Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 1999 Index > Meeting 99/13

Group A Hot Rods Supreme Championship Qualifying Round 2 Superbangers PRI Hot Rods

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Group A Hot Rods
The weather affected more than one meeting over the weekend, and Arena Essex was no different when rain hit towards the end of the May 30 meeting. The Group A Hot Rods, meeting for the second round of their Supreme Championship qualifying series, had possibly the best of the track before it started to get really wet with Dave Lamb exploiting the outside line to take the first heat, with Nick Hill going inside long time leader Darren Sawyer to get second before the race was stopped. Doug Constable was to suffer all afternoon, getting to promising positions in his races only to be spun out. In the case of the first heat he had taken an outside line on Sawyer only to be spun out by back marker Barry Law, who was immediately blacked. An initial scramble in the second race saw Tony Moss add to his success from his previous outing by burning off the field while Barry Hughes held Carl Steptoe off as most of the field trailed well off the pace after a pile up by the pit gate early on. Doug Constable was again on the pace as he closed on Mark Cook and leader David Evans, but again he was to be spun from the result, this time by Trevor Collins two laps out, which left Cook to pressure Evans all the way home, though Evans held his line well to win. The final went the way of Moss, now guaranteed a new roof for his next meeting, with half a lap to spare before Steve Mills crossed in second from Terry Bearman who had been scrapping with Gary Finch right through the field. The rain then hit in earnest and the rolling started helter-skelter race turned into a comedy of errors as cars slipped about, only the few that saw the problem ahead keeping their wheels. The race went to Carl Steptoe as he kept a tight line, shutting Gary Finch out through the last five laps having taken the lead outside Jason Villa who had seemed promising early on. Villa ended up meeting with Law in the abandoned Gary Christie car on turn one.

PRI Hot Rods
Rain affected the PRI Hot Rods at Arena Essex on May 30, the track becoming greasy during the later racing, though the warm up race was raced on a dry track, Dave Fry adding more points to his drivers' championship lead with Paul Simmons and Rick Fray in tow as early leader Gary Lyons was unable to shut the inside line down, especially on turn four. Lyons had a good main event start as well, though he slipped back by mid race, leaving the action at the front to Adam Scott and Dave Fry, first to try to get past Simon Smith which Scott managed inside the pit bend as Smith drifted to shut Fry down, then in a last lap dive for the line when Fry tried a last ditch attempt down the outside of Scott, just failing to pass by the line. Smith managed to keep third from Lyons. Then the rain hit, the result being a cautious procession won by Simmons, the less cautious such as Dave Nail, Alan White and others finishing up in collisions at various places.

SuperBangers
Nigel Carroll was the pivotal driver during the partially rain affected May 30 meeting at Arena Essex for the SuperBangers. Carroll took the outside line on Terry Shelvey during the early laps of the first heat before finally passing toward the halfway point, only for Shelvey to come back. With the finish in sight, Trevor Ledwith picked Shelvey up and spun him across the line, Carroll in first. Ledwith was awarded second, although Shelvey spun through ahead of him, onto the safety area. Nigel Hepburn took the second heat inside Riki Rawlins on the final corner, while entertainment was provided by Tommy McGurk in his first SuperBanger outing, trying to spin without wrecking but still managing to somehow collect Paul Aspinall and Jamie Wilders sideways on his nose around the Aveley bend! Carroll was out again in the third heat and again he had a big lead early on from Billy Merle, though Terry Shelvey and Jamie Dyckhoff pulled through to second and third behind Carroll by the end. The final race was on a wet track, though the various rods beforehand had taken a little of the dampness off. Again, Carroll was away and seemed unstoppable until he tangled with the back markers. All seemed well until he tried to pass John Alder and McGurk. Alder flicked at Carroll with no success, McGurk also, so with Carroll past both, Alder floored it and pushed McGurk into Carroll on turn one, which had already been made treacherous when Kevin Goodfellow had spun across the turn and collected Sonny Sherwood in the drivers' door. Meanwhile, Tony Shelvey had been on a mission, spinning all ahead of him to get up to second, and was suddenly gifted the lead and eventually the win as Carroll was unable to rejoin.

Results

1  SBangers 1      82 Nigel Carroll /233/87/36/60/347/52/27
2  Group A 1       82 Dave Lamb     /90/168/91/63/122/23/94/108/174
3  Group A 2       92 Tony Moss     /18/120/22/89/77/2/57/83/65
4  PRI HRods       20 Dave Fry      /51/21/9/18/8/119/71
5  SBangers 2      68 Nigel Hepburn /58/347/72/359/313/544/273
6  Group A Cons    71 David Evans   /12/5/13/148/70
7  PRI HRods Main 119 Adam Scott    /20/10/9/18/71/21/103
8  SBangers 3      82 Nigel Carroll /87/36/68/52/313/359/72
9  Group A FINAL   92 Tony Moss     /23/91/65/168/148/120/83
10 PRI HRods       51 Paul Simmons  /119/20/21/71/27/9 NOCR
11 Group A h/s    120 Carl Steptoe  /65/89/10/168/92/18/22
12 SBangers FINAL 347 Tony Shelvey  /52/68/58/89/87/498/36