Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 1999 Index > Meeting 99/17

The 1999 Promotasport Festival of Speed

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This years' Festival of Speed featured PRI Hot Rods, Group A Hot Rods, Lightning Rods, 1300 Stock Cars and SuperBangers, along with a National Banger Caravan Race as the finale to the closing day.

Julian Scott started the extra race for the Hot Rods with a win as the formula was boosted with extra drivers. Scott held Dave Fry off in this race, the again in the second heat by half a length after a false start when Jimmy Bryan had problems on the start grid. Adam Scott pressed hard all the way home but third was as far as he could go. Bryan made up for his earlier boob by winning the third heat, though the best of the racing in this was back in fourth as Stu Hammond held Andy Brown off despite everything that Brown could think off to pass.

The Group A's had a very bumpy start to the day, the first heat restarting twice as first Zac White stalled on the start, then a spin by Gary Pegram on the home straight was met head on by Keith Simmons. Nichola Bearman took on the early pace before Barry Hughes passed inside with Lee Radcliffe following. Radcliffe took over the lead thereafter and built a good lead but his car let him down as Mark Cook made up the distance and passed Radcliffe shortly before he pulled out. However, the race from the back was beginning to close in and it wasn't much longer before Gary Finch pulled outside Cook to take the first heat, though Cook stayed on terms for second ahead of Gary Rouse. The second heat saw Doug Constable driving well, sitting behind Adrian Coomber to pull past the front few then pushed hard to take the lead only to find himself clipped out in a collision with Chris Selleck on the back straight. Coomber therefore held the win with a rousing last couple of laps by Terry Bearman, Dave Lamb and Steve Wright. Coomber and Selleck would again feature in close racing in the third heat as the pair exchanged places in the closing stages, Coomber retaking the lead from Selleck on turn two in the closing stages while Rouse and Lamb also had their trying moments, not least with moving chicane Malcolm Moore, both elevated a place as Richard Haines was docked two places for an earlier hit on Leon Burgess. Finally Finch came out a clear winner in the fourth heat ahead of Constable and Michael Vitulli, the big fight again coming down the order as Darren Sawyer held Wayne Shackleford off for fourth.

The Lightning Rods were just as close. Indeed too close at times, especially for Vic Bilkey who faired worst in the first heat crash when his car lost the front nearside leg and wheel after being launched on two wheels in a rush to avoid the smash that occurred when Paul Harden smacked the armco then swerved back across to hit John Crowther. Harden had been doing well to that point, dropping to third when Lee Page cut inside him but otherwise not too bad until his cornering let him down, ultimately resulting in this crash. Chris Rabbitt was the winner in the declared result, having been well ahead of the pile up at the time, with Page in second and Darren Ahern third after a good run from the back. Kevin Howsgo emulated Pages' performance of a few weeks earlier as he was flagged off the track in flames in the second heat which was won by Tony Bates from Don Anderson and Ahern again, while a promising run for Page himself also came to an end when he jacked the Peter Waite car on the pit bend, the start of what would become another trash pile by the end as Mick Thompson and Roy Rawlins also come to grief at the end of the race. The final heat also became a bit of a wrecking nightmare as Howsgo capped a bad day with a two point rollover by the pits. Crowther and Tony Chapman protected him but an order restart was still needed, Don Anderson hitting the front from third on that with early leader Mark Mawditt unable to match pullaways with the Banger man while Rob Carr, who had been probably the unluckiest driver in the formula up to this point with wreckage in every appearance eating up the tarmac to finish a close second.

Contact fans were not disappointed either with the largest turnout of SuperBangers to date allowing the three group format which was a mere dream last year. Many of the early pacesetters in the first race fell victim to a pile up on turn one courtesy of an early spin by Jamie Dyckhoff, leaving Terry Shelvey with a big lead that Kev King tried valiantly to close but was about 2 seconds adrift by the end. Terry Shelvey would repeat the trick in the second heat, Pete Laver a distant second, while the crash starved wreckage fans were given a textbook example of a jack up by Lee Morrow who was under the impression that he had be wronged by Tommy McGurk. Pinned in the armco by Vic Bilkey who was taking time out from the Lightning Rods, Morrow stuck his front end into the prone McGurk car, folding it nicely. Kev King staked his spot on the front row of the final in the last heat by burning off the field early on, then staying on the gas so that Riki Rawlins could not quite catch up in the last few laps having dispensed with the opposition.

