Arena Essex Raceway - Meeting 03/33 Sunday, September 21, 2003 Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 2003 Index > Meeting 03/33

National Bangers The 33rd ORC/PRI National Banger World Championship 1300 Stock Cars Supreme Championship Final

National Bangers
Andrew Davies, winner of the 2001 PRI/ORC World Championship, repeated the effort in one of the most controversial World Banger Finals in recent years. The final, which took place at Arena Essex on September 21, came down to a crunch finish between Davies and Jason Jackson, not to mention some unscheduled events on the centre green that would see current RJK Drivers' Championship points leader, Sonny Sherwood, loaded up for the day.

The meeting started with two last chance races, the first being won by 2000 World Champion Richie Ahern in one of the smallest cars of the meeting, a Mk. V Cortina. Spedeworth's Simon Byrne managed to get the drop on John Harding from the front of the race while Ian Redden was put to the wall by Phil Stevens and Rob Chiddle went for a spin. A pile up started taking form on the bridge end bend, including John Randall and Joe Warner who were stuck nose to nose in the middle of it all, the crashes sending a pool of oil onto the turn which made for trouble for the oncoming traffic. As the first and second turns began to clear, so turn four by the Tavern start to get busy including another piece of nose play for Randall, this time with Jon Worstencroft, down for the day from Buxton. Randall and Harding joined a few other drivers after that, turning on turn four to face whatever came, Ian Horton jumping into the air off the kerb in his effort to keep going. By this time Ahern had managed to get to the front, though he was not clear as Tommy Harrell joined in the wrecking by the pits, attempting to take out the former champion. Dave Palmer did for John Golden, maybe another team inspired shot, but certainly damaging for the long time NIR star. The few remaining cars, led by Ahern, struggled across the line, and though Randall would get a smart car award, his car was nowhere near as smart by the end as it was at the start!

The second last chance race also featured an ex-World Champion, this time 1998 ace John Harris, but it would not be a repeat of te first heat in this respect as Harris would fail to finish in the qualifying place, that honour going to Richard Blake. Indeed Harris even had pole position at te start of the race but would lose the hole shot to Mark Griffin, though Griffin would soon have other things to think about as RDC's John Millen decided to make designs on his rear end, Lee Madden also joining in. Again the bridge end of the circuit started to fill up, Harris getting a spanking amongst others with a number of other cars retiring hurt. Madden almost decided to go on oppo but was persuaded not to by the centre marshal, which was as well considering that he would eventually get a finishing position, though not before he came together with Anthony Oak, and certainly not before the turn two blockage that had been threatening to happen for some laps. Blake won, but the attention was on the wreckage that was a foretaste of the World Final to follow. Oh yes, and Incarace's Warren Burnham took the smart car award for that race.

The 2003 running of the World Final at Arena Essex was the 33rd time that the title had been contested since Kev McAuley took the title back in 1971 at Harringay. In that time many of the greatest drivers have taken the title, some more than once, though few have ever managed that achievement and certainly no non-PRI driver ever had. Indeed only one driver had successfully defended the title, so Brett Ellacott had a very tough job ahead of him as he lined up at the back of the grid with the last chancers, the rest of the grid drawn with local driver Chris Trickett sharing the front row with Brian Mullin, representing Tipperary Raceway in Ireland.

