Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 1998 Index > Meeting 98/27

Meeting No. 27, Sunday, 16th. August, 1998 National Bangers World Qualifying Round 5 Group A Hot Rods Pocket Rocket Legends

Pocket Rocket Legends
August 16 would be the second outing for the Pocket Rocket Legends at Arena Essex, with four cars turning out for three demonstration races. The first heat was taken by Des Chandler from the back after repeated outside attempts as all the cars still wrestled with the unfamiliar track while Ian Hayles took the second heat, holding Chandler off by holding the line despite all that Chandler could do. Chandler was not to be denied as the second heat contest took a new twist as a persistent back ender gave Chandler a chance to nip inside to win from Hayles with Arthur Bright third.

Group A Hot Rods
The Group A Hot Rods turned out well again at Arena Essex on August 16 for a five race meeting, starting with a split entry heat. Nichola Bearman started out the meeting in a promising way, holding down the lead up to the last lap in a repeat of one of her most recent successes, but after a close race behind her for second was resolved when Dom Tomlinson and Wayne Shackleford collided leaving Gary Finch in clear road, Finch hurtled past Bearman to pin down the first win of the day while Tomlinson had to settle for third, Shackleford finishing out of the places having spun after the collision. The second heat started well for novice Tim White until he cut the pit bend too fine and clouted the inner wall, almost rolling his car and trashing the steering. His final resting place was cause for concern so the reds were brought out. Barry Miles took the lead in the restart while early challenger Leon Burgess had to bow out as his steering got more erratic with every lap. Miles would not be caught in this, nor would second place Simon Bailey though Dave Finch managed to claw his way to third by the end of the race. However the big bunch to the rear of the field effectively blocked out star graders Michael Vitulli and Terry Bearman, a result that would lead to a fascinating consolation race. Shackleford went inside Ian Haines for an early lead in that one but was eventually passed by Matt Leadbetter which was how it finished, Mike Thomas pinning third down behind Shackleford, but the fight was at the back with Vitulli and Terry Bearman both needing to get to sixth or better to qualify for the final. For the first part of the race the pair were inseparable, Vitulli holding the outside line, both slowing each other and neither able to break free. The first chance came when Haines, falling back after his initial lead start, got in the way on the outside, letting Bearman go ahead, but it wasn't long before Vitulli had passed Haines and the pair were together again. The next obstacle however proved the decisive one as Paul Smith obstructed the inside line. Bearman switched to the outside and successfully passed Smith but as Vitulli tried to follow Smith got a bit too friendly with the back end of the Vitulli car and Vitulli was spun out. Smith was disqualified and Vitulli rolled off, unwilling to continue. If he had, he might have made it in as, toward the end of the race, Bearman found his promising qualifying position snatched from him as he and Lee Follett became unwitting victims of a pile up when Lee Radcliffe and Paul King clashed and hit the turn one fence in front of them. This meant that, for the first time ever, Nichola Bearman would be in the final without Terry!

The final was halted twice for complete restarts, the first when Dave Finch and Charlie Benjamin locked front wheels and slid into the armco on the home straight at the start, the second when an eight car pile up ensued as Radcliffe swerved first into the armco to avoid hitting Bearman and Miles who had met on turn two then across the traffic, picking off notables such as Terry Skeef, Matt Leadbetter and Kevin Down to name but three. What was left restarted and Miles got into an early lead outside Shackleford while what was left of the field chased at a distance. As the race continued, Glen Salmon moved up through the grid to second place and set off after Miles, eventually catching him with five laps to go. With three laps left, Salmon attempted to pass inside on turn one before Miles shut down, but was too close and hit Salmon, spinning out. The steward judged that to be avoidable contact and awarded Salmon a load up, the race going to Gary Rouse who had been following Salmon at a distance. With all the damage, it was understandable that only fifteen cars made it to the helter-skelter, and Nichola Bearman again took an early lead before Miles could pass, while Burgess topped off a lousy day by getting turn four completely wrong and hitting Thomas hard on the way out. With the race closing out, it was Gary Finch's turn to try passing Miles and he went outside for his attempt. Miles tried to coast wide on the corners but Finch used experience to keep himself safe and power to pass Miles, getting well into the rear of the field by the end of the race with Miles trailing in second and Daren Christie even further off in third.

