Arena Essex Raceway - Meeting 05/05 Monday, April 3, 2005 Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 2005 Index > Meeting 05/05

Group A Hot Rods Outlaw Hot Rods 2-litre Bangers

Group A Hot Rods
The Group A Hot Rods suffered heavily in their first attempt at a race in the April 3 meeting at Arena Essex when a pile up out of turn four slaughtered 44 and 118, also eventually claiming Keith Perren and Gary Rouse amongst others. The actual race win went to Mark West after Jason Griffiths was penalised two places for his less than polite passing manoeuvre on Mark Avison on his way to the front, whilst Dave Lamb managed to drag his front offside wing out enough after his own crash in the pile up to get to second spot, just held off by the winner as the race ran out. Chris Goldsmith ran a fast race in the second heat, passing the early leaders then sprinting away, Griffiths unable to catch up whilst Simon Simmons drove out of his skin for third place, holding off Rouse and Lamb for several laps. It looked like Goldsmith would take the third heat too until he suddenly pulled out of the race half way, leaving the win open for Clinton Groom, easily ahead of Paul Smith with Simmons again holding off determined opposition to take third, this time from Terry Bearman.

The final was another big scramble for the front, and Steve Gooch and Goldsmith were both trying hard to make it past Nick Hill early on, but Gooch ended up the wrong way around in the oily surface on turns one and two, leaving Goldsmith free to pass Hill and eventually to take the lead. A lot of the action from there was mostly about whether anyone could pass Hill, the biggest crash being when Smith was sideswiped into a sleeper on turn one as he and Lamb competed for the same gaps. Goldsmith was passing back markers by the end, easily half a lap ahead of second place Simmons, with Rouse in third.

Outlaw Hot Rods
As last time, so this time as Waine Souter won the opening race at Arena Essex for the Outlaw Hot Rods on April 3, though it could have been so different as first Salvo Falcone left the circuit then Stu Hammond was spun out after trying to take a brave outside line into turn three. Trevor Ward was the unlucky driver in the second heat that ended up in a smash with Tony Moss on the pit bend early on whilst Andy Steward led off the pole and ran away with the race, a trick he later repeated in the final.

2-litre Bangers
With quite a few drivers electing to go racing in Ireland, there was a smaller than usual field at Arena Essex on April 3. The heats were somewhat of a straight rod, with Rob Farrington and Andy Davies winning their heats, though there was a suspicion of sock puppetry in these victories, especially the second heat. The consolation went flag to flag with Malcolm Mortimer, though it looked like the Lewis Price car, used in six races by Ian Smith the previous Monday, had finally had enough. The final went the way of Mark Want, though Ian Greatrex led much of the race, losing out within the last quarter. The win was almost awarded to Farrington in a questionable lapscoring decision, but a protest from track, officials and supporters brought abot a stewards enquiry and a check of the lap sheets and the video evidence gave Want his trophy. However, if we though we had seen the last of the Smith/Price car, we would be wrong as the car not only returned, dodgy steering and all, to do battle in the Rawlins 2000 qualifier, it actually won the last car award in a dead heat head-on with Simon Smith, a feat it managed for the second week running!

Last car: 349 Lewis Price/589 Simon Smith

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Also see Matthew Bull Photography for official photos of this meeting.

© 2005 Chris Johnson (Crashnet) / Promotasport Raceways