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Plastengrave Non-Ford Banger Finale Group A Hot Rods

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Group A Hot Rods
The Group A Hot Rods had the onerous task of being the first formula to take to the track at Arena Essex in what was an emotional day for many on October 8. However they took it well, Chris Fuller outrunning Keith Simmons early on in the first race before Jay Fowler caught and passed the former Marathon champion for his first ever Group A win. Race two became somewhat more messy, with a loss of control eventually seeing Gary Rouse and Nichola Bearman colliding on the kerb on turn three, stopping the race short, James Cawtheray awarded first in front of Robbie Wolf and Lee Ayton. Nichola would eventually drop out of th consolation result, though Terry Bearman managed fourth from the back, the race going to a Haines one-two, Matthew Haines pulling away from the pack easily after taking early leader Richard Sharp while brother Richard ran outside Sharp on the last corner for second. The final also dissappeared in a cloud of smoke and a thunder of colliding cars on the pit bend, more like to a Banger race than a Hot Rod one, the declared result putting Wolf at the front with Dom Tomlinson and Barry Miles behind him. Miles would then pin down the helter-skelter race after first past the post Cawtheray suffered a two place penalty for contact, Ayton was elevated to second while Trevor Ledwith and Gary Rouse finished the race spun out on the back straight, Ledwith suffering a similar penalty to Cawtheray as a result.

Plastengrave Bangers
Orange everywhere! With only a couple of exceptions, all Bangers turned up for the finale of the Plastengrave Banger at Arena Essex on October 8 series painted orange, some even coachwritten for the Fender Bender, with notable examples from Jason Jackson and Clive Harwood. It was defending champion Lee Witherington that got the first win that day, suddenly running into the lead on the last lap as Harwood, who had led from the start, suddenly started to slow up, though he kept it together to finish second ahead of Jackson and Dan Reid who was suitably racing an orange BMW of all things! The second heat was brought to an abrupt end when some good wrecking in the field led to Rob Chiddle rolling on turn three, the win going to Paul Hawkes from Terry Peacock who was wearing the number 3 as Terry Skeefs' former mechanic. Turn one got clogged quickly in heat three with Kevin King passing Tony Abrehart in a short match up early to jet home towards a win in a race terminated early when Roy Rawlins got into trouble after a head on with Buzz Kelsey by the pits. Jason Powers took second after leading at the start.

Instead of the usual consolation, the PRI staff got a go with all donated cars put automatically into the final and despite efforts from his son to stop him including a highly illegal trip down the home straight in the wrong direction, Clerk of the Course Henry Ashworth managed to drive Rob Chiddle's wreck home to win ahead of Steward Jim Lazarus in Steve Davie's pink thing. Despite Rob Kingdon's early forecast of a pit lane one-two-three, only Bryn Collins got a podium finish, Alan Rouse having to go fourth and Alex Williamson downfield in eighth. And before anyone asks, no, I left it alone this year!

The winner of the Plastengrave title was pretty much a foregone conclusion before the meeting started, while second place had sorted itself out earlier as Lee Witherington put the position safely out of practical reach though there was no catching Sonny Sherwood. This left a five way tussle for the last trophyin the final. Another pile up and another stoppage marked the opening of this race before the restarted cars saw Rob Chiddle pile through to take the win ahead of Sherwood and Tony Wade, while of the wreckage, I got closest to John Drummond's effort by the start line where he had first met with Dean Kingsworth before Dan Reid piled through Kingsworth's car from the side to clear the straight! Sherwood celebrated his Plastengrave win with a double Rawlins win, picking through the melee for a win before thumping his way to a last car trophy too!

1  Gp A 1        52 Jay Fowler       /190/77/83/23/48/67/12
2  Gp A 2        45 James Cawtheray  /24/43/63/33/197/57/64
3  Banger 1      84 Lee Witherington /488/331/61/09/169/289/149/107/352
4  Banger 2     415 Paul Hawkes      /3/522/317/250/183/38/532/512/420/93
5  Banger 3      89 Kevin King       /340/608/515/401/33/348/615/409/72
6  Gp A 2        93 Matthew Haines   /94/40/91/108/82/17/73
7  Staff race    93 Henry Ashworth   /77/511/334/147/9/254/14
8  Gp A 3        24 Robbie Wolf      /17/77/83/57/33/82/48
9  Banger Final  93 Rob Chiddle      /348/33/183/38/289/334/19
10 Presentation  
11 Gp A hs       77 Barry Miles      /43/45/17/48/91/33/82
12 Bangers R2Kq 348 Sonny Sherwood   /33/38 LCR=348