Arena Essex Raceway - Meeting 04/35 Sunday, October 10, 2004 Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 2004 Index > Meeting 04/35

National Bangers Olly Moran Memorial Ministox Essex Championship Lightning Rods

National Bangers
Malcolm Fuller added the Olly Moran Memorial to his haul of wins for the season at Arena Essex on October 10. The Mk.III specialist beat Lee Madden home in a twenty-six car final. Steven Hale took a double with a first heat win and a win in the penultimate Rawlins 2000 qualifier, Lee West wining the other heat whilst Gary Greenland survived as last car winner and Simon Warner grabbed the extra best wrecker award in the last event.

Lightning Rods
Arena Essex, October 10, and the Lightning Rods were out again in what turned out to be an eventful day, though not everyone left the circuit in the same way as they came on or, at least, not in the same shape. The meeting saw a new face take the final win as Mark Deacon, more normally associated with the Canvey Cowboys banger racing team, managed to keep the likes of Roy Rawlins and Terry Shelvey behind him.

In fact, Deacon nearly made it a heat and final double in the first race, but was unable to get past the eventual winner, Chris Jones, the pair of them well ahead of the field. The second race was also pretty close, and was further complicated by an oil slick courtesy of the Ministox in the race immediately before it. The front of the race was hotly contested towards the end, Mark Mackenzie eventually victorious with a dazzling display of driving around the outside of Jones who got held up on back markers in one of the closest finishes this year, the reigning World champion winning by inches. Roy Rawlins would eventually win the third heat, keeping former Ministox man Dan Amos firmly behind him. Rawlins would go on to be one of the major competitors for the final, making the most of an order restart following a big pile up at the bridge end of the circuit when Trevor Draynor started to drop his sump, a large number of cars getting caught in the wash, especially Richard Norman who was at the bottom of the pile, John McLaren who took a few sideways shots and Pat Kenneally who didn't stop in time before the wall. Jones would lose his chance after the restart when he hit the kerb a little too hard, whilst Amos was taken out in a spectacular 360, Gary Madgwick suffering a black flag soon after. Mackenzie would leave the race under similar circumstances whilst Vic Bilkey tried a desperate last quarter dash, getting the better of Eddie Gibbs and Paul Hollands but unable to get past fourth place Lee Morrow before Deacon crossed the line, Rawlins second and Terry Shelvey getting his best finish of the day in third.

Ministox
The inaugural Ministox Essex Championship was held as an additional event on October 10 at Arena Essex. This invitational event was open to the top twenty drivers in the Ministox Drivers' Championship as it stood at the end of racing at their last meeting, back on September 25, the title eventually going to Luton's Paul Scully after a heat and final double which saw plenty of action, not to mention a few mishaps, especially in the first heat which was stopped inside the last quarter after a massive pile-up just out of turn four. The other heat winner was points leader Dan Moulton.

Last car: 67
Best wrecker: 129

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

© 2004 Chris Johnson (Crashnet) / Promotasport Raceways