National Bangers
August 16 was the final chance for the National Bangers at Arena Essex to get points toward their grid positions at this years' World Championship Final, and it was a close thing. Russ McAngus had all but clinched his pole position for the second year running but Phil Stevens had a good chance of nicking that off him. The first race, however, included neither driver and featured very little in the way of hits as Darren Graves took a win from Sean Collin and Terry Shelvey. The second race however was more controversial as Dave Truman picked his first ever Arena win up ahead of Andy Burrough and John Harris. Controversial because there was a suspicion of team racing right through the race with Pete Salter ending Stevens' chances of gaining more points when he was piled into the turn two armco by Salter, the remaining Cream drivers then putting Salter out on turn four before attempting to slow Truman down. Dave Greenstreet pulled in front of Truman and slowed, allowing Burrough to catch up with Truman but a last corner spin attempt by Burrough did not work so Truman collected the trophy while more than one spectator and a few drivers watched with some trepidation. Pete Blanchard got his second consolation win in a row after dumping Tommy McGurk at the halfway point while Tony Steventon went inside Shane Davies to nick second.

McGurk and Steventon took more than one lap to finally sort themselves out at the start of the final, but Steventon still needed a few extra lessons as he pulled past McGurk but left his cornering too late and spun, giving McGurk an easy target for a t-bone on the pit bend. McGurk was doing well despite the increasingly bad conditions as someone dropped water on the track but eventually fell prey to Dean Bateman who was trailing a lap or two and was looking for a glorious exit for his well battered machine. That left Phil Hudson ahead, and his eventual win puts him next to McAngus on the front row of the finals. Gary Palmer took second ahead of Collin in an unremarkable finish. The Rawlins 2000 qualifier was far from unremarkable, however, as the race was interrupted after John Harding first shunted Salter head on up and over the inner wall on the Aveley bend before turning and pinning one on Shane Davies on the home straight. Davies was fished from his car with the race redded but all was well between the drivers as handshakes were exchanged. The order restart put Bernie French ahead but McGurk soon sorted that confusion out by showing French what Harding had done to Salter earlier in the race but a wide line on the corners let Collin through to win ahead of McGurk with Burrough picking third up before the wrecking began. McGurk started with a hit on Burrough while Steve Macklin did more damage to himself than any intended victim as he shot full chat into turn three, heading toward McGurks' rear. He missed and ate armco instead and gave nothing much to what followed as Bob Sterling tried to take advantage of his late charge into the wrecking to take out what was left, finishing Dave Edwards off in a revenge hit on the back axle, but finishing himself at the same time while Burrough and McGurk finished each other off, leaving none other than current World Champion Allan Trickett the lone survivor!

Results

Event                 1st  2nd  3rd  4th  5th  6th  7th  8th  9th  10th 11th 12th 
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1   Grand Parade
2   Group A 1          65  119    4  177  110   83   84  111   93    5
3   Group A 2          77  123   66  190    3   49    7  108   63   90
4   Rocket 1          213    5    1    8
5   Bangers 1         351  257   87   37  385   15   42  116
6   Bangers 2         217  429  418   38   21  164  391   72
7   Group A Cons      174  148   29  175   48   95
8   Rocket 2            8  213    5    1
9   Bangers Cons      190  316  158  430  356  146  448  260  348  152  130  160
10  Group A FINAL      63   84   49   65   29   48   90  110
11  Bangers FINAL      37   38  257  385   21  429   15  160
12  Group A h/s        65   77   84   63   89   90   49  119
13  Rocket FINAL      213    8    5    1
14  R2000 q/r         257  430  429  LCR=146
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All results subject to confirmation by promotion.