Civil War 3

Sunday 13th Jan 2002
Hednesford
The report

Ok so I was a little disapointed not to be on the infeild, but hey poo occurs.. My sadness was soon displelled as we were treated to an awesome days racing, and it wouldn't be a Northern whitewash either :)
OK so us Northerners went down South to watch what we thought would be a trashing of the Southerners.. But were we in for a wake up call..
Light Brigade/First Engagement 15 Metros for the North (N) and 16 for the South (S)
There was plenty of action, only 4 Northern Metros finished and 8 Southern Mets finished!! It was a first, a defeat for the North in the Light Brigade.. Maybe this was an oman for what the day was to be like. Sadly all the Metros managed to keep attached to their rear Axels.. :(
Still things could only get better, couldn't it ? After a speedy clear up, again with the five minute rule from previous wars, we had The Infantry/First Engagement Both sides had 18 cars each, mostly Capris and Tinas. This race made me think it might be a good day afterall :) There were two massive pile ups, both of which slid down the pit straight , imagine a massive moving Warton Crush, then double it :) We were then treated to a great double jacking and car 48 mounted car 30...It was very funny indeed :) Both teams managed to get their cars to the safe area.
Note that there is as full drivers list as I could find at the bottom of this page :)
Time for The Tanks/First Engagement Both the Steele Brothers were out in Jags and there was 2 Yanks for the North (451 Will Blackwell & 183 Scott Banton, Patos' brother) and both teams feilded 18 motors, tho it was difficult to tell as Wally, 823, had his car black with the word "red" painted on it :) There was a red flag early on, but not early enough to save 431 Deano (N) getting a massive jacking into a mass of wrecked tanks..It was car 617 Dave Ball (S) that had brought out the flags, but I think he was OK.
Ten cars each on the restart and after a massive jacking by 6 Mark Holdsworth (N) there was another red flag, this time for 384 John Golden (N) again he limped away. Restart 3 and only 14 cars left, 6 for the North. the car of 149 Martin Ford (S) was hit head on by teamate 274 Reuben Symonds (S) and Martins car was absolutely distroyed, it was very amusing to see :) 165 (S) took an impressive win, he was being hunted by three White Northern cars (in formation at times it looked like a scene from Pearl Harbour) He desreved the win.. well done mate :)
143 Sam Begley (N) was out for Light Brigade/Heat of Battle along with 13 other Nortnern Metros, the South had two more :( Not for long tho.. The two extra Metros kindly rolled over and died near the pitgate :)) Sam finished the race, almost unscathed, but the hero of the race was 148 Ian "Shorty" Redden (N) who kept going dispite his Metro looking like it had been in a grinder..... TWICE!
15 cars each for Light Brigade/Heat of Battle yet only four finished, two each. Car 53 driven by Phil Stevens (S) really didn't want to roll and just got hung up on the barrier.. There were many big wrecks (I had heard something about DD rules- thats what the aftermath looked like anyway :) these included 48, 347 both well mashed and 252, 110 and 206 all wrecked with 118 and 213 being on the receiving ends of big jackings..Sadly the damage was too much for the Southern Softies and they lost hundreds of points as the penalty for no shifting their heaps of crap :)) Oh how we laffed.. The North, for the first time, had the lead in the competition :)
Lets gloss over The Tanks/Heat of Battle (Lets not ED.) Oh Ok then :( Both teams had three Yank Tanks out for the brawl, the 142 John Kavanagh (N) Limmo being the most awesome to behold. Infact 728 Spike Dray (S) followed it around the track, before the grid line up, to get it ASAP. The South had two more motors than the North with 18, but the Yank limmo would make up for that, wouldn't it ?? 09 Andy Holmes (N) tried to leave before the start, but was not allowed to, so a grinder was brought on for him to "modify" his pink car-- PINK?? 141 Dan Steele (N) was back out and we all waited to see what mayhem would occur.. Not surprisingly there was a massive Yank pile up on the corner Spike had got his man.. Mind you Spike was got by an errant Northern Jag and boy did we cheer :) We had a restart and it was not good for Dan Steele (N), he was stuffed by 282 Lee Tresurer (S) who was duly stuffed by 22 Dave Vincent (N) who had a pasting and 294 Nigel Ashley (N) finished off this episode of racing history.. Damn good it was too :) Only two cars finished, both Southerners... Bah Humbug!! The North lost loadsa points and the Southern Nancies were back in the lead :((
Bring on The Light Brigade/The Coup de Gras and Northern hero, ney legend 143 Sam Begly. he took an early lead after punting off some Southern waster :) There was a red flag as 310 John Nicolson (N) hit a teamate very hard in the drivers door.. They both got out of their cars and looked a bit shakey, but Ok. 69 Mark "Smelly" Bass (N) had a very batttered Metro and had peice of mind to move it to the safe area, while he still could! After the restarted only three cars finished, Sam sadly did not :(
Its time again for The Infantry/The Coup de Gras and with 19 cars each, we knew it would be anither good race.. And boy was it... No Southern cars finished, dispite one trying to hide on the infeild, he was soon found and dispatched by the Northern team :)) Big wrecks for 470 Pete Corbett (N), 81 and 295 Graham Heywood (N).. I enjoyed that one :)
I was surprised to see the Yank Limmo looking so straight at the rear, as it left earlier the trunk was at a 90 degree angle to the road. i had to laugh tho as I noticed the rear left wheel looking decidedly wonky!! Guess who was up its bum.. yup that Southern Yank tank.. This race had the Southerners again with more metal on the track than the North, by a number of 1.. But this was the The Tank/The Coup de Gras so let the devistation begin. It was no surprise that the Limmo got well and truly stuffed, jacked and snapped by the Southern tean, lead by that nasty 584 Mark Harding (S) in his Yank Tank, Mind you it ended up making us smile as it got a beating to remember and ended up smaller than a Robin!!
