THE NORTHERN ARMY turned the tables on their Southern counterparts in a hard-hitting Civil War 13 at a cold but dry Hednesford Hills Raceway on January 15th.

Eager to avenge their defeat of 12 months previous, the North were armed to the teeth but the Southern side had assembled possibly their strongest ever on-paper side, especially in the Tanks where the South provided the car of the day in the shape of a Cadillac Fleetwood for 133 Karl Day – one of seven Bears in the army’s ranks.

The South took an early lead over the opening round of races but the Northern fans were soon cheering as 148 Ian Redden won the opening Tanks race. The South kept their advantage through round two and it looked like the formbook would be followed despite some excellent blocking tactics from the men in white especially in the Infantry.

The race, which turned the meeting on its head, as so often before, was the Light Brigade final. Reeling from the news that 49 Rob Bevan had been excluded from the second Tanks heat after taking the flag, the South appeared on the back foot and the North pounced. Some brilliant hits went in all the way through and at the flag it was quite literally a whitewash for the North, 21 Gavin Robinson winning. This prompted the South to go absolutely all out in the Infantry final, resulting in complete carnage and only one recorded finisher in the shape of 460 Lewis Barber for the South.

This however was nothing compared to the Tanks final that descended into all-out warfare, a massive pile-up forming on turn two and eventually there was no-one left running! As the smoke cleared and the dust settled, it was eventually announced that the race would be declared void, but the actions of some Southern drivers lost their army a glut of points thanks to repeated on-opposite attacks, the North losing several as well. It was eventually declared that the North had finished with 200 points while the South had MINUS 425 – the lowest total in War history and without a doubt its most extraordinary final result ever.

Congratulations to the Northern Army, and here’s to the next battle in January 2013!