Banger report by Michael Burnage

The south coast team are used to turning up unannounced and they did that for this meeting, giving a pleasant surprise to fans and a few surprises to home drivers, along with the Dartford Crossing attendant who suddenly saw team captain Nigel Riley turn up with so many brightly coloured cars on so many lorries.

During the year the team had agreed to race in every round of the Spedeworth BWS but somehow that took away some of the mystique their off-the-cuff appearances seemed to engender.

There was a whole range of cars on show from the visitors at Arena Essex, including a Cadillac, a Jaguar XJ40, a Lincoln Continental and a Mercedes Estate.

The Bearswere certainly out to entertain and once they got out onto the track, the usual chaos and carnage ensued.

There were plenty of big hits dished out and plenty taken, with by far the most entertaining being Ash Riley’s head-on crash with World Champion Jason Jackson that left both cars stopped in their tracks.

The local lads are now back to their marauding ways and will next be heading for the UK Open at Ringwood, the biggest meeting of the year.