Arena Essex 00/39

Meeting 00/39, Sunday, 29th. October 2000

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SuperBangers Essex County Championship
Group A Hot Rods
Outlaw Hot Rods Robert Follett Memorial
Ministox

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Ministox
With another good turnout, and despite the overall length of the meeting, there was no choice but for the Ministox to have an extra pre-meeting race at Arena Essex on October 29. The format was changed to the more usual grade combination, starting with the "Novice" grades which went the way of Rikki taylor from Nick Brown and visiting driver David Drewitt. Drewitt would figure heavily in the start of the "Experts" race too, starting from the yellow grade and pulling out a good lead to start with before Daniel Rosenthal caught him up, Drewitt fading and eventually spinning from the result. The highlight of this race, however, was a charge by Joe Bullen from the back of the grid to take the entire field to win this race ahead of Rosenthal and Tubbs Butler. The chase heat ended abruptly after a spectacular end over roll on turn one by Vic Bilkey as he went in clumsily onto the inner kerb, the win going to halfway leader michael Williams from Taylor and Butler, then down came the rain. The final saw an absence of Lawrence Davey from the race which left his points lead vulnerable, Lee Smith needing only third place to win the season's championship. The task looked hopeless at the start with no grip and poor visibility being a problem for everyone and while Smith made his way up the field with no problems, he provided some heart stopping moments as he got as high as second place, then spun out on turn two. However Smith recovered, taking Thomas Harvey to get his much needed third place to finish ahead of Davey by a mere two points. The race itself went to David Polley, like Harvey down for the day from RDC, with Neal Gardiner second.

Group A Hot Rods
For the final time this season, the Group A Hot Rods gathered at Arena Essex on October 29 to thrash out the final points, and with the first five places capable of winning overall, things would be tight. This was the case in the first race when all the protagonists came out in one go, though the first action was where Bill Witherall beat James Cawtheray to the first corner. Cawtheray would eventually be disqualified for a hit on Richard Sharp after falling back from a challenge for the lead. Barry Miles would eventually thread his way up to the lead while Gary Christie fought off Jim Richards, then Nichola Bearman before eventually taking second place. However this omits Jay Fowler who, while first past the post in front of Miles, was to be docked two places as he punted Witherall in his headlong flight after Miles some laps before, hence his third place. Steve Mills took to the lead in the second heat and would eventually end the race first and comfortable. Not so for second place Chris Fuller though as Gary Rouse harassed him all the way home, taking the outside line inside the last lap and only losing out to Fuller by inches, Dom Tomlinson repeating this with Mark Browne. Heat three and it seemed to be a day for the Corsas as Richards burned his way to the front then held Trevor Ledwith back all the way home while Christie, who had persevered with his Corsa after some of his contemporaries had given up on them, now seemed to be getting the hang of it, working his way up past Miles to third. However the final went the way of Miles after grabbing the lead early in the rain then dashing away, Vic Hope's early challenge coming to nothing, then Darren Clement came through, just holding Tony Moss at bay for a second place finish. Mark Browne barely held his lead in the Yokohama/Kent Cams Driver's Championship but hold it he did, Dave Lamb coming up ten points behind him with Kevin Down a further five points back.

Outlaw Hot Rods
The Chris Haird Focus was put to good use in the warm up race for the Outlaws at Arena Essex on October 29 as he went for a tight inside line on early leader Andy Johnson going into turn three, Dave Fry following in more orthodox fashion to second before a crash on turn two involving Neil Reeve and Alex McLean killed the race as Reeve recovered only to stick Fry into the back straight wall. Exit McLean with serious back axle damage and Fry with minor bodywork repairs to do. Haird would not survive the main event, the Robert Follett Memorial as Fry collided with him, the pair sliding down the home straight wall, body panels flying. Johnson would take the early running up but Mark Lisowski would eventually turn the tables, grabbing the front and holding it against allcomers including Paul Simmons who had to settle for second ahead of Stu Hammond. While Simmons got a measure of revenge in the final helter skelter over Lisowski, not much should be read into that since by this time the rain was heavy and the racing extremely slow by this time.

SuperBangers
The SuperBangers plunged straight in at Arena Essex on October 29 with the third running of the Essex County Championship for the limited contact formula, originally inaugurated back in 1982 for the PRI Bangers when Les Mapp first won it. Terry Shelvey was on pole and stayed in front the entire time, though Nigel Hepburn, then defending champion Kevin King, tried to catch and pass the runaway points leader, but both failed, King's best chance inside the last lap in traffic failing leaving him second with Hepburn third and John Alder, Shelvey's nearest points rival, in fourth. The rest of the racing for the SuperBangers was increasingly hit by the rain, Barry Smith holding Alder off to win the Sprint round which confirmed the points championship for the formula, Alder unable to catch Shelvey while Hepburn enjoyed an unassailable third. the helter-skelter that closed the meeting in torrential conditions was quickly over, Alder again having to settle for second as his last effort to pass Lee West merely resulted in West putting the gas down.

Results

0  Ministox W&Y    510 Riki Taylor      /505/896/551/500/526/527/564/519/20/502/388
1  Gp A 1 A&B       77 Barry Miles      /83/52/82/67/58/5/197
2  Ministox YBR     90 Joe Bullen       /577/41/16/9/519/88/551/527/50/111/505
3  Outlaws wu      115 Chris Haird      /20/110/121/22/103/428/21
4  Gp A 2 A&C       23 Steve Mills      /190/63/17/67/108/91/102
5  SBangers Essex   87 Terry Shelvey    /89/68/60/387/6/12/397
6  Ministox WBR    388 Michael Williams /510/41/16/528/88/524/9/64/136/90/7
7  Gp A 3 B&C        5 Jim Richards     /33/83/77/197/9/57/94
8  Outlaws Main     22 Mark Lisowski    /51/8/44/110/121/428/21
9  SBangers Sprint 394 Barry Smith      /60/387/68/187/87/347/167
10 Ministox Final  136 David Polley     /88/64/366/41/527/500/524
11 Gp A Final       77 Barry Miles      /197/92/108/9/99/94/102
12 Outlaws hs       51 Paul Simmons     /22/110/121/21/4/44 NOCR
13 SBangers hs       6 Lee West         /60/68/187/394/347/87/397