THE 14TH Civil War at Hednesford on Sunday was blessed with dry but very cold weather, but the Northern fans went home with their hearts warmed after a dominant display from the Northern Army.

Fears that the two Armies would not fill their quota of drivers proved unfounded, and the pits were packed to capacity as were the stands and terraces. Car wise the Light Brigade consisted of 1600cc Nissans including a rapid 100NX from S80 Matt Nutley, while the Infantry were in Mondeos with N800 James Benn’s Vectra the sole exception. The Tanks saw S99 Richie Ahern in the day’s only Mk2 Granada while N601 Lee Usher topped the entry with a V8-engined Lincoln limousine.

The North attacked from the off and only two Southern cars finished the opening race for the Infantry but they were both in the points and thus the men in white had only a narrow lead. The red army took their only win of the day in the first Light Brigade heat courtesy of S49 Rob Bevan with the North losing a glut of points when N06 Neil Rawthorne made a trio of attacks on the out-of-bounds rumble strips.

The South held their advantage through a stunning first Tanks heat with 433 Ben Smith classified third, but only after being involved in one of the crashes of the day. 2 Jon Bricknell started things with an immense T-bone on 153 Shaun Buckley before the Standlake man was flattened by Usher’s limo, the latter then burying Smith into Bricknell a lap later bringing out the reds but thankfully all were OK.

The next Infantry heat saw the North begin to claw back the deficit with a win for 382 Jack Foster Jnr, both sides having points docked in this one for attacks on the reds. After this the North really moved into top gear and such was their dominance the South would not score another point for the rest of the day. The Foster family uniquely took three wins between them in the Light Brigade and Infantry, while the second heat for the former class saw some quality blocking work in the finest War tradition.

The South however refused to go down without a fight and 528 Alan Hunt (Tanks) and 277 Gav Perryman (Infantry) put in stunning never-say-die performances in the face of adversity to the approval of the large crowd, but such was the North’s lead that even a docking for infield hits in the Light Brigade final barely dented their advantage. Their victory was sealed when only one Southern Tank lined up for their last race, and once he was flattened by Usher the victory was assured, the Northern Infantry then celebrating with a cracking wrecking train in the Infantry DD to round off a magnificent meeting

This was without doubt one of the best Banger meetings seen for a while and is certainly up there as one of the best Civil War displays - Well done to all drivers, mechanics and officials for putting on a superb show of banger action for a big crowd, who enjoyed the entertainment all day.

Thanks to Phill Cornish for the photos!

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