This season’s Judgement Day fixture was blighted by a number of heavy showers during the afternoon, which gave a very winter-like feel to the United Downs Raceway.

National Bangers

The modest number of National Bangers who attended served up plenty of action despite the low car count, and each driver is to be applauded for their fine efforts.  The Judgement Day race began with 8 Darren Rundle sending 360 Jack Reynolds wide, which opened the door for defending title holder 739 Jason Moore to squeeze by on his way to an early lead.  59 Mike Hamley landed the first telling blow as he attacked 99 David Spooner, spinning the Rollys Royce, before latching on to it a second time.  Indeed, Spooner courted a lot of attention, whilst Moore won convincingly, from 360 Jackstar, who blasted 383 Andre McLellan late on.  278 Shaun Brokenshire saw second place slip from his grasp on the final bend, as he got caught up with Spooner after a late race attack.  Rundle grabbed the third trophy position, with Hamley awarded the Entertainer award (a bottle of Holy Vodka).  Spooner continued to be the source of much interest in the Captain Birdseye Trophy race, as he gamely encouraged the attention of others.  Having held up Jackstar at the start, Rundle piled into Reynolds, but trapped by the static Spooner car, Rundle then got clobbered by Jackstar, and then by Brokenshire swiftly afterwards.  When McLellan attacked Spooner, he was left exposed to a wicked shot from Brokenshire.  Reynolds bundled 11 Grubby Frankson up the plating in the turnstile bend, as Moore won again, this time from Brokenshire and Hamley, with Jackstar taking the Entertainer honours.  The Allcomers race was relatively uneventful, although Moore timed a last bend challenge on Jackstar to perfection, which saw him complete a hat-trick of wins.  Brokenshire in third and Frankson in fourth, were each awarded Entertainer bonuses.

Van Bangers

A magnificent entry of 20 Van Bangers produced a succession of fun races.  The first of these involved a monumental track blockage in the turnstile bend.  After a large amount of to-and-fro shunting, the Red Neck Spec trio of 690 Tristan Clement, 692 Dave Gardner and 693 Denis Gardner broke free.  Both 457 John Blight and 726 Lewis Senford saw their hopes expire in the multi-van pile-up, but once a clear route through the wreckage had been created, those left running could not quite see out the rest of the laps, and only two vans made it to the finish, with 813 Steven Quickfall winning from the slow-moving 768 Tyler Cock.  After so much crashing in the first race, it was a much more sparsely populated grid for heat two.  Even with fewer vans, there was still plenty of action, with Cock contributing to the chaos and mayhem.  860 Dan Perryman stormed to a comprehensive victory.  Perryman won again in the final, despite a strong showing by 2557 Owen Braine.  Cock attempted to be a nuisance again, by reversing out into the traffic on the exit of turn two, before Denis Gardner, and others, returned the favour by surrounding Cock’s mini-bus.  In an entertaining race, Perryman took his ambulance to another win, from 53 Chris James and Clement.  The afternoon ended with a compelling Destruction Derby.  Blight looked to have avoided most of the rest and was on course to an obvious win, but then an attack by Cock silenced the 457 van.  Cock then celebrated his win, with attacks on James and 210 Ryan Johns to bring events to a lively close.

Ministox

With a selection of local youngsters absent from the grid, numbers fell to just 13 drivers for the final fixture of 2023.  Heat one was suspended after a tangle involving 920 Wayne Wadge, 511 Lexi Crosbie and 567 Mia Batten left Wadge in a perilous position on the home straight.  922 Kaydi Butcher saw her substantial lead reduced to nothing, and when the race resumed 202 Cody Bradford led home 290 Alfie Tomkins and 207 Alfie Flecken.  Butcher again got clear of the rest at the start of heat two, and she proceeded to speed ever onwards.  Behind her, a thrilling battle ensued involving 267 Robbie Batten and brothers 870 Bert Farrell and 770 Austin Farrell.  This was most helpful to Butcher, and she maintained her lead all the way to the finish, grabbing a career first race win.  Bert Farrell was the runner-up and Bradford completed the top three.  The final was a fractious affair, with Wadge running 913 Ben Faulconbridge out of room around the midway point.  Robbie Batten and his sister Mia were joined at the front by the Farrell brothers, but as the race moved into the final segment, Bert Farrell hit the front, but could not shake off Bradford.  Into the final bend, Bradford nudged Farrell wide, but on the run to the flag, Farrell spun Bradford inside out.  Farrell crossed the line first, but was disqualified, which saw Tomkins inherit the win, from Austin Farrell and the unfortunate Bradford.