scottish national

The original date for the meeting was on the 25th / 26th June, at a late date the meeting was put back by a week due to the hall being double booked, this caused all sorts of problems for the travelling English competitors, some having to change their arrangements at the last minuet, fortunately most were able to change their accommodation without too much trouble, although Karl Spencer had chose to fly into Edinburgh and he lost his deposit as it was too late to change his flight, also I was unable to change my day's holiday at work and got round this by paying someone to cover my duty for me. I hope the arrangements go a lot smoother for next year's meeting!

The track has seen some alterations since our last visit, the outfield has been widened by about four feet and the small gap between the wall at the end of the track has now disappeared, so cars leaving the track now meet either the stage at one end or the wall at the other, also the infield has been altered and by my reckoning it is about one foot wider and there is little room for error as the corners are slightly chamfered.

Looking back to the previous two years meetings the attendance has been as high as thirty two for the Stockcars in 2003 which was down to twenty two at last years meeting, the good news is that the entrée has increased this year and we have twenty-seven racers, in the Bangers, the entree from the last two national meetings was thirty-three in 2003 and twenty-nine in 2004, at the meeting today we have a disappointing entrée of twenty-two.

Heat one was won by Angela Yarwood with 65 laps from Anthony Wyper who had also finished with 65 laps, but he trailed Angela by 1.51 seconds, and Darren Grace made it an Urmston club one-two-three with 63 laps in third place, he was followed by Scott Williamson with 58 and Ivan Black was a further lap down in fifth place on 57 laps at the end of the race. Heat two was won with 68 laps by Mark Foster from Carl Baker in second place with 66; Peter Ayriss was just one lap behind Carl with 65 followed by Allan Inness with 63. Heat three winner, Mark Cooper pushes up the laps with a flying 72 laps, behind him came Allan Bellis with 66 in second place, third went to young Nicholas Cooper with 62 followed by Graham Roger with 53. A Scottish racer wins a heat! as Kevin Falconer posts a winning score of 62 from Iain Roper in second place with 59 and Craig Brown on 54 in third place followed by Brian Sutherland with 53. Stewart Smith was a worthy winner of heat five with 71 laps from Karl Spencer with 69 and Dave Gwilliam in third place with 68, then we had Matthew Bennett just one lap behind Dave in fourth position.

Ivan Black was a worthy winner of heat one with 56 laps from the reigning British Open Champion Anthony Wyper finishing in second position with 54, behind these two came Chris Flynn with 47 then there was a gap in laps back to Sam Strickland with 20. Heat two went to Brian Sutherland with 57 from Mark Cooper in second place with 56, third place was decided by a split time after both Kevin Falconer and Scott Roger had finished the race on 49 laps, third place was taken by Scott Roger by 1.18 seconds, and coming home in fifth place was Graham Roger with his lap score of 41. Iain Roper sets the highest lap score of 60 laps in the process of winning heat three, Craig Brown secured second place with 57 from Sandy Bissett with 54, behind these three there was a good tussle between a few racers, at the finish Neil McCluskey took fourth place by a split time after he and James Thompson had finished with 48 laps, then we had Greig Stocks just one lap behind these two with 47.

In heat one Mark Cooper collected his second stockcar heat win with 70 laps after a race long battle with Stewart Smith, Stewart from the Urmston club in Manchester was not far behind at the end of the race as he clocked 68 laps, in third place we had Nicholas Cooper with 57. Heat two saw a good battle between Matthew Bennett and Karl Spencer, they raced hard and fair right to the finish of the race with the result decided by a split time of 3.30 seconds in Karl's favour after both racers had finished with 68 laps, third place was filled by Carl Baker with 63 laps and fourth position went to Mark Foster with 61. Heat three was a strange race indeed, and as to why the lap scores were low I cant explain, but one racer that was happy with a win in a national heat was Allan Inness, his winning lap score was 59 and I think this was his first heat win in a national round with his stockcar, finishing on 56 laps behind Allan was Leven club racer Brian Sutherland followed by Peter Ayriss with 54 and Paul Brooks a little further back on 51 in fourth place. Heat four saw an even spread of ability amongst the racers as the lap scores will testify, the top lap score was set by Iain Roper with 64 with Craig Brown just two laps behind with 62, a further two laps back was Chris Flynn in third place on 60, fourth place was decided by a split time after Darren Grace and Kevin Falconer had finished with 59, the decision going in Darren's favour by 3.13 seconds, and just one lap behind these two was Scott Williamson. In heat five 68 laps was good enough to secure a win for Dave Gwilliam, behind him it was a close race between three racers all from the Urmston club, taking second place by one lap was Anthony Wyper with 65 from both Allan Bellis and Angela Yarwood on 64 laps and in that order.

