Arena Essex 00/38

Meeting 00/38, Sunday, 22nd. October 2000

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National Bangers £3000 Grand Slam
1300 Saloon Stock Cars World Championship

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1300 Stock Cars
PRI first involved themselves in a 1300 Stock Car World Championship last year when Steve Jackson was victorious in the final which took place at Spedeworths' showcase venue, Wimbledon. This year, however, it was coupled with the Banger Grand Slam meeting on October 22 at Arena Essex, PRI's last remaining operating circuit, and though many Arena drivers turned up along with token presence from Incarace and Ringwood, by far the lions' share of the talent in the final were Spedeworth regulars. Jackson again figured heavily in the race, flying away at the start in what seemed to be a repeat performance, however he figured without Delbert Mortimer who started the defending champions' downfall with a shunt after being passed which buried the leader in the Aveley fence. Jackson then got Richard Raymond in the side before retiring. This left the lead in the hands of Mark Smith who managed to keep a healthy distance between himself and Arena track champion Derry Monk while fellow PRI racer John McGirr managed an excellent run from the back of the grid only to be pipped for third by Joe Mancini just over two laps from home. A meeting consolation race went to Shane Collins who led flag to flag, Keith Kyriacou almost doing enough to catch him until a seeming problem slowed him down inside the last laps. Collins went on to win the meeting final in an amazing run that saw him lapping notable drivers including Derry Monk and World Final winner Mark Smith! He was followed in at a distance by Simon Welton with Steve O'Dell further back but apart from a failed spin attempt by Monk, Collins ran away with the race! A last outing saw Darren Goudy, disqualified in the meeting final for deliberate fencing, take the last winner's trophy of the year for the 1300 Stocks at Arena Essex in a close race that saw Richard Austin denied the win in the closing stages when Titch Mancini attacked and both spun into the home straight armco, though Austin managed to recover to second ahead of Jackson.

National Bangers
The traditional closer for the National Bangers at Arena Essex went ahead on October 22 with a good turnout for the Grand Slam meeting, one of the richest in Bangers.

Champion of Champions
With many of the wins going to the likes of Sonny Sherwood and Jason Jackson this year, the field for this heat was predictably small with little in the way of serious contact, though newly installed World Champion Richie Ahern took a shine to the rear end of the Rob Kitchener car. Although Richie raced for the Unamed team this year and appears to be a Cream Teamster for next, whether there was any historical grief between the Ahern Rats and the Clockwork Orange teams being settled was not known, though the pattern would be repeated later. It was a Cream regular that eventually won the race, however, Phil Stevens picking up £200 for his win in a race which he last won nine years ago. Lee West followed home in second with British Champion Andrew Davies in third.

Rising Stars Series Final
£1000 was the kitty for this event with some very successful drivers qualifying in the year which saw a change to the qualification structure; only two Rising Stars meetings taking the first three in each race to the main final with other races dotted around the year. Again Rob Kitchener would be killed off early, though this time father Bob would also feature heavily when he decided to take Andrew Parker, Phil Stevens and Mark Bunting into the pit bend armco all at once! John Poulton also did his party piece on Stevens while Mark Ruskin traded hits with Martin Webber and Roy Laybourn stuck his nose at full natter straight up Neil Partridge who had just halted in Clive Killick! The £500 first prize went to Mark Sprawling with Dale Street in second position and £250 richer, Darren Nash picking up £100 ahead of Graham Towner.

Rawlins 2000
The event that has come of age, so it was announced, and the usual £2000 kitty, fought over week on week by meeting winners and surviving runners in our traditional meeting closers, saw a good turnout indeed, even down to visiting drivers caught up in the mayhem in some of the earlier meetings of the year. However defending champion Sonny Sherwood seemed to be out for kicks having confirmed his track championship title, repeating his World Final performance by bashing allcomers though the notable shots included a monster head on by John Hazell and Mark Ruskin - who else? - and a jacking for Ian Leach by the retiring Stuart Wilson. It looked much as though Mark Sprawling would pick the cheque up for this race too until he took a wrong turn and hit wreckage, but any idea that this would leave the money free for a new winner was soon scotched as Phil Stevens took over at the front and held on ahead of Tony McDonald and John Harding for a blue-and-yellow-wash, Stevens walking away with £1000 more in his pocket.

Spinners' Special Consolation
Not a universally liked event but plenty of drivers turned out for this, though early leader Trevor Ballard obvious never read the rules, he, Lee West and Jason McMahon getting black flags for overtaking without spinning the car in front. Skeef raffle winner Billy King took this race with Andy Spooner and Mushy close behind.

Grand Slam Final
This just left the Grand Slam itself, with around forty cars turning out for the final race of the season for the National Bangers at Purfleet. The race started cleanly enough but a jacking for Paul Dolman from Andy Burrough soon changed that, especially as Dolman insisited on pushing back! A pit bend pile up ensued, a free for all destruction-fest fast decimating the field, the front running being done by Dale Atkins and Lee West, Andy Davies in third some way back. West would take over first after early leader Ballard stuffed up on the back straight, then Atkins, and finally West again as the race ended and the real destruction derby began with King hitting Laybourn followed by a head on to Jamie Wilders by King which McMahon gave Shane Davies a shot up the rump. West would hit Dave Truman out of it, and while Andy Davies traded weaker blows, Atkins and West would eventually put each other out of their misery, leaving the final last car trophy to Davies.

A worthy meeting in all, with Phil Stevens and Mark Sprawling emerging with nearly £2000 between them!

Apologies to Phil Stevens for the mistake in the earlier version! My bad...

Results

1  Bangers Champion of Champions   53 Phil Stevens   /6/47/334/158/98/49/348
2  No event
3  1300 Stocks World FINAL       S416 Mark Smith     /643/S19/748/373/777/S256/657/S11/600/771/S72
4  Bangers Rising Stars FINAL     403 Mark Sprawling /590/203/387/32/250/2/520
5  1300 Stocks Consolation       S181 Shane Collins  /S22/S442/S376/S10/S71/S136/S371/S569/I3/744/R73
6  Bangers Rawlins 2000 FINAL      53 Phil Stevens   /27/160/33/331/59/164/42
7  1300 Stocks meeting final     S181 Shane Collins  /600/S71/S376/S72/S11/S271/R73
8  Bangers Spinners' Cons          49 Billy King     /246/348/217/149/415/9/529
9  1300 Stocks A/c               S256 Darren Goudy   /I3/S376/600/S72/S182/657/S181
10 Bangers Grand Slam/DD            6 Lee West       /98/47/42/160/331/99/290 LCR=47 Andrew Davies

1300 Stocks key: No letter - PRI, I - Incarace, R - Ringwood, S- Spedeworth
All results subject to confirmation by promoter.