Jim O'Brien was the first spinner this time in what would soon become a pretty devastating battle around the circuit, each corner becoming clogged with bent metal. Wayne Cotterill of Trackstar took over the front from Trickett as things started to get slippery with juices pouring from dead cars. Simon Smith would come under attack, as would Graham Heywood, while the front end continued to be contested by PRI and TSR. Ian Smith would be collected by Jack Overy while Harry Rawlins oppressed Annette Nichols on the back straight before Overy turned and lived up to his nickname with a shot on Ian Smith followed by a hit on the retiring Sonny Sherwood. Overy hadn't finished yet as he went in again, this time putting the shot in on Shane Davies, pinning him to Heywood by the Tavern. Simon Smith met up with RDC everything-champ Dave Vincent head on, while Overy now had to contend with Billy King and Phil Woskett. The younger Davies also had a shot left, ramming Sherwood into Ahern, naturally Sherwood then turned on Shane before trying to grab some of Jason Jackson, though a bounce off the fence was all that achieved. By this time the race had effectively changed hands, Andrew Davies contesting the front with Jackson while Ellacott was conspicuous by his doughnuts, the defending champion from Autospeed having trouble keeping control around the slick surface of the pit bend. This was the setup for a thrilling end to the race; all that was needed was a last lap standoff. This was accidentally provided by Jackson's team mate, Paul Whiteman, who missed his target as he shot across to try to hit two-time Firecracker winner Chris Reed and hit Boxer Jack instead! This closed the gap between Jackson and Davies, leading up to the last lap with Jackson leading, Davies second and Reed perched neatly between them on a previous lap. Coming into the pit bend, Davies shoved Reed toward the fence, Reed picking up Jackson in the process and the whole lot piled into the pit bend scrap pile, Davies recovering first to shoot across the line for his second gold roof of his career. Boxer struggled clear of the wreckage to claim second while Paul Dobson, unnoticed during much of the race, stormed home for third. Davey Cox took fourth with Reed fifth and Spedeworth's David Wilde the only other finisher.

However, it was during these final moments that the incident between Sherwood and the Smiths took place. During the last few laps, Sherwood had been swapping shots with Simon Smith, both cars eventually failing and both drivers abandoning them. Whatever caused it to occur, the events that followed led to Sherwood being loaded with penalties to follow as the Clerk of the Course, Henry Ashworth, and the PRI Race Manager, Russell Williams, had to intervene between Sherwood and the Smith brothers including one that had sprinted across the track to get to the incident while the race was in progress. During the meetings leading up to the World Final, Sherwood and the two Colchester based Smiths had been swapping a lot of hits, big and small, including a big wrecking for Ian from Sherwood at the last Plastengrave Non-Ford meeting, but this was the first public indication that this rivalry was not friendly. It certainly provided plenty for the spectators to talk about as they left the circuit, not to mention quite a bit of emotion trackside immediately after the race before Sherwood's disqualification was announced.

Ian Redden would take the consolation race ahead of Gary Tannahill and Billy Lee in a race that was, for once, a little quieter than the main events, though Dean Conyard might certainly disagree with that, his stretch Granada getting pummelled almost from the start. It was indeed rather odd to see Ricky Korpiela leading the race early considering that the Messer regular is more often seen trying to wreck himself into oblivion, taking as many with him as possible! Of course, it didn't last. Glen Buxton also might feel that the race was hard enough as he was firmly rammed by Simon Byrne while Warner and Harding did it head on inside, both on the pit bend. Warner also grabbed a snootful of Danny Reid who had failed in his attempt in his heat when his prop fell off early on. Phil Stevens might also argue the toss after Dean Goodearl picked him up on the back straight and slung him into the pit bend mess full on, further compacting the Buxton car and sending debris high into the air.

There was no place to hide in the Grand National for the bangers with only three cars finishing from the monster selection that came out, the race win being a repeat in all but result of the World Final as this time Boxer Jack held out over the new champion, Mike Kilford from Ringwood getting the only other place after a gutsy performance. Gary Staples started things off with a shot on the nose for Warren Burnham at the exit to the Tavern corner, while Annette Nichols was severely bent out of shape along with Dave Lightbody and Gary Tannahill on the home straight. Shane Brown might not have finished the final this year but he still managed to make a mark as he attacked John Harris through a sleeper on turn three, sacrificing both cars. Staples was obviously out for some recognition as well as he jacked Wilde under the QE2 bridge. Danny Brown, meanwhile, went photographer chasing on the centre green, while Ellacott tried his luck with Jason McMahon. An initial go was not enough and when Mark Simmons finally got a bit of power down to pin McMahon, Ellacott finished it off from behind. Ellacott then got sandwiched in while the race scraped through. John Randall t-boned Martin Dalton, but with five laps to go there was little left to hit, only Jackson and Davies doing laps while Kilford and Randall did their best to hold things up, Randall conking out before the end of the race.

