BarrowSierras
Barrow, 25th April, Sierra Bangers Cock 'O' the North
Cheers to Al Oxby for covering the action here for us while I was busy on the other side of the fence!

A total of 13 Sierra’s turned out at Barrow on 25 April for the annual Cock O The North Challenge.  There was no material at all within the entry which consisted of 5 Sapphires, 3 Estates and 5 Hatches whilst the only used car in the field was the Estate of Incarace visitor 128 Robert Teasdale - a name more commonly associated with driving a pen and a modem!

    One short for Heat One which started off with 325 Mark Dempster (Sapphire) putting 128 Teabag up a post although “young Robert” survived to find his way onto the centre with broken steering.  Demo continued to tangle with 143 Sam Begley (Estate) leaving Screamer facing the traffic where he was collected by 264 Ian Wallace Snr.  434 Andy Burns now put 71 Chris Herman into the wall to end his day early before the hit of the race was delivered by 265 Ian Wallace Jnr (Sapphire) who followed in the similar motor of 190 Tommy Dawes.  Rather alarmingly, the battery of the 190 machine flew out on impact and shattered as it bounced down the home straight although there were thankfully no injuries. 14 Will Walmsley suffered a blown engine in his smart Sapphire but was then pushed for at least half of the race by 810 Alex McBain and still managed to take the victory!  331 Jason Roberts and 810 Rugrat were the placemen.

    9 for Heat Two which kicked off with Screamer getting out of shape and taking the bone from 331 Roberts.  128 Teabag then steamed the Bong Gang pilot before going on to run 265 Waldo Jnr into the inner kerbing.  Screamer tried to reverse off the bend to rejoin the race but was hit up the chuff by 30 Dougie Roberts (Estate) who was flat out on opposite.  Screamer was jacked impressively whilst Dougie snapped his own Sierra and broke his door plate in half on impact!  265 Waldo Jnr was the winner this time with 434 Burnzy second and Rugrat third.

    8 for the Final which included 14 Sausage Boy who had worked well to change his engine during the course of the afternoon.  Sausage Boy hooked out Teabag in the early stages and then went on to follow in Waldo Jnr in a big way leaving him hanging from a post.  Demo attacked the Sapphire of 303 Scott Dale which allowed Burnzy to run the former into the wall before Waldo Snr buried Burnzy.  Teabag floored it to pile up the back of Waldo getting some great air time as he hit the plating and was quickly jacked hard by 303 Scotty leaving the axle off the ground in the 128 Estate.  Waldo Snr came through the pile to complete a lap and stuff Scotty well with Sausage Boy and Rugrat then going in hard to leave nothing running.  Sausage Boy was declared the winner on the basis of laps completed as the track crew set about clearing up a trademark Barrow wrecking train.

    With only one race scheduled between the Banger Final and the DD, there was a delay of close to one hour as three drivers and crews worked frantically to get their cars out for the final time.  When the action got underway, it was the 434 machine which ran 331 Jason Roberts into the fence to end his involvement.  Sausage Boy took to the grass as the surviving car loomed in his mirrors but this didn’t stop him from taking a decent jacking on the grass whilst Burnzy continued to career across the grass and drop over the kerbs onto the track rolling onto his roof.  Burnzy was rolled back onto all fours whilst Sausage Boy was assisted off the grass so that the 14 machine could take a further three jackings to leave it an impressive mess and end a highly enjoyable session at the Cumbrian coast venue.

Results:

Ht1:    14 Will Walmsley, 331 Jason Roberts, 810 Alex McBain, 434 Andrew Burns, 264 Ian Wallace Snr
Ht2    265 Ian Wallace Jnr, 434, 810, 325 Mark Dempster
Final    14 declared
DD    434 from 14

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