Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 1999 Index > Meeting 99/29

Rawlins Big Van Championship Pedal Bangers 1300 Stock Cars Ministox

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Ministox
A good start to the first Ministox race on August Bank Holiday Monday at Arena Essex for Justin Sorial managed to see him to third spot as Joe Bullen and (352 Newson) rolled inside him to victory in a race shortened as Colin Cooper, who had been leading well since half way, suddenly saw a wheel bounce off and away leaving him to grind to a halt by the pits. Cooper made up for it second time out by putting a quarter lap between himself and Vic Bilkey Jr. in the second heat, Bilkey and third place Michael Sanderson warned for contact. The third heat was a scrap through the field between current RDC form horse Simon Welton and Lee Smith who has occasionally given some great sport. Welton won out in the end while Sorial got another third place trophy. A pile up on turn four left Terri Bramley in need of attention, the restart also leading to a pile up but this time avoidable and with no injuries, though Lee Rices' rollover was cause for concern until we saw the plucky chap drive away! The race boiled down to a last quarter race between Sanderson and Cooper, Sanderson finding an inside line close to home to win the final.

1300 Stock Cars
The 1300 Stock Cars got three races in on August Bank Holiday Monday, Derry Monk being a dominating force in all three, including a win in the warm up race where he spanked out David Perry on the last corner. Monk didn't get it all his own way, however, as the final went the way of Steve Davies who stayed doggedly in front despite all Monks' best efforts including a monster of a punt on turn three heading for home. Monk also had to settle for second in the helter-skelter race, Graeme Mackey running well home while a mid race argument with Elliott Wainwright delayed Monks' progress through the ranks as Monk shunted Wainwright hard around the Aveley bend, Elmo finishing up in the turn two armco.

Van Bangers
The annual Rawlins Van Banger Championship at Arena Essex took place on August Bank Holiday Monday as usual, with the first award of the day going to Karl Vanner for smartest van, though what the sentiment was that his van represented would probably be best left alone. We didn't have long to wait for the first big hit, however, as Frank Skinner put Gary Doyle hard into the fence adjacent to the start podium. We also saw the continuation of the Bramley vs. Squad saga as Roy Bramley found himself under fire from Brian McGuiness until a rollover and fire involving Dean Ryan and George Rowbotham stopped the race. Bramley restarted the heat by running the wrong way to meet Darren Nash and Mark Deacon head on around the Tavern turn, then started to take the result into his own hands as he started taking the leaders out, starting with Skinner and continuing until his van had had enough! Skinner won this one with Deacon second, but anyone that crossed the line did so with more than a few marks on them. Con Friel rolled onto his side right with John O'Neill running into the wreck which brought waved yellows out to the slow starting second heat. The blunders didn't stop there as Steve Street took the lead only to run into the spun Mark Newman van while former champion and now long distance visitor Chris Carter was spun by Jason Jackson in a bit of a sucker play. Dale Atkins took the slightly less rough second heat from Sonny Sherwood and Dave Robinson.

The action moved to the allcomers' final from there with 44 vans taking to the raceway, most of them seemingly electing to block the track on the first turn at the start, while Atkins rolled Graham Heyward for 4 corners, and Lee Hayward rolled off Paul Jell. Atkins also sent Neal Wells over on turn four as the wrecking mounted. With Brad Theaker also going over, things were getting cramped all around the track. This made it easier for Dave Truman to catch a few folk out including Phil Hudson, the pair spending a fair amount of the latter stages hitting each other while the race came down to a two horse race between Sonny Sherwood and Andy Swift, the former a current track champion, the latter with a measure of recent success of his own. Fate took a hand two laps out though as Swift led Sherwood as his van decided to give it up in a cloud of steam, a last head on from Balders Hudson on Sherwood not enough to stop Sherwood limping home in a six van finish. Dave Robinson followed him at a distance with Swift just mustering enough power to make it in third, the remaining racers well spread by the end. Of 58 vans, we were left with 34 wrecks for the Rawlins qualifier which was twice started as Ray Sharrod became yet another roller but had trouble evacuating his wreckage. The hits came in hard again, with Theaker and Phil Butler exchanging hits, Karl Vanner and Con Friel sandwiching Roy Bramley and Luke Radley with Theaker nutting George Rowbotham. The front running was just a fraught with Sherwood again making plays along with John Randall, each finding rubbish to crash into which caused the lead to shift more than once. Chris Carter also was having fun as he decided to make the best of being rammed by Mark Mahoney by stuffing one up Ray Sharrod while poor old Retard Roy finished in flames. Truman finally dispensed with, Sherwood was romping home until he met with Radley, fresh off a nutting on Dean Ryan. Though Radley's head on crippled Sherwood severely, the Mildenhall silvertop managed to nurse his van home before Robowtham nutted the final life out of the double winning van. Robo then turned his attention to Robinson, but was not up to it and Robinson took the last car entry into the final on what proved to be the best Van Banger meeting at Arena Essex in years!

1  Ministox 1      90 Joe Bullen        /352/68/518/111/129/528/525/558/512
2  BVans 1        193 Frank Skinner     /102/24/68/295/173/27/207 
4  1300 Stx 1     643 Derry Monk        /661/799/699/777/779/766/666
5  Ministox 2       8 Colin Cooper      /111/350/129/90/9/6/518/64/62
6  BVans 2         98 Dale Atkins       /348/275/462/356/377/317/417
7  1300 Stx Final 777 Steve Davies      /643/661/699/779/66/799/725
8  Ministox 3       6 Simon Welton      /64/68/350/62/16/100/77/599/41
9  BVans Final    348 Sonny Sherwood    /275/239/391/173/356 NOCR
10 1300 Stx h/s   699 Graeme Mackey     /643/777/779/666/725/755
11 Ministox Final 350 Michael Sanderson /8/90/518/62/111/41/9/100/I20
12 BVans R2000q   348 Sonny Sherwood    /207/173 LCR=275 Dave Robinson