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Plastengrave Non-Ford Bangers 1300 Stock Cars World Championship Qualifier

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Welton made up for it in the second heat, well outpacing the field, then heat three came upon us with two stoppages; the first was a double roll by Richard Austin assisted by the traffic down the home straight, the car ending up wedged on the top rail of the main fence, the second being a head on at the other end of the home straight when Mark Payne had his front end ripped apart. Each start had been a scrap between George Baker, who had just evaded Monk long enough to get second in the second heat and Michael Coventry. However it was Baker that won in the end as Matt Baldwin ran out of time. The final was crowded, and some folk fancied to do well ended in an early pile up when John McGirr ended up sideways in the home straight wall. Titch Mancini proved to be the deciding factor in the end as his attempts to unlap himself allowed current defending champion Steven Jackson through, Monk and Baldwin close behind with Welton settling for fourth having been sliced out by Mancini.

National Bangers
A sunny Sunday afternoon greeted the season opening Plastengrave Non-Ford Bangers at Arena Essex on March 12, traditionally the biggest of the various legs of this season long race series. With many late arrivals, things got a little muddled in the pits, which meant the absence of the grand parade, but among the various usual wrecks were a couple of classics including a winged Sunbeam and an old Morris Oxford, though this last was over the weight limit and was not allowed out (keep a look out at a pre-70's meeting, it might just turn up!)

Reigning Plastengrave champion Lee Witherington started as he finished last year, taking a win in the first heat and becoming the first rider of the new Arena Puma pace car while Dick Tracy squished Geoff Hughes on turn three and Luke Radley and Terry Watkinson got stewards warnings for going round the wrong way among other things as they gave out various hidings. Tracy didn't get away with it either, Bernie French and John Price spanking the RDC man up the diff. In the 47 car second heat it was Ian Horton's turn to dish it out, though not before Wayne Rowland toppled over on turn one. Keith Wildman took Phil Pratley head on with Keith Perren up the rear before Horton took Wildman in the side. Andy Jordan took on the lead at the beginning while Jason McMahon gave Mark Whybra a sandwich hit with Phil Stevens from the other side.

Greg Cheeseman seemed a promising bet late on until Horton got caught up with him, allowing Dean Bateman a good shot on both to get the win. Heat three saw plenty of lead changes too in a heat that saw the first home blows in what could prove to be a war in the making as Roy Bramley and Stuart Wilson took chunks out of Stuart Adcock, then Bramley took on John Randall. The final stages of the race saw Steve Street win on three wheels with Jason Jackson running out of time as the race ended. The consolation was held up early on when Paul Dolman went into the wall on the pit bend, picking up some foot injuries before the restart quickly turned into a wrecking session, Trackstar regular Luke Parfitt winning after lifting Sid Smith onto the turn three kerb then passing the stalling Jeffrey Scorah. Sonny Sherwood chased hard but ran out of time. Then, just to prove that it wasn't a fluke, Parfitt did it again in the final as Jackson nutted early leader Paul Hawkes and Parfitt outran the other fast runner, Graham Lindfield. Showboating at the end, Parfitt slowed approaching the line, and Lee Morris obligingly jacked Parfitt across the line. I do not believe I would be wrong in saying that Parfitt enjoyed the day, especially playing to the crowds from the pace car! All that remained was the first qualifier for the Rawlins 2000 series, which started with a massive 55 cars which saw a big hitting performance from Stevens, taking up position on the pit bend and giving allcomers a taste of custard before the final slugging out with Gary Palmer and Shane Davies. Palmer was given the win, while Stevens took the last car award, the first two into the main final on October 22.

1  Bangers 1       84 Lee Witherington /19/192/173/48/415/118/766/23/356/313/104
2  1300 Stx 1 A&B 416 Mark Smith       /443/748/442/73/71/701/569
3  Bangers 2      130 Dean Bateman     /312/43/160/108/749/229/339/27 NOCR
4  Bangers 3       83 Steve Street     /331/433/462/334/38/261/420/522/451/275/499
5  1300 Stx 2 A&C 600 Simon Welton     /25/443/371/569/501/416/376
6  Bangers Cons   541 Luke Parfitt     /348/317/32/747/183/53/418/643/34
7  1300 Stx 3 B&C  25 George Baker     /501/371/376/472/19/256/71
8  Bangers Final  541 Luke Parfitt     /104/747/38/19/749/48/334
9  1300 Stx Final 376 Steven Jackson   /443/501/600/256/73/71/243/416/72
10 Bangers R2000q  38 Gary Palmer      NOCR LCR=53 Phil Stevens