News from RDC

Latest updates: Scroll down for previous updates
NEW: 1400cc Bangers Suffolk Open team championship fully booked
NEW: RDC social events, dates confirmed
NEW: RDC on tour at the Radbreaker and Ipswich
NEW: Follow up story to statement regarding Mildenhall Stadium
November to Remember Part II round up and thanks
First look at 2009 BBA Supreme Championship line up
New .com address for RDC Promotions
2Litre Banger under 25 Hot Shot Championship added to May 2 2009
2009 RDC fixtures first draft

1400cc Bangers Suffolk Open team championship fully booked (added December 2)
After announcing last week that over half the available spaces at the annual 1400cc Banger Suffolk Open team championship at Mildenhall on Good Friday (April 10) had been snapped up we are delighted the this week report that the meeting is now fully booked.

In traditional Good Friday form, this didn’t take long to occur with the 40th and final place secured on Sunday meaning the meeting was fully booked within a week and once again we have already started to turn away one or two teams. 

Keep an eye on the site as in the coming weeks we’ll start with more information on which drivers are racing for what teams and nearer the date we will have a dedicated section on the website for the meeting. 

In the meantime here is the list of the 40 teams (of six) booked in for the meeting. 

Allstars
Bad Boys
Bad News
Banger Wags
Barton Boys
Bits and Bobs
Clangers
Common Crushers
Condoms
Crash Zone
Damage Inc
Dover Boys
Gypsy Crew
Kettering Boys
Luniz
Manic Messers
Motley Krew A
Motley Krew B
Pikeys
Predators
Rat Pack
Renegades
Six Bolt
Six Bolt Critters
Six Bolt Rejects
Six Bolt Retards
Team Bull
Team Green
Team Flash
Team Kamikaze
Team Mint
Team V
Thattadoo
The Contenders
The Convicts
The Mob
Twisted Metal
Wallies
WI Engineering
Young Guns

RDC social events, dates confirmed (added December 2)
Again following on from the news piece last week we can now confirm the dates for three official social events being held at Mildenhall Stadium during January and February.

Saturday January 24: RDC Ministox Drivers Trophy Presentation and Disco
Saturday January 31: Wasted Magazine Awards Night
Saturday February 21: RDC Drivers Mildenhall Awards Night and Party

All three events are open to everyone although the Ministox event is more geared towards Ministox drivers and their teams and tickets for all three events will be on sale from the Mildenhall track shop at both winter meetings for £5 each. Please note there will be no tickets on the door so you will need a ticket in advance. 

This winter sees RDC stage more social events than ever before and this weekends Dover Raceway Dinner and Dance looks set to be a great start with the event being a total sell out, hopefully the Mildenhall events will prove equally popular and also become annual events. 

RDC on tour at the Radbreaker and Ipswich (added December 2)
There is set to be a large RDC presence at Swaffham this Sunday (December 7) as the raceway hosts its Rookie Banger Radbreaker event with many RDC banger regulars among the near 150 car entry. 

Set to compete are 10 Sam Topley, 13 Nigel Burchan, 86 Alex Savage, 119 Davey Cox, 178 Paul Robinson, 236 Clyde Williams Jnr, 326 Shane Lynn, 328 Daniel Latham, 332 Lee Champion, 338 Terry Garrod, 415 Scott Cornish, 442 Sean Crittenden, 447 Sam Reynolds, 623 Ricky Hutton, 639 Tye Willams, 682 Paul Sparrow and 741 Charlie Daniels. 

There was also plenty of RDC interest at Ipswich on Sunday (November 30) but mainly in the Ministox where a large amount of RDC registered drivers competed in the Long Track Championship.

In heat one 328 Craig Banwell finished second, 349 Todd Payne fifth, 366 Matt Noughton sixth, 331 Rob Gamble seventh and 343 Dan Rose in eighth. The second heat saw Payne claim third, 381 Craig Upson finish fourth, 314 Jo Annison take fifth and Noughton seventh. 

The final saw long time leader Gamble ultimately take second, Payne fourth, Annison fifth, 382 Jack Foster sixth, 370 Kyle Overy ninth and Upson 10th. The title was won by PRI’s 525 Vinny Madden. 

The 1600cc banger entry included 898 Andy Battle who had a lively afternoon but failed to register an top 10 finishes and was involved in a cool wrecking train in the DD. 

Follow up story to statement regarding Mildenhall Stadium (added December 2)
Finally and in another follow up story to a news items added last week, our article regarding the current building of a sound barrier at Mildenhall Stadium to appease concerns raised by the local concerns has become a talking point in some circles of the sport.

However the article on the RDC website appears to have raised a few needless alarms. RDC would like to again stress the work is well on schedule and we have a good relationship with the council to ensure all parties are happy and that none of the activities which take place at the stadium are under threat. 

The purpose of the article last week was merely to address claims made in the speedway press that future speedway events at the stadium were in doubt which were completely finaccurate. This matter has been since addressed in both the speedway press and in the local press as well. 

November to Remember Part II round up and thanks (added November 25)
It almost goes without saying that after such a testing day at Mildenhall on Sunday (November 23) we would like to begin this weeks news update by extending a huge message of thanks to all the drivers and fans who supported us for Sunday’s November to Remember part II.

In what was perhaps one of the most difficult meetings RDC has ever staged in its 16 year history it is safe to say that things were at least 10 times harder for each and driver who competed and entertained. 

While surrounding areas were badly hit by heavy snowfall on the weekend, Mildenhall by comparison escaped fairly fortunately and until 8am on Sunday morning there had been no snow and precious little rain which meant that until the heavy snow and rain arrived between 8 and 11.30am the raceway was in immaculate condition which is thanks to the tireless dedication of RDC’s small track team and it is thanks to them that the track was raceable on Sunday. 

Given the driving conditions and the numerous problems on the surrounding roads few would have blamed anyone for not making the meeting on Sunday but despite all that was thrown at them 39 of the 40 teams were able to attend and an incredible 147 banger drivers raced as well as just over 30 Ministox drivers with drivers from all across the country in attendance.

One can only wonder what the meeting might have been had it not been for the dreadful weather just hours before start time but regardless of that full praise is deserving to each and every driver who braved the conditions to compete and certainly extra marks are deserving to those who continued to fix their cars and keep racing throughout the afternoon. 

Furthermore a huge debt of thanks should also be extended to each and every single fan who again braved artic weather conditions and potentially dangerous driving conditions to attend the meeting. In a week where comments were made in the banger racing media about what makes a die hard fan, each and every person who attended the meeting on Sunday is most deserving of the title ‘die hard banger fan’ and it is fans like yourselves who make this great sport what it truly is so our thanks to you all. 

While there was no shortage of entertainment during the afternoon there were a few matters to be addressed. The first was the late start. As always this is something we strive to avoid, however with so many drivers arriving late, not because of their own doing but because of the conditions, we had no option but to delay the start in order to get all the drivers in. The last thing any of the drivers deserved after their fantastic efforts was to then lose races because they could not arrive on time, they needed to be rewarded for their efforts. 

The second was the decision to stick to the full format, in particular running heats eight and nine in the team championship racing that amalgamate the races. We opted to stick to the format for a few reasons. Firstly we had no idea how many cars we would get (ultimately just under 40 cars raced in the final two heats) and were concerned that a big field of 40 cars or more would not be the best race to run in the conditions we had and could also lead to a lengthy clear up process. Secondly we felt it would be unfair to the teams in heat seven (who would have all been in heat nine) as they would have only had one Ministox race for repairs. Had we cancelled heat nine in favour of an ‘all in’ heat eight, chances are high we would have either only had the 25 or so cars which were ready for heat eight or would have had to endure a lengthy wait for the remaining cars and we didn’t feel that was the best option at the time. 

Finally was the length of the meeting which after starting almost 40 minutes late ended a little after 7pm. While this is again not what we aimed for we do believe that completing a 16 race programme (including 11 banger races) in around five and half hours was probably as good as we could have managed and we would like to thank all the drivers and especially the RDC team for everything they did to help achieve this. Sadly the meeting was extended by a few minutes with the pit gate being reopened not once, but twice for additional cars in the DD. Again we are sorry for the delay but with drivers working so hard in the rotten conditions for the final event the last thing we wanted was for anyone to miss out so to those of you who stayed put till the end, we are sorry for the extra minutes and we hope you felt it was worth the wait. 

Lastly a special mention to the members of Team Dale, a group of individuals thrown together at the 11th hour to fill the final space in the line up. Thanks to 8 Dale Woolnough (who changed engines Saturday night/Sunday morning), 132 Rob James, 717 Craig Pendergast and 791 Nicky Young (who stepped in on Sunday morning) for taking part and filling the final space on the day. 

Congratulations to championship winners from November 23 (added November 25)
Sticking with Sunday’s meeting for a moment longer and we need to praise those who won the various championships on the day. 

Firstly well done to the Green Team, 86 Alex Savage, 370 John and 371 Jason Cobbold and 768 Pete Sparrow, on winning the 2Litre Banger Mildenhall team championship in a very close fought contest on Sunday and also well done to the Predators whose four entertainer awards meant the won the maiden RDC Team Championship series and as a result both teams have earned themselves a place at the 2009 Old Skool team championship should they wish to accept the invitation. 

In the Ministox well done to 366 Matt Noughton for winning the Trunch Garage Shield, 340 Wes Freestone for winning the Mildenhall Track Championship and after such an incredible season it was in some ways a little fitting that 370 Kyle Overy and 382 Jack Foster tied for victory in the RDC Drivers Points Championship and both are most deserving of the title.

While it would be easy to simply single out Noughton and 350 Thomas Parrin for their fantastic efforts in the Ministox on Sunday there were a few others who made an impression. 304 Jo Parker had his best meeting to date with an excellent third in the Trunch Garage Shield while white tops 321 Ryan More and 327 Michael Maskall also impressed in the difficult conditions and credit to many of the visiting drivers who coped very well in the unfamiliar surroundings, especially 120 Casey Englestone who finished third in his first race at Mildenhall. 

Social dates for your diary at Mildenhall Stadium (added November 25)
We are pleased to confirm that we are in the planning stages of some additional social events to the RDC calendar at Mildenhall Stadium. 

Firstly we are going to hold an RDC Ministox Drivers Presentation Night and disco which has been penciled in at the stadium for Saturday, January 24 and there will also be a Mildenhall Stadium Presentation Night and disco which will be held on either Saturday February 21 or 28, the exact date to be determined very soon. 

We intend to have full details of both events in next weeks news update and don’t forget the first ever Wasted magazine Awards Night at Mildenhall on Saturday, January 31 which tickets are available for £5 each and we are also delighted to report that year’s Dover Raceway Dinner and Dance next month is a complete sell out. 

Urgent message regarding alarming reports (added November 25)
There have been some very disturbing reports of vehicles and lorries being vandalized in the pits during Sunday’s meeting at Mildenhall which has caused great concern to RDC.

These reports come a fortnight after reports of race cars being tampered with and equipment being stolen at the ORC team championship meeting.

RDC takes this matter very, very seriously and this problem needs to be stamped out immediately and should we identify the culprits they will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law and within the sport. 

We call on anyone who has any information to please contact us, all information will be treated with the greatest of confidence.

Furthermore we ask all drivers and fans to look out for one another and keep an eye for any such low lives who clearly have no regard for other people’s property or safety. They clearly have no regard for the reputation of RDC, Mildenhall Stadium and the drivers and fans who attend there and together these people need identifying and driving out of our sport. 

RDC statement regarding Mildenhall Stadium improvements (added November 25)
RDC Promotions have this week back hit back at claims made in the speedway media which have extended into local news stories that the future of speedway racing at Mildenhall could be in jeopardy unless certainly improvements are not made at the stadium. 

Those of you who have attended meetings at Mildenhall in the last few weeks will have no doubt seen the work going on to build a new sound barrier fence at the road end of the stadium. 

These work is the result of a small number of neighbouring residents to the stadium complaining about noise in recent months and the order to install the fence has been made by the local council who have set a deadline for the work to be completed at the end of December and have threatened to stop all motor sport at the track unless the fence is completed. 

RDC are happy to confirm that work is very much on schedule and are highly confident the fence will be completed ahead of the deadline in order for our winter meetings to go ahead as planned which is months before the speedway season is due to start. 

Subsequently we are also very disappointed by the attitude of the speedway team at Mildenhall for issuing the press statements they did without first consulting RDC as stadium owners and we believe this was a very ill thought out attempt at propaganda on their behalf which has done little but cause unneeded concern and alarm. 

RDC at Champion of Champions (added November 25)
RDC was well represented at Birmingham’s annual Champion of Champions event for unlimited bangers on November 22 with 379 Adrian Clifton registering an excellent second place in the main event, arguably his best big race finish to date. 

He was joined on the championship grid by 99 Richie Ahern, 148 Ian Redden and 340 Jay Atkinson, 148 Shorty following in 6 Mark Holdsworth en route to 10th place. 

