Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 2001 Index > Meeting 01/16

PRI Banger Team Championship Round 3 Lightning Rods Supreme Championship Qualifying Round 2

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The final round of the PRI Banger Teams at Arena Essex on June 3 saw another victory for the Condoms, with the best ever finish for the Orpington Silent Heroes which saw the team pull second spot away from the Cream Team overall, including some good finishes for Jason Mills. The points overall were close, however, and a tie for tenth place means that eleven teams will contest the final eliminator; the defending champions The Condoms, the Silent Heroes, former champions the Cream Team, Mush's Team featuring current Driver's champion Sonny Sherwood, the Orange Squash featuring the Wolf brothers, the Ant Hill Mob, Mavericks, the memorial side Team Skeef, the Midnight Runners, and tenth spot tied teams The Menace and the Rabbits.

Rob Deville doubled his wins for the year by holding off Dave Meningen in the Lightning Rod Supreme Qualifier on June 3 at Arena Essex in the first heat. This set the tone for the day, with Riki Rawlins pulling down a heat and final double, denying Meningen in the final while Colin Murray held off Vic Bilkey in a hard fought consolation and Trevor Draynor took his first win of the season in the helter skelter race.

The third round of the Banger Team qualifiers at Arena Essex started with the Condoms in an unassailable lead but with many of the other teams easily within reach of a qualification spot for the Final Eliminator.

Dean Kingsworth took the pole for the Gladiators in the first race, while the Stingers' Paul Jones seemed to be getting dizzy from the spins he was taking at the start. Tommy McGurk gave some of his rather flash Capri to Darren Nash on turn two while Lee Callis was taking anything that was coming, his captain Sonny Sherwood also getting stuck in with Darren Graves. With the Suicide Squad not showing up again, it was down to the Midnight Runners to provide the war action, their recent squabble spreading amongst the teams starting in this race and continuing right through the meeting. However it was another win for the Condoms, this time by veteran rubber-johnny Steve Davies ahead of Graves and Paul Eve of the Silent Heroes. Graves and teammate Mark Blackwell in seventh place gave the only points of the meeting to the Mavericks, though their heat best ten points guaranteed them a place in the Eliminator.

The second heat was easily won by Rob Chiddle for the Skeefies, taking the lead early on after his team mate Terry Peacock in the Skeef 3 special was lost, the race mixed up early after a pile up on turn two which was set off inside Darren Stern. Joe Warner and Ray Foot met up hard on the back straight, the Stingers and the Cowboys seemingly bent on destruction this heat, though the biggest hit had to be Chris Hussey who met up with Terry Watkinson, without steering, head on, destroying both cars. Chiddle won handsomely, though the Condoms took the majority of the points with Andy Davies in second and Mark Ruskin a couple of places behind him. Race three was stalled early when a wheel came off shortly after a monster jacking on Howard Martin from Neil Partridge, then Partridge kept the lead for a lap on th restart before Keith Wildman took over after a lap, then Partridge retook only to lose it again after his steering went west. However this race belonged to Sonny Sherwood who imitated his form from last year, not to mention his progress at Mildenhall of late, by slicing through the field to grab a win and eight points for hs team. Not much in the way of destruction on the way, although RDC regular Martin Scully, racing for the Head Hunters, was ambushed by Mark Deacon and Partridge finished up giving grief to the empty 427 car, driver Dave Lightbody watching from off track. Chiddle provided his eight, and with another eight courtesy mostly of a second place from Wildman guaranteed Team Skeef a place, while Team Mush would grab one more point from the consolation to finish fourth overall, though on the day they finished well down.

The consolation started with 44 cars in all, though the race finished with reasonable numbers which, for a big race, is unusual. Steve Ward sprung away for the early lead with Jason Mills, while Yoyo's teammate Bob Dunn was stuffed by Grieg Cheeseman, Partridge returned to sniff Bernie Reid, then turn four started to build up. With much hitting being exchanged, the race was decided by the scrapheap where only a tight lane was left open, Scully and other wrecked contenders acting as gatekeepers, Ian Leach being one of a few to fall foul of this, though Billy King managed to pull in six for the Condoms as he evaded the trap to win ahead of Mills. All this meeting, previously underachieving team (at least in points) Orpington Silent Heroes had been consistantly building points up, and were within six points of the leaders, the Condoms, by the start of the Final.

The final was mainly a matter of grabbing as many points as possible for both Condom and OSH, Kingsworth of the Gladiators keeping the war alive by attacking the already wounded Neal Wells of the Runners while Steve Ashdown took Shane Collins behind. It proved difficult to see from then on as the Kingsworth car decided that it had been hit too many times and blew its top, smoking out the circuit from the bottom safety, but the Condoms sacrificed Billy King to guard their runners while JP Drummond seemed to be likewise used though perhaps his cars' death after he hit Ruskin was hardly planned. However Ruskin survived to grab a couple of points as Andy Davies took the win, though Eve took second spot along with Mills in fourth, the Condoms and OSH picking up the majority of the points with sops going to the Ant Hill Mob with third spot to Paul Stern and the Orange Squash with Darren Wolf grabbing seventh.

The points proved tighter than anyone expected, with the Southend Menace tying in tenth with the Essex Rabbits, both teams going through meaning that eleven teams will meet in the Final Eliminator.

Last car: 418 John Harris

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