STARTRAX OVAL MOTORSPORT

Age : 55 Joined : 12 Feb 2007 Posts : 110

HI FOLKS!

The early May Bank Holiday Monday meeting provided everything....a decent entry, a decent crowd, roll-overs, fires, handbags at dawn, plenty of car damage, surprise results........

RACE 1 (F2 HEAT 1)

The track was very slippery for the first race which resulted in plenty of spinning and collisions. Retro Len Perkins (956) was back and, along with Simon Mawdsley (406) created plenty of havoc between them. Dave Brennan (6 Cool

who features well at the 'Vue, but sometimes has bad luck in the results, held on well in his new blue grade and took the win. The new wing colour doesn't seem to have affected his driving skills.

RESULTS: 68,84,554,968,377,89,347,275,788,543
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RACE 2 (F1 HEAT 1)

The big boys were racing a two-thirds format again. From his new red grade, Brian Whalley (198) appeared to be flying and well up the order when he fell by the wayside. So, too, did Frankie Wainman Jnr (515) who spun and lost a lot of ground (still managing to appear in the top ten finishers). I didn't spot the cause, but James Neachell (322) was the first roller of the night, pride only being hurt.
At the restart, Mark Clayton (225) and Mark Poole (276) had a good dice for the lead with Lee Smith (76) also in the mix. The trio was punctuated later in the race by Ed Neachell (321) who surged through to second.

RESULTS: 276,321,76,225,55,2,249,515,53,33
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RACE 3 (F2 HEAT 2)

31 cars gridded...only one third finished! A first bend blockage delayed most of the pack, while some lucky ones found a route through.
When Michael Mellor (714) and Robert Mitchell (905) locked together, John Baguley (9) decided to do a bit of stunt driving and rolled over, ripping off most of his back axle and suspension. Waived yellows presented Allen Cooper (702) with the lead, only for a second session for Andy Ford (13) whose back wheel came adrift and Anthony Campbell (108) in the fence. At the second restart, Bert Finnikin (559) and Gordon Moodie (7) looked well placed for a late surge, only for Lee Johnson (348) to get in the way, allowing Cooper (702) to increase his advantage and take the chequered.
Another great F2 race.

RESULTS: 702,559,348,7,662,600,833,440,748,760
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RACE 4 (BANGERS RACE 1)

17 cars. The third rollover of the night went courtesy of #105 who ended up with #20 in the fence. The usual banger tactics provided just 7 finishers with Wilf Speak (318) taking the laurels after pushing all asundry aside.

RESULTS: 318,317,589,341,620,384,275,NOF
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RACE 5 (F1 HEAT 2)

23 cars on track plus Stu Smith's (1) aerofoil....yes the wing came on track first carried by the pit crew, the car following a minute or two later having had some very hasty repairs to the gearbox (I think) back in Rochdale. After his first heat roll, James Neachell (322) lined up but pulled off before start, the car obviously sulking!
Richard Thornton (31) and Joff Gibson (249) collide from red grade, and Stu Smith (1) goes AUTOGRASSING (NOW THERE'S A GREAT SPORT!), ermm....ermm...sorry....for the full length of the straight to get back on track. Waived yellows for Peter Kaulbarsch (411) stranded on the turn 4 exit. The restart provided an excellent battle, hard-fought between Dave Johnson (383) and Dave Willis (337) trying to climb over each other for second place. Yep, while this jousting was going on, Lee Smith found himself in an unasailable lead and took the win. Must be yellow graded soon at this rate?

RESULTS: 76,337,383,4,259,1,2,181,136,54
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RACE 6 (F2 CONSOLATION)

29 cars (would have been the 30, but unfortunately Anthony Campbell (108) found himself about 10 seconds too late, the fence having already been put together.
A VERY hard collision with the fence damaged the #299 car badly at the front end, and the bonnet flying off brought out the yellows again. In addition, #927 lost a wheel which could have caused a problem. The restart provided another car park on turn one, the yellows coming out yet again for the Barry Clow's car (597) which set alight, and an errant wheel from Michael Mellor's car (714). The second restart provided a gift to Andy Ford (13) who cleared off in the lead and was the best part of a straight ahead at the finish. Gwyn Miller's car (975) caught on fire after the reds. Not a dull moment at this meeting!

