Arena Essex Raceway - Meeting 03/31 Sunday, September 7, 2003 Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 2003 Index > Meeting 03/31

Ladies Banger Championship Final Group A Hot Rods Supreme Championship Final Plastengrave Bangers

Ladies Banger Championship Final
The end of the season for the Ladies in their Bangers at Arena Essex came on September 7. The four qualifiers produced a total of twenty-six finalists with Sarah Clark and Stacey Smith leading the grid around into the start, Nina Crouchman at the back in her role as defending champion. Smith was well ahead at the start, maybe a little too far, though it didn't matter in the end. Crouchman also started well but would soon succumb to a flat tyre which dropped her progressively further behind the lead cars and made cornering rather tricky to boot! Mandy Cheeseman was one of the first casualties, getting spun out by Ashley Clift then returning to the circuit to choke everyone with smoke from her dying car. Clift moved well through the field, though some were certainly getting slaughtered on the pit bend after Ilana Rawlins got into trouble by the gate. Sharon Worthington came out worst off in that situation, the other cars recovering, leaving the stricken behind. That wasn't the end of the crashing either as, amongst other spins and hits, Crouchman gave Sue Davies a seeing to by the QE2 bridge, then Davies turned on the unmanned - or unwomanned? - Sharon Lee wagon. Maria Ilett also got into the action, also having at the Davies car before Alison Wright finally met up with Sue Davies making a pink pair on the inside of the bridge turn. With two laps to go, however, the race leader, Annette Polley, dumped her sump and blew up, leaving Ashley Clift, at that point getting rather busy with the hind end of Tina Roberts' car, in the lead, which was pretty much how it finished, Gladiator regular Kelly Wilson grabbing second from double heat winner Tracey Worthington, Wilson unable to equal the last lap dash of the eventual winner.

Group A Hot Rods
The first of this years' PRI Supreme Championship finals was on September 7 when the Group A Hot Rods assembled at Arena Essex for one of their biggest meetings of their season. The 2003 running of the event was slightly different to previous years, however, as there were no last chance races, but the good turnout of cars for this formula meant that the race as it stood was well represented, with Ricky McCatty on pole after some good finishes earlier in the season. It was ominous, however, to see Gary Finch starting outside him, and somewhat of a reflection of the whole race to see him hit the first corner from a rolling start in front to dash away from the field, eventually lapping up to fifth as he took the title. Indeed his lead was over half a lap from second place, which is where much of the action was taking place as Dave Lamb, Steve Mills, Gary Rouse and Ian Heffernan were duking it out right through the race along with McCatty and Steve Gooch who had started back on the third row, though these last two would not go the distance. Lamb had managed to get past Mills to third spot when McCatty pulled off while Rouse had pulled away from Heffernan after the start, only for them to close up again as they both got stuck behind Mills as the race progressed once Mills and Rouse had passed Gooch who would drop out of the race along with James Hitchen who was disqualified following contact with Terry Bearman. Further down the race, Jason Griffiths had a chore to hold off the Millennium 50 champ, Chris Smith, but managed to keep sixth, Jason Villa and Matt Leadbetter grabbing eighth and ninth while Steve Rickard survived for tenth after an eventful race that even saw him in the air at one point!

The A's also had a couple of support races and a helter-skelter, all point scoring races towards the Yokohama Tyres Drivers' Championship, the first of which was won by Supreme Runner-up Dave Lamb in a race that was interrupted at one point when Gary Rouse, Steve Rickard and Dave Hutchins collided at the back of the circuit. Lamb came through from downfield to eventually pass Dave Brown, who had led most of the way and would eventually lose out on second spot to Chris Goldsmith. This race would become a further talking point after Steve Mills was docked out of the result for contact only to rise again after Ian Heffernan was disqualified for speeding in the pits. Goldsmith would go one better in the second support race, winning it by outrunning Lee Ayton who held him up somewhat, allowing Lee Hall some breathing space but, eventually, not enough. It took Goldsmith quite some time to grab the lead as Hall stuck to the inside line but the effort paid off eventually, Andy Beverton and James Hitchen also passing Ayton by the end. The last race was a helter-skelter which featured a healthy competition between Brown and Hall and a not so healthy competition between Dennis Howes and Nichola Bearman which caused a late race stoppage as Howes ate armco and Bearman needed to be fished from her distressed car over on turn two. Brown almost grabbed the lead at one point but overcooked the corner to drop back again, the order restart giving him further problems as Beverton managed to grab second.

