Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 1998 Index > Meeting 98/10
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Meeting No. 10, Monday, 4th. May, 1998
PRI Banger Team Championship Round 2 1300 Stock Cars Supreme Championship Qualifying Round 1 Lightning Rods |
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Lightning Rods
The Lightning Rods came back to Arena Essex on May 4 for a
Bank Holiday three race meeting. Kevin Howsgo started well in
the first heat, though Lee Sharpe was hot on his tail early
on. However the close racing meant an eventual collision
which not only brought waved yellows and a closing up of the
cars but the demise of several of the leading pack including
Sharpe and his tailmen Paul Amos, Mark Collins and Martin
Tomlin along the back straight in the rush to avoid the spun
John Beaumont car. Rob Carr also got clattered in the scrum
leaving Howsgo to the mercies of Darren Ahern who adopted an
outside line to take and secure the lead only to be caught
late on by Vic Bilkey and Mark Lisowski, though he
successfully held these off to win the heat. Heat two seemed
to start well for Neil Livermore as he charged out of the
yellow grade but he failed to negotiate turn four on the
first lap, spun and collected Nick Wiseman and Colin Clark,
blocking the track and causing a complete restart. This was
more orderly as John Clarke pulled away from the pack not to
be caught in the race though Beaumont had a good go at it,
being easily the fastest car in that race but with only time
enough to overhaul Pete Barnes to get second. Again a few
tickles were inevitable in the close action, though the
steward judged Darren Rodgers' follow in on Steve Holding to
be worthy of a load up, the only one of the day in a
relatively clean meeting. Things were now set for a thrilling
final where history was to repeat itself as, in a repeat of
his previous outing at Arena, Vic Bilkey drove well to cross
the line first only to be denied by a contact penalty
dropping him to third, the race awarded to Beaumont after a
good days' racing and a trophy to add to wife Lynda's 1300
Stock Car trophy from a few events earlier that day, Howsgo
making second place having again led in the early stages.
1300 Stock Cars
The 1300 Stock Cars met for their first Supreme Championship
qualifier at the Mayday meeting on May 4, and a bruising
battle it became. the warm-up race stopping half way through
when Dave Imber got in the way of a battle between Steve
Davies and Chris Whiteman and was slammed into the armco on
turn one. The race was stopped again shortly before the end
as Andrew Davies met the wall on turn four. However, by this
time the race was becoming a two way battle between Derry
Monk and Steve Hall. Hall raced far beyond his yellow grade
as he not only stayed on Monk when he was passed but even
took his lead back before sliding wide, giving Monk the lead
back as the reds came out. The steward had the last word as
Hall was awarded the race while Monk suffered a two place
penalty for jumping the restart, elevating Dave Collin into
second place. The final seemed to go well for Scott Hughes as
he got the lead early on, then he was taken first by Grieg
Cheeseman, then he got back, then Cheeseman settled the score
by spinning Hughes out. Cheeseman was not to keep his lead
however as his spin slowed him enough to let Lynda Beaumont
through and away for her second win of the season and another
final win, with Hall trailing behind in second and Whiteman
unable to get further than third while Monk played about with
Steve Cassar. Cassar had been put into Monk earlier in the
race by Whiteman, which put Monk into the armco on turn one.
From that point on, Monk took every opportunity to spin
Cassar, at least three occasions in the final and more in the
following helter-skelter race. This was won by Dave Edwards
after he spun Hall out on the home straight in the closing
stages, Whiteman not able to gain in time to get better than
second. Daren Wolf made his first appearance of the year and
got his best place in that race, coming home third ahead of
Monk.
PRI Banger Teams
Round two of the PRI Banger Teams Championship on May 4
started cleanly enough with a win for Stuart Ruff (Vange
Destroyers) though the points in this race were evenly spread
though the teams, the only real hit of note being a jack from
Ruff on the prior leader, Team Don't Know's Ian Greatrex.
Tony Wade, racing for the Condoms, had been started at the
back as were all the people racing with incorrect roof
colours as the steward had a blitz on this rule infringement.
Wade had blitz of his own, wrecking up to seventh and showing
little mercy as he went in probably the best Condom
performance in an otherwise fraught day for the team in pink.
