Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 1999 Index > Meeting 99/27

Kings Car Breakers All Metro Bangers Lightning Rods British Championship 1300 Stock Cars

Next meeting | Last meeting

1300 Stock Cars
The 1300 Stock Car meeting at Arena Essex on August 22 was a time for the high rollers of the PRI world to take stock after their poor showing in the British Championship. So it was that Paul Haralambou made good progress in the first heat only to be taken toward the end by John McGirr and Elliot Wainwright, McGirr making up from some rough handling in the British, the result reversed in the final as Wainwright muscled through the traffic while Steve Davies made good headway to follow McGirr home in third place. McGirr came back in the sprint finish race however, beating out Graeme Mackey while Georgie Boult and Derry Monk mixed it at the back.

Lightning Rods
A day of much controversy as the Lightning Rods competed for the British Championship at Arena Essex on August 22, the title won in much controversy by Rob Carr ahead of Bryan Whiteman after both favourites crashed out in a close battle that took both into the pit gate, Richard Boulton having to pull off with axle damage and Darren Ahern with a flat tyre. Later pitside incidents would see Ahern suspended from racing awaiting further penalties while Richie Ahern was also being referred back to his home promotion for penalties involving a continuation of the argument with Boulton which an eyewitness described as "totally unacceptible". The controversy didn't finish there as third finisher Tim O'Reilly was later to fail post race scruntiny with suspension irregularities, third position suspended initially pending consultation, but fourth finisher Kevin Rogers standing to gain from the decision should it be upheld.

The first grid qualifier went well with Neil Livermore picking up the first spot with Boulton heading through the field to second, tucking in behind Livermore to keep Carr outside and down to third spot. Ahern then did his usual stunt of running outside the field to win while Paul Blackman managed to get past Dave Meningen after many prior attempts during the race. The draw for pole went to Ahern who chose inside line. Meanwhile the consolation, added due to the large field, saw Tony Bates finish in front of Jimmy Rix only for the result to be reversed due to Bates punting Micky Rosenthal earlier in the race.

The final promised much as Ahern and Boulton pulled away from the field, each getting a taste of the front as Boulton had the straight line advantage while Ahern had a better cornering technique. It all came down to the pit gate turn with Ahern behind and inside Boulton and, in a bizarre racing incident, both ploughed straight on, Boulton coming off the armco worst but both hors de combat. Carr had been following at a distance and suddenly found himself promoted to lead car and with a big lead that only Bryan Whiteman had any bite on, and even then he was too late to stop Carr from winning with a comfortable five second gap as back markers obstructed many of the lead cars. Carr managed to get seventh in the helter-skelter from the back of the field, the win going to Mark Davison who held Shaun Lavelle off well in the closing stages as the leaders again ran into the tail end.

Metro Bangers
There has been a sudden outbreak of Metro madness around the Banger racing world this year, with many promotions trying their hand at them, so when Kings' Car Breakers decided that they would sponsor an all Metro meeting at Arena Essex, who were we to pass it up? So on August 22, the Metros came to Arena Essex in an open meeting that saw a number of temporary licenses and visitors along with a chunk of our own folk ready to do battle in these unloved relics of Leylands' past follies. The first race went the way of regular driver Lee Witherington who took the lead off Mark Deacon late on, while Kev Wood held off Sonny Sherwood, himself a veteran of one of these Metro meetings, to win the second heat. Controversy hit as Roy Bramley followed RDC's Simon Alexander into the turn one armco, getting him an automatic load up while the race iteslf went the way of Ian Knight. This left the Rawlins 2000 qualifier, which was won by Jason Jackson before Witherington got into the Rawlins final the hard way after finishing off Sherwood, Jackson and finally Simon Warner.

Results

1  LRods Grid 1     120 Neil Livermore    /323/104/199/203/156/111/118
2  LRods Grid 2     149 Darren Ahern      /78/170/545/245/314/74/143
3  1300 Stx wu      748 John McGirr       /661/668/666/658/266/766/643
4  Bangers 1        284 Lee Witherington  /413/102/61/45/398/777/59/13/172/391/149
4a LRods Cons       396 Jimmy Rix         /216/131/268/445/201/365/277
5  Banger 2         388 Kev Wood          /348/34/331/261/173/420/280/101/366/275/474
6  1300 Stx Final   661 Elliot Wainwright /748/777/766/643/658/668/666
7  LRods BRITISH CH 104 Rob Carr          /156/74/545/396/203/78/170/143/365
8  Bangers Cons     490 Ian Knight        /626/98/363/118/600/154/662/7 NOCR
9  1300 Stx Sprint  748 John McGirr       /699/661/668/666/777/658/657
10 Bangers Final     34 Nick Harding      /413/348/331/490/101/275/261
11 LRods hs         199 Mark Davison      /143/203/156/78/115/104/445/177/74
12 Bangers R2000q   331 Jason Jackson     /348/284 LCR=284 Lee Witherington

74 failed initial post-race scrutineering checks, result pending.

Crashnet Photos

Please click on thumbnail for full size photo