Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 1998 Index > Meeting 98/26

Meeting No. 26, Sunday, 9th. August, 1998 Plastengrave Bangers Essex Jaguars Ladies Banger Championship FINAL 1300 Stock Cars Ministox

Ministox
Over thirty ministox turned up with many promotions being represented at Arena Essex on August 9 as the non-contact rule seems to be attracting more and more drivers from around the country including a healthy RDC contingent, a couple of Incarace drivers and Simon Esau of Autospeed trying the track out for the first time. The track was therefore a little crowded as the normal allcomers' three race format ran as scheduled with the usual consequences. James Avison started off in what would prove to be a miserable day for him by bouncing off the armco by the Raceway Tavern then collecting the traffic in a series of gut-wrenching hits which, thanks to the preparation of these cars, proved no problem in the end; the steward wasn't taking any chances and brought the reds out. David Burton took the lead early in the restart and kept it until Tubbs Butler took the inside line 4 laps from home to win the first race, Burton hanging to second while Vic Bilkey came from nowhere to get third place. Current form horse Lee Smith was one of several to get loaded as the steward came down hard on deliberate hitting in this meeting. Anthony Lawrence drove well, getting the early lead in the second heat, again with Burton in second with Ray Layton getting third place as time ran out for the high grades, Alistair Pizzey getting to fourth in a fairly straightforward race. Burton had made a good start again in the final until Fred Pattinson ran into the side of spun Steve Willis to be followed by Colin Cooper and out came the reds again. Burton would be disappointed again as the cars regrouped for the restart, Don Witherall pressing Butler hard for the early lead while Burton dropped back and out of the finishing grid, the grades making good use of the extra length. Witherall would drop out too after a crash on the back straight saw him embedded in the luckless Avison while Ray Harris would pass Butler in the closing stages with Ian Thorndyke following before Butler himself sacrificed his placing with a spin on the last lap, letting Pizzey in for third spot.

1300 Stock Cars
It seemed that quantity had declined slightly but quality had improved drastically as the 1300 Stock Cars at Arena Essex on August 9 saw the return of Georgie Boult and the first outing of Incarace supremo Dave Evans. However the Evans Peugeot would let him down as the first race pulled into its final laps as it failed in a crucial match up with current points leader Derry Monk, falling back then off as the car gave out leaving Monk free to get a third place. The addition of competition meant that Monk and Andrew Palmer had to work harder to get a good finish. Mitchell Terry was also out again this meeting and showed that his performance in his first 1300 Stock outing a couple of months back was no fluke as he powered away to win the warm up heat clear of first timer and Cream Banger teamster Sean Collin. Monk certainly had much work to do but he went to it with a will in the main event, Terry getting ahead again and holding until the last corner only to be hit wide for Monk to win by a carlength, Andrew Palmer only managing third place after so many recent victories. All that was left was a helter-skelter. This time Collin managed to get away after the majority of the field suffered on the slippery fourth turn coated by oil and water after the hard wrecking in the Banger final. Collin barged through as Terry and Ron Harman took a safer line. Collin crossed first with comparative ease with a sizeable number of place cars crossing behind him in a bunch, all pushing hard to get a better place and none backing off, leaving a hard task for the steward to untangle the places. Terry was given second from Harman in the end. The next meeting for the 1300 Stock Cars is the Supreme Championship final on August Bank Holiday Monday.

National Bangers - Ladies Championship Final
With four heats behind them, the women gathered for the final of the Essex Jaguars Ladies Banger Championship on August 9 at Arena Essex with all the favourites in attendance. It seemed as if one of them would win as Alison Tomlinson lost out inside to Sue Harris before Lynda Beaumont stormed through with a spin on Harris and second place Danielle Lloyd. Beaumont was away but a flat tyre would eventually betray her, leaving Trish Woolner in front as Harris died after a clash with Beaumont and Elaine Witherington suffered a clash with Ashley Clift to put her chances of winning out of reach. It was now a pure matter of last years' champion Trina Wade getting up enough speed to catch Woolner before the laps ran out, an impossible task as it proved with Woolner sufficiently ahead to clinch the title for 1998 ahead of Wade with Clare West in third place.