By the second heat the Squad/Condom war was heating up nicely
as a series of Condom and Rabbit and Squad and Cream and
Elite jackings occurred, starting with a head on between Ken
Knight of the Elite and Billy King of the Condoms, followed
by a jacking of Knight by Kevin Prayle of the Rabbits, Prayle
rear-ended by the Cream's Roy Bramley, Bramley by Kev McNess
in Condom colours, McNess by Squaddie Buster Woods. Wayne
Prayle decided to get in on the act and turned his remaining
Rabbit car, one of only two to race at the meeting, and
nutted Dennis Whiteman of the Squad before Andy Burroughs
creamed him. While all this went off along the home straight,
a race was developing for the smaller teams which was nearly
won by Kevin Elmore of the Southend Menace until he put
himself out at the Aveley end letting Dave Smith through for
the win and eight points for the Nads, followed by Paul
Dolman for Don't Know and George Rowbotham for the defending
champions, the Ant Hill Mob. The points by this stage were
very close, the Nads and Vange Destroyers sharing the lead
with Don't Know and the Ant Hill Mob tied behind them. The
third heat was all about a lone Condom as Mark Ruskin left
the track before the gate closed leaving Shane Davies alone
to fight off the attentions of Kev Wilsher and Carl Overy of
the Squad as well as a head on from Sean Collin, all of which
left his car very bent but amazingly still mobile. John
Beaumont also took a bit of time off from his Lightning Rod
exploits to have a go with the Elite, another car to embed
itself in the Davies car. In the race, however, it was Ant
Hill Mob time as Paul Stern took eight of the nine points
taken for the team to push them into the lead ahead of the
Nads and the Destroyers, with a good performance by Dave
Barwick in Elite colours though not necessarily team name
giving the Elite a presence on the board in second place
ahead of Wilsher. Barwick had performed a "lap of honour"
before the meeting as part of a pop video that was being
filmed that day, his car adorned with the record and band
names, though we did get the trophy back off him after his
third "lap"! The consolation heat was more controversial as
Andy Burrough of the Cream got the win but was denied points
as the steward awarded none to the Cream team as a result of
Cream hired hand Jason Dobney t-boning Mark Ruskin on the
safety area full chat, Ruskin trying to turn his car for a
blitz on the fourth turn. Dobney will also sit out the
remaining rounds as a result of this, the immediate load up
to be followed by a sizeable ban. A large amount of Squad
made it through on the strength of the consolation to add to
the couple that made it through the heats, the Suicide Squad
being one of only two teams to take a full contingent through
to the final, the other being the Ant Hill Mob, who led the
points by this time. So to the final and the emphasis changed
from the Squad and Condom battle to a new battle that
developed between the Vange Destroyers and the Ant Hill Mob,
both teams destroying each other through the race leaving the
Squad an easy trip through the mess to take four of the
points scoring positions, led by Brian McGuiness in first
place, Kev Wilsher in second and Buster Woods in third, Jack
Overy following in sixth after a little wrecking. The result
was a crushing victory for the Suicide Squad, with the Ant
Hill Mob scoring no further points but hanging on to second
ahead of a late surge but the winners of the last round, the
Cream Team.
The Rawlins 2000 qualifier was all that was left and the Squad celebrated by wiping out the remaining field before wiping each other out. Race winner Buster Woods turned and raced backwards for several laps before Den Whiteman put him out of his misery leaving second place Kev Wilsher, third place Brian McGuiness and other runner Jack Overy to decide the destruction derby among themselves, the final word left with Overy as the last car running.
Results
Event 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th
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1 Grand Parade
2 LRods 1 149 111 122 245 173 222 216 290
3 Bangers 1 260 526 418 464 301 121 33 597 102 14
4 1300 Stx w/u 797 725 643 612 674 57 704 658 633 777
5 Bangers 2 78 164 266 134 232 280 483 284 462 238
6 LRods 2 140 113 173 104 122 111 135 200
7 Bangers 3 300 91 96 66 59 28 588 457 542 24
8 1300 Stx SCQ 750 797 655 697 619 699 666 674 704 57
9 Bangers Cons 429 21 17 268 288 42 10 490 515 311
10 LRods Final 113 135 111 140 122 222 245 200
11 Bangers Final 14 96 238 91 418 17 597 164
12 1300 Stx H/S 619 655 699 543 57 797 658 686
13 R2000 238 96 14 LCR=17
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Note: 429 (Cream Team) awarded trophy and qualification for final but points
deducted due to bad team tactics (see report).
Abbreviations: LRods - Lightning Rods, Stx - Stock Cars, H/S - Helter Skelter
SCQ - Supreme Championship Qualifier, LCR - Last Car Running
All results subject to confirmation by promotion.
PRI Banger Teams points, Round 2
Team From 1st rd H3 H5 H7 H9 H11 Total Overall -------------------------------+----+----+----+----+------------------------- Suicide Squad 23 5th | 1 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 48 66 89 1st Cream Team 39 1st | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 8 18 57 2nd Vange Destroyers 29 =3rd | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 16 45 =3rd Ant Hill Mob 21 6th | 4 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 0 24 45 =3rd Don't Know 29 =3rd | 3 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 2 14 43 5th Cowboys 34 2nd | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 6 40 6th Nads 6 9th | 0 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 0 19 25 7th Elite 1 13th | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 10 17 18 8th ............................................................................. Outlaws 9 7th | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 7 16 9th Condoms 7 8th | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 2 9 10th Convicts 2 12th | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 5 7 11th Dangerous Brothers 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 6 6 12th B Team 5 10th | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 0 5 =13th Black & Whites 3 11th | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 2 5 =13th Menace 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 3 3 15th Hurligans 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 0 0 =16th Rabbits 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 0 0 =16th Rebels 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 0 0 =16th ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- First eight teams at the end of the series qualify for eliminator round.