Icebreaker XXX – Kings Lynn – 21/01/24 – Meeting Preview

It’s back to business as usual for racing at Trackstar with the annual Unlimited Bangers WFS Anglia sponsored British Open Team Championship, or ‘Icebreaker’ as is more commonly affiliated these days. The bookings see a superb 33 teams in contention with some of the sports best set to do battle for the honours.

33 teams is an impressive feat, and it’s evident of the appeal this meeting has with it being one of the ‘must-do’ fixtures on the calendar – it’s certainly helps with things such as the Caged! Promotion of the Year which Trackstar claimed for the fourth year running.

Defending the titles are the Silver Boys, whose ‘A’ team aced it last year with the ‘C’ team taking third in the standings. They return en-mass with another three teams. The ‘A’ is spear-headed by Unlimited World of Shale Champion 455 Ricki Finney, who certainly means business for more silverware today aligning himself with WoS Qualifying Points winner 459 Blake Platts, 2019 World of Shale Champion 01 Kyle Shires and top driver 3 Mitch Finney. The quality continues into the B and C teams, although you’d expect them to feature more heavily among the entertainers ranks with the likes of 199 Shaydy Gough, People’s Champ 243 ‘Bodja’ Pete Osborne and 281 Lewis Tingle among the ranks, as well as 127 Phil and 374 Sam Markham who are no strangers to victory lane.

TWT will push them all the way laying their intentions out with 4 factions. The ‘A’ team sees the A1 Group quartert of 62 Harvey Webb, 130 Joe Gladden, 622 Garry Webb and 625 Josh Gooch, and they’ve recruited some strong drivers alongside. The list of names just boasts quality in a who’s who of Bangers, slightly benefiting from no Team Extreme entry this year – 146 Dan Wigman, 181 Grant Doe, 328 Ben Nicholls, 349 Michael Allard, 360 Jack Reynolds, 362 Johnny James, 670 Max Eaton and 760 Joey Reynolds. Their ‘D’ team looks very destructive with 122 Mark Cooper Jnr, ‘Sparky’ 180 Mark Foster, 623 ‘Tricky’ Ricky Hutton and ‘Gyspy Boy’ 753 Billy Cunningham all drivers that will ruffle feathers.

77 ‘Aario’ Aaron Charles was one of the drivers of 2023. His attitude to racing is faultless, and his addition to the Aftermath ranks will bolster their chances of defending the entertainers crown. He joins 23 Sonny Parsons, 84 Will Cole and 100 Callum White; the trio boasting a plethora of entertainer awards between them and they’ll be ones to watch on that front once again. The ‘B’ team trio of 101 Cieran Harmer, 604 Ross Cooper and 664 ‘Gump’ Ryan Sutcliffe are also top entertainers and you can expect to see the red and yellow getting stuck in around the Norfolk shaleway. 

It’s been years since we’ve seen The Bears in strength at an Unlimited team meeting. The Life of Riley weekend in August paying tribute to veteran Captain 421 ‘Nutty Nige’ was one of the highlights of 2023, and that’s evidently spurred the team to make an appearance in strong numbers today with 4 teams billed for action. The Riley name stands strong still in bangers, with third-generation entertainer 121 Leo joining father 521 ‘Ace Ash’ and uncle 221 ‘Motormouth’ as well as 321 ‘Chatty Man’ Kieron Fry in the A team. The other three teams are made up of the usual suspects such as 43 ‘Muttley Jnr’ Luke Maynard, ‘Waterboy’ 232 Justin Pollard, ‘Wally’ 831 Shane Fry and 711 Alex Elliot. Alex delivered one of the most brutal hits of last year on the Sunday of the Life of Riley weekend when he ruined 41 Lee Barnes’ Volvo estate at the end of the home straight in spectacular fashion. If any of The Bears return their yanks from that weekend, it will be a day of several wrecked opposition!

