Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 1998 Index > Meeting 98/17

Meeting No. 17, Sunday, 14th. June, 1998 Pedal Bangers National Bangers Rising Stars Series Group A Hot Rods Dean Kemp Memorial / Supreme Championship Q/R

Pedal Bangers
Another round of Pedal Bangers at Arena Essex on June 14 and more finger pointing at parents where help was given as the kids pedalled their way around the track prior to the Dean Kemp Memorial meeting. Winning drivers were Holly Davis for the yellow grades, Bradley Scales for the blues and Louis Callow for the second time for the reds. The Pedal Bangers return on August 23.

National Bangers
The Rising Stars series continued at Arena Essex on June 14 and the recent trend of heat and final winners also carried on as Barry Vaughan picked up an easy heat win followed by a hotly contested final win to get his yellow roof. He took the lead in the first heat inside early leader Bernie Reid and pulled away. Trevor Proctor contrived to mix up the result on the last lap, dropping Clive Killick on the back straight, putting him down to fourth, then attacking Ian Greatrex on the last corner, though he held onto third place behind Gary Wesborn. The second heat was stalled halfway when Tommy McGurk, fresh from his wrecking session at Mildenhall the previous night, managed to hit a wheel off the spun Elliott Smith car at the pit gate. With the wheel retrieved, Meg Grant led the restart away, pulled out a big gap on the fight for second, and won comfortably. Ex-NAMP "Boxer Jack" Jason Jackson dropped from second to third when Chris Worthington passed him on turn two toward the end, so Jackson did the only logical thing and buried Worthington in the pit bend wreckage to retake and keep hold of second, Lee Morris half a lap behind in third and unlikely to catch him. The start of the third "late booking" race was even harder as Paul Morris fenced himself on the home straight armco, literally demolishing his front end and his chances in the days' racing, then Mark Woolner fenced Trigger Rodgers hard outside the previously fenced John Brown SDI for another red flag. The beer glass kid, Mick Bradbury took over on the restart and held on for victory as most of the field killed themselves in a pit bend pile up, with more than a few cars being removed by Ian Nicholls before his black flag for a flat. Graham Towner managed to get second after a couple of mid race nibbles and Paul Gardener came home third. The consolation opened with a demolition job by Paul McSweeney of Richard Day and finished with a win for Terry Shelvey who lapped the field and held on despite some run in trouble with Tony Cooper. McGurk finished his weekends' racing with a disqualification, load up and more penalties to come as he fenced second place Steve Butler after the reds.

However, Vaughan had a hard time getting his final victory as he battled with Shelvey through the entire race until Shelvey had a rush of blood and t-boned his earlier tormentor Cooper, leaving the way clear for Vaughan well ahead of Towner and Shelvey, and despite a last bend spin courtesy of Gardener who then got some hits back from Andy Spooner and Richie Dalton at that point. The heavens opened during the Group A race that followed which meant a very wet track in the Rawlins 2000 qualifier that followed that, and history repeated itself as Ashley Halliday, driving a Mk. II Escort, managed to outrun the field to take winning position though he died just before the line and only managed to roll home first as a result of at least a lap lead on Laine Stearn in second and more on third place Stuart Johnson. With the race over, Bradley Theaker turned round to hit something only to find that all three placed cars had either died from their injuries or had washed out, so he got the last car running award in a bloodless coup!