There must be something in the water up here that makes Allan Inness perform, as he follows his success with his stockcar with a heat win with his Banger as well, a split time was good enough to push Mark Cooper into second place by 0.44 of a second place as both had finished the race with 56 laps, Craig Brown came home in third spot with 54 laps chased by Sandy Bissett with 48 and Brandon Snell finally clocks up some laps with 43 in fifth place. In heat two poor old Brooksy was a bit bruised and battered as he was the sole English racer amongst five fiery Scottish racers and it showed in the lap scores, taking the win with 51 laps was Brian Sutherland, behind him came Neil McCluskey with 33 and Sam Strickland with 26, and just to rub it in for Brooksy fourth place was taken with just 15 laps by Brian McKay followed by Dean Ritchie with 14, and somehow Paul Brooks managed just 8 laps! In heat three it looks like his fortunes have finally changed as the reigning British Open champion secures a win with 57 laps, along with ten national points for Anthony Wyper, Iain Roper was in close attendance with 56 followed by both Chris Flynn and Ivan Black on 53 laps and in that order across the finish line.

Mark Foster picks up his second heat win with 63 laps in heat one of round three, Iain Roper came home in second place with 60 laps followed by James Thompson with 50. Heat two winner Mark Cooper makes it three wins from three starts, with 69 laps in heat two from Matthew Bennett in second place with 68 and Darren Grace with his lap score of 63. Heat three was won by Stewart Smith with 67 laps from Kevin Falconer and Allan Inness in second and third places with 65 laps each and the fourth place finisher Peter Ayriss was a single lap behind these two on 64 laps. Dave Gwilliam secures a good win over Karl Spencer with a winning 69 laps to Karl's 68; they were followed by Allan Bellis with 63 and Chris Flynn in fourth place with 60. Heat four saw a different heat winner with Carl Baker out in front with 66 laps from Craig Brown in second place with 65 and Angela Yarwood who was a further lap behind with 64.

We had a great race between some of the top racers in heat one of the Bangers, and it was nice to see Ivan Black get a victory, at the finish of the race both Ivan and Brian Sutherland had finished the race with 59 laps although Ivan had crossed the finish line some 6. 91 seconds ahead of Brian, and the third place finisher Mark Cooper was just one lap behind these two with 58 followed by Allan Inness with 54, and young Nicholas Cooper finally gets some laps on the board with 23 which were good enough to take fifth place in this heat. Heat two was another close race as Iain Roper takes the win with 54 from Dean Ritchie with 53; they were followed by Stoney Stanton racer Brandon Snell with 41 laps in third place. In heat three home club racer Sandy Bissett secures a win with 56 laps chased by Scott Roger with 51 and Kevin Falconer with 49.

Not what you would normally call a race although it was not the fault of the racers that were in this heat, at the start there were just three racers which soon became two after Brian Sutherland had dropped out of the race after recording 9 laps, so the way was clear for Stewart Smith to set the highest lap score of the day with a winning 73 laps from Ivan Black in second place with 68. Heat two saw Mark Cooper make it four wins out of four races with 68 laps second place was filled by Kevin Falconer with 60 chased by Darren Grace with 55, and 43 laps was good enough for Nicholas Cooper to take fourth place. Heat three was another close race between a few racers, at the finish the win went to Dave Gwilliam with 64 laps in a split time of 5.302 after Carl Baker had also recorded 64 laps; unfortunately his time was slightly slower than Dave's (5. 304) Iain Roper took third place with 62 from Chris Flynn with 60. Karl Spencer took a heat win with 67 laps in heat four from Mark Foster in second place with 64; Peter Ayriss took third place with 62. Heat five went to Urmston club racer Alan Bellis with 67 laps from Anthony Wyper in second place on 59 and Allan Inness with 56 in third place.

Heat one was a low lap scoring race, at the finish the win was secured with just 49 laps by Ivan Black from Scott Roger with 39 and Anthony Wyper in third place with 37. Heat two resembled a Hot-Rod race as most of the racers required a good lap score to qualify for the final, in first place we had Iain Roper taking the win with 56 laps from Mark Cooper in second place by a narrow margin of 0.24 of a second after he and Chris Flynn had finished on 54 laps, fourth place was just one lap further back as Allan Inness finished on 53, Kevin Falconer crossed the line on 47 followed by Paul Brooks with his best lap score of the days racing with 42. Heat three was won with 57 laps by Craig Brown from Brian Sutherland on 52 at the finish of the heat; third place went to Sandy Bissett with 48 followed by Graham Roger with 45.

Heading the list of qualifiers for the consolation was Mark Foster with his best three scores added together gave him a total of 195 laps, second on the grid was Angela Yarwood with 193, inside front on row two was Peter Ayriss with 191 alongside Pete we had Anthony Wyper with 189, moving back a row on the grid we find the first of the home club racers to make the consolation race, qualifying in fifth position with 187 laps was Kevin Falconer and lining up alongside of him with the same total was Allan Inness, the second home club member in the consolation was Iain Roper with a total of 186 and the last racer to make the consolation race was Darren Grace with 185.