This just left the Rawlins Qualifier, Martin Dalton winning that before Mark Ruskin managed to keep going for the last car award. The whole event was short lived with most of the metal hitting the circuit being somewhat worse for the battering it had received during the day, Shane Davies and John Golden seemingly perpetuating the Black/Condom struggle, Richard Regan become roadspace for Andrew Davies before Harry Rawlins hit Regan head on, Rawlins shunted by Oak before he got shunted, Horton also getting into the action. Everyone just piled in on each other, then the chequered flag went out and they did it all again, Nicky Wenhold giving Lightbody something on the conk to remember, Matt Allman getting something similar from Ruskin before Ruskin took on Dalton. into this then came Golden who had been dead on the track for some time but suddenly sprang into life for a last hit, bashing both Dalton and Ruskin. With Dalton dead, Golden disqualified and the only other car with power, Korpiela, unable to move on the centre, Ruskin got the last trophy of the day.

1300 Stock Cars
Last year's 1300 Stock Car Supreme Championship at Arena Essex was a warning. Last year the trophy changed hands when the winner broke the rules. This year car illegality again reared its ugly head, though not for the winner, Spike Ellis, who is normally overshadowed by the likes of Delbert Mortimer, Andrew Palmer, even Derry Monk when he still raced at Arena Essex. This year he had the chance to grab a bit of glory of his own in the September 21 Supreme Final, partly because of his skill, partly because one of the favourites for this race went slightly ga-ga! Exactly what Paddy Palmer was thinking is something of a mystery but as the race went on and he, along with Paul Griffiths, continued to pound Colin Thorndyke into the armco, regardless of the race position and any flags being waved, it was left to Spike, along with Delbert and the rest of the cars to try and make sense of the race.

A quick start allowed Thorndyke to grab the lead from the outside front row from Palmer, pulling away before a spin on Darren Berry slowed his pace and allowed Palmer to catch up a little. A hook up on Michael Riley by both Thorndyke and Palmer then reversed the position, but then Thorndyke put the pressure on Palmer, spinning him out. Palmer collected Barry Radcliffe and Michael Coventry, the latter car stalling across the start/finish line leading to a waved yellow though Radcliffe recovered. Ellis had effectively sneaked past all this, wisely staying clear of what would prove to be some heavy, almost banger style wrecking that would follow the restart. By that restart, Palmer had already received a black flag for his conduct under a waved yellow, but he carried on regardless through successive black flags, starting with a bit of a skirmish with Darren Pratt, then an all out attack on Thorndyke. A big attack on the back straight brought Thorndyke and Palmer together with Griffiths, Griffiths then continuing around to the home straight with another attack. Meanwhile Ellis was well ahead, Delbert trying to catch up but without the time to do it, even once the wrecking session had finished and the three had retired to the centre. Radcliffe was third across the line but, as last year, there had to be one driver that failed scrutineering, and an illegally lowered car plus a seriously illegal carburettor meant that Radcliffe had to give his trophy over to Pratt.

The 1300's only had two other races that day which were comparatively quiet, with Derek Mortimer winning the interestingly named "Revenge Race" ahead of Ellis, Pratt holding third narrowly over Alec Mortimer, then Pratt got another trophy by winning the helter-skelter ahead of Delbert, Pratt having to work a little to pass Berry.

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: 32 Mark Ruskin

Crashnet  Photos

Click on photo to see full size

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

©2003 Chris Johnson/Crashnet