Arena Essex Raceway - Meeting 04/30 Sunday, September 5, 2004 Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 2004 Index > Meeting 04/30

Lightning Rods Sierra Supreme Championship Sue Davies Ladies Bangers Championship Final Plastengrave Non-Ford Bangers

Lightning Rods
Dale Atkins successfully defended the Sierra Supreme Championship title for the Lightning Rods at Arena Essex on September 5. The race, though it was a little dead once the initial positions were sorted, came alive towards the end as a series of mistakes by tail end drivers contrived to give the leaders something to think about!

Stuart Ruff was able to take an early advantage of his pole position start as the field struggled around the track in the opening laps, the surface made unpredictable by earlier contact racing, the lead stirred up a few times with Terry Shelvey slipping back and Dave "Jumbo" Kingsmill moving up behind Ruff, but was unable to hold out long as Atkins moved inside for second spot. These early laps also saw Neil Gardiner in the fence and World Champion Mark Mackenzie also dropping out, unable to make any headway. Atkins then found the inside line on the bridge end of the circuit and shot into the lead with less than a quarter of the race gone, Shelvey following. From this point until near to the end of the race, it was all about Shelvey pressuring Atkins, though the defending champion had the racing line and could handle the pressure. Kingsmill recovered third by the half way point, but at some distance, Ruff pulling off just after half way having gone backwards as the race continued. With five laps to go, there was still no change, but a crash on turn four in front of the leaders changed things as Atkins swerved around the mess but Shelvey ran out of room, rejoining the race still in second spot but now with Kingsmill up his tailpipe. Approaching two laps from home, Atkins still had problems in front of him as Steve Powell got in his way, whilst Richard Norman had to struggle to control his car, but Atkins survived to take the flag, Shelvey beating back Kingsmill whilst Darren Cardy managed a survival of his own to take the fourth spot.

Eddie Gibbs took the first of the two support races, a quarter of a lap ahead of Trevor Draynor, Peter Waite third ahead of Atkins, whilst Nick Wiseman took the other support race, John Christie holding Paul Hollands at bay in a close race for second spot, whilst the meeting final went the way of Brian Smith, Christie unable to catch up in time to do better than second place ahead of Steven Willis.

Ladies Bangers
The Sue Davies Ladies Banger Championship drew to a conclusion on September 5 at Arena Essex as Gladiator regular driver Kelly Wilson became the surprise winner. The race was restarted once after Janet Brown had an accident, but the race proceeded well with Sarah Murphy going ahead by the half way point ahead of defending champion Ashley Clift, with a sizeable advantage over Wilson as the race wound down to the last lap when an ill advised shunt took both lead cars into the wall, Wilson taking the victory inside the last lap as first Murphy then Clift struggled to make it home ahead of Auntie Junk.

Bangers
Del Waterman contributed a big hit to the start of the penultimate Plastengrave Non-Ford Banger meeting at Arena Essex on September 5, his target being Guy Edwards in a meeting which saw some great destruction. The meeting final was won by Howard Martin, with wins for Paul Hawkes, Darren Smith and, later, Scott Price in the Rawlins qualifier.

Hawkes stayed pretty much out of the worst of the crashing in the first heat to finish easily ahead of day licence driver Sam Rigby, whilst Smith finished ahead of Andrew Davies in his last appearance at Arena Essex before the World Finals on September 19. The consolation was won by Ian Greatrex in an early wreck-up, only eight cars finishing out of the twenty-four that started the race, one driver that wasn't expecting to be on the list of the dead being Ian Smith who decided to try starting his wrecking early, turning round on turn four only to be met head on by Gary Greenland, back for his first meeting at Arena Essex since his accident at the Shootout.

Graham Heard appeared in this meeting on a day off from the SuperBangers but left the wrong sort of impression in the final as he was collected by Craig Hewitt, things going downhill from there. Alistair Cherrington also had his moments in the final, deciding to have a go at Mark Woolner after Woolner knocked him about a little too often. There was even some post-disqualification blasts from John Harding, a head on with former team mate Grieg Cheeseman destroying the Rattie car. With this going on, there was plenty to see, though Howard Martin was staying ahead and keeping clear of the worst of it, coming home ahead of Davies with Danny Oliver in third. You might be forgiven for thinking that the Rawlins qualifier would be understrength, but there were plenty of cars struggling up for the final event of the day, though many were fit for one last gasp and no more. That was pretty much how the race went, many cars not reaching the end of the race, let alone into the destruction derby, including a big jacking for Alan Wormwood by Matt Fuller. Price took the win ahead of Phil Pratchett and Davies, then Dal Hepherd won the last car award after Pratchett conked out on the home straight.

Last car: 505 Dal Hepherd

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

© 2004 Chris Johnson (Crashnet) / Promotasport Raceways