Finally we had the 1300 Saloon Stocks which began spectacularly as Daniel Bateman put himself in a four point rollover opposite the Raceway Tavern while Group A ex-champion Alan Thorndyke put his borrowed Mk.II Escort into a big lead, a lead that seemed doubtful as track champion Derry Monk sliced through the field from the back and closed on him as the chequered flag beckoned. Obviously Monk had not counted on Thorndykes' previous experience as Monk stuck the nose in on the pit bend on the last lap only to find that Thorndyke had anticipated the move, flicked wide, leaving Monk hitting air. Delbert Mortimer relieved Ricky Wolf of third spot in the last lap. Wolf and Zeb Molyneux had a battle of it in the second race, Monk, Andrew Palmer and Mortimer becoming embroiled toward the end along with current form driver John McGirr who managed to get to second before Harry Rawlins decided to spin him on the back straight. Wolf held on, with Palmer in second while Monk in third seemed to be having some differences with Mortimer, treating him to a couple of choice hits.

Sunday and the A's started the day, parades notwithstanding, with a consolation run which saw Gary Lee turn up after having sat out the first night - the car had not been ready - and burn off the rest of the field with some ease, pulling a half lap on second place Chris Fuller by the end of the race.

The first final was for PRI Hot Rods which saw a good start for Julian Scott with Dave Fry in tow while Tony Allard, Stu Hammond and Simon Smith battled from the back. This would eventually prove to be the deciding factor as Allards' car would eventually blow out, leaving a slippery patch on the home corner which would catch more than one driver out in the later stages. Malcolm Chesher was one such, as was Adam Scott who spun out of a promising fourth spot, while a similar problem dropped Jimmy Bryan a place or two which he tried to make up, and it also gave Fry a bargaining lever against Julian Scott which finally paid off four laps from home when Scott took the safer line, leaving the door open for Fry to run around him. That was how it ended, with Fry ahead of Scott with Bryan picking his way back to third.

The 1300 Saloons saw a measure of justice as Derry Monk pulled away early never to be caught, although he was very careful with his passing of Alan Thorndyke and Lynda Beaumont - the 1300 PRI Lady has given Monk a few things to think about recently - though neither were in any position to grab a place. Georgie Boult decided to have a go at John McGirr, an interesting point on an otherwise straightforward race which saw both in the results lower down, while Monk motored away to a win ahead of Andrew Palmer and Delbert Mortimer.

The SuperBangers were up next with their biggest gathering yet. Thirty cars is almost up to the standard of many National Banger heats at Arena Essex, and the action was good too as the race started with an airing out of Riki Rawlins as he was squeezed between front runners Terry Shelvey and Nigel Hepburn, setting the scene for the race as Hepburn settled into lead spot ahead of Shelvey and Nigel Carroll, though both these followers were soon lost in the melee with Jamie Dyckhoff and Kev King moving up quickly to fill the vacant spots, Vic Bilkey also closing fast. Bilkey was doomed to leave the race early, however, when a spin on Billy Merle went wrong and Bilkey clouted a tyre marker, killing his steering. The action climaxed in the last laps as Dyckhoff finally made it inside Hepburn as he ran wide on the pit bend two laps out, then Hepburn took Dyckhoff out on the final pit bend run to collect the trophy, Dyckhoff recovering to second ahead of Carroll.

Darren Ahern had performed well all through the weekend but had only points to show for it as he lined up for the Lightning Rod final. Don Anderson took the early lead with Rob Carr dropping out, leaving Ahern and Pat Kenneally to chase. Ahern then tried to take the outside line with Anderson as he had been doing for most of the festival and almost got a snootfull of Tony Chapman who was on his way to the armco; somehow Ahern made it through and away with no further challenges. Anderson was only to let one other through, Tony Bates, who made it past late in the race, leaving Anderson to fight it out with Bryan Whiteman for third.

With Gary Finch on the pole, the Group A final was a little foregone. Green down, green away as Finch left Dave Lamb behind. Lamb would drop out as he entered the back markers in his pursuit attempt, his car finally giving out, leaving the chase to Terry Bearman who would then have his hands full with a midfield rush from Gary Rouse. The two would scrap it out until the very last when both went wide on the last corner, Rouse recovering quicker than Bearman.