Kent pairing 328 Mark Hughes, 330 Roy Laybourn and 380 Trevor Wright were among the support cars, the latter having a lively time in his last chance race and 330 Old Roy fared well in the DD. 

Shorty impressed in the second Allcomers, taking on the Posh Wash single handidly as he followed in 714 Paul Smaldon and buried 133 Ben Wyatt before trading hits with 372 Jay Matthews and 381 Trevor Joyce on the infield, the RDC young gun rejoining the track for the final laps while the others remained on the middle. 

Final total of banger drivers who raced at RDC in 2008 season (added November 25)
During the course of the season we have made occasional updates on the running total of banger drivers who have competed at RDC this season.

Following Sunday’s event at Mildenhall we now have the final total for different banger drivers who have raced at RDC this season which is an incredible 815 drivers and again this is only those who competed at full contact National Banger meetings and does not include the rookie meetings at Dover. 

As ever a huge thank to each and every one of these 815 drivers and to every other driver who has raced at RDC this season for their amazing support and dedication to the sport. 

First look at 2009 BBA Supreme Championship line up (added November 18)
Following the Spedeworth World Final at the weekend we are now in a position to confirm the first provisional line up for the 2009 National Banger BBA Supreme Championship which will be staged at Mildenhall on March 28 at 6.30pm.

Once again the event has the makings of being a cracker and the initial line up boasts many of the sports biggest names or today and tomorrow and has the makings of being one of the line ups of 2009 as it was in 2008. 

As always there is no easy way to qualify, you have to either register a top finish in a designated championship race in 2008, be your promotions one seeded entry (ideally the highest driver in the 2008 points chart who has failed to qualify) or be a former champion. There is no room for reputations, legacies, back door bookings, attendance points, smart car awards and certainly no internet voting. 

For this first time next year will see two drivers added to the grid as previous champions who have failed to qualify in their own right. The first is 119 Davey Cox who as reigning 1500cc National Champion will certainly be right at home but the second is rather more interesting as the door if open for former World and two time Supreme Champion 88 Alan ‘Speedy’ Reed to return to the Supreme Championship grid. 

Previous champions can only be added to the grid is they are defined as ‘active drivers’ and this is defined by a driver competing in at least six meetings the previous season. The anoraks out there will probably realise that Speedy has at time of writing only raced at five meetings in 2008. However Speedy was one of a few RDC drivers who was not granted a booking by Spedeworth for the World Final at Ipswich and while RDC felt that it was grossly unfair that a driver of this stature was not included at this meeting we felt it was even more unfair that as a result he would miss the opportunity to compete in the Supreme Championship should he wish and therefore he has been granted a place on the grid. 

As previously stated, the list below is merely a list of those drivers which have qualified and we still have several seeded entries from a few promotions to add in the coming weeks. After Christmas we will start to send drivers their invitations to the meeting and from there we will start to establish which drivers plan to attend or not and informing relevant reserves so expect the final line up to change somewhat from what is listed below but nonetheless the countdown to March 28 has begun and once again it looks like a meeting not to be missed. 

Drivers are listed below, their promotion is shown in brackets and how they qualified is shown afterwards.

27 Dale Hughes (Spedeworth) World Cup
30 Roy Laybourn Jnr (PRI) Seeded entry
47 Andy Davies (PRI) Ipswich Open
53 Dave Palmer (RDC) Masters Championship
58 Martin Dalton (Mendips) Seeded entry
66 Dave Spooner (Autospeed) 2Litre World Final
67 Mark Whittaker (Buxton) British Championship
73 Dean Cruickshank (TSR) UK Open
82 Wayne Quinn (RDC) Seeded entry
88 Alan Reed (RDC) Previous Championship
88 Ash Burton (TSR) UK Open
99 Steevie Van Goetham (CAMSO) European Championship
119 Davey Cox (RDC) Previous Champion
125 Lee Overy (RDC) British Championship
158 Shane Davies (Spedeworth) Ipswich Open
183 Paul Hunter (PRI) PRI World Final
188 Matt Fuller (PRI) Supreme Championship
188 John Reeves (RDC) Spedeworth World Final
190 Steve Bailey (Autospeed) Seeded entry
198 Marcus Goldsmith (Mendips) PRI World Final
206 Dave King (Spedeworth) Supreme Championship
208 Jimmy Randell (PRI) 2Litre World Final
218 Rob Speak (Startrax) King of the Peak
247 Lee Clarke (Spedeworth) 2Litre World Final
271 Dean Goodall (PRI) World Cup
294 Nigel Ashley (GMP) King of the Peak
298 Sam Wyatt (Autospeed) Autospeed World Final
331 Jason Jackson (PRI) Spedeworth World Final
341 Andy Jones (Autospeed) English Championship
348 Sonny Sherwood (Spedeworth) PRI World Final
349 Lee Saunders (RDC) Masters Championship
361 Chris Walden (Skegness) British Championship
364 Sean Winchester (RDC) Masters Championship
384 John Golden (PRI) Autospeed World Final
409 Carl Pears (GMP) UK Open
404 Rob Mills (Mendips) English Championship
432 Mark Munson (RDC) European Championship
439 Danny Sutton (Spedeworth) Supreme Championship
470 Pete Corbett (Buxton) Seeded entry
472 Matt Cooke (Incarace) Seeded entry
516 Carl Gould (Spedeworth) Seeded entry
517 Scott Weldon (Mendips) English Championship
525 Wes Starmer (TSR) TSR World Final
528 Alan Hunt (Spedeworth) Ipswich Open
592 Mark Marchant (PRI) World Cup
617 Jack Overy (Startrax) Autospeed World Final
673 Darren Fendley (TSR) TSR World Final
730 Dean Mayes (Spedeworth) Spedeworth World Final
804 Ben Small (GMP) King of the Peak
898 Andy Battle (RDC) TSR World Final

RDC at unlimited banger World Final (added November 18)
It’s very pleasing to be able to report this week on an excellent showing by the RDC contingent at the unlimited banger World Final at Ipswich on November 15 highlighted by top 10 finishes in the main event by 188 John Reeves and 125 Lee Overy on their debut outings in the big race. 

188 Victor, who raced a very smart Mk3 Granada estate, was placed seventh and 125 Hitler ninth, and although several would argue that maybe those places were the wrong way around it was nonetheless a fine achievement by both drivers in the 60 car race.

898 Andy Battle (who piloted a very smart Omega), 349 Lee Saunders and 379 Adrian Clifton (who won a smart car award) were not finishers, the former being very much on the pace before his engine blew up while 349 Finbarr enjoyed a top three position in the opening laps having draw grid position two but collided heavily with Victor in the closing laps. 

They were joined on the grid by 99 Ritchie Ahern who stormed to victory in the second last chance race, firing 710 Ben Wilkins in very hard on the way, but he had little luck in the main event and retired with mechanical damage. 

He was almost joined by at least one other RDC driver via the last chance races, 22 Dave Vincent looking quick in his smart Granada estate before he faded in his race while 119 Davey Cox opted to retire from his heat as after a restart he was placed near the back of the grid when he, and many others, were confident he was in fact in third place. 

Elsewhere and 415 Scott Cornish turned out a typically smart Mk2 Granada for the support races as did 330 Roy Laybourn with a Mk1 which he had precious little luck in. 2 Jonathan Bricknell was lively in the Allcomers in his pretty Volvo 240 estate having placed 10th in his heat while 161 Karl Totham was also lively with a wild attack on 537 Martin Brunson before he copped an on opposite assault from 549 Phil Smith. 

148 Ian Redden had a decent night in his rapid Volvo 240 estate finishing seventh in his heat and fourth in the 75 plus car Allcomers, the latter race being good for the RDC contingent with 379 the Worm and Vincent sixth and seventh respectively. 

Also in attendance were 168 Calvyn Girling, 545 Karl Hough, 174 Dave Osborn, 328 Mark Hughes and 782 Glen Boyce, the latter racing a pretty Mk1 Granada while a get well soon message should go to 174 Whipper who suffered a knee injury in the Allcomers race. 

Congratulations to ORC Champions (added November 11)
This week we would like to extend a big congratulations to 219 Luke Grief, 382 Jack Foster and the RDC banger team who triumphed in their respective ORC Championships at an action packed and competitive meeting at Mildenhall on Sunday. 

While Grief narrowly missed out on winning the Saloon Stockcar track championship (well done to 511 Craig Barnett for successfully defending the title) he wrapped up a sensational season with his second major championship win of the year and did so in dramatic circumstances, emerging victorious in a lively race which was made most tricky by the wet weather conditions. 

Meanwhile Foster lifted the Ministox championship beating RDC stablemate 370 Kyle Overy to the title by a mere two points while 381 Craig Upson finished in fourth, missing out on making it an RDC clean sweep by a single point as 551 George Boult impressed on his track debut with a race win en route to third overall. 

Finally we had the banger team championship where the RDC team made history by becoming the first team to win the event for the fifth time and they did so in fine fashion with a highly entertaining performance as they combined scoring points with some big hits throughout the day and they certainly put in a fantastic effort both on and off the track in order to lift the title

November to Remember part one round up and thank you (added November 11)
Once again we would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who helped make Sunday's ORC Championship such a great success. 

Thanks to all the promotions for assembling their finest drivers to represent them and making such a quality line up in all three formulas and to the drivers and their teams who put on some fantastic racing. Truly all of the first 11 races of the afternoon were packed full of action and even the rain at the end of the day didn't completely ruin the final events which, while not as good as the previous events, were still most entertaining. 

Thanks also go to all of the fans who turned out, despite the minority of sceptics who predicted the meeting would suffer from the weeks rainfall and despite the fact that meting received pracyically zero coverage on the internet save for this website, they still turned out in their hundreds to support the meeting and the drivers and hopefully they were all rewarded with a fine day of stockcar and banger racing. 

And thanks to the RDC staff who worked very hard throughout the afternoon to help the meeting run as smoothly as possible. An extra special help is deserving of Dave Coventry and Peter Thorogood for the amazing work they put into the track preparations which defied the weeks weather forecast and the misguided predictions of the minority and they deserve much praise and thanks for the work they put in which contributed to such a good race meeting. 

However the meeting was not without problems. The first was the near half an hour delay to the start of the meeting. This was initially caused by the banger teams not being ready for the 1pm start and was compounded by technical problems in race control. Again we would like to say sorry for the delay, starting late is something we always aim to avoid and we would like to thank everyone for their patience in the circumstances. 

The second problem was the alarming and disappointing reports of some cars being tampered with in the pits and others have property stolen. RDC take this matter very seriously and would ask that if anyone has any information that they contact RDC and that all information will be treated with strictest confidence. We would also urge all drivers and their teams to please keep a watchful eye in the pits for this kind of behaviour in future as this is a problem we need to stamp out immediately. 

Finally we are delighted to report that it was agreed yesterday that the 2009 ORC Championship meeting will once again be staged at Mildenhall on a date in November or December which we hope to confirm as soon as possible. 

Personal message to RDC team (added November 11)
The following statement is from Michael Coventy and is in no way an official comment from RDC Promotions. 

"I would like to take the time to publicly thank the stellar efforts of the entire RDC Promotions team which won its fifth ORC team championship with a cracking display on Sunday afternoon. 

"It is no secret that the team was not designed with the intention of pursuing the championship and while they more than achieved their goal of injecting plenty of entertainment into the afternoon they also managed to win the title as well. 

"Making their achievement even more impressive is the fact that in some departments the team sustained some truly rotten luck with 117 Karl Dack failing to make the track all afternoon and 188 John Reeves' meeting being over within a lap but despite their disappointments both drivers gave 100 per cent to fighting the teams cause behind the scenes and played just as large a role in the teams success as the rest of the team.

"Furthermore I would like to thank 188 Victor and 137 Jay Chilton for stepping in at such short notice to replace the injured Ricky Twell and Kevin Shinn.

"On track 898 Andy Battle once again showed why he is a star in the making with a pair of heat wins, 82 Wayne Quinn again showed his class with some vital places and 379 Adrian Clifton underlined his all round ability with crashing in the heats and a fine drive to win the final before entering a rated one man display in the DD. These three sealed victory with a brilliant 1-2-3 in the wet conditions in the final on a track and in conditions where whizzy engines, sticky tyres and fancy set ups carried little advantage and driver ability shone through. 

"Meanwhile 401 Steve Hemmings and 602 Shaun Cooper again proved why they are two of the top entertainers in the sport and Chilton also impressed with his crashing display, even though he cost the team some points in the first heat with his post red flag hit (it's a shame that some petty minded minority felt his disqualification from the result and warning wasn't sufficient punishment and felt it represented promotional bias. Perhaps if the same minority want to ask we could show them some real displays of home promotion bias just to highlight their pathetic and blinkered attitude but hey ho).

"In closing I would like to say that all eight drivers did RDC, themselves and, for what it's worth, myself very proud and it is an honour to have drivers like this represent RDC and I'm sure everyone connected with RDC will share in this sentiment."