Indeed things were looking up as the DD's started.. The Light Brigade/The Dogs of War DD saw only 3 Southern Metros against 8 Northern Metros.. We were brimming with confidence. The two sides started at the opposite side of the track and a cahse ensued.. Then there was a massive followin at one end of the track and a drivers dooring of 363 James Bulley (S) by 688 Wayne Morphet (N) causing a red flag and disqualifacation of the Northern team from the heat, no points were awarded and we waited for more action.. it came from 407 Jason Mitchell (N), who for some bizzare reason, kept reverseing haed into the track wall.. It was all very odd indeed!
The Infantry/The Dogs of War DD and 9 North, 5 South, plus two VERY LATE arrivals, and we were off. 225 Richard Edmonds (S) put in an impressive showing, by taking on the last three Northern team single handedly.. He just kept going.. and going... and going, don't get me wrong, he was not rodding, he was just doing really well!! It ended when 37 Phil Wosket (N) gave it a final hit and then did an head on with team mate 295 Graham Heywood.. That was that the North could NOT be beaten.. But we still had one more race.
The Tanks/The Dogs of War DD Only four each and to be honest it was a bit of an anticlimax.,. Loads of chasing and a few good hits, the South won the DD but it was too little too late:)
It really was a great day for all. I like to think that I am unbiased and my report is fair. But The Southern Softies LOST AGAIN!!! Come on guys we even let you take an early lead (a'la Man Utd stlye) and in the words of Alex Fergusion "You blew it". Still there is always next year :) I will be there and hope that you will too.
The Civil War is one of, if not the best meeting of the year.. the fun of seeing normal enemies looking after each other and watching team mates whizzing round in packs is very funny..Thanks to Andy Pennington (warton 666) who dispite not racing, managed to get me covered with mud (TMK on my hi vis vest) and lend me a pen when mine went AWOL.. Yup indeed it was a good day :)

This was the last Newsletter from INCARACE before CW3
As the Civil War preparations continue both Generals feel they have amassed the best armies yet for 2002. Steve Swan (Southern General) told us: The North have won the first two Wars, but we hope this will be third time lucky for the South. We are happy with the Southern Army and have been amazed with the reaction amongst Southern Drivers - most were definitely up for it, and we have the team we wanted. This is the best Southern Army yet. The South Infantry is very strong, but there are even a lot of top drivers that have been willing to do battle in the Light Brigade (Metros) - everyone realises the importance of Civil War 3. We have worked hard on the overall strategy this year and I have been able to delegate a lot of work to Andy which has helped a lot: we have busy on the next issue of Blitz but I hope to speak to all the Southern drivers over the next week in the lead up to the Civil War - once again the reaction to the call-up has been amazing and I would like to thank all the drivers that have worked so hard over Christmas to make the Southern Army the best it can be. We are going to Hednesford to do a job ... material-wise we are coming to win: Jags, Japs, Grannies rather than flash one-hit-wonder motors. If the North win again, all credit to them ... Northern Banger racing has really kicked in over the last 5 years - with lots of young drivers prepared to have a crash. But the South are tooled up and ready to win, with an even better team than 2000 - and that went down to the final Demolition Derby! Civil War really means something to the Drivers, Army Staff and the Fans - may the best Army win. Stu Kearsley (Northern Steam), the Northern Army General told us: this year the Northern Army is the strongest yet. In the Tank division supporters should expect a fair amount of "beef" on track for the North along with some top material from Darren Race (11), Simon Ballard (591) and Ade Philips (251). We are confident even though Steve has put together easily the best Southern Army ever. At the end of the day, they are Shandy drinkers ... and that's why we will win. The South is a very, very strong Army, but it won't be enough. Civil War will be televised on Sky TV - the dates will be confirmed by Sunday and will be announced at the event.
