Arena Essex - ae0204

Arena Essex Raceway - Meeting 02/04 Sunday, March 31, 2002

Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 2002 Index > Meeting 02/04

Group A Hot Rods
Lightning Rods
Outlaw Hot Rods

In Brief

With a larger than expected field on Easter Sunday - over 100 cars in the pits - two extra races had to be arranged in the all Rod Arena Essex meeting.

It was a day of mixed fortunes for many in the Lightning Rods, with John Christie being the first to suffer as his car was wrecked right on the start, the car a write off, and a number of other cars ending up a little worse for wear in the shunt that followed the initial incident. Notable amongst them was Chris Chao who lost a few bits in this race and would lose a whole lot more later on, although he won the consolation. The heats, however, went to Lightning Rod veteran Vic Bilkey and SuperBanger champion Terry Shelvey, then the final was awarded to Rick Pannell, who would also end the meeting in pieces in the same pile up that claimed Chao as well as Gary Webb, while the race in question, the Festival of Speed qualifier, would eventually go to Colin Moss after Rob Deville and Nick Wiseman met up head on.

The Outlaws also gained a race due to extra cars, including Frank Nöhring who performed wonders along with his mechanic to get the car ready after it was wrecked in practice the day before. He would end up pressing Alan White all the way in the third heat, White getting a rare win along with Colin Crocker and Chris Wood in the other two heats, though White was pipped in the penultimate lap by Nigel Pike in the final.

Things were close for the Group A's also, with Chris Goldsmith pipping Ian Hefferman in the first heat before Matt Leadbetter won the second heat by a stroll. Dave Imber got the consolation, then Steve Smith won the final. He also got the Festival qualifier, but controversy is never far from this formula, especially when it involves the star grades. In this case, Gary Rouse and Chris Whiteman ended up in the wars, though how Rouse ended up in the Supreme Champions' passenger door was discussed at length by more than one fan!

Results

Event	Winner	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
1. Lightning Rods 1	111 Vic Bilkey	239	207	169	232	224	201	200
1a. Lightning Rods 2	187 Terry Shelvey	107	240	212	272	161	218	177
2. Group A Hot Rods 1	14 Chris Goldsmith	126	184	63	83	91	197	190
3. Group A Hot Rods 2	174 Matt Leadbetter	92	188	94	22	34	148	163
4. Outlaw Hot Rods 1	121 Colin Crocker	42	413	17	22	662	119	68
5. Lightning Rods Cons	121 Chris Chao	166	170	225	288	227	203	217
6. Group A Consolation	64 Dave Imber	122	81	29	119	135	58	10
7. Outlaw Hot Rods 2	296 Chris Wood	140	8	22	350	121	662	103
8. Lightning Rods Final	239 Rick Pannell	240	207	107	227	218	170	201
9. Group A Final	184 Steve Smith	91	81	135	197	14	92	190
10. Outlaw Hot Rods 3	103 Alan White	116	350	35	413	140	296	42
11. Lightning Rods FoSq	207 Colin Moss	218	169	111	170	177	238	136
12. Group A FoSq	184 Steve Smith	91	126	94	148	197	163	92
12a. Outlaws Final/FoSq	413 Nigel Pike	103	121	140	22	116	42	119

Click here for Group A list
Click here for Lightning Rod list
Click here for Outlaw list

Crashnet Photos

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Also don't forget to see Matthew Bull's website for more photo action from this meeting! Click here