Regards Michael Coventry

RDC on tour November 1 and 2 (added November 4)
As reported last week it was a very busy weekend for the RDC banger drivers last weekend with drivers in action at King's Lynn, Eastbourne, Ipswich, Arena Essex and Standlake. 

In potted highlights congratulations to 119 Davey Cox who won the 1500cc Banger National Championship in truly dire wet weather conditions at King's Lynn, following in the steps of 37 Dave Lewis who won the event 12 months ago, 119 Cruncher's achievement made even more impressive as he qualified via the last chance race.

At Eastbourne it was good to 346 Muttley back in full contact bangers for the first time since August, racing his lush Rover P5 first seen at Lydden Hill last year and he and 379 Adrian Clifton ending the night well wrecked.

Speaking of P5s and full marks to the WI Engineering team who raced a superb eight classic P5s at Ipswich Gala Night and went on to enjoy a great battle with the Bears during the night. 

Another to make an awesome effort at the weekend was 33! Simon Reed who raced not one but two Rolls Royce Silver Shadows at Ipswich and the Firecracker at Arena, entering a great performance at the latter event in the consolation. 

Back to Ipswich and 448 Chris Smith topped a cool line up from the Gypsy Crew with his massive Lincoln Town Car limo which was trashed in style by 421 Nigel Riley. 

88 Speedy Reed made his latest appearance in a simply stunning Rover P5 alongside the return of former side kick 145 Sonic. Another star car was the ultra smart Mk2 Granada limo of 138 Jason Smy.

On the results front 99 Ritchie Ahern stormed to victory in the awful conditions in the final ahead of 148 Ian Redden who earlier finished third in his heat. 

There was a smaller RDC presence at the Firecracker this year but 277 Des Owen impressed in his Rolls Royce with some great exchanges with 190 Steve Bailey in his heat while 39 Steve Moore was his usual self in his trademark DS420 hearse and 99 the Cheat was on form again with a second in his qualifying heat. 

782 Glen Boyce ends our round up by stealing the show at Standlake's Big Bang Bonfire bash with his well presented Yank estate.

Wasted Magazine Awards Night tickets on sale at Mildenhall this weekend (added November 4)
Readers of Wasted magazine may be aware that the first ever Wasted Magazine Awards Night is being planned at Mildenhall on Saturday, January 31 2009 and tickets are now on sale and will go on sale for the first time at Mildenhall Stadium this weekend.

Tickets, which cost £5, will be available from the trackshop at the ORC Championship meeting and will also be on sale on November 23, December 28 and January 18. 

RDC extends its congratulations to Lewis Hamilton (added November 4)
Seeing as we wished him luck and congratulated him on his victory in the penultimate round of the season it seems only right to extend the biggest congratulations possible to Lewis Hamilton on his dramatic victory in the F1 World Championship at the weekend. 

I'm sure everyone connected to RDC will join us in congratulating Lewis on becoming the youngest world champion ever and truly making you proud to be both British and a fan of motor racing, the greatest sport on earth. 

Halloween Havoc thanks and an apology (added October 29)
RDC would like to extend a huge thank you to all the drivers who supported the annual Halloween Havoc event at the weekend and treated the largest crowd of the season to a fantastic night of entertainment and action. 

On a cracking evening of racing, all three formulas delivered some great action with each of the 12 races producing some degree of entertainment, the National Banger DDs, the Reliant Robin final and Ministox championship race in particular being especially rated and it is safe to say the standard of racing was appreciated by the monster crowd who supplied an excellent atmosphere which the drivers thrived on. 

A special thank you to those who once again made the effort to compete in the National Banger caravan race and DD and just like year the drivers provided a sensational end to the night with perhaps the best caravan race seen in the sport this season. 

However we would like to extend a deep apology to all the fans and families who were effected by the large gate at the main turnstiles not being opened at the end of the meeting resulting in large queues as people tried to leave at the end of the stadium. RDC accepts full responsibility for this oversight and would like to say a sincere sorry to all those effected and we hope it did not take away any of your enjoyment of the night. 

New .com address for RDC Promotions (added October 29)
This week RDC Promotions is pleased to announce that you can now get access to this website via one of two new addresses.

You can now log on at www.rdcpromotions.com or www.rdcpromotions.net while the www.rdcpromotions.cjb.net address still works although the former addresses are highly recommended as they will not result in any unwanted divertions to the cjb.net advert pages. 

RDC qualifiers for Ministox ORC Championship confirmed (added October 29)
Following the penultimate round of the Ministox points championship at Mildenhall on Saturday we can now confirm the drivers who will represent RDC in the ORC Championship at Mildenhall on Sunday, November 9. 

Each promotion is invited to send its top six available drivers and it's little surprise that the RDC places have been filled by our top six drivers which are namely 301 Tom Wellham, Suffolk Open Champion 328 Craig Banwell, Mildenhall track championship leader 340 Wes Freestone, RDC Drivers Champion 370 Kyle Overy, former Suffolk Open Champion 381 Craig Upson and Dover Track and Kent champion 382 Jack Foster.

Further more 355 Sid Magewick will be in action having qualified via the PRI points, 314 Jo Annison is amongst the Spedeworth entries and 329 Reece Laybourn will also be competing as the first reserve filling a vacant place left by Autospeed. 

We have also heard from Incarace, PRI, Spedeworth and Autospeed this week who have confirmed their drivers and the current entry list can be found in our November to Remember section.

Over 800 banger drivers compete at RDC in 2008 (added October 29)
Following the Halloween Havoc event at Mildenhall on Saturday we can now confirm that the amount of drivers who have competed at RDC banger meetings in 2008 has smashed through the 800 mark.

In total an incredible 805 different drivers have raced at either Mildenhall or Dover this season and that does not include those who raced at any of the rookie meetings at Dover. This is purely the full contact meetings. 

RDC would as always like to thank the drivers, their teams and families for this amazing show of support this season. 

Congratulations to championship winners (added October 29)
Halloween Havoc saw several championship races settled and RDC would like to congratulate each of the winners. 

In the bangers well done to 125 Lee Overy who lifted his maiden Mildenhall track championship while 364 Sean Winchester maintained his stranglehold on the RDC Drivers Championship and 730 Dean Mayes won the Allstar Dash for Cash. 

In the Ministox well done to 370 Kyle Overy on his faultless drive to win his third consecutive RDC Drivers Championship and in the Reliant Robins congratulations to 399 Darron Atkins who held on to win the Mildenhall Track and RDC Drivers Championship. 

Ministox RDC Drivers Points Championship goes to the wire (added October 29)
After a great championship winning performance by 370 Kyle Overy at Mildenhall Saturday he and 382 Jack Foster head into the final round of the Ministox RDC Drivers Points Championship at Mildenhall on November 23 tied on points. 

With the ORC Championship on November 9 not counting for points, this title race will be settled at the Trunch Garage Shield meeting on November 23 in what promises to be a fitting end to what has been a thrilling battle between these two stars of the future which has raged on all season. 

Reliant Robin World Championship qualifying points (added October 29)
With two of the six rounds in the 2009 Reliant Robin world championship qualifying series now completed we have an early indication on how the series is shaping up and we have an expanded list of the current points chart below and well done to 433 Andy Parker who is the early leader in the race for pole position. 

The next round is at Mildenhall on January 18 but already we have seen over 40 drivers compete in the series which indicates another hugely popular world championship series for the 3-wheelers at RDC. 

433 Andy Parker 52pts
512 Chris Barnett 48
38 Gary Palmer 47
339 Lee Pullen 46
285 Sean Dyer 38
275 Phil Rowbottom 32
553 Daniel Douglas 30
485 Gary Archer 30
224 Dave Canham 27
30 James Donavan 24
499 Tom Atkins 24
351 Tut Knowles 19
66 Steve Willis 19
16 Ray Layton 16
29 Steve Donavan 15
470 Simon Lattimer 14
265 Brian Willis 14
150 Mike Hewitt 13
85 James Ellis 12
211 Lee Cowley 12
129 Dan Chaplin 11
484 Gary Harvey 11
398 Lea Atkins 10
399 Darron Atkins 10
94 Mick Acheillous 8
576 Colin Aldred 7
410 Jake Calvert 6

Thunderstruck-a round up and thanks (added October 21)
As is almost always the case at RDC after one of our bigger meetings we would like to thank everyone who helped make the evening such a great success. 

Once again we were blessed with a fantastic turnout of cars with over 120 National Banger drivers and nearly 130 cars plus 35 Saloon Stockcars including 303 Frank Leoff all the way from Germany and once again a large crowd assembled to enjoy the action. 

Each of the 12 races delivered some degree of action, varying from standout to entertaining but it’s safe to say there was not a bad race on the card and for that we are truly thankful to the drivers who once again stepped up and delivered. 

However that is far to say the evening was without fault. The RDC team had to battle hard to finish as close to 11pm as possible and while the DD didn’t begin until 11.15pm we are still thankful to everyone who contributed to getting through the programme. To get through so many races, with so many cars, not to mention clearing up plenty of wrecked bangers and three championship presentations in little over four hours was a fine achievement by all concerned.

The other two factors which took a little edge of the evening was the ‘infield antics’ of a handful of National Banger drivers in the second Allcomers who were all loaded up for the evening while other matters are still being investigated. The second was the disappointing field for the Saloon Stockcar final where a number of drivers missed the gate by a couple of minutes. Unfortunately with time against us we waited as long as we possibly could and full credit to around two thirds of the field who made the start of the race. 

An RDC spokesman said: “It could be argued that perhaps the addition of an extra National Banger Allcomers turned out to not be the best move or could have been better positioned on the card but hindsight is a wonderful thing and we felt holding the second Allcomers immediately after the first was the best move at the time. As always it is something we will learn from in the future.”

New trophy record set at Thunderstruck (added October 21)
One year ago following Thunderstruck 2007 we penned a small article about how we believed we had set some sort of record by dishing out an incredible 147 trophies at the meeting. 

However this Saturday, that record was not only broken but completely smashed with a mind blowing 178 trophies handed out to drivers during the course of the evening. In case you missed the announcements over the PA on Saturday, RDC’s trophy bill for this meeting alone was £2,300. However we believe every single penny was worth it as the majority of the silverware was well received by the drivers (especially the white and yellow grade series qualifiers) and underlines RDC commitment to the sport and its drivers and our ongoing gratitude for their efforts and support. 

This is the full break down of trophies from the night

35 x National Banger White and Yellow Grade Final qualifiers
4 x National Banger White and Yellow Grade Final (top 4)
14 x National Banger Merit Awards (details below)
50 x National Banger Accumulator Championship qualifiers
4 x National Banger Accumulator Championship (top 4)
28 x National Banger smart car trophies (details below)
21 x Saloon Stockcars White and Yellow Grade Series qualifiers
4 x Saloon Stockcar White and Yellow Grade Final (top 4)
9 x Saloon Stockcars Heats and Final (top 3 in each race)
1 x Saloon Stockcar Dash for Cash winner
1 x Saloon Stockcar Wayne Oslar Memorial
1 x Saloon Stockcar Roundwheel Racewear Tries Award
6 x National Banger winners trophies (4 Allcomers, 1 DD, 1 best entertainer)

National Banger Merit Awards were presented to 26 Dan Holmes, 54 Martin Lawton (Carry on regardless Awards), 82 Wayne Quinn (Top of the Class Award), 86 Alex Savage (Most Improved Award), 117 Karl Dack (Entertainment Award), 188 John Reeves (Dedication Award), 209 Ben Hayward (Attitude Award), 352 Ben Mynott (Graduate Award), 370 John Cobbold (Best Newcomer), 415 Scott Cornish (Mr Paint), 425 Martin Stopher (Attendance Award), 439 Danny Sutton (Top Visiting Driver Award), 511 Helen Licquorice (Never Say Die Award) and 551 Stu Franklin (Most Improved Driver Award) in light of their various achievements this season. 

National Banger Smart Car Awards went to 8 Dale Woolnough, 54 Splat, 86 Mr Savage, 124 John Chaplin, 141 Andy Neal, 178 Paul Robinson, 190 Steve Bailey, 200 Wayne Holton, 209 Ben Hayward, 236 Clyde Williams Jnr, 278 Tom Hills, 285 Sean Dyer, 352 Ben Mynott, 359 Simon Rolph, 370 John Cobbold, 377 Ashley Tompkins, 379 Ade Clifton, 380 Bradley Evans, 415 Scott Cornish, 427 Dave Johnson, 435 Dan Wilkins, 442 Sean Crittenden, 487 Dave Silley, 527 Michael Norman, 547 Tony McNeil, 551 Stu Franklin and 741 Charlie Daniels.

November to remember section added to website (added October 21)
Visitors to the website since the weekend may have noticed we have added another of our big meeting sections to the site with the November to Remember double header covered in detail in two areas of the site which can be found using the link on the home page and to the left of the site. 

We have already talked about the 2Litre Banger Mildenhall Team Championship on November 23 several times but now we have the early list for the first 2Litre Banger ORC Team Championship at Mildenhall since 1999 and that too is shaping up to be a real cracker with some mighty fine looking teams being entered. 