RESULTS: 13,925,905,977,332,225,519,431,740,615 (Dave Harley #362 was engine testing...maybe someone else could enlighten us on what this was about).
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RACE 7 (F1 HEAT 3)

Stu Smith (1), FWJ (515), John Lund (53), Nigel Whalley (198) and Peter Falding (33) all provided a good race between them.....but they just couldn't catch the white graded Lee Mellor (181) who beat them all to the chequered. Well done Lee!
It was while cars were still circulating that an enraged Dave Johnson (383) crossed the track (I promise the cars weren't going that slowly!) and had a "heated debate" with a marshall after which he obviously shared his "disappointments" with Steve Rees. I imagine it was an alleged bad marshalling judgement, in Dave's opinion, I'm not certain. No doubt Steve may enlighten us???

RESULTS: 181,1,515,53,198,33,105,136,260,259
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RACE 8 (BANGERS RACE 2)

14 cars ended with only 4 finishers in this one after all the destruction and mayhem, the win going to "Keith" from the Sharks team (7).

RESULTS: 7,620,275,589,NOF
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RACE 9 (F2 FINAL)

Quite a few fancied runners fell by the wayside in this, the F2 final, including Gordon Moodie (7) on the first lap. He hasn't appeared quite "on song" at the 'Vue this season, but he'll no doubt make up for it in due course. Waived yellows appeared for Darren Bingley (662) stranded in the middle of the straight. The restart saw Andy Ford retire with a flat and Bert Finnikin spin out. Although he recovered, he only managed 8th at the race end. Daz Shaw (377) was left in charge when a further period of yellows were thrown when #275 rolled and caught fire.
A delighted (but short-lived) celebration from Dave Brennan (6 Cool

...he had passed Daz Shaw when the yellows came out, but it was decided to red flag/chequer the race with just a lap or so to go, meaning the result was recorded from the last lap before the cautions, making Daz the winner! Another blow for Dave (not the first at Belle Vue), however he did very well again around the Hyde Road raceway, and well deserves his blue roof....maybe red before long?

RESULTS: 377,68,347,600,543,332,748,559,977,84
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Due to the unfortunate delays because of waived yellow sessions during the night, it was at this point decided not to run the F2 Grand National (!)
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RACE 10 (F1 FINAL)

A few minutes delay for Stu Smith (1), the car obviously needing a few more preps on track (!). Nigel Whalley appeared to be going for it again, only to come a cropper. Lee Smith (76), probably heading for a final win (we'll never know) must have been gutted to have his comfortable lead cancelled out by yet another bout of yellows for a stricken #111 car of Mike Williamson. Lee got enveloped after the restart, and a decent battle between Dave Willis (337) and Stu Smith (1) got the crowd going with just a few laps remaining. Stu got the better of Dave who ended up third behind Craig Finnikin (55)...FWJ managing 4th (and not getting his own way yet again at the 'Vue this season).
Good to see Stu run the lap of honour with Mr. Starter to "Benny Hill Music".

RESULTS: 1,55,337,515,321,2,212,54,307,53
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RACE 11 (BANGER FINAL)

Only 10 cars for the banger final provided a couple of good hits, but regrettably they were not very entertaining on this occasion...I would rather have seen a 25+ car F2 Grand National!

RESULTS: 7,587,384,275,18,NOF
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RACE 12 (F1 GRAND NATIONAL)

14 cars, sorry Bezz (260) has just pulled off. 13 cars, sorry Joff Gibson (249) has just pulled off. Just 12 cars for the F1 G/N provided fast racing and (yes, you've guessed it, ANOTHER session of waived yellows). This time for Steve Boyd (369) who struck the fence hard and damaged both his car AND fence. A delay (but thanks to the fence crew, not too long) allowed racing to continue after implanting a piece of fencing in double quick time.
No sooner had the racing resumed, the reds came out (why??...don't think Steve even knows as he beckoned the racing to resume and over ruled the flag decision as there was no apparent reason for it).
To the delight of the crowd, John Lund (53) managed to hold off the hard-charging Stu Smith to take the victory, Paul Harrison (2) obviously getting the feel of the Belle Vue shale again, coming in a creditable third.

RESULTS: 53,1,2,321,136,212,276,54,515,nof
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So, another excellent meeting at the 'Vue, unfortunately over-running this time due to track incidents galore.
Proper stock car racing again. The racing seems better this season as all and sundry appear to be getting "stuck in" and not just leaving it to the usual "rivals" (I'm delighted to say).

