Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 1999 Index > Meeting 99/26

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars WORLD SEMI FINAL National Bangers Brian Orgles Memorial

Next meeting | Last meeting

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars
Since the very first time that Arena Essex played host to a BriSCA F2 Stock Car meeting, it had not seen as large a number of cars as it did on August 15 when the first World Semi Final of 1999 was to run. Watched by fans and officials alike, the first batch of semi-finalists were lined up as the race was set up to start the meeting. With some starting problems, especially with Andy Ford and a number of others on the outside line during the rolling lap which must have affected some nerves, the race started with Neal Smith bouncing off and away with Daz Kitson in pursuit. Carl Issitt barged through and was making good progress until he got a little too playful with Darren Bingley. While Bingley was bashed out, Issitt ended up dead on the armco by the QE2 bridge. With Kitson and Bill Batten setling down into what looked like a developing race in the second half, leader Smith piled on the lead until he got a bit careless and spun himself by the pit gate, leaving Kitson in front, while Dave Luscombe barged his way past Batten to go second, which is pretty much how the race ended, Smith managing to get back to fourth for a spot in the final at Hi-Edge raceway in Buxton later in the year. The drama was not yet over as Ford exited his car and promptly collapsed on the track. It turned out that he had caught much of his engine's oil in a blowback, and quick thinking from a marshall saved him from what could have been a serious injury before the St. John's Ambulance could reach him to check him out. Meanwhile Craig Finniken celebrated his sixth place with a series of donuts, obviously he had heard something about the liking for donuts at Purfleet! However there was some grief over the lower places when Geoff Coleman, originally left out of the result, protested and got himself inserted in ninth spot, effectively pushing Mark Simpson out of the result. This caused some concern later when Simpson appeared for the meeting consolation only to be told to go off as he had already qualified. I later found that a decision had been made by the meeting steward to allow him to go directly to the meeting final, though no announcement was made. How this affects the World Final line-up is unclear. However the meeting continued with a big support race which was won by Chris Roots over Darren Gowshall in a particularly hard race which saw long time leader Andy Maynard follow Tony Roots home after shunting Jim Bamford and Graham Bunter out by the QE2 bridge. James Thackra tried his best in the consolation to pick out Sheldon Wadsworth but ran out of time as Wadsworth picked up a win with Steve Green following in third.

Matthew Metcalf would have found it difficult not to take an early lead being the only qualifying white top in the meeting final, however this would only last for a few laps in the twice started race, Andy Maynard hitting the front and staying there until the closing stages when things started to go wrong for a number of notables. With Craig Finniken and Steve Broomfield locked up at the top of the home straight, Maynard hit and mounted the armco on the corner while Bert Finniken was also collected, leaving Dave Luscombe free and in the lead with only three laps to go and Chris Roots and Bill Batten far enough off not to be a danger. Three faultless laps later and Luscombe had a win to top off his day. the Grand National Qualifier was another double start, this time an order restart when Barry Parker pulled off suddenly having got a comfortable lead, leaving Bryn Tootell briefly in the lead before he hit Steve Green who promptly rolled over! Tootell wobbled away from another crash in the last segment of the race after Simon McNab was destroyed banger style, while Neal Smith finally got himself a win after a good restart while Tony and Chris Roots were left downfield having a father to son scrap! And the son won that one! The World Championship trail shifts now to Barford on August 22, with more at Arena Essex in the Rose Cassidy Memorial on September 5th.

National Bangers The Brian Orgles Memorial meeting at Arena Essex is one of the biggest draws for domestic Banger drivers, the 1999 affair which took place on August 15 being no exception as nigel Hepburn sought to defend his title from the previous year. However it all turned out too much for him as Tony and Terry Shelvey carved up the meeting between them, only Phil Hudson in the first heat and Tony Steventon in the consolation getting wins. Hudson managed to take the first heat as the lead changed hands ina series of blunders, finished off when Clive Killick managed to catch himself on a wreck close to home, letting Hudson through with Dale Atkins in tow. the second heat was stopped a few laps in when Mark Want's car burst into flames spectacularly on the home straight after helping stuff Steve Latham. Ian Ardley had control of the heat as he sped off the start into a commanding lead which saw Tony Shelvey, nowadays more occupied in the SuperBangers, fly up the field then crush the lead down to take Ardley inside on the last bend. Terry Shelvey was even more impressive when he won by laping the field in the third heat which also saw some good wrecking, including Mark Ruskin on Kev Wilsher in a t-bone by the pit gate, and Roy Bramley who was kippered by Wilsher and Garry Deacon. Another stoppage in the consolation saw Lee Witherington's car on its roof in the middle of a turn one pile up which blocked the track, while the restart saw a few more interesting wrecks, mostly jackings including Dan Reid on Steve Saveall, Charlie Plaster on Steve Farmer wiping him down the armco to turn four and eventual winner Steventon on Roy Rawlins who took off on his way up the kerb.

Results

1  BriSCA F2 WSF     732 Daz Kitson        /642/167/657/13/955/12/559/239/542(/871)
2  BriSCA F2 Support 677 Chris Roots       /558/77/134/628/780/461/446/302/266
3  Bangers 1          37 Phil Hudson       /98/149/68/72/14/130/401/257/145
4  Bangers 2         347 Tony Shelvey      /114/377/429/391/10/418/546/15/280
5  Bangers 3          87 Terry Shelvey     /28/448/273/59/348/21/173/203/415
6  BriSCA F2 Cons    512 Sheldon Wadsworth /324/15/641/103/591/202/67/553/520/622/154
7  Bangers Cons      316 Anthony Steventon /331/510/102/356/588
8  BriSCA F2 Final   642 Dave Luscombe     /677/167/732/15/558/657/239/103/461
9  Bangers Final     347 Tony Shelvey      /98/68/331/15/87/10/415
10 BriSCA F2 GNQ     657 Neal Smith        /558/324/677/77/461/202/302/628/12
11 Bangers R2000q     59 Dave Greenstreet  /555/53 LCR=53 Phil Stevens