Both meetings already have much potential and we hope you will take a look at the November to Remember section to see what we have in store already and keep an eye out for future updates in the near future. 

Changes made to National Banger Accumulator Championship qualification (added October 21)
After hinting about it earlier this month RDC have confirmed some changes to the way drivers will qualify for the National Banger Accumulator Championship in 2009. 

Drivers will still qualify via the Accumulator Qualifier in one of three ways.
Winning the Accumulator Qualifier Race
Winning the Destruction Derby
Winning the Best Entertainer Award

Please note entertainer awards will only be awarded if the officials feel a driver is deserving and these awards will also carry 10points towards the RDC Drivers and Track Championship but only entertainer awards in Accumulator Qualifiers and DDs.

The first chance for drivers to qualify for next year’s championship will be in the 2Litre Banger DD on November 23. 

RDC thank Trevor Gray (added October 21)
RDC Promotions would like to extend its deepest thanks to long serving Saloon Stockcar driver 562 Trevor Gray who competed at Mildenhall for the final time on Saturday night. 

Trevor will retire at King’s Lynn on November 1, fittingly at the Mervyn Gray Memorial, ending a career which has spanned almost 20 years and all at RDC would like to thank him for his fantastic dedication to the sport over the years and wish him the very best for the future. 

RDC congratulate Lewis Hamilton (added October 21)
Since we publicly wished him good luck over the PA at Mildenhall on Saturday it seems only right we now congratulate British F1 Grand Prix superstar Lewis Hamilton on his victory in the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday. 

We sincerely hope to be able to congratulate him on winning the World Championship in a couple of weeks. 

Dover Raceway 2008, a message of thanks (added October 15)
With the final meeting of the 2008 season at Dover Raceway still fresh in many people’s minds RDC Promotions would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to such a fantastic season at the track, certainly one of the best since RDC took over the raceway in 2000.

Despite the air of uncertainty car turnouts were at their highest with more 100 car meetings at the track than any other year and improved crowd attendances at many meetings, which was no doubt influenced by the larger car turnouts and the improved quality of meetings. 

Again our thanks to all the drivers, their families and teams and to all the fans and our staff for their efforts this season and we hope to see you all again for our 10th season in Kent which kicks off on Easter Monday 2009. 

RDC at unlimited East Anglian Championship and 2Litre World Final (added October 18)
Not for the first time this season RDC was well represented at King’s Lynn with 13 drivers in total on October 11 split between the unlimited Banger King of the Fens Championship and a 2litre banger domestic although the majority were in the former class. 

And they had some cool cars amongst them, 204 Andy Bailey returning his smart Mk2 Granada limo from the World of Shale while 85 James Ellis brought back his coke bottle shaped Granada coupe from the same meeting and 285 Sean Dyer raced the ex Mad Mouse Rolls Royce Silver Shadow but 33! Simon Reed topped the bill with his Austin 3 Litre which failed scrutineering at Hednesford a couple of weeks before. 

The title race for the big cars was up first with 133 Karl Day copping a large T-bone from 51 Simon Heilds as 33! The Legend was buried into the plating by 40 Lester Freestone. 70 Ant Long then stuffed 119 Davey Cox which saw the latter collected head-on by 169 Len Brinkley and fired up 119 Cruncher to nail 28 Neill Osborn with a head-on. The recovered Legend now came under fire from 421 Nigel Riley as Bailey homed in on 28 Ozzie. The race ended in style as 421 Nutty Nige gave 285 Mr Misery a big jacking tearing the axle from the Roller in style. 148 Ian Redden meanwhile entered a master class in sideways racing as he motored to the title, 169 Lenny Boy taking third, the Legend eighth and Bailey ninth. 

Lenny Boy came under immediate fire from 455 Rick Finney in the first Allcomers as 148 Shorty fenced 536 Annette Nicholls. Again the race ended in explosive fashion as Lenny Boy was followed in hard by Finney with Heilds zeroing in for a meaty head-on. Shorty meanwhile romped to his second win of the night with the Legend impressing with a fine third in his rapid Oztin.

Little action for the RDC contingent in the second Allcomers but Ellis made his hard work in the pits worthwhile (changing the engine from Mr Misery Roller into his car after the first heat) as he raced to the win and complete a clean sweep of wins for the RDC camp, not bad for a promotion which doesn’t run unlimited racing!

11 Pippa Cable started a decent night for herself with third in the first 2litre heat before 619 Karl Turnbull, 338 Terry Garrod, Cable, 132 Rob James and 715 Mick Prince finished second, third, fourth, sixth and ninth respectively in the second heat. The final also featured some good results with James in second and Garrod taking third despite finding time to run in PRI young gun 577 Alfie Lee. 

Sunday, October 12 saw 82 Wayne Quinn and 898 Andy Battle represent RDC in the 2Litre Banger BBA World Final at Hednesford but sadly neither had much luck and both failed to finish. They were joined on the grid by last chance qualifier 379 Adrian Clifton who went the distance but finished outside the top 10. Congratulations to Autospeed star 66 Dave Spooner on a thoroughly deserved victory. 

Additional Reliant Robin World qualifier added to 2009 series (added October 15)
Following the success of the two Reliant Robin meetings at Dover in 2008, RDC have announced it will run a third meeting for the 3-wheelers at the raceway in 2009 which will be an additional world qualifier on May 4.

This season saw the traditional Easter Monday fixture for the Robins cancelled because of weather conditions and the formula was added to the first May bank holiday event alongside the big van bangers, a combination which seemed to work very well together. 

That, and the impressive entry and quality of racing for the Masters Championship on Sunday, has influenced RDC to retain the May bank holiday fixture as well. 

Our provisional 2009 fixtures have been updated accordingly and can be seen by clicking here. 

In the meantime here is the remaining world qualifying rounds for Reliant Robins in the 2009 season. 

Round two Mildenhall October 25
Round three Mildenhall January 18
Round four Dover April 13
Round five Dover May 4
Round six Mildenhall May 30
World Final Mildenhall August 8

RDC pay tribute to Bill Morris (added October 15)
All at RDC Promotions would like to extend their deepest sympathies to the family of Bill Morris who passed away on October 9. 

Bill was the founder of Hednesford Hills Raceway and responsible for its construction on 1963 and was also responsible for introducing National Hot Rods in this country. 

RDC launch ‘Vote for our fifth driver’ campaign (added October 7)
This week RDC Promotions is calling upon all of its fans and its drivers to join our campaign to help see a fifth seeded entry from the RDC Drivers Championship, arguably the most competitive points championship in the sport, make it through to the Spedeworth World Final, arguably the most important banger race of the season, in November. 

The campaign comes in light of Spedeworth's ground breaking decision to award the final two places on the starting grid at Ipswich on November 15 to the winners of a 'People's Choice' vote which is being staged on the internet giant known as Ovalchat.

Obviously such a decision cannot be taken lightly and so Spedeworth have selected 50 highly knowledgeable, influential, committed and dedicated people to make the choice and the 50 who have been given the amazing power to make such a huge decision on one of, if not the biggest, race of the banger racing calendar are the 50 people who have registered the highest amount of posts on banger racing's media powerhouse Ovalchat. 

We are now calling upon these 50 people, clearly icons and well respected pillars of the banger racing community, to do the right thing and reward the fifth highest driver in the RDC Drivers Championship who wishes to compete in this event with a place in the race. 

At present we have seven drivers (37 Dave Lewis, 82 Wayne Quinn, 125 Lee Overy, 131 Barry Wade, 188 John Reeves, 349 Lee Saunders, 898 Andy Battle) currently battling over the four seeded positions RDC has in the race which means that three drivers will end the season disappointed, despite putting in an incredible amount of effort and dedication to the cause. 

We would urge the 50 panel members to reward the fifth driver with the place they so richly deserve in the biggest race of the season. 

No-one can argue the credentials of the RDC Drivers Championship as the most competitive points chart in banger racing. RDC hosts more full contact/National banger meetings than any other promotion in the country (34) and has the highest turnouts of drivers in the sport (including the highest turnout of the season (Suffolk Open teams), highest championship turnout (BBA Supreme) and highest unlimited meeting turnout (Suffolk Open)). Furthermore the series has seen almost 800 different drivers compete, more than any other points chart in the sport and drivers can only score points with top 10 results or by representing RDC at championship events, no attendance, smart car, rare car, entertaining points here just top drivers scoring the old fashioned way. 

That is why we believe the fifth seed is truly deserving of this coveted place in this event.

But how can RDC drivers and fans who are not among the elite 50 make a difference? 

Simple.

Make your voices heard. Let the 50 decision makers know how strongly you feel with PM messages and messages on the boards calling for them to put forward our fifth man.

If you are not a member of Ovalchat (and we find that hard to believe given the creditability of the site) then get registered and help back our campaign. 

Together we can make a difference. 

Together we can get this deserving driver the opportunity they deserve. 

Thank you for reading and we hope thank you for support as well.

2Litre Banger under 25 Hot Shot Championship added to May 2 2009 (added October 7)
This week RDC Promotions have confirmed another new addition to the 2009 banger fixtures at Mildenhall which will be the first Hot Shot Championship, a race purely for the young guns of the sport aged 25 and under.

While events of this kind have been held in the past we believe the most recent such event was at Wimbledon in 2002, although Ringwood have held similar events in the past but we do not believe there is a race of this description in the sport at the minute and also that there is a definite ‘gap in the market’ for such an event.

The huge amount of young talent in the sport is underlined by the level of budding stars in this seasons White and Yellow Grade Series Final but the idea of this event is it would be open to all drivers from all promotions without having to qualify in advance. 

It is hoped the event might become an annual event but will be an interesting experiment for 2009 and the race has been pencilled in as May 2 2009 and the under 25 race will double up as heat one on the programme which will feature a full programme of bangers. 

For the full provisional 2009 fixtures click here 

Stewards decisions on October 4 explained (added October 7)
It is little secret to anyone who attended Mildenhall on October 4 or perhaps read the meeting report this week that one or two unusual and perhaps controversial decisions were made by the stewards of the meeting.

As is always the case with RDC, we believe in being totally up front and honest with the fans and drivers and therefore would like to take the time to explain a couple of the decisions in further detail.

The most significant was the result of the 2Litre Banger Gabby Final. At the end of the race the two lap scorers confirmed there were 11 drivers who finished the race and three stewards examined each of the finishers and determined that eight of them had ‘used the concrete safety area excessively and gained an advantage’ although all eight had done this in varying levels.

Subsequently the stewards identified three drivers who they believed were not guilty of breaking any rules, 46 Wayne Pecker, 35 Pete Lewis and 396 Graham Hyla (who initially finished sixth, eighth and 11th) and moved them up to first, second and third respectively with the rest of the drivers who finished filling places fourth to 11th in the order they crossed the line. 

An RDC spokesman said: “It would have been easy to have just accepted the track conditions were difficult and turned a blind eye to those using the concrete as the majority of drivers still racing were doing this.

“However we felt that would be grossly unfair to the few drivers who stuck to the shale and felt they were the drivers who should be rewarded with the top places.”

The second decision came in the destruction derby where after the meeting RDC officials elected to reward the performance by 82 Wayne Quinn, who was judged the best entertainer, with the same benefits as the DD winner, i.e. a place in the Accumulator Championship and 10 points. 

The decision was made because it was felt 82 Quinny had entered a particular impressive performance and through a combination of the track conditions and a home straight blockage the final three drivers in the DD were unable to compete too much in the early stages of the event.

An RDC spokesman added: “We are not taking anything away from the final three drivers in the DD. They were not shying away from the action at all but circumstances restricted what they could do and under the circumstances everyone did a great job.

“But we did sympathise with Wayne Quinn who was most deserving of the best entertainer award and felt he was most deserving of the spoils which usually go with a destruction derby win.

“The events of Saturday have influenced us to have a look at one or two things with our destruction derby points system and the qualifying set up for the Accumulator Championship and one or two changes may be made for the 2009 series to improve things and make the racing fairer for all drivers.”

Congratulations to Dave Polley (added October 7)
Just a quick line to congratulate 38 Dave Polley on winning a superb track championship battle in the BriSCA F2 Stockcars at Mildenhall on Saturday night, narrowly beating 599 Jon Lawrence to the title. 

The points race went all the way to the final race of the season and the two drivers held nothing back with a fantastic battle throughout the Grand National with Polley narrowly coming out on top. 

Lawrence did however win the white and yellow grade series final earlier in the evening and certainly deserves much credit for that achievement. 

Congratulations to Masters and Dover Track Champions (added September 30)
A very quick message of congratulations to the big winners at the final meeting of the regular season at Dover Raceway on Sunday afternoon. 

Well done to 11 Steve Sedgewick, 66 Andy Reeve and 364 Sean Winchester for winning the Masters Championships in the Bangerstox, Super Rods and National Bangers respectively in what were perhaps the most exciting Masters Finals we have seen from all three classes for a few seasons. 

