Group A Hot Rods Supreme Qualifier Round 1
PRI SuperBangers
PRI Hot Rods
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Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 1998 Index > Meeting 98/09
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Meeting No. 9, Sunday, 3rd. May 1998
Group A Hot Rods Supreme Qualifier Round 1 PRI SuperBangers PRI Hot Rods |
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PRI Hot Rods
Arena Essex hosted a few Scottish visitors at their May 3
meeting for PRI Hot Rods including Colin Gammack who has seen
a fair amount of success in his previous visits to the
circuit, along with a growing field of locals including a
first outing for Vic Bilkey, who finished the first heat with
problems after a spin and didn't return. Paul Simmons had an
awkward start in the first race but got away to lead the race
from pole to pole but not without some serious challenges
along the way from Rick Fray who finished half a car behind
Simmons on the line. Bilkey wasn't the only driver to retire
from this race as Roy Rawlins exited the meeting with serious
damage to steering and suspension, his exit also taking the
side off Simon Smith's car, though Smith managed to tape up
the damage and return in the next heat. That race seemed to
start well for Phil Barlow who managed an excellent start
from the outside front of the grid ahead of ex-Group A expert
Andrew Armiger, but it came to nothing on turn four of the
same lap when Barlow was flipped out into the armco at full
tilt and if Armiger's front bumper seemed to be a bit
scarred, it was judged to be a racing incident as the race
was restarted. However, Armiger was not destined to benefit
from the restart as this time the taped up machine of Smith
was first to the first corner and away while Armiger retired
mid-race. Smith had a good race but car troubles put him out
of the result when he blew up close to home while a brilliant
drive by the Scottish ace Gammack gave him his first win of
the year at Arena with Tony Allard taking second having taken
more time to pass Smith before Smth blew out. After getting
third spot in the second heat, Simmons got pole again in the
final which served him well but this time his job was holding
off Allard and his National Hot Rod experience which he
managed to do with Dave Hitchen pulling down third ahead of
the biggest match of the day, the battle between Gammack,
Adam Scott and Karl Price, though Price's use of the door
handle bash on both Gammack and Scott saw him relegated to
sixth by the steward.
PRI SuperBangers
The field was slightly bigger for the SuperBangers at Arena
Essex on May 3 than on their inaugural meeting, though Chris
Whiteman was conspicuous by his absence. Successful at the
last meeting, Steve Jones managed another win in the first
race though he was threatened all the time by Tony Shelvey
who managed to muscle his way through the field early on in
his smoky Granada. Shelvey was unable to make up the distance
as Jones picked his way through back markers, so had to
settle for second with David "Jumbo" Kingsmill following at a
distance. With formalities over, the rest of the meeting
belonged to ex-Squad toolman Jamie Dyckhoff. He stormed
through the field in the second heat, Jones having not made
the start he had hoped for and suffering for it, firstly at
the hands of Firecracker champion Steve Macklin, then almost
succumbing to a spin attempt by Shelvey before first Dyckhoff
then Don Anderson came charging through. Macklin was left
behind, fenced courtesy of a bad corner, while Shelvey and
Kingsmill and even Paul Lyons passed him. Then the final saw
a better start by Jones brought to nothing as Dyckhoff and
Anderson trundled through again from the nether regions of
the grid, though he managed to hold Shelvey off to keep third
place.
Group A Hot Rods
The road to the Supreme Championship at Arena Essex for the
Group A Hot Rods began on May 3 with a bigger than ever field
contesting for points. The first heat started well enough but
with Paul Smith ahead, the race was stopped when Dennis Howes
spun on the line and collected Chris Fuller head on. Smith
got away well on the restart but with about 3½ laps to
go, he dropped out, having braked sharply on the first turn
and coasted around. This left Gary Rouse in the lead and well
ahead of the rest of the field headed by Darren Christie and
Paul Gola, which is how the race finished. If anyone thought
that Michael Vitulli was given an advantage in his first
meeting then he proved them wrong as he stormed home first in
the second heat, half a lap clear of Gary Finch and Richard
Haines in another stalled race, this time stopped when Trevor
Dyer spun across turn one, collecting Chris Stone in the
side. Glen Salmon had a bad run in his heat but came back in
the consolation, crossing the line first, but penalised one
place for overtaking on turn three having left the circuit
early in the race which, at that point, was very crowded.
This gave the win to Dyer while Mark Cook got his best
placing with third.
The final was an enthralling affair. Vitulli made a poor start and finished the race with a black flag as the stewards got tough with contact penalties, Haines and Gary Lee also suffering with this, indeed Haines was loaded as a result. Salmon made good running, slicing through to take the lead from Matt Leadbetter before half way. Finch had a real problem with Leadbetter but managed to take him later on to take second place but, with the last lap in sight, he had no chance of catching Salmon until the number 7 car suddenly slowed and gave up. Though Salmon managed to roll home, the damage was already done and Finch was the winner, with Leadbetter and Kevin Down following. Salmon was given fifth for his pains. The final race for the A's was the helter-skelter and Vitulli made up for his Final mistake with another win though the main action was behind him as Christie held Finch and Rouse off nearly all the way and if Rouse was finally given fourth, it was only as a result of a two place contact penalty as he got inside Christie to cross second.
Results
Event 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Grand Parade 2 Gp A 1 63 84 16 70 174 110 90 66 48 33 3 Gp A 2 89 65 94 168 23 108 13 93 71 86 4 PRI HR 1 51 21 29 6 3 855 340 119 17 15 114 NOCR 5 S/Banger 1 30 347 52 36 15 18 31 510 6 Gp A Cons 55 7 12 1 73 119 7 PRI HR 2 340 6 51 119 3 114 21 855 NOCR 8 S/Banger 2 36 15 347 52 178 30 72 391 9 Gp A FINAL 65 174 108 63 7 84 86 13 10 PRI HR FINAL 51 6 3 340 119 114 855 NOCR 11 S/Banger FINAL 36 15 30 347 52 18 273 510 12 Gp A H/S 89 84 65 63 108 73 174 13 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All results subject to confirmation by promotion.