety
amongst them, one Mk2, a left hand hooker Volvo 240, used Merc 230 and
a Mk2 limo for old boy 24 Dave Little.
17 unders appeared for the opening race of the night and on
slippy track saw 74 Ste Waite have 731 Scott Douglas out and 252 John
Wibberley fence 13 Malcolm Fotheringham on the back straight before 348
Kenny Conner met the spun 175 Gary Mallinson head on with 252 Wibbsy
inturn firing up the back of the Scotsman. 36 Turkey Birkett now took
Douglas out as 455 Alex Ramsey weighed into 175 Mallo on the back
stretch and 143 Sam Begley followed in Connor superbly on the entrance
bend which got them both plenty of air time and a tidy wreck for 348.
The yellows came out the extract Connor but we were soon back underway
with Begley leading the field away, 477 Rob Bell introducing 455 Ako to
a post before Turkey and Douglas both collected the empty 45 Shaun
Bickely Sierra on the home straight, Douglas firing up the back of
Turkey as 231 Trev Whelan was quick with some JRU revenge witha shot of
his own before 144 Johnny Townson caught an infield tyre going into
turn 1 and took a shot from 70 Scott Ramsey over the back wheel as he
bounced back out. Begley kept the lead to take a comfortable victory
from 231 Grandad, Scott Ramsey and 477 Skyliner.
The Overs now had their first heat with all 4 on track and as
expected nothing of note happening, 224 Mike Ross taking the win from
111 Jeff Pratt and 24 Mr Nonesence who was flying the limo round good
style.
Back to the Unders for their second heat with 9 returning to a
now fast track. Wibbsy buried Begley hard into a marker tyre from the
off before Ako collected Bickely head on and 70 Scott collected a post
hard by the start/finish line. Wibbsy then had Bickely out into a
marker tyre before Fotheringham hit the emtpy Douglas motor on the home
straight with the yellows appearing as he seemed a little shaken. As
the restart got underway Wibbsys motor ground to a halt allowing 74
Dodgy in for a massive shot which blew up the 252 Donald in superb
fashion. Ako held off Grandad for the win with Dodgy the only other
finisher.
As the Hot Rods lined up for their second race of the evening, it
came over the tannoy that the whole stadium had to be evacuated due to
a bomb scare. As we all left the stadium everyone felt a little short
changed but Im sure it was out of the promotions hands as the Police
were also on the scene. The fact made even worse because Jim and Wibbsy
had just about finished straightening his motor back out and were
making a damn fine job!:-)What we had seen though was a tidy evenings
action from the 2 Litres and on a dry track Im sure it promises much
more with all the drivers commenting on how they liked it. Let hope it
can build a local driver base and also gains support from other tracks
as Im sure Workington could be in for a great season as long as numbers
stay at a reasonable high.
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this meeting