Arena Essex - ae0215

Arena Essex Raceway - Meeting 02/15 Sunday, June 2, 2002

Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 2002 Index > Meeting 02/15

Lightning Rods English Championship
Outlaw Hot Rods
Ministox

In Brief

This meeting was somewhat confusing with a major rejig in the schedule to take account of all the extras that booked in for the Lightning Rods and the Outlaw Hot Rods.

The Ministox started the day off with an early Novice race which was won easily by local driver Daryl Bennett ahead of Andrew Taylor and Gary Archer, both from the other side of the Thames. There was a long wait for the Experts race, however, but Michael Outen grabbed victory over Sam Warner and Mark Burroughs, with Danny Rosenthal getting victory in the stalled Chase race. Ricky Cooper took the final win, followed by Chris Smith and Warner again.

With so many Outlaws again turning up, including some Autospeed/Ringwood interest, the meeting was changed to a three group setup. However the first blood went to long time PRI Rodder and former Lightning Rod ace Rick Fray, who held off Dave Hitchen, though Hitchen had enough to keep him busy in the closing stages. Another regular took the second win, that being Nigel Pike, who grabbed the win despite heroic efforts from some of the cars behind him. The best performance of the day had to be Stu Hammond, who took victory in the third heat, then scrambled through to take the final.

Lee Morrow has not had the most consistant career in the Lightning Rods, but on occasion he has put forward some stunning racing. The English Championship was just such an occasion when something clicked and Morrow managed a fantastic dodge from the second row to take the lead early on, a lead that would never be broken from start to finish despite some tyre problems by mid point. Mark Cooper managed to keep up to take second with Vic Bilkey in third, both drivers making supreme efforts right through the marathon race, while many others would falter before the race ended.

The meeting also featured heat wins for Martin Cookman in the first, Vic Bilkey in the second (following a brave attempt by rookie and ex-Ministox driver David Burton), Mick Thompson in the third, Gavin Murray in the fourth and Paul Hollands in the fifth, Burton making up for his cornering blunders earlier on with a win in the Consolation final.

Results

1. Ministox 1 (Novice)	515 Daryl Bennett	572	585	540	513	284	548	509	502	521	545	547
2. Lightning Rods 1	238 Martin Cookman	225	108	212	169	118	336	201	123	78	136	NOCR
3. Outlaws 1	21 Rick Fray	3	214	12	22	719	8	473	50	780
4. Lightning Rods 2	111 Vic Bilkey	187	232	272	308	240	318	389	195	237	323	545
5. Lightning Rods 3	167 Mick Thompson	233	118	225	376	393	170	336	427	108	245	74
6. Outlaws 2	473 Nigel Pike	277	479	44	89	780	3	20	214	21
7. Ministox 2 (Experts)	539 Michael Outen	571	580	528	577	509	543	502	520	592	531	532
8. Lightning Rods 4	395 Gavin Murray	240	359	201	308	318	203	545	166	138	NOCR
9. Lightning Rods 5	195 Paul Hollands	376	339	233	237	218	245	1	239	161	170	74
10. Outlaws 3	8 Stu Hammond	479	20	42	12	719	68	22	277	304
11. Ministox 3 (Chase)	577 Daniel Rosenthal	72	528	571	587	584	572	592	284	540	521	515
12. Lightning Rods Consolation Final	389 David Burton	161	266	299	78	107	42	323	239	136
13. Lightning Rods English Championship	240 Lee Morrow	308	111	118	201	318	395	359	108	170
14. Outlaws Final	8 Stu Hammond	479	473	12	277	780	21	22	42	68
15. Ministox Final	540 Ricky Cooper	584	571	528	577	513	502	530	587	539

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