ORCi Banger Team Championship 2007

Ipswich Stadium, 18 November 2007 - 2.30pm

Bangers ORCi Team Championship Preview

The biggest interpromotional Banger team meeting of the year returns to Ipswich stadium on Sunday 18 November (2:30pm) with team of up to eight drivers from every ORCi promotion invited to take part.  This is always a hotly contested competition with all promotions out there to try to win the event in their own way, some by racing and others by taking the opposition out.

Looking at the teams put forward by the various promotions, it has to be said that 2006 winners PRI once again look very strong with 6 out of the 8 victorious team members from last year included again in the 2007 squad.  The team includes no less than three current World Champions, 331 Boxer Jack (Spedeworth World), 10 Paul Whiteman (PRI World) and 188 Matt Fuller (2 Litre BBA World) which surely represents the biggest collection of proven tarmac talent of any of the teams to do battle.  208 Jimmy Randall is another strong racer in the team and then adding 348 Mushy, 456 Nathan Roberts and Gladiator pairing 549 Phil and 589 Simon Smith and you have the second half of the team that can either race or wreck as required to succeed on the day.

With the benefit of home track advantage and some high quality drivers, Spedeworth will start for many as second-favourites to lift the ORCi team title.  Unlike last year when the team was half EA and half Spedeworth South, this year 194 Cecil and 264 Wellard are the only Southerners to join the squad.  As would have been expected, the Damage Inc squad are out in full force with BBA English and Trackstar 2 Litre World Champion 730 Dean Mayes leading running mates 516 Gouldy, 247 Bro and 741 Mr D into battle.  Together, these drivers are also the under 1600cc East Anglian team champions and are generally known for clearing up wherever they go!!  Add the highly entertaining 349 Michael Allard and 564 Coatie into the mix and you have a very useful outfit.

Well-known for turning out fast racing teams, RDC have changed things around a little this year and have sprinkled some more crashing talent into their squad for 2007, notably with the addition of 400 Shinny and 602 Mr Moody.  Some of the top racers are also still there with 22 Dave Vincent and 99 Ritchie Ahern likely to score lots of points as the afternoon unfolds and there are also appearances for all-rounders 465 Andy Scarlett and 807 Chris Murfin.  Rising stars at RDC, 379 The Worm and the seriously underrated 898 Andy Battle complete their line up.

The Mendips raceway have most of their best-known Banger stars out in their team for the ORCi meeting including the much-travelled 51 Wusty who will be a great addition to their squad this year.  58 Martin Dalton and 198 Marcus Goldsmith are also well-travelled to many of the major national meetings and have heaps of experience but the remainder of the team are just as useful with 363 Trummer and 364 Darren Feltham, the Wallies pairing of 396 Scott Mowlam and 418 Ben Edwards and a very welcome outing from Warlord 517 Scott Weldon.  Perhaps not recognised as a big threat to some of the other teams, these drivers could find themselves left alone on track and could be ones to watch for a strong result.

Half of the Trackstar squad have spent some time in their racing careers licensed with Spedeworth and this should help to give them some local track experience.  72 Bondy and 388 Emmo have done more laps around Foxhall than they would probably care to recall with the latter having raced Spedeworth 2 Litre Stock cars more recently before switching back to the bangers.  Father and son duo 311 Gary and 345 Richard Lown have also spent plenty of time around here over the years.  The remainder of the team consists of the rapid pairing of 361 Chris Walden and 525 Wesley Starmer who can both turn out quick cars with Wally having recently won the points at TSR for the second consecutive year.  Crasher 515 Gareth Flatters and, for many, the unknown 777 Russell Gill complete the line up although in fact 777 Jack is one of the top TSR Banger drivers at TSR and should not be underestimated.

The Autospeed team for 2007 looks very interesting, not least because it probably isn’t the group of drivers that might have been expected by many with some of the big names from the promotion missing from the list.  Having once been the London Open Champion in Bangers, 28 Ian Govier switches back from Saloon Stock Cars to Bangers for this occasion and is undeniably quick on his day as are 179 Florence and 80 Matt Nutley who usually puts in a good performance when he goes travelling.  66 Spoons and 207 Compo are also well-known for their appearances at many of the bigger fixtures around the country whilst for 46 Cliff Friend, 452 Anthony Sleeman and 778 Bod this will be a nice outing and a chance for them to show their stuff.

Startrax have a very interesting team out for 2007, not least because some of the team haven’t raced any meetings at their home promotion this year.  As was the case in 2006, the team has strong Team Black links with 617 Jack Overy and the two Cottrill brothers 998 Wayne and 99 Shane all set to appear and these are drivers that can really drive on a fast tarmac track.  Birmingham-based Scrapyard Screamers drivers 110 Grant Doe, 224 Craig Badger and 999 Scott Hill won’t have to change their usual team colours for today either, and all of them tend to find their way into the results at Birmingham domestic meetings where they can often be found.  999 Hill also has a reputation for some hard crashing when called for and could be one to watch.  Completing the line up is 748 Graham Kiddle who must surely rate as one of the unluckiest drivers in Banger racing and deserves to have a good day here.

Details of the GMP team were still awaited at the time of compiling this preview so we move straight on to the Skegness squad with regular Unlimited drivers 209 Gary Haresign and 321 Andy Newton making another limited cc outing which they have been doing more of in the second half of the year.  Both are race-winners this season at Skegness in the smaller Bangers and should go well around here.  Fresh from appearances at the Wimbledon World Final, running-mates 385 Roy Gedge and 791 Spud will be here and whilst better known for entertaining at their local tracks, a major result must be coming somewhere soon.  Former Ministox racer 344 Max Stoodley makes one of his infrequent Banger outings but could prove to be more useful than some will expect.

Incarace field a team with a great deal of experience although it could be the two of their younger stars that are the ones to watch.  223 Brett Harrison and 572 Paul Scully are both set for greatness in Bangers with Scully seemingly having the ability to survive and drive away from any sort of attack if his Birmingham performances are anything to judge by.  531 Toby Tropper will no doubt be here with his Scrapyard Screamer team mates so will this result in some collusion with Startrax?  There could be team tactics at a team meeting!!  The rest of the squad could be considered to be the Incarace “old-guard” with 69 Copey, 269 Popeye and the Barton Boys trio of 104 Mick Siddalls, 189 Richard Myshrall and 222 Matt Logan all having been the backbone of the Incarace domestic scene for a number of years.

Last, but not least, we look at the Buxton side who could easily be overlooked although the similarity of the length of the Hi-Edge raceway when compared to Foxhall Heath could well give us a hint that these guys will be more at home here than many of the drivers who are more used to more compact tracks.  Again, Buxton have got all of their best-known names here with 75 The Chiseller, 295 Havoc, 470 Pete Corbett and 606 Red Mist having dominated the domestic championships in the peaks for more than a decade.  More than two decades in certain cases!!  One of the most notable features of Buxton is the fact that their domestic Banger scene is very well supported by a core group of drivers and this is highlighted by the rest of the team who have all raced at the vast majority of the meetings this year.  143 Screamer and Jerky Boys pairing 707 Lee Tomlinson and 708 Craig Handley are solid supporters of their track and it is good to see 93 Paddy O’Reilly included in the team which will be his first major meeting away from Buxton.