Group A Hot Rods
The 1998 Dean Kemp Memorial for Group A Hot Rods at Arena Essex on June 14 was certainly controversial, with a good attendance making for large fields after their successful excursion the previous week to Brafield. Darren Read returned to the track to take the first race, getting the lead early on and pulling away from early contestant Paul Smith who ended the race fourth after a storming drive from the back by Gary Christie and Gary Rouse. The second heat was stalled when Nichola Bearman spun on the start, a sign of things to come as the lead group became more and more extrovert in their attempts to pass the early leader Dom Tomlinson. Something had to give and it happened around the Aveley turn as Glen Salmon, Doug Constable and Carl Steptoe all got involved in a spin out for Dave Nail which got them all the black flag. Unfortunate, but it did leave the field clear for Gary Finch to mount his own bid with Terry Skeef also moving up fast. Tomlinson had to give way in the end, leaving Finch and Skeef to fight it out in the closing stages with Darren Christie closing up, though he was to be docked for contact in a meeting that saw a clampdown on contact. Gary Finch took first in the end, with Skeef second and Dave Finch promoted to third as Christie was dropped back two places.

Those who attended the 1997 Festival of Speed cannot fail to remember the spectacular wet weather drive by mini-man Charlie Benjamin for a win in the driving rain. The track was covered in various fluids from the banger race prior to the consolation making it very slippery, and it was on such a surface that Benjamin decided to repeat his drive of twelve months before, eating up the other places to take the lead by half way. Only Salmon could catch him and Benjamin had an answer for that too as he skilfully held the line over the last three laps despite all that Salmon could do. A popular win with the crowds for Benjamin ahead of Salmon, with Darren Sawyer following at a distance.

The final was also held up at the start when an oil patch on turn two first caused Salmon and Skeef to meet, then Kevin Down and Gary Finch, finally Salmon, Benjamin and Darren Christie piled into each other, Christie's front end disintegrating. Sawyer had been leading at that point and he took over again as the race restarted with Andy Johnson moving up along with Tomlinson, Smith and Chris Selleck. This was not to last as Sawyer was nowhere near fast enough to keep Smith back, an attempt to keep pace ending in a wide drift for Sawyer allowing Smith through. Gary Christie also managed to make it through and passed Smith with Salmon chasing but the race got too heated and Salmon ended the race with another black flag having spun Christie out, Smith again in the lead which is where he stayed for the rest of the race, eventually ahead of Steve Wright with Christie managing to get back to third place after his spin had taken him back as far as sixth. The closing stages also saw a good drive by Terry Bearman before he too ended up spun down to fifth, the guilty culprit being Gary Finch while a promising race by Gary Rouse ended when he sustained a puncture. The final race of the day was a helter-skelter race which was exactly what the weather did. Torrential rain hit the circuit, making the drive treacherous for all as the surface water made cornering very hit-and-miss. The front wheel cars had the advantage though Benjamin was not around to give a tutorial since his car had sustained damage during the day. It was left to a two car battle between Carl Steptoe and Nick Hill who scrapped over most of the race while many other cars spun and slid in the downpour. Steptoe had the edge, however, his front wheel drive more solid in the wet as the two picked through the cautious tail enders. Steptoe first, Hill second, with Constable following. The Group A's return for the Festival of Speed, next week.

Results

Event                 1st  2nd  3rd  4th  5th  6th  7th  8th  9th  10th 11th 12th 
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1   Pedal Banger      See report
2   Group A 1           2   83   63  121   88  174   13  110   93   48
3   Group A 2          65    3   66  108   84   91   49   70    4  190
4   Banger 1          191  253  216  149   94  246  163  142  211  269  162  NOCR
5   Banger 2          577  331  339  558  412  330  292  309  307  368  NOCR
6   Banger 3          308  387  179  367   13   24  167  433  310  213
7   Group A Cons      111    7  168    8   55   12   99  120
8   Banger Cons        87  201  202  487  287  282  161   62
9   Group A Final     121   13   83  110   91   49   48   65
10  Banger Final      191  387   87  246  367  253  307  433  292  NOCR
11  Group A h/s       120   90   73   94   88   95   84  110
12  Rawlins 2000 Q/r  292  310  289  LCR=317
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All results subject to confirmation by promotion.
Abbreviations: NOCR - No Other Cars Running / LCR - Last Car Running
               Cons - Consolation / h/s - helter skelter / R2000 - Rawlins 2000 Qualifier