Arena Essex Raceway - Meeting 03/06 Sunday, April 13, 2003 Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 2003 Index > Meeting 03/06

Plastengrave Non-Ford Bangers incl. Ladies Banger Championship Round 1 BriSCA F2 Stock Cars World Championship Qualifier

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars
There was something of an air of anticipation from the Stock Car fans at Arena Essex as a number of top class drivers, some of them rare visitors to the Purfleet oval, turned up for the World Qualifier on April 13. Certainly Chris Burgoyne, fresh from a hasty trip down from Cowdenbeath where he had raced the previous evening, was an unusual addition to regulars such as current track champion Mick Sworder, former track champion Barry Goldin and occasional visitor Bill Batten, though these three would go to make up a thrilling day of it for the F2's where Burgoyne failed, notching up an eleventh in his heat, nowhere in the consolation and a no show for the rest of the meeting.

The first race for the open wheelers featured a showdown between the two most recent Arena Essex champions. Sworder holds the current title but had been outwitted by Goldin on more than one occasion, and while the race finally went to Chris Lindsay, the battle between Goldin and Sworder lasted right up to the wire and almost engulfed Lindsay, Sworder taking second place over Goldin and possibly may have won had the race been a couple of laps longer. The various Chalkleys have always done well in Essex, and Ian Chalkley took another win away for the sixty-nine crew in the second heat, a couple of cars lengths ahead of a forceful drive by Batten and home boy Chris Roots. both races featured one shot into the fence; David Polley going into Stuart Rolfe in the first heat, Peter Hobbs and Stuart Chalkley in the second, David Whitbread and Richard Hart in the consolation, though in all cases there were no injuries except maybe the cars. Rolfe was consolation winner, holding out easily over a good run by Phil Druitt with Mark Brayne in third, the top grades getting through to the front fairly quickly despite the oil.

The World Champion may have been missing from the final, having failed to qualify, but that made no real difference to the race which was pretty awesome. Thirty cars came up to race, the current World Champion not among them, but many of the fancied red tops were, though some were betting on the current and former track champions. Perhaps this was a safe bet, and certainly it seemed that way to start with, but Batten had a better starting position, good experience, a fast car and a good past record on this circuit. The track had just been cleared after a mammoth battle for the Bangers, and the oil was to be expected, but this didn't seem to affect anyone that much as the race began, though a few unwary drivers at the front suffered in the first couple of laps. Adrian Morris was the first clear leader, though he was quickly challenged by Chris Cuming, while a number of higher grades including Roots were making headway further back. Justin Fisher tested the wall by the pit gate while Roots, Batten and Neil Hooper started to come forward and Druitt and early pace man Morris came together around the pit gate, just short of the Fisher car. Batten took his time passing heat winner Lindsay, but eventually went through, chasing for the lead with Roots also in pursuit. By half way, Cuming was leading from Ian Chalkley and Stuart Rolfe, Batten still fourth. Sworder was busy using his front end, taking out Hobbs by this time, Goldin also knocking Hobbs out of the way, while Cuming was being passed by Rolfe who was bidding to make it a consolation/final double. With the race running down, Batten used the bumper to clear his way through Chalkley and Rolfe then jetted away to victory, eating back markers three laps out. Behind him Sworder had made one hit too many, clouting Cuming on the last corner and putting both out of the result. Rolfe kept second from Chalkley with Roots and Lindsay behind them.

The last time that the BriSCA F2 formula had the Grand National finals run at Arena Essex, Bill Batten strolled away with the title, getting one up on Rob Speak at the same time. Speak may have gone on for bigger things now, but Batten still impresses and cannot be ruled out for a repeat performance later in the year, certainly not when he turns in performances such as this. However, the qualifier for the event saw the West Country wizard coming home in eighth place from the customary one lap handicap, while Goldin turned up the heat a notch and left Sworder in his dust, Goldin taking the win inside the last lap as a flurry of cars crossed the line at once.

More Open Wheel action from Arena Essex when the BriSCA F1 Stock Cars visit on April 27, and the F2's return on May 11.

Ladies Bangers
I can remember a time when Ladies Bangers meant gentle rushes into the turn one corner fence while seasoned drivers such as Jackie Ballard took all the glory. Those days are long gone now, and the first qualifier for the Ladies Banger Championship at Arena Essex on April 13 was pretty brutal compared with those halcyon times. It all started with Mandy Cheeseman spinning Sarah Clarke on turn two, one of a number of Cheeseman spins through the race, though the best spins seem to come from Sue Davies, who would eventually win the race. A fair few wrecks littered the circuit by the end including a front end killing for Maria Ilett. Sue Davies it was that took the race ahead of Gemma Willett and Carolyn Stott.

The second round of the Ladies Banger Championship takes place on Bank Holiday Monday, May 5.

Plastengrave Bangers
The turnout for the second Plastengrave Banger meeting of the year, April 13 at Arena Essex, far surpassed the first, with drivers old and new turning up to try their luck, though Martin Scully was no doubt hoping that any luck would be reserved for the Anglia van he had brought back to Arena Essex after failing to even start a race at the Small Van meeting the previous week. It certainly did not disappoint as the orange Anglia gave out and took some of the best hits of the day, though the biggest winner of the day had to be Paul Dobson with a heat and final double.