Also well done to Winchester for retaining the banger track championship and 349 Lee Saunders for snatching the Trophy Winners Dash and well done to 37 Del Jarman and 24 Gary Hall for winning the track championships in the Bangerstox and Super Rods. 

The final meeting of the season is on Sunday, October 12 featuring the Rookie Banger Kent Championship and Reliant Robin Masters Championship. 

RDC on tour, a round up (added September 30)
We have lapsed a little in our coverage of RDC drivers on the road and we have had several great successes in recent weeks so hopefully we’ll cover them all in this little round up. No doubt we’ll forget someone but I’m sure they will be quick to point it out and we’ll let you know at a later date!!!

RDC Ministox impressed at Swaffham on August 31 in the track’s Junior Banger class, 370 Kyle Overy winning the East Anglian Championship ahead of 340 Wes Freestone with 334 Adrian Court in fourth. In the 2Litre bangers, the Predators once again entertained with 79 Ricky Twell winning the DD. 

At King’s Lynn 401 Steve Hemmings won the unlimited pre 70 championship on September 6 before 101 Richard Rayner won the unlimited DD and 511 Helen Licquorice enjoyed some great form in the 1500cc bangers on September 14 with a brace of top three finishes including winning the final. 

379 Adrian Clifton continued to have great form at Eastbourne on September 26 guiding the smart Mk2 Granada which failed scrutineering at Arena four days previously to a heat one victory. 

We had some top results at Coventry on Friday September, 148 Ian Redden finishing second in the 2Litre Banger Brandon Bowl in which 602 Shaun Cooper came fifth before 400 Kevin Shinn and 20 Andy Burbridge shared the remaining race wins. 

RDC's No Hype Needed-a thank you (added September 24)
On the back of the successful National Banger Old Skool Team Championship and Reliant Robin British championship double header at Mildenhall last weekend, RDC would like to extend a large thank you message to all the drivers, their teams, the fans and our staff for helping make the night such a success.

On track the drivers excelled with a fantastic evening of action, one which many have dubbed the best Old Skool to date, and this was coupled with a great atmosphere on the stands thanks to the large number of fans who gathered for the night. 

National Banger Old Skool Team Championship-the future (added September 24)
As hinted in last weeks news update RDC have announced some small but very important changes to the National Banger Old Skool Team Championship which will come into effect for the 2009.

Details of the changes were first given to the teams which took part in this years event at the weekend and now we will share those changes here. Below is the letter given to the teams at the weekend in full but before that we have a quick comment from RDC.

"While we are aware that the Old Skool format has worked well since the maiden event at Mildenhall and remains a popular event with both drivers and fans we still wanted to explore ways of trying to make the event even better for all concerned, hence why we have introduced these changes. We appreciate they might not agree with everyone but again this is our attempt to make this meeting even better than it already is."

Here is the full letter given to the teams at the weekend explaining the future changes for the Old Skool team championship 

After several successful seasons we have decided to make some small, yet important and significant tweaks to the Old Skool team championship format which will come into effect for the 2009 meeting which is currently scheduled for Saturday, September 19.

You are the first people to know of the changes. Many of the teams tonight have been loyal and regular entries into the Old Skool team championship and therefore we thought it only fair that you should be the first to know what we are doing and, perhaps more importantly, why we are doing it. So here goes…

The Changes.
1. There will be a reduction in the amount of teams taking part, dropping from 14 to 12 and subsequently there will be six head to head heats rather than seven.

2. Each team will now consist of eight drivers, rather than six

3. There will still be a race prior to the final for the teams which do not win their head to head but the winning team will no longer qualify for the final. 

Why have we made the changes?
We have reduced the amount of teams and head to heads owing to concerns we have about completing the programme within our Saturday night curfew.

Subsequently we have increased the size of the teams. This means that despite having two less teams competing there will be an opportunity for more drivers to take part (it will increase from 84 to 96). We also believe that slightly bigger teams will improve the quality of the head to head heats. We also feel that having a smaller number of teams in the final (but still with the potential same amount of cars, ie 48) will make the final a better event. We appreciate that some captains will not relish the idea of assembling an eight man team but we hope that with 12 months notice this is achievable.

We have dropped the winner of the consolation qualifying for the final in a bid to move the event closer to its origins which is the former team championship format used at Crayford. The consolation was only introduced at the maiden event when two teams did not honour their bookings and a last chance qualifier was never intended to be a part of the meeting. 

Furthermore by only having six head to heads and six teams in the final it opens many avenues for us to use the stadium’s Tote betting at the meeting, something we are keen to expand upon in 2009. 

The big question?
How will we chose the teams which get the bookings.
This is the difficult bit as demand for this event is always sky high. 
Places will first be offered to the defending champions, the 2008 RDC Team Champions (from the points series), the 2008 Mildenhall Team Champions, the 2009 Suffolk Open Team Champions and 2009 Kent team champions.

The remaining places will be offered to teams via a tweaked system of the newly introduced RDC team championship series. The qualifying chart starts tonight and the points scored from tonight, the Mildenhall team meeting in November, the Suffolk Open team championship in March and the Kent team championship in August will determine who is offered the remaining places at the 2009 Old Skool team championship.

Get well soon to Babyface (added September 24)
All at RDC would like to extend banger driver Babyface 14 Colin Lacey a full and speedy recovery after suffering a serious back injury while working on a car away from a race track. We hope this RDC young gun gets well very soon and hope to see him back on track in the near future.

RDC at PRI World Final (added September 24)
The annual PRI World Final at Arena Essex on Sunday (September 21) proved to be a fairly miserable and luckless day for the PRI contingent. 53 Dave Palmer, 86 Alex Savage and 379 Ade Clifton were among a significant number of drivers whose cars failed scrutineering and elected to take the cars elsewhere rather than make the required changes, all confident the cars would pass satisfactorially elsewhere although this was especially disappointing for Savage who was due to compete in the title race. 

Meanwhile 99 Ritchie Ahern and 312 Greig Cheeseman had almost zero luck in the last chance race before 10 Sam Topley suffered heavy damage in a big pile-up in the big race while 20 Andy Burbridge was an early retirement with a flat tyre and 82 Wayne Quinn also failed to finish but he did administer a hit on 173 Steve Reynolds before falling by the wayside.

Congratulations to 617 Jack Overy who won his second world title victory of the month. 

Congratulations to Darren Barnett and Dave Lewis (added September 16)
All at RDC would like to extend Saloon Stockcar ace 512 Darren Barnett a huge congratulations on his maiden championship victory with a fine drive to the European Championship at Mildenhall on Saturday. 

Often regarded as trapped in the shadow of brother 511 Craig, a former English and British champion, Darren grabbed the spotlight for himself on Saturday and recorded his first ever championship race win, a just reward for his many seasons of service to the sport. 

It was equally fitting that his friends and family were perfectly positioned on the stands to cheer him over the line and also during his post race doughnut celebrations and that brother Craig, who finished third, was one of the first on hand to congratulate his efforts. 

Furthermore a message of congratulations should go to 37 Dave Lewis for winning the annual small car series in the bangers, despite being absent for Saturday’s concluding round. Lewis’ lead prior to the meeting was so great he was guaranteed victory anyway after a dominant performance in the series. 

Get well soon to Munch and Jay Chilton (added September 16)
All at RDC would like to extend a big get well soon message to Predator pairing 137 Jay Chilton and Munch 779 Luke Allen who were involved in a road accident last week. 

We understand Munch suffered the more serious injuries with a broken knee while Chilton escaped with minor facial injuries. Once again we would like to wish them both a full and speedy recovery and hope to see them both in action very soon. 

RDC statement regarding story in Short Circuit (added September 16)
RDC Promotions have issued a statement following an article in the September 2008 edition of Short Circuit magazine which is factual incorrect and paints a grossly inaccurate reason for the CAMSO V8s being removed from this year’s Lydden Hill event. 

For those who have not seen the article entitled ‘CAMSO V8s Lydden Hill Races Cancelled’ we first enclose the story in full which reads. 

“The CAMSO V8s annual visit to Lydden Hill on 6th September had regrettably been cancelled.
“The promoter running the afternoon’s oval racing has refused to accept one of the CAMSO V8 drivers due to personal animosity. This driver had previously been banned from RDC Promotions. 
“That ban has expired but RDC will still not accept that driver is included in the V8 line up.
“As a result the CAMSO V8s will not attend. All at CAMSO regret this. 12 drivers were committed to race and two rental cars had been booked.”

RDC have answered this story with the following statement. 

“The driver in question who was not named in the article is Clyde Williams and contrary to the story in Short Circuit, his ban at RDC, has not expired. He is currently serving a one year ORC ban for an incident of threatening behaviour in October 2007 and he is still serving an indefinite ban from RDC following incidents of threatening behaviour during the summer of 2005. 

“CAMSO, who have elected to not uphold the ORC ban and allow Clyde Williams to race at Warneton in bangers and CAMSO V8s since October 2007, were informed of this with plenty of time ahead of the Lydden Hill meeting.

“Rather than inform the driver that he could not take part they instead elected to adopt an ‘all or nothing’ approach to the meeting stating that if Clyde Williams did not race the rest of the drivers would not attend and RDC complied with this by cancelling the formula.

“We are greatly disappointed that a magazine of the stature of Short Circuit would print such a factually incorrect story without making an attempt to either check the facts of the story or get a comment from RDC.

“We will be contacting Short Circuit soon and sending them a copy of this statement and hope they will be good enough to print a retraction and a copy of our statement in full.”

Message from Wasted Magazine regarding new issue (added September 16)
Wasted Magazine editor Michael Coventry has asked us to pass on the following statement ahead of issue 60 of the magazine going on sale this weekend.

“Unfortunately the latest issue of the magazine has suffered something of a major calamity at the printers and the finished product has come back with page 38 printed twice and page 37 missing. 

“This has become an event greater problem as the missing page is in fact the first page of our of our driver interviews rather than a ‘stand alone’ page which we would have reprinted in the next issue.

“At the moment we are busily trying to complete a plan B by attaching over 2,000 magazines with a photocopy of the missing page and we sincerely hope this will not delay the magazine being sent to any of our loyal subscribers but if you do receive the issue after the weekend rather than before we are truly sorry.

“Furthermore should anyone buy the magazine this weekend or in the future and find the copy of page 37 to be missing please contact me by e mailing wastedmc@btopenworld.com and I will send one to you asap.

“Once again, we would like to say sorry for this problem and trust it will not take away any of your enjoyment of the latest issue of the magazine”

2Litre Banger Mildenhall Team Championship bookings open this weekend (added September 16)
This weekend will see entry forms for the 2Litre Banger Mildenhall Team Championship on Sunday, November 23 be released and bookings open although teams (of four) are reminded that bookings can only be secured with the £20 entry fee. 

After the success of last seasons revamped and repositioned Mildenhall Team Championship the format will remain largely unchanged which means there are 40 places up for grabs and already much interest is being shown in the meeting so we are confident all these places will be claimed and would urge teams wanting to book in to do so asap. 

Once again the meeting will feature nine heats with the heats divided into three rounds meaning each team has three chances to qualify for the grand final. There is one small change to this seasons format in the points in the final will be doubled and added to the teams score from the heat in which they qualify in.

Please note the change above is the correct one, not the change which is detailed in the new issue of T-Bone magazine (out this weekend) which says the points from the heats will be zeroed for the final. 

Ministox RDC Drivers Championship qualifiers and grid (added September 16)
Following Saturday nights Ministox meeting at Mildenhall we can now confirm the 31 (there was a tie for 30th) qualifiers for the RDC Drivers Championship at Mildenhall on October 25. 

Invitations will be sent to the qualifiers shortly and please note that only the qualifiers may attend this meeting and that the programme will only feature two races for Ministox, the championship and an Allcomers. 

The drivers are listed below in points order, which will be used to determine the grid, and grades for the meeting and displayed in brackets.

382 Jack Foster 316pts (silver)
370 Kyle Overy 299 (red)
340 Wes Freestone 219 (red)
301 Tom Wellham 216 (red)
328 Craig Banwell 178 (yellow)
329 Reece Laybourn 176 (yellow)
381 Craig Upson 168 (yellow)
355 Sid Magewick 146 (blue)
387 Ollie Ovenden 140 (white)
308 Alec Hannay 137 (white)
314 Jo Annison 129 (blue)
317 Bryson Walker 124 (blue)
366 Matt Noughton 122 (blue)
313 Timmy Barnes 117 (blue)
350 Thomas Parrin 114 (white)
357 Jordan Cumming 113 (white)
334 Adrian Court 99 (white)
351 Lewis Byron 98 (white)
349 Todd Payne 97 (white)
330 Jack Thompson 79 (white)
345 Jamie Lee-Callis 73 (white)
331 Rob Gamble 66 (blue)
310 Chas Lee 60 (white)
383 Shane Harvey 56 (white)
344 Sarah Taylor 56 (yellow)
316 Danny McClusky 52 (white)
384 Jacob Foster 50 (white)
327 Michael Maskall 47 (white)
369 Emma Wallace 44 (white)
326 George Chiles 40 (white)
353 Jack Licquorice 40 (white)

Saloon Stockcars White and Yellow Grade Series Final and grid (added September 16)
Another points race which came to an end on Saturday night at Mildenhall was the Saloon Stockcar white and yellow grade series.

