THE Winter Open Championship for 2 Litre Bangers is the showpiece event of Banger Bonanza XI at Smeatharpe tomorrow (New Year's Eve, 12 noon start time).

Former World Champion Jake Bond, of Bridgwater ,is hoping to defend the Winter Open title at Smeatharpe, having won the championship event when it was last contested, early in the 2022 season.

At that same meeting, Kenny Gabriel Jnr of Yate was the star entertainer. His lively and exciting display of crashing earned him maximum points in the season-long Entertainer League. Gabriel Jnr began the day with a relatively straight car, but finished the afternoon with plenty of damage and battle scars on his Ford Mondeo.

The National Micro Bangers are also set to feature at Banger Bonanza XI at Smeatharpe, and among the entry will be Josh Jones of Cranbrook. He endured a rough ride at the corresponding event two years ago, when he was comprehensively destroyed by Terry Hill of Newton Poppleford. Undeterred, Jones is due back again this year for another tilt at Banger Bonanza honours.

Bigger cars in the Back 2 Basic (overs) Bangers will also make a return to this year’s event. It was two years ago in December 2021 when a packed grid of ‘overs’ last featured, and among the group of drivers from that day, the entertaining Exeter duo of Nathan Nichols and David Walters are part of the entry.