Arena Essex 00/21

Meeting 00/21, Sunday, 2nd. July 2000

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Banger Team Challenge PRI vs. Northampton Round 1
BriSCA F2 Stock Cars
Ministox

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Ministox
Gary Brown started the July 2 meeting at Arena Essex for the Ministox with a flag to flag win in a novice race that saw a little more than its fair share of crashing in places, James Avison getting second by the end while Billy Parrish lost a wheel on his way down the back straight. Colin Thorndyke was well away in the second "Experts" heat, not afraid to exploit the sometimes greasy outside line to win by a quarter lap over Joe Bullen. There was a little confusion as races were swapped about to allow the Banger teams racing that day more time to repair, Anthony Lawrence leading up a red and blue top run that outchased the whites in the "Chase" race with Bullen following in second having tried to pass Lawrence on a few occasions through the back markers but was unable to stay with the eventual winner in the clear. The final, again shifted for the sake of the Bangers, was again interrupted as Sam Warner, Daniel Amos and Avison all hit the wall hard. Lawrence Davey also received a hard knock from Daniel Rosenthal under the reds (adjudged accidental), but survived to carve his way through the field, then took the lead as Lee Smith and Anthony Lawrence slid off as the cars got a little too close, David Burton finally feeling the stewards' wrath for a blatant push on Smith close to home.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars
July 2 at Arena Essex and a fairly small BriSCA F2 Stock Car turnout in a support meeting, Andy Maynard holding Mick Sworder off well in the first heat while Ian Chalkley sprinted away easily from Mark Waldock on the start in the second heat for a win in a race that saw Stuart Chalkley end up in a heavy contact with veteran driver Tony Roots by the Tavern, Neal Smith likewise with Simon McNab at the other end. The final was a declared result after Daniel Ward ended up the subject of a big collision, first with Gary Barnard, then with the infamous Arena armco. Sworder had just about managed to grab the lead by that time with Chris Roots chasing when the reds came out. The rain hit the Grand National qualifier hard as Neal Smith fought hard to keep himself on the track and ahead of Steve Broomfield, while Broomfield had Tony Roots to worry about. That was how the race finished, progress being too slow in the wet to allow much more than that and a few hairy spins.

Banger Team Challenge
[On behalf of PRI, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the drivers and folk behind the scenes that arranged this two leg event. - CJ]

It was feared that the lack of convenient dates at RDC might mean that PRI would again have no Banger Team Challenge to look forward to after their victory over Ringwood in 1998 until Northampton stepped in with a two heat challenge starting at Arena Essex on July 2 with the return match at Brafield on July 22. The challenge accepted, both promotions started the arduous task of picking teams, a reported 80 volunteers at PRI according to the Racing Manager, Russell Williams, having to be whittled down to 30 and a reserve.

With some last minute scrambling, the PRI team turned out in full force to find that NIR were somewhat depleted for the July 2 leg, some drivers having to cry off for medical reasons, others citing some confusion over car specs. Nevertheless, the NIR drivers that showed pushed PRI hard in the heats. The PRI gameplan in the home round was fairly standard for them; Phil Stevens took on the role of the runner while the rest attacked at will, Phil Woskett seeming to take the worst hits as Kev Wilsher, then a Frankie Holmes/Roy Rawlins combination pinned him down before Stevens drove straight through him! PRI's biggest problem however was John Golden who steadfastly refused to give up, finally managing to kill off Stevens' car before his own died, but leaving the chugging wreck of Roy Rawlins still making progress. The story was similar in the second heat, though by this time there were some home doubts about the motives of one of their own drivers. It had been noticed by this time that Roy Bramley had spent more time on hitting his own team than the opposition, either plain bad driving or, as some of the audience started to suggest, Bramley was more interested in personal matters. Either way, he was eventually disabled while Chris Whiteman assumed the task as the runner for PRI and Jenny Holliday for NIR, Holliday making the better progress and almost making it home before Tommy McGurk jacked her following some good blocking by Lee West, all three dying and leaving Whiteman as last car running. With two heats against them and the points doubled in the final, NIR needed a good showing in the final to stay on terms, but the shortage of members was telling by this point, PRI having seven cars advantage which is how it finished. NIR tried, with a good blow to Mark Ruskin from Lee Edwards while Lee Bradbury did battle with Richie Ahern but with such a disadvantage it was only a matter of time before Mark Puddiphatt gave up on his one on one with Jimmy Silver and Holliday was taken sideways by Ruskin to leave Stevens at the head of a PRI team procession all heading home.

Kudos however to Mark Holdsworth, the only NIR to make it onto the track for the non-team-event Rawlins 2000 qualifier, though his near folded estate was quickly railroaded into submission on the pit gate, more than one person believing the follow-up hit by Elliott Dobson was unnecessary. There even seemed to be an element of payback on Retard as both John Harris and Roy Rawlins gave him some hits to remember, Rawlins sending him rolling on his side. Tony Wade had had a reasonable day of it too, and celebrated it with a win in the Rawlins followed by a wrecking session with Rawlins and Tony MacDonald which he won too! Round 2 of the challenge starts at 6.30pm on July 22 at Northampton Raceway.

Results (Note change in order of programme)

1  Ministox 1 W&Y  519 Gary Brown       /20/551/528/386/524/577/571/11/501/366/526
2  BriSCA F2 1     134 Andy Maynard     /152/677/269/77/951/649/180/261/772
3  Bangers 1       555 Roy Rawlins      LCR
4  Ministox 2 YBR  528 Colin Thorndyke  /90/129/88/599/9/327/16/20/50/111/64
5  BriSCA F2 2     469 Ian Chalkley     /152/772/180/677/134/714/261/882/553
7  Ministox 3      129 Anthony Lawrence /90/16/88/64/551/327/87/111/599/50/386
6  Bangers 2        55 Chris Whiteman   LCR
8  BriSCA F2 Final 152 Mick Sworder     /677/134/469/714/553/881/767/657/67
10 Ministox Final    9 Lawrence Davey   /88/90/50/599/551/386/524/519/528
9  Bangers 3        53 Phil Stevens     /33/348/207/250/555/145 NOCR
11 BriSCA F2 GNq   657 Neal Smith       /553/77/134/677/67/714/469/767/942
12 Bangers R2Kq*    33 Tony Wade        /555/27 LCR=33

*Note that this event is not part of the Challenge. Team winners this round = PRI

Results subject to confirmation by promoter