The 5th round of King of the Ring fell on a dark and rainy Saturday afternoon. This didn’t deter the crowds from turning up to watch 32 drivers battle for three cash prizes on the track and admiring the cars on the show and shine which were being judged to win prizes kindly donated by Autoglym.
The show and shine is the first area you really come to at King of the Ring and featured some unusual cars. I only briefly passed through it but Shane Lynch’s one off Rolls Royce built by Huxley Motorsport and this beautifully detailed Lamborghini Diablo were certainly my highlights!
There were a few new and unusual cars in the pits as well. Tony Morgan and Hollie Haney were driving these matching 300ZXs
Richard Bowman-Daniels’ BMW E36 was looking good. I love the vented bonnet with the girls and spider webs airbrushed onto the bonnet.
Team MAPT were also present with their fleet of cars. Looking professional as always! Team MAPT also did a drift demo after qualifying. It was nice to see all the matching liveried cars going round in a train.
Martin Cheeseman’s E36 Compact is still my personal favourite car that frequents King of the Ring. I have a big soft spot for compacts and this one looks so good sitting on the orange banded steel wheels.
The only rotary powered car in the pack was this bridgeported Mazda RX8 prepared by the team at Essex Rotary. It was a shared car for the evening and was being driven by Warren Runnicles and Ryan Osborne.
Today the commentary would be provided by BDC driver Mark Lappage, BDC/ D1/ KOE/ Drift Allstars/ UAE Drift driver Steve Biagioni who helped set up King Of The Ring and does a lot for the local drivers. Judging would be by Team S1 ambassador Kris Morris, previous King Of The Ring champion and BDC driver Danny Grundy and BDC and IDC champion Jack Shanahan.
If you want to learn the basics of the track then please check out my post from the previous King of the Ring right here: https://motorsportformentalhealth.com/2016/06/06/king-of-the-ring-round-4-big-changes/
Top 32
The first battle of the top 32 would see first place qualifier Darrel Smith in his black E46 saloon battle a little MX5 piloted by a chap named David. As one would expect, Darrel plowed through this battle without issue.
Chris Taylor in his S13 200sx “missile” car would battle a little yellow E36 compact with purple wheels. A small correction by Chris in the second run was the only doubt that he would proceed through this battle. He quickly recovered though and got back on the door of the little E36 to take the victory.
Alex McKenzie of Team HD would be pitting his E46 touring with INSANE lock against the freshly built 300ZX of Tony Morgan. McKenzie simply walked through both battles without breaking a sweat to take the win. It’s a shame as Tony Morgan is a great driver, I’m guessing he hasn’t had a chance to settle into the new car.
Another small correction was the only thing standing in the way of a flawless victory over Simon Cane for James Wilkins. The local driver is looking on form tonight!
The next battle would see an M-Sport liveried E36 BMW battle a tank like Volvo 240. The big Volvo pushed hard but a collision with a marker cone saw it eliminated from competition.
Martin Cheeseman in the little white and orange compact would battle Robert Cropley in a E46. Cheeseman put down a great pair of runs which Cropley tried hard to match a couple of small errors gave Cheeseman the advantage in the first battle and a collision with a cone in the second saw Cropley knocked out.
Steven Blanchard took out Ryan Osborne in the next battle. For his first time in competition Ryan did well to qualify and battled hard against a much more experienced driver, well done Ryan! Looking forward to seeing you in the next one!
Lee Reed in a silver touring took out a Team Twisted liveried E36 in a battle that I wouldn’t want to judge!
Jake Rolls in a E36 BMW with police car lights in the window would battle a silver touring driven by Oliver Bolton. Jake was knocked out of competition after rear ending the other car entering the first corner.
Warren Runnicles, the other driver of the Essex Rotary RX8 would battle Paul Parnell of MAPT Motorsport. Paul pulled several car lengths on Warren in the lead run and sat on his door in the chase scoring an easy victory.
Jamie Stanton cruised to victory after his opponent, a yellow E36, nose dived into the wall in a rather spectacular fashion.
Alex Chapman was able to defeat a black Vauxhall Omega after the Vauxhall was very hesitant to initiate on the first run.
a black E36 compact took victory over Steve May in his mint coloured E36 touring after Steve took out a couple of the plastic barriers on the second corner.
As the multicoloured E36 of Brad cousins sat on the door of Richard Bowman-Daniels I thought my good friend Richard was going to lose his battle. When the roles revered though Richard was able to mirror him well and secured the vicotry when the Brad clipped a couple of cones.
Mark Chapman secured his place in the top 16 after a one more time battle with his opponent. The first set of runs were scrappy from both drivers but in the second Mark clearly dominated.
Top 16
The battle between Phil Christmas and Darrel Smith was sadly decided when Darrel ran over a cone and corrected giving Phil a huge advantage and ultimately the win.
The battle between Chris Taylor and Alex McKenzie was incredibly close! It’s a battle I would like to see in the final at a King of the Ring event actually, both drivers are really talented and both cars are set up well. The judges decided that Chris would go through after some deliberation.
James Wilkins knew he had the win over the M-Sport liveried E36 after the first run and did a victory lap with his hand out the window. Thankfully he wasn’t over confident at that stage of the battle and did go on to take the win.
Blanchard vs Cheeseman looked to be another fantastic battle and again would be another battle I would like to see as a final. Unfortunately the hydraulic handbrake lever in Cheeseman’s car broke off and despite a 5 minute rule being called Cheeseman was unable to get it properly fixed in time for battle. Blanchard was a sport though and congratulated his friend, I think he would have like to have seen that battle play out without mechanical failure too.
Lee Reed dominated Oliver Bolton in their battle and earned himself a spot in the top 8.
The battle between Paul Parnell and Jamie Stanton was too close to call after one set of runs. Unfortunately Paul massively under steered entering the first corner which gave Jamie the win.
Mark Chapman would battle the black E36 compact. It looked really close to me but my interpretation has to be taken somewhat with a pinch of salt as I am trying to make notes and watch at the same time. The judges saw something I didn’t and Chapman took the win.
Top 4
Chris Taylor took the advantage over James Wilkins in the first run but ran over a marker cone in the second run giving Wilkins the spot in the final.
Mark Chapman backed into the wall on the first run against Jamie Stanton but Baggsy declared that it was because the marker cone, knocked over in the previous battle, was placed too far out so they would be run again. The first of the battles was super close but Stanton hit a cone which sealed his fate
3-4
The battle for third and forth place would be between Chris Taylor and Jamie Stanton. This was a bit of a messy battle, Jamie hit one of the plastic barriers and Chris managed to clip the inner curb. The judges had made a decision though!
Final
Finally Mark Chapman took the clear win over Jamie Wilkins as Wilkins sadly spun out. A well deserved win for Chapman who had been driving superbly all night!
Results
1. Mark Chapman
2. James Wilkins
3. Chris Taylor
Hope you all enjoyed reading and I hope to see you all at the next round on the 1st October!
Thanks!
