Arena Essex Raceway - Meeting 04/24 Sunday, August 1, 2004 Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 2004 Index > Meeting 04/24

1300 Stock Cars Auto Lock Shops "Dash for Cash"/Supreme Championship Qualifier, Round 3 Plastengrave Non-Ford Bangers Sue Davies Ladies Bangers Outlaw Hot Rods

Ladies Bangers
Kelly Wilson added another win to her recent run of success in the final qualifying round of the Sue Davies Ladies Banger Series at Arena Essex on August 1. She finished ahead of Tracy Woolner and Alison Wright in a race that was stopped early after an accident on turn one, Sue Davies being involved in a hit after being stranded in the middle of the corner earlier in the race.

1300 Stock Cars
It was something of an unusual day for the 1300 Stock Cars that turned out for the final Supreme Championship Qualifying round at Arena Essex on August 1, the meeting including the extra "Dash for Cash" race, sponsored by Auto Lock Shop of Croydon. This extra non-scoring race would see twenty-three cars hit the circuit, although not all of them would make it to the other end of the race. The grid being randomly drawn before the race in rows of three, it seemed somehow unlikely that Spike Ellis could be so lucky as to draw pole, but draw it he did, though the clutch start didn't work in his favour, Nicky Parris getting to turn one first. The telling point happened mid-race when Darren Pratt went for a roll by the pit gate, a race suspension meaning that all the lead cars were suddenly closed up. By this time, Parris had been spun off the lead by Ellis, who was being pursued by Clark Wells, James Radcliffe getting the drop on Wells as the green flag dropped for the restart, Wells left to scrap with Barry Radcliffe while brother James and Ellis fought to the line for the prize, Ellis dropping back at the start of the last lap. It was all down to the last corner, but Ellis couldn't quite make up the distance at the end.

The Supreme Qualifier itself saw a win in the warm up race for Darren Plumb ahead of Gavin Griffiths and James Radcliffe, Barry Radcliffe winning the main event ahead of James with Pratt recovering after his earlier wallow to get third place, the race settling by about half way. However, if the Radcliffes thought that everything would go their way, they reckoned without the events of the Helter-Skelter. It looked, to start with, that James Radcliffe was going to repeat his earlier success until he met up with Paul Griffiths down the home straight, the pair of them sliding off into a sleeper. Gavin Griffiths had been in control, but would lose his lead and the eventual win at this point to Paddy Palmer, his best finish of the year.

Outlaw Hot Rods
Darren Akehurst certainly did well in his first appearance at Arena Essex this year in the Outlaw Hot Rod meeting on August 1, his places giving him a pole spot in the main event which he took full advantage of. He would have been second on the grid, but it seemed that Robin Pickett, also making a first appearance this year, managed to do some damage that kept him out of that race, having run Akehurst close in the first heat, both finishing behind Fred Smith with Stu Hammond close on them, then finishing second behind Terry Bell, the Puma proving as hard to pass as ever. Akehurst won the final with plenty to spare, with Smith in second, whilst Salvo Falcone battled hard with Bell and Hammond to grab third spot. The meeting wasn't without its share of controversy, however, with Jimmy Bryan and Colin Baker coming together on more than one occasion, Baker ending up in the bridge-end armco in a cloud of steam while Bryan was black flagged off for putting him there following a spin-out some laps before that had effectively removed Bryan from competition.

Plastengrave Bangers
With the team eliminator behind them, some might have thought that the banger boys would ease up a bit as they met in the August 1 Plastengrave Non-Ford Banger meeting at Arena Essex. But then some would have been wrong to assume that. A good turnout and some excellent action was what they got, including a rollover, a fire and plenty of wrecking.

The fire was part of the action in the first heat, Richard Gunther certainly feeling the heat in his blazing Pug as he hurriedly pulled up on the home straight safety and ejected! There was a little teaming going on too as Gary Brown suffered the wrath of the Gladiators, especially Dave Osbourne who jacked him from turn four and was disqualified for team racing as a result. Jimmy Randall won that heat comfortably, though the race was quickly stopped at the end to allow the blazing Peugeot to be extinguished! The second heat also went the way of the Runners, this time to Jason "Boxer Jack" Jackson, though the action was all on turn three with an old Hillman driven by Andy Swift, proving that they knew how to make a strong car in those days as he was shunted down the armco and still made it back for some serious damage inside the turn, though it eventually became more of an anvil than a hammer as the cars piled in, especially Lee Woodards who had his car significantly shortened by Craig Hewitt. The rollover was a one point affair in the consolation by Malcolm Browne, out for a bit of full contact after his recent SuperBanger exploits. That race went to Stuart McLaren in a consolation race that had a lot less wrecking action than normally expected.

Roy Laybourne and Mark Woolner seemed to be having plenty of fun exchanging hits in the final, whilst Wayne Holton was on the prowl in the front half of his car, most of the back half having more or less disintigrated through the meeting! Skippy and Woolner would eventually attack Ladies' winner Kelly Wilson in a double hit inside turn four. Comparatively, Mark Want won the race rather easily, keeping clear of most of this, with a host of Runners chasing led up by Boxer with John and Jimmy Randall and Harry Rawlins, whilst Mick Bradbury crossed the line in sixth with an engine that sounded close to death! The Rawlins qualifier went the way of day licence driver Craig Manning, whilst Ian Smith and Ricky Korpiela battered each other into submission for a joint last car award.

Last car: 336 Ian Smith/242 Ricky Korpiela

Click on photo to see full size

Also see Matthew Bull's website for more pictures from this meeting!

© 2004 Chris Johnson (Crashnet) / Promotasport Raceways