Just how close was this result, after Peter Ayriss should have won the race easily after he was a lap ahead of the rest after a few seconds of the start of the race, the final result was decided by split times after three racers had finished on the same lap, the winner was Peter Ayriss who had managed to hold onto his lead, his lap score and split time was 62 laps in 300.14, second place went to Angela Yarwood with 62 laps in 300.23 and third place was taken by Mark Foster with 62 laps in 300.16, then we had another two racers finishing one lap behind these three, they were Kevin Falconer and Allan Inness with 61 laps and across the finish line in that order, Darren Grace finished in sixth place with 53 laps followed by Anthony Wyper with 43 laps in seventh place, and Iain Roper had retired from the race after completing 11 laps.

During the interval while Peter Ayriss got ready for the Stockcar final there was a D and C final for the Stockcars, in the D final the win was taken by Scott Roger with 61 laps from Paul Brooks with 57 and third place was taken by James Thompson with 55. In the C final young Nicholas Cooper raced with a mature head to record a great result over some more seasoned racers with a winning lap score of 61, he was pursued by Craig Brown with 59 and Ivan Black with 58, another racer finishing with 58 laps in fourth place was Brian Sutherland, Chris Flynn was next with 54 followed by Scott Williamson on 51 laps at the end of the race.

The top qualifier for the final was Stewart Smith with a qualifying total of 212 laps alongside of Stewart on the front row was Mark Cooper with 211 laps, second row inside position would be filled by Karl Spencer with a total of 205 laps which was the same total of Dave Gwilliam who took his place alongside of Karl as the fourth qualifier, third row inside position was taken by Matthew Bennett with 203, outside position on row three was filled by Allan Bellis with 197, at the back of the grid on row four with a qualifying lap score of 196 we find Carl Baker lining up on the inside position which leaves us with Peter Ayriss on the outside of Carl as the last qualifier for the final as the consolation winner.

One could say this was a surprise winner as this was his first final of the year, and once again the result was decided by a split time after Karl Spencer and Mark Cooper had recorded 69 laps, the result went to Mark by 1.46 seconds, so it was Mark that claimed his first national win of this years series but he also took the title of the Scottish Open Champion in the process, third in the final was Allan Bellis with 67 laps, the consolation winner Peter Ayriss did well to finish in fourth position with 65, Dave Gwilliam also finished with 65 laps but was 1.64 seconds behind Peter in fifth place, just one lap behind these two was Carl Baker with 64 laps in sixth place, seventh place went to Matthew Bennett (his worst result in a final this year) with 58, and the unfortunate Stewart Smith took the last place in the final with 50 laps after he had broken the servo saver on his car.

Name

F/Tyre

inside

F/Tyre

outside

R/Tyre

inside

R/Tyre

outside

Gear

Ratio

Speedo

Type

Charger

Car

Type

Chssis

Cells

Club

Grade

Qualif

Final

Result

Alan

Bellis

Pink

13/52

2 speed

Apex

Stuart

Smith

Anderton

Integy

3300

Urmston

Red

Karl

Spencer

Jap

Pink

12/50

Mini

Apex

Elite

Anderton

3000

Rugby

S/S

Dave

Gwilliam

812

Pink

12/50

Mardave

Apex

Skint

Anderton

Corally

1700

Rugby

Red

Matthew

Bennett

Jap

812

Pink

Jap

12/51

Mardave

Duratrax

Lecatt

3300

Rugby

Red

Peter

Ayriss

Pink

12/49

Associated

Pro

Trak

Carl

Baker

Anderton

2600

Urmston

Red

Stewart

Smith

Pink

12/51

Mardave

Apex

Self

Build

Anderton

3300

Urmston

S/S

Carl

Baker

12/51

Mardave

Duratrax

Self

Build

Anderton

3300

Urmston

Red

Mark

Cooper

UFRA

812

Pink

12/50

2 speed

Pro

Trak

Lecatt

Anderton

3300

Stoney

Stanton

Red

The Stockcar grade awards were presented to Paul Brooks - Yellow Award, Angela Yarwood - Blue Award, the junior trophy went to Nicholas Cooper and the White award was not presented as there were no white grade racers. The Leven club also presented some additional awards these were to Scott Roger - D final winner, Nicholas Cooper - C final winner, Angela Yarwood as the winner of the B final as Peter Ayriss had progressed into the final.

The home club's pride was repaired as Iain Roper took a deserved win with 61 laps from Mark Cooper in second place some five laps behind Iain, and completing the top three was Craig Brown with 54, another racer finishing on 54 laps was Brian Sutherland, he was 5.62 second behind Craig, fifth place was taken by Sandy Bissett with 51 from Allan Inness in sixth with 49 laps to his credit, just one lap behind Allan was Chris Flynn followed by Kevin Falconer with 27 laps, the ninth place finisher was Ivan Black with 16 and the mother of all seasons continued for Anthony Wyper as he had to retire from the final after breaking a front wishbone and loosing a wheel.

This event is open to all that had taken part in the Banger meeting, and not forgetting the little matter of national pride as it is the Scottish (on home territory) against the English, the last car moving on the track is declared the winner, and boy was this a battle, the result could have gone either way as there were four Scot's against one English racer at one stage of the race, and against the odds it was Mark Cooper that prevailed for the English as his was the last car moving, this event was started in 2001.