Listed below are the qualifiers in points order and the points will be used to determine the grid which will be the first stockcar race on Saturday, October 18. It should be stressed that unless there are sufficient cars to warrant changing the programme and making this race double up as heat one, the white and yellow grade series final will not count for track championship points. 

912 Andi Newman 65pts
115 Scott Aldridge 62
106 Jamie Stafford 55
86 Simon Royal 53
417 Fred Powell 51
10 Frank Little Jnr 48
420 Ivan Street 45
377 Mick Oslar 40
569 James Radcliffe 38
964 Kenny Peters 37
311 Steve Newman 35
360 Carl Waterfield 34
562 Trevor Gray 30
754 Eamon Howden 28
190 Jamie Wagstaff 27
41 David Maltby 25
317 Dwayne Powell 25
111 Darryl Goddard 24
761 James Morris 21
186 Todd Jones 21
2 Paul Tuppen 20
305 Nigel Parker 16
390 Leyton Hubbert 15
176 Murray Jones 15
440 Lester Freestone 15
507 Paul Honeyman 9
42 Steve Prince 5
103 Chris Horwell 5
148 Ian Redden 5
167 Richard Cosby 5
170 James Cochrane 5
557 John Banwell 5
713 Mark Saunders 5
722 Ben Lymas 5
999 David Savidge 5

Important announcement re banger Accumulator qualifiers into DD (added September 9)
Following recent banger meetings at both Mildenhall and Dover, RDC have introduced an important change to all Accumulator qualifiers which run into Destruction Derbies which begins with immediate effect. 

The concern surrounds drivers not contesting the Accumulator qualifier part of the event and waiting on the infield before joining in for the destruction derby. This is becoming an increasingly common practise which is causing two main concerns. 

1. When drivers join in from the infield they are joining the track from the 'inside out' where there is a danger of drivers being hit in the drivers side of their cars. 

2. That too many drivers are not joining the DD quickly enough and whether this is deliberate or not it is having an adverse effect on the event and leading to unsatisfactory and controversial results and decisions. 

Therefore RDC has decided that from now on all drivers who compete in the Accumulator qualifiers which run into DDs must compete in the race. All cars must start the event on the track and if a driver is identified as pulling onto the infield at any point, whether during the race or DD, they will be disqualified from the event. 

This change in policy has been introduced in a bid to maintain and improve driver safety as well as hopefully improving the quality of the final event of most RDC programmes but will remain under review. 

In the mean time RDC would like to point out that in a small change to the format which is in the race programme for the small van banger meeting and Old Skool team meeting at Mildenhall on September 13 and 20 respectively the final race will be a straight destruction derby (American start) rather than an Accumulator into DD. In both cases the winner and the runner up of the DD will qualify for the Accumulator championship at Mildenhall. 

Experimental Super Rod grids to be tested on September 28 (added September 9)
RDC have announced that following the Masters Championship final for Super Rods at Dover on September 28 an experiment will be carried out with the starting grids for the two Allcomer races on the programme. 

Prior to the meeting the average points scores of each driver will be determined and these averages will determine the starting grids for each Allcomers with the driver with the lowest average starting at the front and the driver with the highest average at the back. The field will then be split into four equal groups. 

It is hoped this change will provide a level playing field for the track championship decider, where several drivers are still in with a chance of a podium position and it will also act as an experiment to see if this system would work full time in 2009. 

Sadly we do not have the current points chart at present and thus cannot confirm the average points scores but this information should be available in next weeks news update.

Congratulations to Mark Munson (added September 9)
Everyone at RDC would like to extend banger racer 432 Mark Munson on his excellent second place in the Unlimited Banger BBA European Championship at Warneton on Sunday (September 7) which secures him a place in the 2009 BBA Supreme Championship at Mildenhall. 

Further more well done to CAMSO star 99 Steevie van Goetham who reclaimed the title on the continent and also to 617 Jack Overy who successfully defended the World Championship at Taunton at the weekend and also booked his place in the Supreme Championship next year. 

Congratulations to Shane Brown, new Saloon Stockcar World Champion (added September 2)
Our congratulations to west country wizard 720 Shane Brown who lifted the big one, winning the Saloon Stockcar world championship at Cowdenbeath on Saturday night ahead of 219 Luke Grief and 511 Craig Barnett who are currently first and second in the Mildenhall track championship. 

And we won't have to wait long to see the gold roof at West Row as Brown is expected in action at Mildenhall on Saturday, September 13 where he will defend the European Championship in what should be a big night for the all action stockcar formula. 

2008 points championships red hot for season's final lap (added September 2)
It's pretty safe to say that RDC is heading into its closest season finales for the various points championships with the majority of the points races still wide open which is helping to add to what should be a thrilling final two months of the season. 

Starting with the Bangers and the 2008 Mildenhall track championship is the most exciting we have had for many years. Have we ever had four realistic title contenders, this late in the game? 125 Lee Overy holds a 20 point lead over 37 Dave Lewis with defending champion 364 Sean Winchester 47 points adrift off Overy and 82 Wayne Quinn still in with an outside chance with four meetings still to go plus bonus points available at the Old Skool. Further more 370 John Cobbold, 898 Andy Battle, 348 Sonny Sherwood, 131 Barry Wade, 439 Danny Sutton and 188 John Reeves all stand a chance of finishing 2008 on the podium. 

The RDC National Points is also a close run thing. While Winchester is well clear and en route to another title win, look at the race for the podium spots with 125 Hitler and 188 Victor tied in second on 301 points, 898 Andy Battle on 262, 349 Lee Saunders on 245, Lewis on 239, 82 Quinny on 228 and 131 Wadey on 218. Remember these points determine RDC's four seeds in the World Final at Ipswich in November (and Winchester has already stated he will not be attending) and so the race for these coveted positions is well and truly on. 

The BriSCA F2 Stockcar track championship has become a two horse race in 2008 but what a race it is and following Saturday's meeting 38 Dave Polley's lead over 599 Jon Lawrence is just two points with one round to go on October 4.

Mathematically 606 Andy Palmer could still do it but is likely to lead the battle for third which also features 702 Allan Cooper, 744 Tom Smart and 448 John Wright with just 20 points between third to sixth. 

With two rounds left in the Saloon Stockcar track championship at Mildenhall, business is far from settled. Having come close to the title in years gone by and having started the season so strongly 219 Luke Grief's lead has been slashed to just four points by defending champion 511 Craig Barnett while on form man 311 Steve Newman has rocketed to third, 19 points behind Grief. 

There is plenty of life left in the Ministox points races with three more meetings at Mildenhall to determine the RDC Drivers Points Championship and Mildenhall Track Championship (the ORC Championship on November 8 will not count towards the points championships). In the RDC standings 382 Jack Foster is just eight points clear of 370 Kyle Overy while in the Mildenhall track champion 340 Wes Freestone leads Overy by 34 points. 

There are three rounds left in the Bangerstox points race which is one of the closest we have ever seen. Kent Champion 48 Ryan Fisher leads 37 Del Jarman by just one point with 5 Kurt Martin just 11 points behind the lead while 26 points covers the top seven, 17 John Lingham, 89 Ben McGonnell, 11 Steve Sedgewick and 2 Fred Drayner all starting the month as contenders. 

There are also three rounds to go in the Super Rod points race this month so the title chase remains wide open, 24 Gary Hall heads 14 Frank Gough by 20 points but here are still at least six drivers who could challenge for the silver roof. 

Impressive banger stats for August's 1400cc Banger meetings (added September 2)
With the end of August fixtures once again putting two Mildenhall meetings on consecutive Saturday night (August 23 and 30), RDC took the gamble to run two 1400cc meetings in the space of seven days but it is a gamble which has certainly paid off thanks to the superb support form the drivers. 

Dead on 100 cars attended the August 23 meeting and an equally impressive 97 were in attendance on August 30 with an amazing 143 different drivers between them. Furthermore if you take into consideration Dover's 2litre meeting on August 25 then a mind blowing 166 different banger drivers raced with RDC between the three meetings in the space of eight days. 

A special mention should especially go to 188 John Reeves and 364 Sean Winchester who raced at all three of these meetings. 

Congratulations to Gary Langley (added September 2)
A message of congratulations to 317 Gary Langley who raised over £500 by racing in the 1400cc Bangers at Mildenhall on Saturday (August 30).

Gary was racing in memory of school friend Harry Butler who died in July, aged 21 from cancer and the money he raised will be donated to the Teenager Cancer Trust at Addenbrooks hospital. 

It was fantastic to report than many of Gary and Harry's family were in attendance for the meeting to watch him in action and again congratulations on raising so much for such a wonderful cause. 

Get well soon to John Cobbold (added September 2)
All at RDC would like to wish a full and speedy recovery to rising banger star 370 John Cobbold who broke his foot in two places following his massive head-on with 761 Nat Cohn in the 1400cc banger DD at Mildenhall on Saturday (August 30).

John informs us that he hopes the injury will only sideline him for four weeks so he should be back in action for October. The injury marks something of a rough time for John who experienced some extreme nerves in July, followed by a nasty encounter with a wasp last month which stung in a rather private place. Get well soon mate. 

BriSCA F2 Stockcars White and Yellow Grade Series: Final points (added September 2)
Following the penultimate BriSCA F2 Stockcar meeting of the season at Mildenhall last weekend we can now confirm the starting grid for the 2008 white and yellow grade series which will double up as heat one at the track championship deciding meeting on Saturday, October 4 and will be the first race on the programme. 

With a tie for 28th it has been decided to take the top 30 through to the final but there will be no reserves for the race. The final points are as follows and the grid will be lined up in points order so well done to 145 Graham Mole whose fantastic effort last weekend sees him pip 448 John Wright to the top of the table and he will start on pole position. 

145 Graham Mole 108pts
448 John Wright 106
599 Jon Lawrence 92
376 Darren Seneschall 70
446 Matt Metcalfe 69
977 Dave Massey 67
284 Jody Griffin 65
925 Paul Wilson 63
260 Anthony Winters 62
19 Martin Ford 61
905 Rob Mitchell 58
81 Mark Clayton 52
597 Barry Clou 45
431 Andy Gibbs 43
543 Greg Godley 39
779 Cameron Pugh 38
498 Derek Cayzer 37
366 Mick Kemp 36
519 Stephen Lawrence 36
611 Jason Horner 34
615 Josh Coleman 34
423 Neil Darby 32
133 Jeff Byron 31
434 Mark Gardner 30
68 Dave Brennan 30
348 Lee Johnson 28
623 Rob Dobie 28
237 Ross Young 27
607 Paul Barrett 27
482 Dale Seneschall 26

2009 RDC fixtures first draft (added August 27)
It's a little later in the year than we would have liked and this preliminary 2009 RDC fixture list is in actual fact probably our third or fourth draft but we are now in a position to share it with everyone. 

Following the success of Dover in 2008 it is unlikely to surprise you that next years dates are pretty much a carbon copy of the 2008 dates. However there are one or two enhancements made to the Mildenhall fixtures, namely the return of the two day meeting in July (which is more loaded than any previous RDC weekend event), the first ever Intercounties team race for 2litre bangers in June and the return of an unlimited banger domestic in September. 

Please remember that things are likely to change although the dates are unlikely to change at this stage. 

