PRI Banger Team Championship Round 1
Lightning Rods
Ministox
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Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 1998 Index > Meeting 98/03
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Meeting No. 3, Sunday, 29th. March, 1998
PRI Banger Team Championship Round 1 Lightning Rods Ministox |
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Ministox
Ministox raced again at Arena Essex on March 29, starting
with another convincing win from Lee Smith, continuing his
streak from the first meeting, Spedeworth's Lee Pearce just
holding second from Joe Springett but spouting something
undesireable from the back as he crossed the line. The second
race was held up as several cars got into a big smash on the
back straight, but things soon got sorted and we were treated
to one of the day's closest finishes by Dave Devine, who just
sneaked third place on the line by a nose from Springett
while Vic Bilkey Jr. held out from Ray Harris for the win.
Bilkey was also ahead in the Final until drivers' champion
Alistair Pizzey caught and passed inside both Bilkey and
following driver Harris and disappeared into the distance,
ultimately to win. Second place was not so clear cut as the
cars bunched up behind Bilkey who was also catching back
markers. Devine tried the outside line and almost made it but
for an obstructing back marker, Bilkey holding second by
inches on the line from Devine with Harris, Neil Gardiner and
Ian Thorndyke close behind. The Ministox return on Easter
Monday.
Lightning Rods
It was the day of the underdog at Arena Essex as the
Lightning Rods met for the first meeting there of 1998 on
March 29. The debut driver Tony Bates managed to get a heat
and final double at the first try despite some fierce
competition. The first heat saw an initial dash for the front
by Nick Wiseman but Bates was quickly on and past and wasn't
troubled much from there, though Shaun Lavelle tried mid
race. The few higher graded drivers had real problems getting
through the field, Mark Lisowski only managing eighth from
the reds, the race going to Bates, followed by Lavelle and
Wiseman. With a slippery fourth turn there were no lap
records being attempted and Lavelle managed a good start,
Bates unable to pass throughout the second race though Darren
Ahern did get ahead of both cars in a brilliant manoevre that
ended with contact on the trailing Peter Barnes car and a
black flag for Ahern, the race returning to Lavelle and
Bates, this time with Mick Thompson in third after a terrific
surge from mid field to edge out Steve Holding and Paul
Harris. Nick Langley was retired from the meeting after a fit
of temper that saw him Banger out Rob Carr on the home
straight after the reds followed by a tap on the back for
Carr as he tried to drive off. The final saw Bates away well
to a win even with the problem of back marking trafficwith
Holding up to second and Ahern getting third after his
previous problems in the heats. Lisowski tried to pick
through the field but ended the race penalised out of points
position due to contact along with Darren Rodgers who managed
to hold him off for several laps. The Lightning Rods return
on April 19 for the first qualifying round for the track
Supreme Championship.
PRI Banger Teams
The Ant Hill Mob started their defense of the PRI Banger
Team championship at Arena Essex on March 29, though the
talking points were more about the return not only of the
Dangerous Brothers but of the Condoms, a team with an
outstanding grudge with the Suicide Squad who, this year,
fielded a third string team featuring some of the biggest
hitters to have been in the Squad over the years while the
Condoms combined old heads such as Steve Davies and ex-Nomad
Kevin McNess with new bods such as Steve's two prolific
racing sons Andrew and Shane, and Billy King who had to face
his own sire Kev who raced as one of the Elite team, the
Squad third stringers. With all this, it was a certainty that
sparks would fly as the first race saw Andrew Davies eat up
many of the Squad, Cream and Elite though he never caught
John Harris, ex-Orpington Silent Hero now racing for the
Cream Team. What he didn't get, Condom bad boy Mark Ruskin
had a go at including a monster t-bone on the Squad's Brian
McGuiness on the home straight. The result was Harris, Davies
and Paul Stern with Lee Witherington in fourth combining with
Darren Witherington in sixth to take the Vange Destroyers to
equal first with the Cream Team, Harris being their only
scorer, the Condoms taking seven. Phil Stevens and John
Harding doubled up to attack Shane Davies, pinning him on the
back straight for Elite driver Dave Barwick to hit full bore.