Now the Team lists (taken from the INCARACE website) The Northern Army Metros - Light Brigade 666 Dan Lucas 143 Sam Begley 60 Shane Stevenson 70 Simon Needle 59 Brian Heywood 101 Davy Evans 59 Lee Dimmock 14 Will Walmsley 236 Andy Robinson 684 Alan Morphet 123 Alex Waddington 221 Gary Allsopp 54 Richard Heyward 310 John Nicolson 7 Mark Lester 74 Mark Shaw 407 Jason Mitchell 36 Steve Birkett 148 Ian Redden 688 Wayne Morphet Unders - Infantry 007 Ian Lawes 34 Warren Burnham 37 Phil Woskett 40 Ian Kitchen 67 Mark Whittaker 75 Steve Thacker 80 Jack Foster 110 Paul Latkowski 210 Ian Hartshorne 225 George Coats 269 Dean French 274 Colin Coker 294 Nigel Ashely 318 Wilf Speak 470 Pete Corbett 27 Steve McMillan 36 Joe Baxter 39 Steve McEvoy 51 John Worsencroft 75 Jim O'Brien 80 Matt Almann 104 Mick Siddalls 196 Adam Gibbons 213 Mark Watkins 252 John Wibberley 272 Gary Murrell 293 Paul Ashley 295 Graham Heywood XXX Jonathon Atkinson 883 Dave Thorley Unlimited - Tanks 6 Mark Holdsworth 11 Darren Race 45 Simon Tabinor 69 John Cope 141 Dan Steele 167 David Holmes 183 Scott Banton 209 Andy Brough 08 Mick Holmes 311 Darren White 366 Keith Phillips 401 Steve Hemmings 431 Dean Steele 451 Will Blackwell 601 Lee Usher 09 Andy Holmes 22 Dave Vincent 60 Wayne French 83 Lloyd Isherwood 142 John Kavanagh 179 Shaun Rushton 185 Lenny Smith 218 Lee Clelland 251 Ade Phillips 316 Andy Cushion 384 John Golden 409 Carl Pears 450 Glynn Platts 591 Simon Ballard 690 Pete Richardson The Southern Softies (I AM NOT BIASED!!) Unlimited - Tanks 45 Anthony Crowshaw 57 Stu Cumming (Commander) 60 Kevin Camden 91 Dave Barwick 77 Darron Austen 136 Pip Williams 139 Clyde Williams 151 Justin Woolner 159 Mitchell Mills 162 Brett Ellacott 169 Jason Thompson 274 Reuben Symonds 277 Gavin Perryman 282 Lee Treasurer 283 Bryan Webb 332 Chris Reed 345 Nick Souter 355 Mark Simmonds 364 Sean Winchester 428 Richard Regan 455 Mick Holmes 541 Luke Parfitt 548 Kevin Utting 584 Mark Harding 617 Dave Ball 670 Richard Flockton 728 Spike Dray 764 Steve Spall 796 Dave Steeds 801 John Stoneman Unders - Infantry 5 Mark Kelly 27 Dale Hughes 29 Dave Marsh 46 Keith Painter 53 Phil Stevens 84 Jerry Ansell 185 Paul King 190 Dominic Gumbleton 199 Phil Powell 201 John Dodge 206 Dave King (Commander) 207 John Randall 224 Steve Williams 225 Richard Edmonds 238 Laurence Squires 252 Barry Sim 264 Mark Welland 300 Jon Ayles 331 Jason Jackson 342 James Stone 347 Mark Burbridge 348 Sonny Sherwood 372 Martin Scully 380 Trevor Wright 425 Pat McPhilimey 465 John Healey. 551 Simon Whant 592 Mark Marchant 702 James Dodge 823 Mick Murrell Metros - Light Brigade 45 Anthony Crowshaw 57 John Broad. Commander 58 Martin Dalton 79 Adrian Clifton. 113 Stuart Beevis 114 Glen Beevis 198 Marcus Goldsmith 213 Tony Roe 247 Martin Butt 265 Ken Angel 311 Danny Smithson 312 Greig Cheeseman 363 James Bulley 396 Scott Mowlam 404 Rob Mills 418 Grant Simpson 492 Aaron Cornish 499 Phil Rainsford 647 Danny Verrall 959 Aaron Keoghan