The first heat started with a hiccup, Jason Randall stalling the start but, with that sorted out and some of the other racers that were caught napping by the flag colour limping off, Dean Ellis led the grid into the start. Danny Oliver took up the early running past Ellis and stayed there for the rest of the race, while Mark Newman took on Neil Batchelor and Phil Rumsey. Matt Fuller was also having fun with a hit on the ailing Randall before pinning one on Wayne Holton who ended up also catching Randall on turn four. It was after that when Scully put the hurt on Paul Chapman, making a mess of the Anglia van in the process but not beyond recall, as we shall see. Chapman backed up to compound the damage to Scully's van, but with the room restricted and both vehicles somewhat weakened by the initial exchange, this wasn't much. Chapman would eventually go for a full straight hit the wrong way, taking the whole home straight to build up the momentum to rear end John Poulton, though whether that was his desired target was open to some debate, especially as the whole mess ended up on the nose of the Scullyvan. As has been the custom of late for attacking from the centre or wrong way driving, Chapman would spend the rest of the meeting contemplating what penalty he would get while loading the remains of his car. As for the race, Oliver was confirmed as winner ahead of Sonny Sherwood and Mark Newman, both past masters of the Plastengrave formula.

After a little confusion at the start of the second heat with a few cars emerging that should have waited for heat three, the first big smash had to be Derek Killick who was crunched against the fence on the home straight in traffic, most of the rest of the cars running more or less in the right direction. The time was right for a rollover, but the two pointer on the back straight was possibly the high spot of a fairly quiet spell. This wouldn't last long as, amongst the myriad spins, Jimmy Randall turned the wrong way, aimed for John Harding and missed, pinning one on Alistair Cherrington instead. Harding turned and jacked Randall hard as the hostilities between Cream and Runner teams exploded once more, Harry Rawlins being the next involved in a repeat of a head on collision that he had with Harding a few weeks ago, though without the flames this time. Cherrington seemed to be learning dubious habits from all this and hit Ricky Korpiela the wrong way after this, though by this time most of the cars trying to put hits in were missing their targets one way or another, Simon Warner staying clear of much of it to win the race ahead of Gary Brown and Andy Crawford as only eleven cars finished.

Two things marked the start of the third heat. The first was that the eventual winner of the race, Paul Dobson, got a very good start. The second, a clogging of the Tavern corner right at the start as battle commenced again between the warring factions. Dan Reid turned and waited for anything in blue. Dobson may have won the race, but he certainly didn't rod it, giving a jacking to Paul Jones amongst other things. Greig Cheeseman was finally caught by Billy King, and turn four started to get very tight as cars were abandoned following the major pile up at the start. The one gap left was filled by Anthony Oak; the mischievous Oak turned and pegged the last gap by stopping Kevin Elmore as he tried to squeeze through, though the holdup was only temporary as the rest of the field went speedway while Oak stuck it to Stephen Hale who then got sandwiched by Ian Greatrex. Oak's mischief didn't stop there as again he stopped the gap, this time by holding up Roger Trickett. It took some time to clear the wreckage, and the oil certainly made the Stock Car race that followed a little tricky, but Dobson took the win ahead of King and Frankie Skinner.

Scully's van returned for the consolation having been straightened somewhat, and seemed to be running a little better than it had in the first heat, though this would be its last outing. The race would also possibly be the first time that a void position was given in the race result, Paul Hawkes receiving a penalty that effectively put him behind two nonexistent cars, though with only six cars surviving the mayhem that isn't too unusual in a Banger consolation, it was difficult to see how the last finishing car could be penalised otherwise! Darren Caple would emerge from a multiple car hit which included the Scullyvan, but would not survive as both ends of the circuit jammed up with wreckage. In fact there were only six cars running two laps from home, the race being stopped quickly after that as there was more than one car that the officials were worried about, or at least their drivers. It was at this point that Hawkes was given his penalty for jumping the start, the race going to Roy Laybourn. A big change following his exploits the previous week in a top heavy Bedford!

There was no Mushy in the final, which meant that at least this week there would be someone different walking away with the trophy for the meeting final. Apart from a few mistakes at the start, things were fairly clean to start with, mostly spins alone as it seemed that everyone was going for a clean win, though many of the worst offenders were either watching from the sidelines or had too many car problems to make much of a nuisance of themselves. Mark Newman and John Poulton were having fun on the back straight; they were doing it where they shouldn't have to start with, but soon took to the tarmac to finish their game of tag, though Newman ended up a little outnumbered when he was ambushed by Charlie Shanahan, who had given up already on trying to do anything meaningful with his poorly handling wreck and went for the glorious destruction route. Dobson was already making headway by this time with no close competition. With a few more wrecks including Lee Caunter who was banana'd by Clive Killick, that was pretty much it, though Dobson had to work to take the win from Hawkes by sending him wide on the last bend with a carefully timed shunt.

Thirty-seven cars made it trackside for the final race of the day, the Rawlins 2000 qualifier, and when the numbers are high, so too are the crashes. More than one car that had turned up, including both Harding and Shanahan varieties, were pretty much good for one last hit, so it wasn't too surprising to see more than a few pile ups right at the start. Batchelor started things off by disposing of Daren Jacobs and Richard Gunther in a monster hit while Crawford took out Bill Wenham on the wall. Mark Teller busied himself with Rob Firmager's wellbeing before Harding was finally finished by a double team move by Jimmy Randall and Harry Rawlins, Jason Jackson finishing the move from the opposite end. Poulton and Lee Woodards met head on by the pits as the carnage continued, turn four getting blocked again. The race went to Simon Smith, Frankie Skinner and Billy King grabbing the other points while Roger Trickett outlasted the remaining cars for his place in the big money final in October.

More Plastengrave Banger action on Bank Holiday Monday, May 5, with Ladies Bangers and 1300 Stock Cars.

Where shown below, "NOCR" indicates "No Other Car Running". All results are subject to confirmation by the steward and promoter of the meeting.

Last car: 145 Roger Trickett

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