THE 2012 Man of the Midlands Championship for Incarace Bangers attracted around 60 cars to Hednesford’s Firework meeting on November 4th, including drivers from Mendips and Trackstar.

The entry was so big the proposed all-in fourth heat (heats one to three having been held at Birmingham the week before) was split into two, the first seeing 296 Tom Jennings lead all the way as 144 Ash Weston was hit from every side but still got his Escort home ninth in an entertaining race. Heat two saw 33 James Milner hook out 718 Adie Brown to take the win but his car failed post race checks and Brown inherited the win on his track debut, while behind them 731 Grant Tate took a hefty hit from 3 Richard Pilling and 27 Wayne Bacon put away Mendips man 31 Liam Shipway.

No fewer than 53 cars gridded for the title race with 290 Ryan Davies’s Birmingham hat-trick securing him pole with 199 Jacob Roff alongside. Predictably a massive pile-up formed instantly on turn three with everyone piling in, 950 Scott Gamble rolling onto his side for a stoppage with a complete restart ordered. Davies raced clear when things resumed but Buxton man 152 Dan Rigby kept pace with him and they pulled away from the pack, 361 Chris Walden and 471 Trevor Perry battling for third. Just as it looked as though Rigby was going to catch Davies the race was stopped for a loose wheel from 99 Jason Jukes with Walden earning the biggest cheer of the day as he rolled himself under the red flags! Just nine cars remained for the restart but there was still action as Rob Nason put Gary Shaw away with Ryan Barton adding further damage, Davies racing to a fast but controlled victory to complete his near-dominance of Hednesford meetings this year. Rigby took second but failed post race scrutineering promoting Perry and 792 Paul Davies to second and third.

“The situation changed lap after lap with cars appearing in different places” the new champion said. “I was just trying to pick my racing line with cars everywhere and didn't need to drive like a loon!”

Walden made up for his earlier embarrassment with a win in the Grand National while the DD saw 472 Ray Delamere destroyed by a huge hit from 214 Shane Rawlins with Nason and 132 Chris Cullum piling in behind, the event boiling down to Scrapyard Screamers versus Team Fatman with 299 Dale Locker winning for the former side and celebrating with a huge head-on to team mate Roff.

Elsewhere the National Hot Rods were at their best under the Hednesford floodlights with 209 Kym Weaver driving the race of his life to simultaneously hold off double heat winner 162 Carl Waller-Barratt and deal with stubborn backmarker 369 Tommy Maxwell to win the Final, the other heat seeing 304 Danny Fiske break his NHR duck. 215 Jack Miller took the Jack Cardno Memorial Trophy in the Ministox while 236 Ryan Polley took a giant step towards retaining his points title with two wins.

The racing however was supplemented by some excellent novelty events. A long lost relative of Guy Fawkes made an appearance towing his caravan on holiday, but he was careless about where he parked it and it was blown up in spectacular style on the infield. The Tug of War competition between the Scrapyard Screamers and Team BS Motors was declared a draw because no-one could see who had won through all the tyre and clutch smoke! A typically huge Hednesford firework display rounded off the day – many thanks to everyone, drivers, fans and officials alike for making the day a success.