Arena Essex reports...

VSCDA Race
It was veteran time again as the VSCDA met for their annual run at Arena Essex on May 31, once again using the Ovalsport Escorts. Charlie Brown dived through pole sitters Jack Wilson and Trevor Bonnett, both previous winners of this event, and shot into the distance, a clear winner even then, while things were not so clear cut behind him. Bonnett dropped out early on to leave Wilson clear in second, but Dave Dickason was up to him by the closing stages, then Graham Youd joined in and disaster was at hand, While Dickason and Wilson exchanged metal, Youd passed inside them only to end up meeting with the trailing Paul Slavin in the turn two armco. Wilson's car had had enough by then, leaving Dickason clear for second half a lap behind the winner Brown, with Ken Sanders picking up third with a steady drive avoiding the battles in front of him. Clive Beales was fourth and Nick Falcon fifth before Youd came home as sixth and final finisher.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars
The English Open saw a good turnout of BriSCA F2 Stock Cars at Arena Essex on May 31, including the first appearances this year for World Champion Rob Speak, as well as Mick Sworder, Bill Batten, Willi Peters and Tony Hurdle. It was Steve Broomfield however that got the first win of the day as he held on to complete the first heat, pulling a big enough lead to make it impossible for Nick Smith, who came second, to catch him. The second race might have been Speak's but for a slip on the pit bend mid race which left him the task of dumping out Sworder twice and gave promising white top John Plant enough space to win, though Speak was bearing down by the end. Sworder wasn't too despondent though, returning Speak's compliment on the second go before something came loose and Sworder limped home no higher than fifth. Carl Issitt had effectively finished his heat when he hooked up on the back of Bill Batten coming around the Aveley turn, then having disentangled himself he was then hit by the oncoming Paul Poulter. The consolation was a different result for Issitt though as he stormed through, launching Jim Bamford to get ahead. Bamford held second in that race with little effort. The final was another matter, the wrecked or dead cars mounting up as Speak threaded his way through for another victory, the most spectacular wreck being a carbon copy of a wreck that took place here last year, though this time it was Nick Smith's turn to pile on top of the unfortunate Issitt car. The wreck even ran to a pile up on the pit bend as Dean Mason hooked with Poulter. Speak had no such trouble as he finished well ahead of Scott Cooper, with Gary Kent third. Bill Batten holds the Grand National, and has won it the most times of any driver. He also won it last at Arena Essex. It seemed somewhat appropriate then that he burst through the field to win this qualifier too at the first time of asking, though with such notables as Speak missing from the race, his task was a little easier than his final victory. Broomfield picked up second and best Blue top award while Sworder got his best finish of the day with third. Other awards were for John Plant for best White top and John Drury for yellow top.

Final grid was in reverse national points average order, taken as at 20th May 1998. Tony Hurdle (198) and Paul Poulter (174) were started at the back, having no average for the year.

Inner		Outer
446	Matthew Metcalf	708	Andy Hedges
122	Stan Green	31	Ian Jardine
16	Troy Thiel	469	Ian Chalkley
232	Peter Bailey	641	Barry Parker
780	Gary Kent	97	John Drury
15	Steve Green	557	Scott Cooper
558	Darren Gowshall	351	Alan Canham
711	John Plant	302	Jim Bamford
613	Ian Serpell	151	Nick Smith
103	Carl Issitt	183	Mark Guinchard
553	Steve Broomfield	677	Chris Roots
658	Dean Mason	732	Daz Kitson
H24	Willi Peters	152	Mick Sworder
167	Bill Batten	218	Rob Speak
198	Tony Hurdle	174	Paul Poulter

National Bangers
World Qualifier 3 for the National Bangers at Arena Essex on May 31 and things don't seem to have got any better between the yellow and the pink cars, Kev Wilsher deciding to get first poke in as he slammed into the back of Billy King. Trouble was that King had already picked up Ken Knight by then and the ensuing wreck that Wilsher decreed meant that Knight was squashed into the turn one armco, though King was to get more as Stuart Wilson did his party piece to him on the back straight. Meanwhile the first heat was being won by Riki Rawlins while Russ McAngus ran out of time catching second place Bernie French, thus getting third. The second heat went the way of Steve Farmer as the start of a heat and final double for him while the best hitting had to be the shot on Bob Sterling by Phil Stevens, a full chat steam into the turn two armco. Stevens managed fourth behind Ian Greatrex, second, and Don Anderson, third. Probably my favourite move was a dummy head on shot by Jason Scorah, Dean Bateman falling for it and putting himself in the home straight wall to avoid the hit that never came. Whether Scorah meant it or not, it was still a great move! Dave Edwards made up for his corner-cutting exploits in his first heat by winning the consolation, leaving his mark on Wilson before getting into a scrap with Roy Bramley for the lead. Bramley could only present his tail, being noticeably slower than Edwards, but that couldn't hold for long as Edwards got away leaving Bramley in second place ahead of Sean Collin, while Knight awaits further penalties after being loaded up for an illegal hit on Shane Davies. The final was a runaway victory for Farmer with last round winner Roger Trickett in second and Stevens in third. However the story of this race seemed to be the revival of a story that started last season when Phil Hudson decided to take on the two Clockwork Orange drivers, Mark Newman and Bob Kitchener, both of whom he left in pieces on the pit bend. Whether revenge was on his mind is unknown... Hudson also left a sizeable dent in Scorah on the home straight fence, the damage being started when Scorah met with Bramley at the beginning of the race. The final race was the usual Rawlins 2000 qualifier, and the wrecking started early with Collin pushing Mark Ruskin onto the centre while Bramley took on all comers including Wilson (jack up), Gary Palmer (t bone) and most notably Peter Salter with several mighty jackings. Tommy McGurk also took a beating as he decided to hit Wilson without watching his back, Dave Barwick taking advantage and steaming McGurk. Ruskin had restarted by then and was winding up for a retaliatory jacking for Barwick until he noticed McGurk ejecting and slammed his brakes on. The hit wasn't vicious enough to damage Barwick - Barwick was already out of it - but it was enough to get him noticed. The race went the way of Hudson in the end, Hudson also being the last car running after the only other survivors, John Harris and Gary Palmer, killed themselves off with a last feeble nutting on the home straight.