Arena Essex Raceway - Meeting 03/22 Sunday, July 13, 2003 Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 2003 Index > Meeting 03/22

Group A Hot Rods Jim Richards Memorial/Supreme Championship Qualifier Round 3 All Sierra Bangers 1300 Stock Cars

Group A Hot Rods

A full pit of Group A Hot Rods turned out for the last of the three qualifying rounds for the Supreme Championships at Arena Essex on July 13, a meeting that doubles as the Jim Richards Memorial. In tribute, the Richards Corsa was dusted off and given a run in the meeting by son Ryan, though both car and driver had their problems during what was a hotly contested meeting. The day got off to a shaky start, in fact, when the first race was stopped first time around because Jason Villa had stalled on the start. In a clutch start, such a fault can be dangerous but nobody made contact this time, though the Richards Corsa never made the restart. The Billy Groom Escort looked impressive as it slid around John Yeomans' more pedestrian hatchback, though the old Ford faded back into the field as the race went on, going backwards but looking good while doing it! The furious pace of the cars made a lot of trouble for the star grades who seemed to have been caught napping at the start and were now desperately trying to catch up. Yeomans managed to grab the inside line on Groom on the Tavern turn to grab the lead back with Dennis Howes and Mark Cook making efforts too. Ian Heffernan was moving up quickly, though he got a little too close to Simon Simmons and got a warning that would eventually cost him at the line, a two place contact penalty denying him the first win of the day.

Twenty laps was a bit too much in the heat of the day for some with a number of front runners including Howes, Simmons and Ian Jardine retiring after half way while Heffernan contested the lead with Yeomans, finally getting the better of him to get across the line first before the penalty was awarded, leaving the win in the hands of Yeomans, his first ever! Doug Constable made good progress for second, losing out on the win by a car length, but possibly the biggest gain was by fourth place Dave Lamb, his best place on another day of mixed fortunes for him.

The car might be different, but the result was the same in the second heat as Gary Finch stormed back to his best almost as if he had never been away. However the white and yellow grades, led initially by Adrian Genery, didn't make it easy for Finch and the other star graders, the hot, dry track allowing good lap times though the reds managed to get up quicker in this race. Faster speeds also mean bigger risks and that means crashes, Lee Hall tasting armco after a showdown with Ray Layton on turn two having left the inside door open. Genery would eventually be caught by James Hitchen, though the end of the race was slowed after Trevor Gillman blew his engine, the resulting oil slick giving more than one driver handling problems. With a collision in the bends, Hitchen took the lead briefly while Genery slipped down the order in the oil, salvaging sixth place while Finch took Hitchen with three laps to go for a win as the red tops bundled through, Terry Bearman, Gary Rouse and Ricky McCatty picking up the places behind Hitchen.

It was at this point that Mick Collins suddenly found himself elevated to the eighth spot in the first heat result following the disqualification of Andy Beverton who had finished sixth.

The first heat and its relative lack of high grade qualifiers meant that the line up for the consolation had a lot of talent in it though again it was the fast pace of the front runners that led to some of the high graders sitting out of the final. The early pace was set by Alfie Newins, though he would eventually emulate Genery, finishing up in pretty much the same place too as the white and yellow grades contested much of the remaining qualifying places. Newins would eventually give way to Howes, Martin Wickens coming to grief on the fence at about the same point. Jardine would not make the finish, and two Groom cars also graced the safety area; the Billy Groom special was probably suffering after all its efforts, Steve Gooch unable to get to the start. Howes disappeared into the distance while second place suddenly became the race to watch as Hall was pressured by Dave Brown and Richards had Simmons to deal with. Simmons found an inside line, Richards drifted and suddenly the flood gates were opened, notably Nichola Bearman. The car that got the worst of it, however, was Matt Haines who hit the wall, though Hall was also in trouble on the turn two fence which meant a waved yellow to allow a quick clear up. Of course this destroyed the lead Howes had built up and the green flag meant that he had to try to hold Brown off, Nicky B. and Steve Mills in close proximity also. The finish became a 50 yard dash as Howes and Brown came off the last corner but Brown didn't have the room on the inside, Howes taking the first of the last eight spots ahead of Brown, Bearman taking third after spinning across the line, Mills docked a spot to fourth for contact.

With Darren Clement no longer racing, a new name would be added to the Jim Richards Memorial for its third running, and all looked very promising as the cars took their places, a good line up of star graders and a healthy collection of other cars which would make for a great race. It didn't start off totally smoothly as Brown needed a push to get started, but with that done they got away cleanly. Cook and Layton headed toward the front squabbling all the way as Newins led the race away then faded away, Layton getting ahead but still under pressure with Cook looking outside. It took a while but Cook finally pulled past to take the lead, Hitchen in the frame too but with a cross already for contact, though this wasn't followed up after the race. Cook would eventually go back, leaving the race for the trophy to Hitchen, Heffernan and McCatty, though with the amount of close racing going on, something had to give, and more than one car would not see the end of the race. McCatty would eventually get the lead and shoot away, Hitchen being more interested in holding Heffernan back so when Heffernan finally got past and into second spot, it was far too late to catch up. That was how it finished.

