Near-capacity crowd enjoys big van banger event

A near-capacity crowd descended on the Adrian Flux Arena on Saturday for the annual Big Van Banger meeting.Racing also came from the 1300 stock cars that were racing in their version of the Steve Newman Memorial and the Reliant Robins.The large crowd was treated to a tremendous show with local drivers being heavily involved in the action.Two local drivers were in winning mode with Ashley Garrod taking the chequered flag in one of his heats before an outstanding drive by Brad Bowman saw him win his first-ever final in national bangers.There were great performances by both Andy Frost and Jake Burgess who were getting stuck into the action at every opportunity.Kieran Bowman was also very much in the thick of things – he ended up getting a different view of the action though when he performed a massive rollover after being fenced hard by London’s Gary Beck.Shaun Clarke made his first appearance in several years and he hit the ground running with a great display which saw him win two entertainer awards. One arrived in the final and an additional one in the Destruction Derby where he put in a great display against several bigger machines and ended up slugging it out well for a runner-up finish. Garry Lusher had plenty to smile about after picking up his first win in the 1300 stock cars after moving into the formula in 2024.Lusher has come so close to taking the chequered flag on several occasions this year and it was wonderful to see the celebrations of the team and family when all the hard work finally paid off.Stockport’s Daniel Davies claimed a heat and final double. There is no racing at Lynn this weekend with the 2L Stock Car World Final taking place at Cowdenbeath.The best of luck goes to the West Norfolk drivers who will be making the trip to Scotland in particular Austen Freestone who has qualified for the big race.Racing returns on Saturday, September (pm) when the biggest banger event of 2024 to take place on shale will be staged – the Unlimited Banger World of Shale.