Trackstar World Champion 178 Kieran Bowman will guide a trio of Predators teams into battle hoping to continue his impressive form from last season. ‘Slim’ had a great year of success personally taking the aforementioned World title, as well as the 25 & Under GB Champ, but the team are overdue some silverware although they did claim the Caged! Team of the Year accolade for a second successive year. He is joined by DMC Points Champion 388 Stevo McGrath and regular guest from the west-country, 648 Jamie Smith in what is a strong looking A team. The B team sees regular team member 87 Damien Matthews joined by some surprising guests in the form of Standlake man 83 Julian Grant, top young-gun 347 Rhys Barrow and raffle winner, 1300 Stock Car man 671 Leo Moore. The C team sees the ever-fast 585 Luke Holdsworth alongside 927 Carl Lindsay and Scottish visitor 440 Pete McVay all first time guests in the red and blue.

209 Tom Waller heads a duo of strong looking line-ups with ‘Team Waller’ looking to get in on the silverware. Veteran racer 348 Sonny Sherwood features in the ‘A’ team, and will be hoping to continue where he left off last month when he took the win in the Nutcracker. He is joined by 123 Kieran Gray, Micro UK Champion 229 Harry Cobb and 284 James Head complete a very strong looking line up whilst the B team is as equally strong with Tom being joined by 327 Mick Maskell Jnr, 32 Callum Reed and 5 Max Hertzog in a team that means business.

BRCM are another of the sport’s leading the teams, having come second to the Predators on both occasions in the Team of the Year vote and it’s easy to see why they are favoured. Bugler brothers 252 Steve and 262 Rob, or ‘Boogie’ and ‘Roona’ to give their more common aliases, are two of the best entertainers in the game, and both know how to pedal a car too, and they are beautifully complemented by the duo of 333 Charlie Randell and 440 Macauley Mills with the quartet always being in sync with one another and without any rivals out on track could mount a challenge for the honours although their Kings Lynn experience is minimal over the past few years.

‘Tag Team’ could be the underdogs going in to this event. 267 Martin French remains one of the most slept on names in the sport. He continues to prove that he is one of the fastest drivers here at the Adrian Flux Arena and doesn’t need the thrills and spills that you typically see in the Unlimited Bangers. 252 ‘Blobby’ Gareth Griffiths is very much the same and is a regular winner on his visits here. It’s great to see 223 Brett Harrison and 800 Tom Hannah return; a quartet of drivers that wouldn’t be out of place on an Icebreaker grid 10 years ago.

It’s great to see the return of the Mad Hatters, and likewise we welcome Posh Wash once again in a rare visit to the Norfolk shaleway. The likes of Team V, TCB and King of Fens winner 222 Matty High’s Team Dave will all be teams you’d expect to do well, as will Dover Boys who have a line up of 51 James Licquorice, 188 John Reeves, 673 Darren Fendley and 907 Cameron Bradford who will either feature strongly on the race front or go for it in the entertainer stakes which has been the case the past two seasons where they have been runner-up in both 2022 and 2023.

The Demons, Loners and Jokers will be teams you’d expect to feature in the entertainers table, the latter especially with the Rowell brothers recruiting livewire 335 Lee White among their ranks.

The Junior Bangers offer support after a tremendous 2023 season for them, the stars of the future. 750 Rhys Parrin will display the silver roof for the first time after capturing the Trackstar Points title and will be looking to make early inroads into defending that. Caged! Junior Banger Driver of the Year 132 Jack Wyatt will be in attendance, and will relish the opportunity to be out on track in the same meeting as his Dad is with a big Posh Wash presence in the Unlimiteds. 190 Riley Holmes won the Final last time out and will be a promising prospect to watch this year as he continues to make improvements in his racing. 455 Lexi Finney and 609 Riley Murkin remain powerhouses in the formula and displayed that with their podium finishes on December 30th. 85 Jade Ellis was a heat winner last time out, and regularly displays flourishes of top ability and will be looking to make that more consistent for frequent podium places. 610 Alex McBain Jnr recently impressed on his visit to Cowdenbeath with a solid set of results and will be riding that momentum so expect to see good things from him, whilst 41 Archie Horwood goes off of the blue grade for the first time after impressive debut season which saw him win the White & Yellows Points. The sport is in great hands with these drivers, you could be looking at the next crop to come through and be National Banger stars.

It should certainly be a great day of action, with more of the same expected when the ‘little Icebreaker’ returns, now under a 1600cc format on Sunday 5th February. You can find the full rundown of fixtures on the back page of the programme.