Plastengrave Non-Ford Bangers
In support of the Ladies, the saga of the Plastengrave Bangers continued at Arena Essex on August 9 with yet another big turnout, the first race alone sporting 49 cars in the start! With that many cars, wreckage was inevitable with an early lead from Dan Reid sacrificed early to Karl Vanner before he died off, Reid returning to the front before he buried himself. In all the mayhem, Phil Hudson was moving through and took over at the front towards the end, avoiding the increasing weight of the pile up on turn one to win the first heat ahead of Steve Witherington and Martin Scully who had had a heavy night at Mildenhall the previous night and was one of a fair number of visiting drivers. Of the 49 starters it was hard to find the necessary twelve finishers but we just about managed it! Tom Harding got as close to winning the second heat as you can get without actually winning it as in the last lap he survived a head on from George Rowbotham only to suddenly find himself in a last straight dash with Robo's teammate Bernie Allcock. Allcock got the win, Harding got to the line upon which was the abandoned John Harding car into which he piled, the added weight slowing him to second place. From the moment that Roy Rawlins jacked Buxton's Graham Heywood into the turn four armco, the consolation was all about rear entry. Again Karl Vanner started well, and again he failed to finish, his car letting him down again shortly after losing that early lead with one lap to go. Rawlins had a go at most folk that tried to pass him, including Frank Parker, JJ Wing and a big t-bone on Clive Killick before he gave out. Parker also handed it out with a jacking for Boxer Jack, Jason Jackson having gone into the side of Killick, but Parker would also have to suffer more as his pinning of Jackson left him vulnerable and John Harris and Ken Knight left their imprints on Jock. Pete Blanchard emerged victorious from all this with Mark Deacon second and Knight far enough along for third spot.

The first couple of laps of the final were a hoot as Gary Doyle exhibited the advantages and disadvantages of no brakes. The advantage was that he muscled into the lead inside the first lap. The disadvantage was that he would eventually kill the car after running away with himself and hitting the Raceway Tavern armco as the car slid wide, the pack descending on him at that point to finish him off. So much for that... Howard Martin took the lead from their before Allcock came through. However Allcock had to contend with a progressively greasier track which finally allowed Martin to catch him up and spin him to retake the lead. Sonny Sherwood was one of a few drivers who made sure that Allcock would play no further part in the final. The last stages became a two way race between Martin and former World Champion Dennis Whiteman in his first appearance at Arena since his accident during the Ringwood leg of the Ringwood vs. PRI match. It seemed that Martin would get away with it as Whiteman suffered a tap as Bradley Hampton tried to get into a good wrecking position but fate and a by now very slippery fourth turn took a hand and Martin ate armco, leaving Whiteman clear for a win with Jerry Foulkes holding Bernie Reid off for second. The Rawlins 2000 qualifier was started, then stopped immediately as Darren Stern completed a 2 point rollover by the pit gate straight off the start. However with that cleared Vanner took yet another early lead which this time was blown as he hit Ian Leach head on drifting the third turn wide. Stuart Ruff had a promising lead from there until, with the end in sight, he was taken head on by Knight, giving the win to Darren Witherington. Ruff salvaged second from British Champion Sonny Sherwood before the wrecking began. That was started with a big nut for Gary Earle from Witherington while Reid put on a big show on the pit bend, pinning Deacon to allow a mega-jacking from Ruff. The last action saw Sherwood kill off Reid while Earle died on turn four after one hit too many, giving Sherwood the last car running award and entry into the finals on October 18.

Results

Event                    1st  2nd  3rd  4th  5th  6th  7th  8th  9th  10th 11th 12th 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1   Grand Parade
2   Ladies Banger FINAL  327   33  177  311  284  260  250  266   73   49  366  104
3   Ministox 1            41  M27  111   58   62   25  944  I24    8   P5
4   1300 Stocks w/u      786  779  643  610  640  703  674  666  765  697
5   Bangers 1             37   28  372   11   10   48  368  232  348  341  317  177
6   Bangers 2             73   13  188  415   94  280   22  104  490  147  391  281
7   Ministox 2           129  M27   16   62  M24   41   58  P17   28  111
8   1300 Stocks FINAL    643  786  674  779  610  658  704   57  701  765
9   Bangers Cons         190  102   43  206  250  356  256  202  152  418
10  Ministox FINAL        25   28   62   90   16  129   22   41  100    5
11  Bangers FINAL         10   11   22  348   94  391  250  490
12  1300 Stocks h/s      779  786  610   57  703  704  674  697  658  777
13  R2000 q/r            232  260  348  LCR=348
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All results subject to confirmation by promotion.