Hayley Parkinson seems to be quietly collecting points but not necessarily featuring high in the results. Maybe a blue grade prospect in the near future.
Good night for the Lees (Mellor 181 and Smith 76) who are obviously destined for greater things soon.

Great entertainment again courtesy of Startrax, the meetings at Belle Vue seem to just get better (how, I don't know).
One thing I noticed (maybe just a coincidence), but the racing has been improved by the extra track tyres....a softer version of the old barrels....adding a bit more spice.

Well done again, Steve, keep it up!

Regards,
GED geek

Age : 48 Joined : 12 Feb 2007 Posts : 599

If there had been a 25 GN there may not have been an F1 GN!

Absolutely perfect for last night.

2009 is already being planned and the apperances of Bangers will be a little more limited to `special evets' due to price of scrap mainly, two Midlands tracks yesterday had 6 and 11 respectfully.

It was ` relief' to have a smallish grid so we can get the GN on - but don't underestimate that a holiday crowd wants to see some Bangers - and for them 1- 12 bumping and spinning is enough - [try a Skeggy summer tuesday and thursday ]

It was shame for the Tooz - BUT 9/10 events we run a GN - however they did contribute tremendous racing last night - and as a consequence, themost stoppages.

I want to add a few word of thanks to the staff Our team are superb in pulling together and `making it happen' without them Startrax could not exist!

The drivers/race teams - pariculalry F1 this time for the effort and being
`up for it' more importantly the race fans who are absolutely brilliant, supportive and created a fabulous atmosphere.

Jackie and I can only provide the stage and infrastructure for everyone to perfrom on, without the cats and crew and an enthusiastic audience we have nothing - Everyone involved whatever side of the fence take a bow!

EVERY year 2/3 days before the event as the stress builds, we say not next year! The wife said it again this morning - Guess what IT WILL be repeated in 2009 [ If only to just to show who wears the trousers! ]
Hope she does not read this!

Age : 36 Joined : 25 Apr 2007 Posts : 8

It's a long day to do the 2 meetings. Can't imagine how stressful it must be to run it- particularly when you start getting delays at Sheffield. It's stressful enough as a spectator! pale

Well done to all f1 teams that did both meetings. It's very hard on cars and drivers when running 2/3rds at both as some drivers were expected to do 8 races in the day.

Subject: Re: GED'S OVERVIEW OF BELLE VUE 5th MAY 2008 Tue May 06, 2008 7:14 pm

Age : 55 Joined : 12 Feb 2007 Posts : 110

HI!

Thanks for the info about Dave's car. I know he got in the results and heard the commentator say that although he was (I think) 4th in a particular race, he wouldn't be shown in the results but would be through to the final due to his engine testing.
That throws a light on it, thanks very much.

I take it Dave will retain his red roof regardless of results due to his "experimenting"???

Regards,
GED Cool

Subject: Re: GED'S OVERVIEW OF BELLE VUE 5th MAY 2008 Wed May 07, 2008 5:02 am

Thats correct Ged, he remains in the cannot be down graded category.

He will keep star status until he has finished any testing duties, last year it was tyres and engine, this year it is engine although he had attained star status prior to testing.
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362 RACING updated 13 July 2008

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Joined : 06 Feb 2008 Posts : 11

Absolutely superb day out. Without doubt it is a long day. I was out for 16 hours and i only live 100 mile away, imagine what it was like for some others!!
With regards to all the rubbish posted around other forums about Stu Smith hitting too hard well thats the very same reason why my 2 kids didnt get to school yesterday and my poor pregnant mrs is screwing at me for dragging her from pillar to post coz the very minute Wainman put him up the fence at Sheffield there was no other option than to go the Belle Vue and im sooooo glad i did.
With all the talk about h&s at the moment if there was anyone watching then that would have been the end of stock car racing as we know it. Steve knows what im talking about and so does everyone else watching, he is not the only one guilty either, the whole sport puts drivers at risk to save money, i have seen every promotion become a laughing stock because when it goes t - up its like the keystone cops...anyway im not going to dwell on that as it just gets peoples backs up on forums who start with all the "well you do it then" and "i didnt see a problem" etc etc (they are actually the ones who are putting the drivers in danger), the 2 meetings were a full contact fans dream and i dont think i have ever seen so much carnage, i hope it was a financial success for Startrax because that means it will be repeated again next year and i cant wait !!!

