CAGED! MONTHLY BANGER REPORT
JULY 2018
JULY 2018
By Matt Josey
Welcome all to the July 2018 Caged! monthly report. This month saw not just some good action across the country but an emotional night all round for the late Dave 'Kingy' King #206 up at Mildenhall (which will get down to in a bit) but also some good news for us at Caged! as we revealed a new partnership with Wheelspin Magazine allowing us to maybe write a few pieces in the near future!
Welcome all to the July 2018 Caged! monthly report. This month saw not just some good action across the country but an emotional night all round for the late Dave 'Kingy' King #206 up at Mildenhall (which will get down to in a bit) but also some good news for us at Caged! as we revealed a new partnership with Wheelspin Magazine allowing us to maybe write a few pieces in the near future!
206 KINGY MEMORIAL - A WEEKEND TO BE PROUD OF
There's no other way to start but with the much talked about Kingy Memorial at Mildenhall Stadium over two days which consisted of Pre 70's on the Saturday night and Unlimited Pre-90 on the Sunday afternoon. All in all a FANTASTIC turnout over both days - 141 Pre-70s and 129 Unlimited Pre90s a turnout Kingy would have been proud of, along with some of the epic machinery on show. The Pre-70 night was by far the best Pre-70 at Mildenhall in many years, not just for the turnout but the crashing was solid all night, how it used to be during the RDC era. Then we move on to some of the cars on the Sunday which are well worth mentioning. 476 Rosco's beautiful Daimler DE36 hearse, 328 Dan Lathan's Mk2 Ford Thunderbird and 273 Mad Mouse's Checker Marathon Cab Aerobus Landaulette were my pick of the bunch that are all worthy Car of the Year nominations. The action (as expected) was also brilliant for the Unlimited Pre-90s, a weekend which will go down in the memory as an event we would rather have not happened but one the King family should be proud of.
There's no other way to start but with the much talked about Kingy Memorial at Mildenhall Stadium over two days which consisted of Pre 70's on the Saturday night and Unlimited Pre-90 on the Sunday afternoon. All in all a FANTASTIC turnout over both days - 141 Pre-70s and 129 Unlimited Pre90s a turnout Kingy would have been proud of, along with some of the epic machinery on show. The Pre-70 night was by far the best Pre-70 at Mildenhall in many years, not just for the turnout but the crashing was solid all night, how it used to be during the RDC era. Then we move on to some of the cars on the Sunday which are well worth mentioning. 476 Rosco's beautiful Daimler DE36 hearse, 328 Dan Lathan's Mk2 Ford Thunderbird and 273 Mad Mouse's Checker Marathon Cab Aerobus Landaulette were my pick of the bunch that are all worthy Car of the Year nominations. The action (as expected) was also brilliant for the Unlimited Pre-90s, a weekend which will go down in the memory as an event we would rather have not happened but one the King family should be proud of.
Two of the brilliant cars which turned out at the Kingy Memorial
FIRST EVER RINGWOOD UNLIMITED WORLD FINAL
Another much talked about fixture this year was the surprise announcement from Ringwood Raceway that they would be hosting a National Banger World Final - and now was the time for it to happen! Whilst I can't say too much about it as I wasn't in attendance, it did look well... decent. Once again a flurry of no-shows (surprise, surprise) but thankfully the action looked fairly good for a World Final which was a shock when it was announced and with the lack of updates on OvalChat, it certainly was more entertaining than I would have imagined it to be. Of course there had to be a World Champion, and that went to 362 Johnny James.
Another much talked about fixture this year was the surprise announcement from Ringwood Raceway that they would be hosting a National Banger World Final - and now was the time for it to happen! Whilst I can't say too much about it as I wasn't in attendance, it did look well... decent. Once again a flurry of no-shows (surprise, surprise) but thankfully the action looked fairly good for a World Final which was a shock when it was announced and with the lack of updates on OvalChat, it certainly was more entertaining than I would have imagined it to be. Of course there had to be a World Champion, and that went to 362 Johnny James.
Will the Ringwood WF be back bigger and better in 2019? Photo: LK Banger Photos
WET, WET, WET ALDERSHOT!
Perhaps the Back to Basic fixture I was looking forward to most this year at Aldershot Raceway was the B2B Ford KA day and B2B 4x4 Bangers! Over the past 3-4 years the 4x4 National Bangers really struggled for numbers hardly hitting double figures, but this year over 20 booked in for the revised B2B format - which also included the bizarre all KA bangers with that class hitting over 30 on the booking list. A horrible forecast on the day put me off a wonderful looking booking list but well done to those racers who did honour their bookings to put a show despite the appalling conditions! Maybe next year there will be sunshine...
Perhaps the Back to Basic fixture I was looking forward to most this year at Aldershot Raceway was the B2B Ford KA day and B2B 4x4 Bangers! Over the past 3-4 years the 4x4 National Bangers really struggled for numbers hardly hitting double figures, but this year over 20 booked in for the revised B2B format - which also included the bizarre all KA bangers with that class hitting over 30 on the booking list. A horrible forecast on the day put me off a wonderful looking booking list but well done to those racers who did honour their bookings to put a show despite the appalling conditions! Maybe next year there will be sunshine...
92 Jake White believing he can fly... Photo credit: unknown
ARENA ESSEX 1978-2018
It's been a long time coming but will be a bitter pill to swallow... so we have had the bad news, Arena Essex is to close its doors at the end of the 2018 season with the Firecracker being the last ever event. In its 40th anniversary year it hasn't all gone to plan with low banger turnouts and now this devastating blow to the sport. With the Firecracker being the last ever event at Arena Essex Raceway we are all sure and hoping for the send off it deserves with 150+ cars, top cars and top crashing. Also not forgetting the blow this is for Adam Brown better known as 'Adamseecbrown' on YouTube who has been at the raceway through thick and thin since 2009 filming every meeting without surrender. All at Caged! hope his dreams come true to video on the middle! In the meantime enjoy the raceway while you can, make the most of it, we all still miss Wimbledon dearly and for the locals and hardcore fans of Arena, the same emotions will be felt here.
It's been a long time coming but will be a bitter pill to swallow... so we have had the bad news, Arena Essex is to close its doors at the end of the 2018 season with the Firecracker being the last ever event. In its 40th anniversary year it hasn't all gone to plan with low banger turnouts and now this devastating blow to the sport. With the Firecracker being the last ever event at Arena Essex Raceway we are all sure and hoping for the send off it deserves with 150+ cars, top cars and top crashing. Also not forgetting the blow this is for Adam Brown better known as 'Adamseecbrown' on YouTube who has been at the raceway through thick and thin since 2009 filming every meeting without surrender. All at Caged! hope his dreams come true to video on the middle! In the meantime enjoy the raceway while you can, make the most of it, we all still miss Wimbledon dearly and for the locals and hardcore fans of Arena, the same emotions will be felt here.
Another year, another track lost. Photo: Impact Videos
CAGED! SUPPORTERS JULY 2018
Thank you as always to our supporters!
Thank you as always to our supporters!