Plastengrave Non-Ford Bangers
It was good to see a good number of visitors in for the sixth round of the Plastengrave Non-Ford (except for the smaller front wheel drive ones) Banger series at Arena Essex on September 7, including South African visitor Erwee Wolf who did manage a place in the final but would eventually be squished. One visitor who did manage to stay the distance unsquished was Spedeworth driver Rob Farringdon who won convincingly in the first heat of the day ahead of Jason Randall and current series leader Paul Dobson. Barely three quarters of the first lap had been completed by Andrew Parker in one of Andrew Davies' cast offs before he was fenced. It happens! Indeed it does, and some of it also happened to Paul Hollingsworth who provided us with the first of a number of rollovers of the day, which was nothing compared to the full on fencing of Lee Caunter by Richard Harding on the home straight! Not that Hollingsworth was let off for his roll, being bounced around the circuit by various other drivers including a shunt into the dead Caunter wreck by the eventual winner, though Farringdon was certainly doing it the hard way.

The second race was a little lighter, though not for want of trying. Certainly that was true of Colin Burnham who tried to hit Wolf at the start but missed, sampling the delights of the armco with a Richard Gunther enema. The talking point of this race, however, had to be the action of the current RJK Drivers' Championship points leader, Sonny Sherwood, and a seemingly ongoing battle between him and Ian Smith. It escalated in this race as Smith was disabled on turn four only to be destroyed by Mushy wrong way down the home straight from the safety area, something which would earn Sherwood a loading. Garry Deacon also played with what was left of Smith's car, but there wasn't much left to play with. Another rare win for John Harding in this one ahead of Harry Rawlins and Mark Bursta.

Stephen Lee grabbed a flag to flag victory in the consolation, though much of the good stuff seemed to go unnoticed on the bridge end as Buzz Kelsey met up with Danny Oliver and Lee Caunter. Kelsey spent most of the race in the company of Gladiator aggression, though that was not the only contact in progress, Thomas Lyons setting about Amanda Harris before Brad Theaker put a shunt in to finish the lady rat.

One note the commentary had about Farringdon was that visitor doubles are extremely rare and, though he put up a good show, this proved to be the case again today as he could only manage fifth out of the six cars that managed the distance in the final, though somehow I doubt that Hollingsworth would see it that way considering how many times he was picked up and spun by the Spedeworth visitor! The early lead fell to Bursta while the early spins were courtesy of Roy Laybourn in traffic by the pit gate. Mark Ruskin left his mark on consolation winner Lee, while the leader came under the scrutiny of Jason Randall. Laybourn would eventually meet up head on with Simon Warner, and big smash that would leave both cars for dead. Perhaps Farringdon had tried his spin to win trick too often, but certainly he got it wrong on Luke Radley who simply put the brakes on, slowing both down to a crawl. With four laps to go, it was a straight race between Rawlins and Dobson, the lead changing hands a number of times before the line, Rawlins taking the win but the second place points doing Dobson's chances of winning this series no harm at all.

As with the Group A race immediately before it, the Rawlins 2000 Qualifier was halted at one point following a big collision on turn three between Warner and Burnham. Ian Smith also provided something of interest; he managed to get his wreck onto the circuit in time for one last wreck which he managed before the stoppage, though he had a hard time finding a way out of what had once been a Mk. III Escort but now was so crushed that even the drivers' seat was in danger of disappearing! Mark Woolner led the cars back into the race but not for long considering the number of problems his car had. Danny Marston received a t-bone from Stephen Hale, while Waz Barber took Radley head on, followed up by a similar hit by Hale. However whatever might be said of the crashes in the race, once the chequered flag was down and the destruction bit began, the wrecking really got going with multiple hits out of turn four. Grieg Cheeseman had finally got a win out of his smoking ruin, but it didn't make it to the end of the meeting. But then neither did John Harding who grabbed a head on shot from Dobson after Farringdon filled his quota by spinning the Cream member. Rawlins went double with Ricky Korpiela on Kelsey, though if that was meant to happen isn't known, while Jason Jackson gave Cheeseman a reason to finish, Rawlins and Ratty eventually playing on the back straight. Craig Polley had also been there but had missed a lot of attempts before one last shot on Rawlins went wrong, leaving him open to a last attack by Paul Hunter, the last car award going to Jackson.

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: 331 Jason Jackson

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©2003 Chris Johnson/Crashnet