The last race included plenty of star grades, but they had to really work hard to get through the field, the early leaders suffering on what was still a tricky surface in places, Ryan Richards pulling into the lead after Groom and Howe got tangled up. Haines was busy in a midfield fight with Ian Simpson and Chris Fuller and Jason Griffiths, while Heffernan was moving forward, then the inevitable happened as Hitchen and Constable got into trouble, Constable hitting the shale to avoid the spun Hitchen car. Constable would then run into trouble on turn one with Richards, both hitting the armco, Richards drifting wide as Constable tried to overtake into the bend. Heffernan was behind them at the time and read the move, easily passing the pair and grabbing the lead while Richards turned tail and shot down the home straight safety area the wrong way, doughnutting on the turn four shale! Heffernan would arrive home first ahead of Terry Bearman, Steve Rickard and Dave Lamb.

All Sierra Bangers
The first heat for the All Sierra Bangers at Arena Essex on July 13 resulted in a family affair as former Ministox racer Steve Laybourn managed to beat his dad Roy home. The younger Laybourn took the lead early on in what was a fairly quiet race, from the point of view of the crash fans, while the elder had a somewhat harder time pushing up from further back in the field. The race was very much spin and go, though there were a few crunches, Joe Warner suffering at one point, Wayne Holton also suffering what seemed to be a day of serious wrecking. Jason Jackson grabbed a win in heat two to start what would actually be a triple in a dusty race that saw the lead change hands quite a few times, sometimes more forcefully than others, for example early leader Alistair Cherington, ended the race embedded in the fence. Terry Peacock spent a dizzying time touring the corners, while Darren Nash and Paul Chapman blitzed each other head on into oblivion. They seemed to enjoy it, or at least that was how it looked! Meanwhile Gary Wilson was hoiked out of the way by Boxer Jack as he cruised home to his first victory of the day in a race that could be described as a little heavier than its predecessor. He was followed home by two team mates; Jimmy Randall and Matt Fuller, something that boded well for the team meeting in two weeks.

When I first heard that John Harding had just turned up, the initial thought was that battle was about to be rejoined. I quickly disregarded that, though. Truce in place with only a few signs here and there of dissension in the ranks, it seemed that this would probably be a quieter affair than we have been used to in previous weeks. It just shows how wrong I can be! Harding was not the only late arrival and, in all, the final was attended by no less than forty-five cars of which only nine would stagger home alive! The war might be on hold, but the drivers still want their share of the prizes and the glory and will do serious battle for it. the Tavern turn soon proved the truth of that as it started to fill up with scrap, Ricky Korpiela involved in no small way among others, taking a big shot on the snoot from heat winner Laybourn, Richard Gunther finally getting the race stopped by rolling amid traffic. It took some effort to get the cars to stop, and the amount of substances escaping from Gunthers' car as it was pulled clear made things interesting for the remaining cars that took part in the restart. Joe Warner and Darren Nash met on the home straight to start things off again, providing yet another obstacle for the remaining racers, Paul Dobson and Simon Smith also succumbing to Nash who seemed to be trying to win the hard way. Wayne Holton was suffering again, his car sandwiched between Cherington and Kelly Wilson with some effort also from Dobson while Warner took out Ian Smith in the scrapyard, not a hard thing to do given the oil. Wilson added to the deposits after blowing up, Kelly's car having put quite a bit of effort in. This was all before the half way flag, only about thirteen legitimate runners continuing, only nine finishing! Another win for Boxer Jack and a very large mess to clean up before the 1300 Stocks came out for their last race of the day.

Considering the carnage in the final, it is always surprising that anyone manages to struggle out for the last race, the Rawlins 2000 Qualifier and Destruction Derby, and though the field was smaller than the massive final on this day, miracles did happen in the pits and the race went ahead with a decent number of cars. As usual, the pit bend was clogged up early, Holton and Wilson providing some of the early obstructions. Len Brinkley added to the mess by putting Ian Smith in, though at this point there was still some racing going on including Jackson who took Rob Chiddle out of it, Boxer Jack on his way to a third victory with Sonny Sherwood in second, unable to repeat his DD success of the previous night when he won the American-style DD at Mildenhall. Harry Rawlins took third spot before the destruction began in earnest, Harding getting Jackson in the side before nutting Rawlins who had just disposed of John Morris, Roy Laybourn putting his front end in the back of Harding. Boxer Jack fell victim to a Laybourn double, Jimmy Randall wrestled with his steering to take on Ian Smith. Few cars were left, and what hits were going in were fairly feeble as all were pretty punch drunk by this time, Lee Hackett outlasting the rest of the eventual survivors for the last trophy of the day.

1300 Stock Cars Quite a good turnout for the 1300 Stock Cars in a non-title event at Arena Essex on July 13 with white top Barry Radcliffe making a heat and final double debut of it. The first race was pretty much decided before half way, though Colin Thorndyke put in the effort to catch Radcliffe while Paddy Palmer attempted the same with Thorndyke, but all ran out of time, Radcliffe cutting it close but just hanging on. The main event would be longer but would pretty much repeat the warm up heat, though with a new factor in the shape of Clark Wells who almost caught Radcliffe by the end but couldn't quite catch up and deal with the back markers at the same time. Radcliffe was started well back in the final race of the day, back in the red top area. This, combined with the state of the circuit after the Banger final certainly slowed him down, though his third place was still impressive as Wells did one better than his position in the final, Alec Mortimer getting his best finish of the day in second place, while Palmer was unable to dislodge Thorndyke from fourth spot despite some pretty determined shoves.

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: 466 Lee Hackett

©2003 Chris Johnson/Crashnet