Arena Essex 01/01

Meeting 01/01, Sunday, 11th. March, 2001

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Plastengrave Non-Ford Bangers
Group A Hot Rods

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In brief

Plastengrave Bangers
With many circuits hit by emergency closures, it was a shame that the weather let down an otherwise well attended meeting at Arena Essex on March 11 as the Plastengrave "Non-Ford" Bangers assembled for the first racing of the year. With plenty of visiting drivers, much of the winning in the heats was done by a large Trackstar presence; Michael Clarke, Mark Whybra and Emerson Fairweather getting trophies in the heats and consolation, only Del Waterman driving out of his skin for the locals getting a heat win. There was also evidence that the wars from last year have not yet subsided with large Suicide Squad and Condom representation providing some of the biggest crashes of the day. However it was Jason Jackson that took the biggest win of the day, he and teammate Paul Hunter grabbing first and second spots in the final while the assembled TSR crew got stuck into a pit gate brawl with a number of high powered PRI including Richie Ahern. Dave Edwards, the class sponsor again this year, sneaked in a win in the opening Rawlins 2000 round while Hunter took a best wrecker award, stopping most of the field apart from McDonald who just managed to keep going after a final fling on turn three.

Group A Hot Rods
Gary Finch returned in a Nova for the opening Group A Hot Rod meeting at Arena Essex on March 11 and almost swept the board with a double heat and final win on a track which became increasingly slippery over the course of the day as the rain somewhat spoiled later racing, although it worked to veteran A driver Nick Hill's advantage, his liking for wet weather earning him the only other win of the day and pushing Finch close in the first race, although Hill would leave the final somewhat bent after a collision on the Aveley bend.

Other news

Before the meeting opened, the members of staff paid tribute to PRI founder Chick Woodroffe, who died after long illness just following the end of the 2000 season. In tribute, commentator Rob Porter noted; "He had been in racing almost since he was born, racing Speedway, racing Karts representing this country at international level all over the world... and when Formula 1 Stock Cars came along in the 50's, then of course Chick was in there.... he was a top formula 1 and formula 2 stock car driver for many, many years, continuing to race while he was promoting, building up the proud name of Promotasport and PRI, and it was in the race that he got an idea to turn a lump of dirt that was here into this fantastic track that we have now raced on for the last 24 years."

Also remembered was Olly Moran, a driver that raced for PRI at Haringey and later at Arena Essex during its early years, who died suddenly in the week before the opening of the 2001 season.

Results

Race	Event	Winner	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th
1	Plastengrave Bangers 1	T642 Michael Clarke	532	99	16	38	T630	81	10	529	129	2	512
2	Group A Hot Rods A&B	65 Gary Finch	133	90	122	174	197	73	63
3	Plastengrave Bangers 2	T643 Mark Whybra	M722	48	26	467	T799	134	252	262	418	588	3
4	Plastengrave Bangers 3	520 Del Waterman	348	331	183	19	47	227	334	274	332	72	200
5	Group A Hot Rods A&C	90 Nick Hill	83	133	67	148	92	174	55
6	Bangers Cons	T888 Emerson Fairweather	T541	332	314	61	27	59	53	93	353	49	T880
7	Group A Hot Rods B&C	65 Gary Finch	83	148	67	94	93	135	55
8	Bangers FINAL	331 Jason Jackson	183	47	26	129	99	81	NOCR
9	Group A Hot Rods FINAL	65 Gary Finch	174	67	92	83	135	148	63
10	Bangers Rawlins 2kq	19 Dave Edwards	183	53