“Saturday Night Fever as The Bears Big Bash rocks Arly”

Seven months of hard work by the organisers came to fruition on Saturday night, as ‘The Bears Big Bash 3’ charity meeting took place in front of a packed crowd at Arlington Stadium, Eastbourne.

With the promise of Old School racing as it used to be, the meeting was actually everything that was promised, and much more.

With hundreds of spectators already in the queue at midday, by the time of the first race at 5:30pm, it was literally standing room only.

As the good natured capacity crowd, enjoyed the scorching sunshine on the terraces well into the late evening, they were treated to a ‘Battle Royale’ that turned the clock back 20 years, to a time when racing really was a much simpler affair.

The relaxed format with the emphasis very much on crashing and wrecking, saw drivers from right across the UK, as well as for the first time mainland Europe, sign up to take part.

Right from the first race, the action was thick and fast. So much so, that with crashing all around the track, it was often difficult for spectators to see everything that went on.

Each time a car crumpled car the way they are meant to do, the enthusiastic crowd cheered. More pleasing was that every driver to a man, just got out, shook hands, smiled and waved to the appreciative terraces.

With such a strong squad of talented drivers, The Bears were always going to do well, and so it proved. They didn’t have it all their own way, as amongst the cosmopolitan line up several local drivers made their presence felt.

Ash Riley from The Bears won Heat one, with seasoned campaigner Jack France sweping to victory in Heat two,

Keith ‘Keefy’ Reynolds broke up the Sussex stranglehold taking Heat three with a thunderous drive, whilst fan’s favourite Tim James had a pair of wins in Heat four and the Final.

Bears driver Paul Pentecost in one of several Previas came home first in Heat five.

When it came to the last action of the pulsating meeting, the Destruction Derby, it was no surprise to see a couple of Bears still in the hunt. Ash Riley once more showed his unquestionable class, as the declared last car running, and thus winner of the DD.

Given the amazing variety of international talent on show, it was yet another local driver, George ‘Boris’ Draper from Brighton, who entertained the crowd right in the thick of the carnage for most of the meeting.

“It really was an incredible evening’s entertainment from all the drivers” said Bears captain Nigel Riley. “With such a large and generous crowd in as well, we are extremely likely to beat our ten thousand pound target for The Royal Alex.”

Oval motorsport fans can still contribute to the fundraising effort, by one of several ways:

*A donation via paypal or bank transfer,

*If you couldn’t make it to Arlington on Saturday or you just simply want to relive all the great action, you can purchase a copy of the Official meeting dvd that has a five camera edit, plus infield and in-car action from AP Videos. £3 from the £11 cost goes direct to the charity.
To order contact Ash at www.ap-videos.net

*Buying any of the Bears Big Bash related souvenir merchandise from Spedeworth’s established superstore Graphics by Dave. Every sale sees a donation to the charity.
Dave can be contacted at www.graphicsbydave.co.uk

Anybody who has any questions about the event, or wants to make a special contribution, can contact the group on email via michaelburnage@hotmail.com or on the Facebook page www.facebook.com/events/286828318108107/permalink/304270493030556/

Final numbers for the Bears fundraising efforts in 2015, will be announced next Friday 24th, once all the monies have been collected. Of course, you will be able to find all the information here on the Spedeworth website.