Cowdenbeath, 24th April, Unlimited Bangers World Cup

75 cars gathered for the annual World Cup at the superb Racewall Cowdenbeath with visitors coming from far and wide as is the norm for this event. Some more extra special beef as normal also with the best of the Granada entry coming from 11 Darren Race(used), 172 Simon Byrne, 310 John Nicholson, 326 Paul and 733 Carl Picton plus 753 Billy Cunningham who all paraded smart Mk1s while 150 Leon Pelc and 2 Colin Riddell brought Mk2 limos. The Jag entry only numbered 5 which was a Series 3, two Series 2's, a used XJ40 with 536 Annette Nicholls debuting an XJ-S. 274 John Taylor had the lone Jap with a Laurel while 13 Colin Johnstone was at the wheel of a Merc 250 limo. 21 John Riddell had a Mk2 Trummy with 323 Jim Riddell racing a Mk1 Trummy estate. Moving up a gear 454 D Thompson had a P4 while 584 Mark Harding brought up a DS420 limo, 428 Richard Regan impressed even by his high standards with an immaculate 420G and 100 Ian Martin had a rated Vauxhall Velox which never made the track while 152 James Dillon rather expectedly scooped top car honours with a well presented Lincoln Town Car limo.

 The action started straight away in the first last chance race with 430 Bob Moffat getting put in on the home straight and taking a shot from 456 Steve Allen as a result while 592 Mark Marchant jacked Thompsons P4 hard which had stalled up on the rolling lap. 684 Alan Morphet then assualted 94 Lee Hughes with the latter taking a follow in from 64 Norman Moore shortly afterwards with 188 John Reeves then walling 456 Stevo big time on the back straight leaving the latter an impressive mess. 753 Young Gun, 363 Steve Bulley and 75 David MacFarlane then piled in together as Marchant weighed into 514 Paul Woods and 156 Mike Maskell blasted 0 Charlie Cunningham with 810 Paul McNulty inturn doing Maskell while 188 Victor turned it round to blast 271 Dean Goodearl before doing the same to 2 Riddells limo a couple of times with the reds coming out to remove the blockage. The restart was down to 5 cars with Young Gun leading them away but was soon walled by Bulley on the home straight who came to grief also when Goodearl put him out wide to take the lead with 99 Richie Ahern nipping through for second and Bulley recovering for third.

 The expected Stinkbridge/ DAHM Buster war kicked off straight away in the second last chancer with 451 Willy Blackwell firing up the back of 69 Stevie Horsfield even before the greens came out with the latter also being run in by 458 Rick Finney hard on the pit bend as 168 Ian Horsfield steamed Finney only to be steamed by 147 Chris Detton as 69 Little Hoss and 09 Andy Holmes went head to head and 167 David Holmes t-boned the former hard, 09 Psycho then blasting Young Hoss twice with the latter gladly waving them in for one final big shot leaving the 69 motor well wrecked. 294 Nigel Ashley then impressed no one by destroying 651 Dave Walker long since vacated motor before also doing 168 Big Hoss' emtpy car while elsewhere Finney walled 688 Wayne Morphet before going in on 13 Johnstone as 3 Gary Doyle collected the Digger on the infield! 310 Eno meanwhile gladly kept out of all the mayhem to take the win from 688 Morphet.

 The atmosphere for the main race was electric in the grandstand mainly helped by the Davies brothers and 152 James Dillon on the parade lap plus Michael Coventry on the mike getting the crowd going. 271 Goodearl and 155 Scott Hamilton shared the front row with 41 Dan Steele quickly walling arch nemsis Wayne Morphet before 731 Scott Douglas was trashed by the pack but we believe it could have been 70 Scott Ramsey adminestrating the damage as 150 Mr Lazy gave Steele a roof bender and 27 Dale Hughes walled Morphet as 428 Grumpy, 31 Jason Jackson and 90 Rob Baker went in together before 252 John Wibberley treated 733 Carl Picton to a superb follow in only to be trashed big time by brother 326 Paul Picton who inturn was destroyed by a portion of Town Car limo courtesy of 152 Mr Grumpy in a superb piece of team racing on both sides. Eno then weighed into 31 Boxer Jack only to be blown up impressively by 85 James Ellis with 584 Sharky inturn doing the RDC man, the reds now coming out for Paul Picton who emerged OK from his wreck. 47 Andy Davies lead away the restart  from 22 Dave Vincent and 158 Shane Davies in third, 10 Paul Whiteman taking 455 Ramsey out before being put in by defending champ 510 Alan Lewis, Ramsey then coming under fire from Grumpy as 172 Bernie turned it round to meet 27 Ooze Boy in a well stiff head on with both getting out for a quality hand shake afterwards. 47 Andy Davies never lost the lead and cruised to an easy win with brother 158 Shane in second for a Davies 1-2, 83 Llyod Isherwood in third, 49 Billy King fourth and out going champ 510 Alan Lewis in fifth.

 Two Allcomers followed with 16 appearing for the first one with 323 & 21 Riddells, 222 Scott Paton, 224 Gary Glenn, Lewis and 70 Ramsey all coming to grief on the home straight as Whiteman run Young Gun round the wall and Marhant hit 323 Riddell, the latter then t-boning 367 Allan Adams dead motor as McNulty and Young Gun engaged head on before Ramsey put himself in after hitting the Gypsy Crew captain. Marchant taking the win this time.

 The second Allcomers was a lot better and started with 155 Mr Nervous making a bee line for 11 Racey as Andy Davies had the leading Morphet out before Ashley followed in Steele well on the pit bend and 273 Kevin McClagish steamed Sharky and was done inturn by 188 Victor as Racey met 94 Stuntman in a big head on and Blackwell blew up Alan Morpeht on the home straight with Mr Grumpy then applying a massive t-bone on Stuntman snapping the limo well as Grumpy wasted Boxer. Finney then went in on Bulley who also copped a t-bone from 167 Bushwacker before Detton put himself in presumably with steering problems as 158 Shane got on with the winning.

 A good entry of 18 motors returned for the demo with respect due to 252 Wibbsy, 169 Little Hoss(albeit out in his Dads car) and 651 for resurrecting their well wrecked motors as Morphet got stuck into Huggy at the start as Doyle put himself in hard and Detton did Little Hoss before MacFarelane did Whiteman and Blackwell hit Little Hoss DSU. Finney then gave MacFarlane a solid shot but took a superb length of the straight effort from Wibbsy leaving the TSB motor well wrecked only to be destroyed again himself by Detton. Racey then battered Whiteman as Blackwell and Hoss went head to head, the latter breaking away but stopping to allow Blackwell to waste him with a cracking shot on the home straight and was duly blasted hard by Whiteman who claimed the win as last car running.

This ended a really excellent meeting and the superb atmosphere contributed to what was the best Unlimited session of the year so far and one of the best ever World Cup meetings. A lot of talking points coming out of the meeting regarding the on going war, Stinkbridge not impressing many people by their empty car shots and refusing of hand shakes while the Busters gained a lot of respect for taking  it and getting back out their against all odds. Some superb hitting, racing and wrecks overall making this a meeting that will be remembered for a very long time.

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