Mildenhall Stadium
Saturday March 14 7pm National Bangers British QF, Saloon Stockcars and Ministox (RDC only)
Saturday March 28 6.30pm National Bangers BBA Supreme Championship and Saloon Stockcars
Friday April 10 1pm 1400cc Bangers Suffolk Open Team Championship and Ministox
Saturday April 18 7pm 1400cc Bangers and TBA
Saturday May 2 7pm 2Litre Bangers inc under 25 Hot Shot Championship and TBA
Saturday May 9 7pm Unlimited Van Bangers, Saloon Stockcars English Championship and Ministox (RDC only)
Saturday May 23 7pm National Bangers British QF and TBA
Saturday May 30 7pm Pre 70 Bangers and Reliant Robins World QF
Saturday June 13 7pm 2Litre Bangers Inter Counties Team Challenge, Saloon Stockcars and Ministox (RDC only)
Saturday June 27 7pm National Bangers British QF and TBA
Saturday July 11 6.30pm Unlimited Bangers Suffolk Open Championship and Ministox Suffolk Open Championship
Saturday July 25 6.30pm 2Litre all RWD Bangers,  Saloon Stockcars and TBA
Sunday July 26 1pm 2Litre Bangers Suffolk Open Championship, Saloon Stockcars & TBA
Saturday August 8 7pm National Bangers BBA British Championship and Reliant Robins World Final
Saturday August 23 7pm Small Van Bangers, Saloon Stockcars and Ministox (RDC only)
Saturday August 29 7pm 1400cc Bangers and TBA
Saturday September 12 7pm Unlimited Bangers, Saloon Stockcars National Championship and Ministox (RDC only)
Saturday September 19 6.30pm National Bangers Old Skool Team Championship and Reliant Robins British Championship
Saturday October 3 7pm 2Litre Bangers and TBA
Saturday October 17 7pm National Bangers Accumulator Championship and White and Yellow Grade Series Final and Saloon Stockcars
Saturday October 24 6.30pm National Bangers Crazy and DD Night inc Allstar Dash for Cash and Caravan DD, Reliant Robin World QF and Ministox RDC Drivers Championship
Sunday November 22 1pm 2Litre Bangers Mildenhall Team Championship and Ministox
Sunday December 27 1pm Mini and Metro Bangers and Ministox

Dover Raceway
Monday April 13 2pm National Bangers British and Masters QF, Bangerstox Masters QF, Super Rods Masters QF and Reliant Robins World QF
Sunday April 26 2pm 2Litre Bangers, Bangerstox, Super Rods and Ministox
Monday May 4 2pm Big Van Bangers, Bangerstox, Super Rods and Reliant Robins World QF
Sunday May 17 2pm 2Litre Bangers, Bangerstox, Super Rods and Ministox
Monday May 25 2pm Rookie Banger Crazy Day and caravan DD, Bangerstox Southern Championship and Super Rods Kent Championship
Sunday June 7 2pm 2Litre Bangers, Bangerstox, Super Rods and Ministox
Sunday June 21 2pm National Bangers British and Masters QF, Bangerstox Masters QF, Super Rods Masters QF and Ministox
Sunday July 5 2pm 2Litre Bangers, Bangerstox, Super Rods and Ministox Kent Championship
Sunday July 19 2pm Rookie Bangers Southern Championship, Bangerstox and Super Rods
Sunday August 2 2pm 2Litre Bangers Kent Team Championship, Bangerstox Kent Championship and Super Rods Southern Championship
Monday August 31 2pm 2Litre Bangers Masters QF and Rollover, Bangerstox Masters QF and Super Rods Masters QF
Sunday September 6 2pm Unlimited Bangers Kent Championship, Bangerstox and Super Rods
Sunday September 27 2pm National Bangers Masters Championship, Bangerstox Masters Championship and Super Rods Masters Championship
Sunday October 12 2pm Rookie Bangers Kent Championship and Reliant Robins Masters Championship

RDC at TSR 2Litre World Final (added August 19)
As expected there was a massive RDC representation at King's Lynn on August 17 for the 2Litre TSR World Final with 82 Wayne Quinn, 125 Lee Overy, 188 John Reeves and 364 Sean Winchester officially flying the RDC flag in the title race where they were joined by RDC registered 99 Scott Gough who was representing Brampton. Joining them for the last chance qualifiers were 85 James Ellis, 86 Alex Savage, 119 Davey Cox, 137 Jay and 138 Tom Chilton, 176 Ady Gibbs, 178 Paul Robinson, 285 Sean Dyer, 370 John Cobbold, 425 Martin Stopher, 465 Andy Scarlett, 619 Karl Turnbull, 682 Paul Sparrow and 898 Andy Battle.

619 Rhino fenced 328 Shane Lynn in the first last chance race before 285 Mr Misery hammered the latter before 119 Cruncher saw his chances disappear when he ran into the spinning 312 Tom Reynolds who had a very smart Rover P6. Robinson had led for most of the way but collected a stricken car and was nailed by 191 Shaun McMillan ending his race. However this allowed Rhino to take the win with Battle second and they advanced to the final. The latter doing especially well as a graded order start was used for the last chance races which meant with the majority of TSR's top drivers already qualified the majority of those starting at the back of the grid were visiting drivers. Cruncher recovered for sixth and Stopher was seventh which put them in the meeting final, the World Masters (!).

176 Gibo helped provide the action in the second last chance as he ran in 170 Darren Teal before both Savage and Cobbold whacked the spun 36 Brett Copestake and Jay Chilton thundered in Common Crusher 711 Darren Weeks. Gibo then copped a head-on from 218 Goober as the leading 138 Tommy Gun was spun by 844 Tom Haggerty with 742 Ian Gregory homing in for a stiff hit. Ellis survived a hose blowing in the final laps to finish second and make it to the main event while starting in the blues was just a little too much as Savage narrowly missed out in fourth and Tommy Gun recovered for seventh.

Onto the main event with 82 Quinny drawing two only to discover he had actually drawn the second grid position on the grid allocated to the visitors which was in actual fact the outside of row three as the TSR seeds were allocated rows one, two, four, five, seven, nine, 11, 13, 15, 17 and 20 (which meant eight of the final 10 grid positions, not including last chance qualifiers, were filled by visiting drivers) and the home drivers started in qualifying points order so their top boys had the edge of starting in the front two rows. 188 Victor didn't last long but managed to spin 103 John Seex while Battle lost out to 99 Goffy while Quinny was buried by 333 James Cooke which also claimed 212 Richard Maryon and 66 Dave Ivatt. Quinny car took much punishment as it was struck by traffic on the following laps before the reds came out to assist 455 Rick Finney and 349 Michael Allard who were feeling the effects from a big wrecking train on the road bend. 125 Hitler was lying fourth for the restart while Winchester, despite not being spun once, was surprisingly positioned at the very back of the field. Hitler did well to fend off 673 Darren Fendley and record third place with Battle in sixth and Winchester 10th (which again appeared quite lowly given his form in the race). 361 Chris Walden meanwhile converted his row two start to the title and 741 Luke Parfitt took second, the latter causing a few smiles with his post race interview comments of 'how can we (visiting drivers) win when you (TSR) put your top boys off the front?'

Goffy treated 57 Max Stott to a T-bone in the consolation which saw Sparrow fired into the plating hard by 88 Ash Burton with Gibo connecting with a big hit on the latter. Cobbold scored a fifth and Scarlett and 10th to book their place in the World Masters. 

Tommy Gun put away 361 Wally as the World Masters got underway but the new world champion swiftly had his revenge before Cruncher stuffed 792 John Warby which also claimed Savage as Cobbold scored on Burton. 01 Kyle Shires dished out a meaty hit to Scarlett but took one in turn from Chilton who copped a big package from 51 Simon Heilds a split second later as Rhino raced to his second win of the day with Stopher second and Cruncher eighth. 

Gibo continued to entertain in the Allcomers as he fenced 191 Alex Waterman with Cobbold T-boning the former before Cruncher threw away second to hand out a big package to Chilton. Battle meanwhile raced to a fine win with Cruncher seventh and Chilton tenth.

Sticking with the on the road theme and well done also to 379 Adrian Clifton who returned from his recent hand injury at Eastbourne's A60 Amble and pre 75 meeting on August 13 and notched up a pair of heat wins before he was disqualified in the final for jumping the start. 

Great new deal for Friday night Greyhound racing at Mildenhall Stadium (added August 19)
RDC are delighted to announce a great new deal for Friday night greyhound racing at Mildenhall Stadium. 

The new Friday night deal offers admission, race card and a three course meal in the Race View Restaurant for just £14.95 a head but these places must be booked in advance so call the stadium on 01638 711777 for more information. 

Furthermore all RDC licensed drivers are reminded that they can gain admission to any greyhound meeting at Mildenhall for just £2 a head for themselves and their whole party simply by showing their log book at the entrance gate. This offer is open to all ORC and BriSCA drivers and applies at any greyhound meeting with meetings every Tuesday and Friday night at 7.30pm. 

RWD race added to 2Litre Banger Mildenhall October 4 domestic (added August 12)
Following the events of RDC’s maiden 2Litre all RWD Banger meeting at Mildenhall last weekend, RDC have announced that at the next 2litre banger domestic meeting at the stadium on October 4, the first heat of the night will be for RWD cars only. 

Everyone at RDC was completely blown away by the amazing entry of cars for Saturday’s meeting which didn’t only break the record for a meeting of that format but completely and utterly smashed it.

Sadly the weather wasn’t fitting for the drivers who had made such an incredible effort for the night and it is very understandable that many drivers chose to only compete in their heat and take home cars which are still race-able. 

Subsequently with that in mind the RWD heat has been added to the October 4 programme to give drivers with these cars an option to use them again.

An RDC spokesman said: “This is not going to be a regular thing but in light of the sterling effort made by the drivers to find a car on Saturday we wanted to do this as a thank you for their hard work and also to help out those who now have a car which is perhaps unsuitable for most meetings. 

“Certainly the popularity of the RWD meeting was down in no small part to the fact that these cars are now so uncompetitive at normal limited cc meetings and so drivers who still have cars which they can use again may have limited options on what to do with them.

“Subsequently at the October 4 meeting the first banger heat of the night will only be open to RWD cars. While this race is aimed at drivers with cars left over from August 9, the race will be open to all RWD cars on hand. Furthermore there will also a be a trophy to the first RWD powered racer home in the Grand Final.

“We hope this may assist some drivers and again we want to thank everyone for their efforts to make Saturday’s banger meeting such a success.”

Drivers are also reminded that rear wheel drive cars up to 1600cc are now permitted at the 1400cc banger meetings on August 23 and 30 and RDC have also confirmed that the 2litre Rear Wheel Drive meeting will be repeated in 2009. 

Sideways and Serious round up and a thank you (added August 12)
Everyone at RDC would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who helped contribute to RDC’s Sideways and Serious event on Saturday.

In spite of pretty awful weather for the first half of the evening the drivers did their very best to put on some top racing and while the meeting certainly did not his standards we had hoped for there was several top moments to be enjoyed, none more so than the sensational BriSCA F2 Stockcar British Championship and the wrecking train in the banger DD.

We would publicly like to express our thanks to all the drivers and fans who turned out, especially so given the rain we had experienced during the week and the forecast for the night and to the entire RDC team who worked very hard during the night to complete the programme as quickly as possible.

While on the surface the finish of just before 11.30pm is a late one, completing a 15 race programme with over 160 cars in just under five hours was a tremendous achievement so our thanks to all the staff, drivers and their teams who all played a role in achieving this. 

On track while the weather ruined any hopes of the epic night of action the meeting promised there were several people who shined with some awesome driving in the conditions. In the F2s you could not fail to be impressed by the likes of Gordon Moodie, Stu Finnikin and Chris Bradbury whose driving in the wet was nothing short of masterful and also the lesser lights such as Jon Lawrence, John Wright and Andy Gibbs who certainly made plenty sit up and notice.

Ultimately it was World Champion Mick Sworder who lifted the title in a dramatic and exciting title race and we would all like to congratulate him on his success. 

It was a similar case in the bangers where the usual suspects of Jack Overy, Ritchie Ahern and Ian Redden attracted rave reviews but few have given Shane Burbridge the praise he deserves for one of his best racing performances to date. 

Once again we want to thank all the banger drivers for excelling in producing a record turnout for our maiden RWD meeting, a format certain to be repeated again in 2009 and as reported in the previous item a RWD heat has been added to the October 4 2litre domestic for drivers with cars to ‘get rid off’ following Saturday’s meeting. 

It is probably also worth pointing out that on a weekend which seemingly has done the sport of banger racing non favours at all, to the best of our knowledge this meeting was once again conducted in the right spirit by the drivers with only one driver loaded up and to his credit he held his hands up to his crime and as quick to apologise to the driver concerned. Once again drivers you did yourselves, RDC and the sport proud. Well done and keep it up. 

Congratulations to Ritchie Ahern (added August 12)
From a very controversial National Banger Brian Orgles Memorial at Arena Essex on Sunday (August 10), RDC would like to congratulate the Cheat 99 Ritchie Ahern who kept out of trouble and raced to a heat and final double. On a personal level Shelby Coventry would also like to thank Ritchie who gave her his final trophy which now proudly sits in her nursery. 

Congratulations to Gary and Tanya Nash (added August 12)
All at RDC would like to congratulate RDC banger racer 237 Gary Nash on his recent wedding to partner Tanya. We would like to wish the happy couple all the best for the future. 

RDC’s At Our Best roundup and thank you (added August 5)
Continuing the normal trend at RDC we would like to extend a big thank you to all the drivers who made RDC’s At Our Best at Dover on Sunday such a great success and a cracking meeting for the large crowd (certainly our best Sunday meeting crowd of 2008).

Firstly congratulations to the Wrecking Krew on lifting the 2litre banger Kent team championship as well as 48 Ryan Fisher for winning the Bangerstox Kent Championship and 44 Steve Harrington on winning the Super Rod Southern Championship. 

All three formulas delivered some great racing but there is no denying the bangers provided the best action of the day with perhaps the hardest hitting team championship we have seen with many more big hits than previous years which will certainly make the DVD from Impact Videos a recommended purchase. 

We should also be thankful to Mother Nature as despite a few showers trying to spoil things we were largely very fortunate on the weather front and the rain didn’t do too much to ruin things. 

Once again it was fantastic to see so much action on the track, the vast majority being taken and dished out in the right spirit and to the best of our knowledge there were no serious injuries to report on which is excellent news. 