Though Shane survived intact, a flat meant a black flag for
him and, with dad Steve out with engine problems as well,
that also meant no points. Meanwhile Kev Harland was putting
his A60 about, easily the biggest car in the race, and could
include a nailing of Barwick to his list of hits, shortly
after the Condom hit. Barwick had to leave the race as Shane
had, while the remaining procession ended with Paul Harden
getting eight for the Dunno's, followed by Mark Price and
Phil Stevens, the Don't Knows taking a slim one point lead
with their twelve point total haul over the Creams with the
Vange Destroyers dropping to third with one one point from
that race. After a false start where Bulldog Drummond and
Mark Cope collided at the pit end, the biggest victim was
McNess who was subjected to a four way hit. First in was a
head on from Barwick, followed by a jacking from Carl Overy,
then Kev Wilsher and Stuart Wilson also piled in leaving
McNess in a very small relic. He managed to get out but the
car was irretrievable. The race was taken by Garry Deacon of
another returning team, the Cowboys, who had dispersed the
previous year. Meanwhile the points situation was reversed
with the Cream team getting a single point lead from the
Don't Knows, the Ant Hill Mob now the nearest scorers but
eleven points behind. The consolation was abruptly halted and
declared when Mark Jones ended his race in a rollover on the
pit bend with Cowboy brother Mark Deacon awarded the win from
Steve Witherington and Graham Lindfield, the total points
haul for the Cowboys shooting them into third place behind
the Don't Knows and the Creams. Another rollover stopped the
final, this time Mark Price ending up on his roof with Ken
Knight stopping to protect. After his retrieval, the Condoms'
final hope was snuffed out as Chris Whiteman pinned Andrew
Davies down on the home straight before Kev Wilsher bore down
and shunted Davies down the straight and into the Aveley bend
armco. Steve Witherington also rolled in this one, an eight
point effort on the back straight, while George Rowbotham
decided to have a go, an inviting spin by Chris Clark giving
George the perfect target. The race was decided when Wilsher
sliced Harris into parked cars. Though Harris recovered and
still had the lead at that point, he struggled through the
remaining laps before Garry Deacon, who had shadowed Harris
for the laps since the crash, spun him out in the run up to
the line to claim the victory with Darren Witherington
following. Harris righted his car to take third which was
enough for the Cream Team to win the first round outright by
five points from the late Cowboy charge.
Harris made up for his final problems with a win in the Rawlins 2000 qualifier from Stuart Wilson and Phil Stevens, then Denis Whiteman took on allcomers to get the last car running award, defeating Wilsher, Wilson and Stevens after John Harding and Harris blitzed Andy Jordan out of the race. The next team meeting is on May 4.
Results
Event 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
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1 Gr. Pde.
2 Bng Team 1 418 47 300 284 42 232 164 43 134 597
3 Bng Team 2 311 371 53 510 206 160 396 360 558 NOCR
4 Ministox 1 64 23 29 17 62 25 28 75 10 510
5 Bng Team 3 101 59 268 116 96 384 487 568 NOCR
6 Lt Rods 1 216 143 290 269 104 154 203 122 149 217
7 Ministox 2 111 25 17 29 86 62 28 10 75 88
8 Bng Team Cons 102 28 104 14 55 257 266 483 526 415
9 Lt Rods 2 143 216 167 290 225 200 217 104
10 Bng Team Fn 101 232 418 55 268 42 96 53
11 Ministox Fn 62 111 17 25 88 28 10 86 24 121
12 Lt Rods Fn 216 290 149 143 217 167 104 200
13 Banger R2000 418 7 53 LCR = 10
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Abbrev: Bng - Bangers/Lt Rods - Lightning Rods/NOCR - No Other Cars Running
LCR - Last Car Running/Fn - Final/Cons - consolation
Results subject to confirmation by promoter.
PRI Banger Teams points, Round 1
Team 2 3 5 8 10 Total --------------------+----+----+----+----+------------------------- Cream Team 8 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 39 1st Cowboys 0 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 16 | 34 2nd Don't Know 6 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 29 =3rd Vange Destroyers 8 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 14 | 29 =3rd Suicide Squad 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 23 5th Ant Hill Mob 6 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 21 6th Outlaws 0 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 7th Condoms 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 8th ............................................. Nads 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 9th B Team 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 10th Black & Whites 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 11th Convicts 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 12th Elite 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 13th ------------------------------------------------------------------ First eight teams at the end of the series qualify for eliminator round. Teams also competing but failed to score: Dangerous Brothers, Menace