Oh My God, I knew this was going to be stark raving bionkers but WTF?
I honestly admire you for getting so close and having either no sense or much bigger gonads than I will ever have.
You have been rewarded with some exciting and original shots that portray the mayhem, madness, danger and confusion that obviously surrounded this whole event. Great shots indeed, nice exposure and well balanced to show the nutters with the barrels while not having the flames cause your pictures to "blow out". When you add into that the old manual flash gun you were using and the fact that it was your first outing with said equipment I really thing you have done excellent and should be really pleased with the results.
Top job mate!!!
BTW May I ask you to give some details of what settings you used and how you found the whole photography side of this event? It may hep others in the future.