Get well soon to Muttley (added August 5)
All at RDC would like to wish banger driver Muttley 346 Scott Saunders a full and speedy recovery. 

Scott suffered a shoulder injury at the final British championship qualifier in June which caused him to cut down on his meetings in recent weeks, his only on track appearance since being in the British Final at the end of last month. 

However as he was due to start the first race Sunday at Dover he experienced a blinding pain and lights in his eyes forcing him to withdraw from the meeting and a subsequent hospital visit has confirmed muscle and nerve damage.

It should also be noted that as Scott’s only involvement in the meeting was a rolling lap, permission was granted for 800 Shane Robinson to take his place in the Management A team in the Kent Team Championship. 

RDC at unlimited bangers Coventry Masters (added August 5)
There was plenty of success for some RDC banger drivers at the unlimited Coventry Masters at Coventry on August 1 with 148 Ian Redden and 99 Ritchie Ahern chalking up fine heat wins with some superb displays of sideways driving on the shale. 

Sadly 99 the Cheat failed to return to the track with a blown head gasket but 148 Shorty enjoyed more success with a fine fourth in the title race from near the back of the grid. 

Elsewhere, 334 Stephen Court returned his Granada hearse from the Suffolk Open but had little success while 340 Jay Atkinson found himself on the wrong end of a hard follow-in from 601 Lee Usher. 

We should also extend a get well soon message to 260 Keith Reynolds and 397 Stu Sandell who suffered injuries at this meeting and also to 557 Paul Bowen who suffered some injuries at King’s Lynn on Saturday. All three have been visitors to Mildenhall in the past and wish them all the best on their recoveries and hope to see them back in action soon. 

RDC Banger team championship points (added August 5)
Sunday’s 2Litre Banger Kent Team Championship at Dover also marked the second round of the maiden RDC Banger Team Championship series and subsequently an extended list of the current scores is detailed below. The remaining rounds are the Old Skool team championship in September and 2Litre Mildenhall Team Championship in November.

One quick point is with the rain falling and an urgency to wrap things up on Sunday we didn’t award an entertainer award in the DD, which carries three points in the league. This has been awarded to 583 Dan Weeks who scores the points for Six Bolt. 

Dover Boys 32pts
Predators 25
Six Bolt 23
Wrecking Krew 20
Beck Row Bandits/Young Guns 20
Team Kaos 16
Management 15
Aftermath 14
Clangers 13
Six Bolt Rejects 13
Wallies 12
Allstars 10
Bits and Bobs 10
Condoms 10
Damage Inc 10
Gladiators 10
Motley Krew 10
Crash Zone 8
Pikeys 8

Over 700 banger drivers raced at RDC thus far in 2008 (added August 5)
We are delighted to report that following the recent BBA British Championship at Mildenhall and the 2Litre Kent Team Championship at Dover the amount of different banger drivers which has raced at RDC in 2008 has smashed through the 700 mark.

The present total of drivers which have raced this season stands at 713 and this does not include either Rookie Banger meeting at Dover. 

This is a tremendous figure and RDC would once again like to thank all those drivers who have supported us in 2008. 

Congratulations to Chris Walden and Steve Willis (added July 30)
We'll get to our full Another Wild Night round up in just a moment but before we do a special congratulations to 361 Chris Walden and 66 Steve Willis for winning the National Banger BBA British Championship and Reliant Robin World Final respectively in very competitive and action packed races at Mildenhall last weekend. 

For Walden it marks the first major race win of his career. For a couple of seasons the rising star has been tipped a potential star of the future and one of TSRs brightest hopes for the future and he realised his full potential in the British Final overcoming the high field of quality drivers and the amazing transformation in track conditions to win the title. 

Meanwhile Willis has chased the coveted world title for several seasons, having come painfully close on more than one occasion and drove a very aggressive race to finally get his hands on the title and complete his set of Reliant championships at RDC. 

RDC's Another Wild Night round up and thank you (added July 30)
As is almost always the case after our bigger events RDC would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who contributed to last weekend's Another Wild Night at Mildenhall, a memorable evening if not completely for the right reasons. 

On the plus side the meeting was once again superbly supported with just over 120 National Bangers (the track's eighth 100+ turnout of the season), over 30 Reliant Robins and another massive crowd of fans which is always brilliant to see and the first half of the night providing some superb racing and action with two very lively and action packed banger last chance qualifiers and two very competitve and exciting championship races. 

Another big positive side was the great standard of preparation shown by many of the championship finalists with a greater demand for smart car awards in the title races than ever before. We gave away 20 smart car trophies between the title races and more were needed. 

Of course things took a radical twist in the closing stages of the Banger British championship as the stadium was hit by a freak and intense thunderstorm which not only turned the British Championship completely on its head but also threw the rest of the meeting into complete choas and drivers and the RDC staff struggled to combat the conditions. 

It is no lie that with the intense rain showing no signs of easing some consideration was given to cancelling the meeting after the banger Allcomers but mercifully the rain started to ease and we were able to complete the programme. Sadly the decision was taken to cancel one of the banger Allcomers. While it was clear there would not sufficient cars to run the programmed two events it was also clear that putting all the available cars on track in those conditions would have been an equally bad idea. Therefore RDC took the difficult decision to run just one Allcomers with a 36 car limit which meant a few drivers were disappointed. We would once again like to say sorry to those drivers and hope they can understand why the decision was made. 

Once again the track conditions were a testament to the hard work put in by RDC in recent months and years that the meeting was able to continue. Sunday's Speedway meeting at the stadium actually took place with 14 of the 15 races completed before the rain returned and the final race was abandoned. 

To each of the drivers who continued racing during and after the rain fell, you all deserve a medal. Sadly we haven't got any medals at RDC but we did have one or two things to help reward those who made the effort. We gave all the remaining trophies we had away as entertainer awards and five such trophies were shelled out in the Banger Allcomers and Accumulator/DD to give something back to those who entertained. Also it has been decided to extend some qualifying places for some of our end of season championship races from the final two meetings of the night. 

Now third place in the Accumulator qualifier and the runner up in the DD will also qualify for the Accumulator Championship and the Banger Allcomers has been treated as a Grand Final in that the top three will all be seeded into the Allstar Dash for Cash in October as well. It's not much but just a small way of thanking and rewarding the drivers who made such a grand effort on Saturday.

Another issue from the meeting was the problems regarding the result of the British Championship with 125 Lee Overy later being instated in second place in the title race. As many of you are aware we once again used the transponders and electronic lap scoring for this race so it is a little disappointing that was such a problem. An investigation into the result showed the electronic system had Lee lying second in the race on lap 24 but his final lap took around 40 seconds to complete (well over double his normal lap times) but both manual lap charts had Lee crossing the finish line on the 25th lap, ahead of 67 Mark Whittaker and thus he was placed second. While this was a disappointment we still feel it is a minor set back and that the transponders still represent a great step forward in the sport and RDC will continue to use them in the major events. 

And finally we would like to thank all the fans who stayed put to the end, we hope you enjoyed the racing and entertainment the drivers managed to supply and thanks to our staff who continued to work hard in such difficult conditions. 

RDC at Filo Memorial (added July 30)
RDC was represented by a handful of banger drivers at Filo's Crashmania team meeting at Mendips on Sunday (July 27) which acted as an emotional memorial meeting for occasional Mildenhall visitor Phil Cleverly.

Among the entry was 279 Ben and 379 Ade Clifton in Six Bolt, 111 Nick Glover in the Six Bolt Rejects, 340 Jay Atkinson in Team V A and 404 Luke Brinto in the Gits. 

It was a short lived day for 279 Teaboy but brother 379 the Worm fared well with top three finishes in heats one and two and he also competed in his teams remaining heats but failed to place and damage in his last heat ended his afternoon. 111 Fester found himself involved in wrecking trains in both his heats, nailing 741 Luke Parfitt in heat one only to take one from 404 Spook in turn during heat one before he blasted 7 Jamie Charles in heat four and was then wasted by 999 Scott Hill. Spook meanwhile excelled with two excellent showings in his heats with full contact performances which made him one of the days best entertainers. 

Reliant Robin grades for British Championship (added July 30)
Following the Reliant Robin World Final at Mildenhall last weekend we now have new points standings and new grades which come into effect for the British Championshhip which will be staged at Mildenhall on Saturday, September 20 as part of RDC's No Hype Needed. 

The grades for that meeting are as follows
Gold: 66
British: 553
Silver: 38, 351
Red: 96, 339, 399, 433, 576

Latest qualifiers for 2009 National Banger BBA Supreme Championship (added July 30)
The potential starting grid for the 2009 National Banger BBA Supreme Championship is continuing to take shape as we now add the qualifiers from the BBA English at Mendips in June, King of the Peak at Buxton earlier this month and BBA British at Mildenhall last weekend. Here is the latest list of drivers who have already secured their ticket to the big race next spring. 

2009 National Banger BBA Supreme Championship qualifiers
27 Dale Hughes (Spedeworth)
44 Steve Griffin (Mendips)
67 Mark Whittaker (Buxton)
107 Dan Chiplen (Mendips)
125 Lee Overy (RDC)
188 Matt Fuller (PRI)
206 Dave King (Spedeworth)
218 Rob Speak (Startrax)
271 Dean Goodall (PRI)
294 Nigel Ashley (GMP)
341 Andy Jones (Autospeed)
361 Chris Walden (TSR)
396 Scott Mowlam (Mendips)
404 Rob Mills (Mendips)
439 Danny Sutton (Spedeworth)
517 Scott Weldon (Mendips)
592 Mark Marchant (PRI)
804 Ben Small (Autospeed)

RDC on tour at Smallfield (added July 22)
RDC were represented by the Predators and Aftermath in the 2litre bangers at Smallfield on Sunday (july 20) where 400 Kevin Shinn won the final and 401 Steve Hemmings the DD while 79 Ricky Twell provided one of the highlights of the day when he sent 60 Kyle Stevenson over the famous Smallfield banking in grand fashion

RDC's Big Night Out a thank you and round up (added July 15)
As is usually the case after our big meetings we would like to take the time to extend a huge thank you to everyone who helped make RDC's Big Night Out headlined by the unlimited banger Suffolk Open Championship on Saturday at Mildenhall such a huge success.

The final total of unlimited bangers competing at the weekend was a mind blowing 158 cars which is not only a record breaker for the event but also the biggest turnout of unlimited bangers at any meeting in the country for the last 18 months at least which is an incredible achievement and a record we are extremely proud to hold.

And as for the action on track, well how can the levels of action be put into words. Epic, rated, awesome, meeting of the year thus far are terms which many have used to describe the events of the Suffolk Open with some blistering banger action from the banger brigade who did not disappoint. 

However as is almost always the case things were far from perfect and of course the major drawback of the evening was the late finish with the DD concluding just before midnight and that was after the Ministox Allcomers race was cancelled and the unlimited banger Accumulator qualifier and DD was merged into one event (although we should point out that two banger races were added to the programme). It was very encouraging to see such a high percentage of the giant crowd did stick with us till the bitter end which hopefully means that the majority of you both enjoyed the racing and understood the reasons behind the late finish. Equally pleasing was that over 40 drivers also returned for the final event to give the crowd something to talk about on the way home.

The simple reason for the late finish was owing to the sheer size of the banger turnout and the levels of action seen on track with the eight banger races having an average of nearly 39 cars on track (the smallest banger grid was 30 and the largest was 45) and with almost every race (the first and last heat and final being the only real excepetions) there were only a handful of finishers resulting in huge clear up operations for our team of tractor drivers who worked tirelessly throughout the night and deserved much praise for their efforts.

Nonetheless such a late finish is unacceptable for all involved and we will be looking at ways to ensure this does not happen in the future while not compromising the quality of the meeting in question. 

The other downside of the night was the unfortunate broken arm suffered by Incarace banger star Bandit 54 Richard Hayward. To the best of our knowledge this was the only significant injury of the evenings (no doubt there were many stiff necks on Sunday morning) and all at RDC wish Bandit a fast and full recovery and hope to see him visit us again in the near future. 

Onto some more positive stuff and a few random points and notes from the meeting.

Young gun 370 John Cobbold has been tipped as one of RDC's bright hopes for the future in 2008 and continued his rise to stardom on Saturday with a heat win in his maiden unlimited banger meeting. It is safe to say that John, a front runner in this years track championship was rather 'bricking it' prior to start time but once again he excelled and did himself proud with a great race win to underline his promising potential. 

In a similar vein another young gun who impressed was 334 Stephen Court. Not reknown for unlimited racing this RDC young gun really stood out, throwing his Granada hearse around in grand fashion and at one point holding his own against unlimited banger stars such as 99 Ritchie Ahern, 271 Dean Goodall and 85 James Ellis.

It's always good to see drivers with the top tin having a good tin with their cars and this was certainly the case with 33! Simon Reed and 303 Brian Cope whose Daimler Majestic Major limo and 1966 Plymouth Barracuda were for many the nights top cars. Simon was judged the nights most devastatin