With the finals decided, the helter-skelter events were played through, the PRI Hot Rods having one last fling with a close race between Andy Brown and Gary Lyons with Dave Fry closing in finally going the way of Lyons in a tight last quarter; Andy Davies' prop stopping the 1300 Stock helter-skelter close to home after a nip and tuck race between Ricky Wolf and Rob Harman was resolved by Alan Thorndyke who stuck one on Harman; Vic Bilkey finally won something as he burned up the restarted SuperBanger helter skelter which was stopped by Graham Towner rolling into Neil Howitt on the home straight, Bilkey nicking the race on the last corner from Kev King; Mark Mawditt did a flag to flag in the Lightning Rods, holding Mark Davidson off until Davidson blew out while Ahern did yet another outside line number from the back; finally the A's were decided by a penalty as Michael Vitulli got to the front by the flag only to drop back under a contact penalty from earlier in the race, leaving Steve Wright with his best result of the weekend.

All that remained to be done was to bring on the National Bangers and the Caravans along with the Channel 5 TV crew. With the pre-race award handed out, namely Kevin Elmore's Menace van as the smartest, the whole lot set out to destroy each other. Unlike the previous year, there was no stoppage early on, but like last year, the majority of the vans deposited themselves into the Aveley bend, though this year it wasn't blocked, Dean Bateman leading the destruction in. Bateman would go for some time before losing his van completely, though he was awarded last car running. Elmore also kept going for a way until he reversed onto his own base, which pretty much ended it for him, while Roy Rawlins decided to take on Andy Burrough, who had been unstoppable last year, both tangling and locking up on turn two. All that was left was Keith Perren who took the trophy for most laps completed, while Jason Mills got best wreck and Garry Deacon got best hit, again showing that the Deacons as towing experts, whether each other or something else.

Results

--------------------------------------------------------- Saturday
0  PRI Hot Rods 1      77 Julian Scott   /20/71/18/27/44 NOCR 
1  Group A 1           65 Gary Finch     /12/63/92/89/5/94 NOCR
2  SuperBangers 1      87 Terry Shelvey  /89/82/238/58/60/27/42
3  Lightning 1        268 Chris Rabbitt  /123/149/219/118/215/291/156
4  Group A 2          131 Adrian Coomber /91/82/13/83/90/22/23
5  PRI Hot Rods 2      77 Julian Scott   /20/119/117/6/10/5 NOCR
6  1300 Saloon 1       28 Alan Thorndyke /643/697/666/674/657/658/733
7  SuperBangers 2      87 Terry Shelvey  /359/82/170/68/387/233/27
8  Lightning 2        216 Tony Bates     /115/149/201/170/177/245 NOCR
9  Group A 3          131 Adrian Coomber /70/63/82/94/13/86/28
10 PRI Hot Rods 3     117 Jimmy Bryan    /51/21/8/71/662/10/18
11 1300 Saloon 2      666 Ricky Wolf     /674/643/733/697/657/610/658
12 Group A 4           65 Gary Finch     /73/89/168/148/83/91/5
13 Lightning 3        115 Don Anderson   /104/290/201/156/291/200/131
14 SuperBangers 3      89 Kev King       /58/359/68/36/72/236/90
------------------------------------------------------------ Sunday
15 Group A Cons         1 Gary Lee       /190/80/108/174/120
16 PRI Hot Rods FINAL  20 Dave Fry       /77/117/71/21/10/18/662
17 1300 Saloon FINAL  643 Derry Monk     /674/697/610/658/657/748/777
18 SuperBangers FINAL  68 Nigel Hepburn  /36/82/89/60/77/30/387
19 Lightning FINAL    149 Darren Ahern   /216/115/156/201/290/219/291
20 Group A FINAL       65 Gary Finch     /63/91/89/13/131/83/94
21 PRI Hot Rods hs      9 Gary Lyons     /71/20/8/5/21/117/77
22 1300 Saloon hs     666 Ricky Wolf     /643/674/610/657/777/658/28
23 SuperBangers hs    111 Vic Bilkey     /89/30/82/68/58/170/27
24 Lightning hs       291 Mark Mawditt   /140/219/215/149/290/203/216
25 Group A hs          13 Steve Wright   /91/89/94/28/63/131/108
26 Banger CARAVANS    402 Keith Perren   LCR=130 Dean Bateman