Arena Essex Raceway - Meeting 04/23 Sunday, July 25, 2004 Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 2004 Index > Meeting 04/23

PRI Banger Team Championship Final Eliminator Group A Hot Rods Supreme Championship Qualifying Round 3 SuperBangers

PRI Banger Team Championship
With the previous evening's Banger racing at Mildenhall partially marked by rivalry between PRI teams The Condoms and the Midnight Runners, the PRI Banger Team Final Eliminator on July 25 at Arena Essex was expected to be something pretty special. The teams didn't disappoint, providing the best round of the year so far, though the result wasn't the one that many thought it might have been, with the Gladiators romping away with the first heat and the consolation before consolidating their win in the final, whilst Team No Mush crept surruptiously into the final then cleaned up to grab the runner-up place. Certainly the irony of the result wasn't lost on some of the audience!

The first heat saw a continuation of the previous evenings' battle, Harry Rawlins and Shane Davies being the first real antagonists as they met up whilst Phil Stevens, driving Condom this year after many seasons with the Cream Team, was crushed by successive attacks. The race, however, was eventually won by Dave Canham of the Gladiators, though there was a little confusion about the result at first. He finished ahead of Steve Ward, also of the Gladiators, and with an eighth place finish for Danny Oliver, the Colchester based team took a firm lead. They would, however, fail to score in the second heat, which was dominated by past title holders, the Cream Team, as Dan Reid, John Harding and John Harris took three of the first five places, Team No Mush taking the other two as Rob Farrington and Gary Brown notched up their teams' first points of the day. The pink and blue battle also continued, Dave Vincent getting the first shot in as he jacked Jason Jackson, though the Condoms were unable to stop Jimmy Randall from qualifying in seventh. The big battle did result, however, in a rather star studded consolation race, and you knew from the start that something would happen. It did. Shane Davies started it off with a full bore hit on Richie Ahern, Boxer following Davies in, the start of a wrecking session on the pit bend. Davey Cox also had his share of the carnage, though between him and Matt Fuller, the remaining Condoms were cleared up, shutting the defending champions out of the points, whilst Paul Whiteman got the best place of the day for the Runners. The race itself, shortened through stoppage out of concern for Paul Hunter who had been badly wrecked at the bottom of the home straight, went to Howard Martin for the Gladiators, team mate Simon Smith coming through in fourth, a reasonable consolation for the tenth spot he almost had in the first heat, whilst Phil Cullen contributed vital points for Team No Mush in second.

By the start of the final, however, it was the Cream Team that was in front, though only by three points from the Gladiators, both teams well ahead of the rest of the field and with no qualifiers from the defending champions. Rob Farrington has been a consistant driver all through the season's qualifying rounds, getting a win or at least a significant number of points on most of his outings, something that has served his team well. However he had yet to win a final, getting close on more than one occasion but never quite making it. He chose a good day to break that duck. It all came down to some handling problems for Steve Ward who controlled most of the race but blew a tyre. He managed to battle on to the end, grabbing third spot for the Gladiators and confirming them as the first team into the head to head final, but Farrington had steadily caught up and taken him, grabbing the maximum points and the final trophy, his win and a sixth place for Gary Brown giving them enough points to join the Gladiators whilst the Cream Team self-destructed, only Charlie Shanahan getting any points.

The result was that the Gladiators won the event with 66 points, and Team No Mush were runner-up with 52 points. They now face each other in the PRI Banger Team Head to Head Final on October 17, whilst the other teams along with the teams that did not qualify for the Eliminator will meet on the same day for the Third Place Playoffs.

The Rawlins 2000 Qualifier and Destruction Derby at the end was the perfect end to an eventful days' banger racing, though the Condoms remaining at the end of the day were heavily outnumbered by the Runners and were quickly out of it, though some of the old rivalries came to the fore whilst Charlie Shanahan was seemingly on a mission to win the whole event the old fashioned way. The race was won by team mate Mark Want, then Ian Greatrex survived the destruction as last car running.

Group A Hot Rods
Keith Perren seemed eager to show that his win at the Jim Richards Memorial earlier in the month was no fluke, taking advantage of an early mistake by Nicky Parris to win the first race of the July 25 Group A Hot Rod Supreme Qualifier, with Steve Gooch getting third spot behind Parris following a closely fought race from the back against Dave Lamb and Gary Rouse. It proved to be a good day for Lamb as he would catch and pass early second heat leader Rob Naismith to win ahead of Jason Griffiths with Chris and Steve Smith, then romped home in the final with a masterful drive from the back to finish comfortably ahead of Simon Simmons, with Rouse unable to get better than third place. Chris Smith did do better, however, winning the third heat, depriving long time leader James Newins in a thrilling race.

SuperBangers
Graham Heard won out in the SuperBangers Final at the July 25 Arena Essex meeting, beating Chris Trickett home in a day of mixed fortunes for many drivers. Trickett never managed a win in any of the races but came tantalisingly close each time, first behind Tony McNeil in the warm up, then behind Steve Davies who was second to new bug Dan Allen in the Sprint race. Trickett even managed to poke his nose in front briefly in the final, but Heard managed that extra turn of speed to carry him home first.

Last car: 112 Ian Greatrex

Points after 04/23

The points tables shown here are for guidance only. For official points, please consult the monthly newsletter or contact the promoter.

Banger Teams Gladiators and Team No Mush will meet in the head to head final on October 17, other teams plus teams that did not qualify for this event will meet in the 3rd Place Playoffs on the same day.

Group A Supreme points are provisional and qualification will be subject to promotion decision on exact level of points to be used in the main finals on September 12.

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Also see Matthew Bull's website for more pictures from this meeting!

© 2004 Chris Johnson (Crashnet) / Promotasport Raceways