Age : 25 Joined : 13 Feb 2007 Posts : 4

Bloody Hell Ged - I hit everything I could and limped the car round for as much as I could in the Banger Final!! - I think we deserve at least 3 races on a meet. and to be honest drop it to 2 races and there wont be any bangers there at all.

Scirocco Steve No 105

Joined : 06 Feb 2008 Posts : 11

Scirroco Steve, yes you deserve 3 races, and yes the f2s deserved a grand national too. Problem is this. Bangers are a great crowd pleaser and line Mr Rees pocket with lots of money, if he doesnt have any money then we dont have him as a promoter and we have no Belle Vue.
Mr Rees would gladly give you 10 races but he has a strict curfew to adhere to so he cannot magic time out of thin air so you get races (to be honest i thought those 2 races were absolutely briliant), also as a banger driver you can race wherever and whenever you want, i bet there were at least 10 meetings on that monday where you could have taken your banger and raced it, so my point is this, if you want to keep racing at Bell Vue you have no other choice than to put up with it as it is.

Joined : 31 Mar 2008 Posts : 3

I think monday was a really good day, and the organisers, fence people, drivers and mechanics all did brilliantly to get almost all the races on track with the amount of waved yellows, fence damage and car damage!

Age : 55 Joined : 12 Feb 2007 Posts : 110

HI FOLKS!

Yep, I agree, it was an excellent meeting (as I said in my overview).

Please don't get me wrong...I like banger racing and I appreciate the efforts by the drivers in preparing (and then "unpreparing") their cars in the name of entertainment.

My main concern (and it is not just Belle Vue I believe) is that banger numbers are generally dwindling. I am not surprised in view of the expenditure involved thses days. Unfortunately, IN MY OWN OPINION AS A SPECTATOR, bangers need good numbers to provide GOOD OLD FASHIONED banger racing. Despite efforts by individual drivers, a handful of cars circulating doesn't provide much of a spectacle even if they try to "self destruct". Perhaps I'm just harder to please these days, having watched oval motor sport of all types over many many years. Maybe I remember (too well) the "old days" when bangers were very high in turnout. It seems a shame that they are diminishing in number recently as they can be VERY ENTERTAINING and a crowd pleaser.

I may be wrong, but I can't see that many spectators would turn up on Monday solely to see the bangers...if they did, then I'm sure they must have been a little disappointed? I would like to see fewer but better quality/attended banger meetings which would be super for the fans (and I would have thought drivers alike). A case of less being more? I bet it's expensive trying to race most weekends with the car turnover (pardon the pun) rate?

So thanks to the drivers involved for putting on a good show on Monday and hope you understand my points of view. I am nothing to with Startrax Promotions, but just write my overviews for other fans' interest as a paying spectator myself.

Regards,
GED Cool

Age : 47 Joined : 14 Feb 2007 Posts : 44

Just got to add that from our point of view Monday was worth every penny of the admission money.
Sheffield was fantastic with all three divisions putting on a top quality show (and wasn't it good to see so many V8's for this one Steve? ), the kids were as good as ever in the mini's and I have to say that Martin and the fence team certainly earned their money, working their bits off to keep the meeting moving.
We did start to have doubts when it took an hour to run the first two races, but everything came good in the end with the F1 G.N. being over and done with in plenty of time to allow travel to Belle Vue.
One complaint about Sheffield though Steve - No hot roast pork sandwiches !!! Shocked

Belle Vue, well what can you say - roll overs, fires, big hits, damage, controversy and some damned good racing as well.
O.K. the bangers were not the best turn out we have seen at the Vue although they did their best - no disrespect Scirroco Steve ( Hi by the way mate - long time, no see) but, whilst I do enjoy bangers, I would prefer them not to be on with the Stox.
No F2 G.N. well we knew that would cause the usual round of complaints, and if the truth be known, it was dissapointing but time was marching on, when 369 had his massive crash in the F1 G.N. we thought "thats it, meeting over" as he snapped a post clean in half but the fence crew worked a minor miricle to allow the race to be completed - well done to them.
Just one question Steve - Why did the reds come out at the re-start??
Might be totally wrong but our guess was that someone accidentally hit the wrong button Very Happy

All in all a superb day out and these two meetings have gone a long way to re-ignighting my enthusiasm for the sport Wink