Arena Essex Raceway - Meeting 05/06 Sunday, April 10, 2005 Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 2005 Index > Meeting 05/06

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars World Qualifying Round 2-litre Bangers Ministox

Ministox
The usual early start for the Ministox at Arena Essex, April 10, saw plenty of contact and another white top win as Rob West finished ahead of a 24 car first heat, beating Jack Wheelwright and Charlie Court whilst more than one car ended up hitting the wall, especially Roy Laybourn who was left in the fence on turn two, then ended up with Luke Armiger in the side, though Roy was out of the car by then, when Armiger and Craig Upson were persuaded to go to the fence late in the race. Two sloppy starts held up the second race, then some crowding due to a slow start by some of the white tops caused a mammoth pile up out of turn two outside, Kerri Witherington suffering the most as she took the fence, whilst Harry Stevens did a two point roll in the midst of the melee. Alfie Lee took the early lead but was easily dummied outside by Jack Tuffin who eventually took the race by a quarter of a lap, Liam Friel grabbing third place in the closing stages. Tom Waller managed to overcome all in the consolation, overtaking Upson (who was docked anyway for jumping the start) while Jack Woodroffe fought through for second, followed closely by one of his mid race adversaries, Ian Beaumont. The final all boiled down to a thrilling last half as Court took the lead from Gary Archer, then Beaumont and Woodroffe came through to challenge. Woodroffe got left behind while Beaumont caught and passed Court only to get held up by a group of back markers, Court going wide to pass the group to take the final win, Beaumont unable to catch him after that while Woodroffe managed to finish third at a distance. West then doubled his win tally for the day and got an automatic upgrade by winning the 28 car helter-skelter race, winning easily ahead of Gavin Ward and Archer in third.

Bangers
After a double title win, first the Irish Open, then the BBA tile, Jason "Boxer Jack" Jackson returned to Arena Essex on April 10 in the 2l Banger meeting and got back to business as usual as he took out Dean Conyard spectacularly on the pit fence before getting Danny Gardiner head on in the first race which was taken by Darren Wilson. The second race was even heavier as Terry Peacock got stuck in before rolling Joe Warner for 2 points out of turn four. Steve Laybourn was smashed up by Jimmy Randall, Matt Fuller and Ricky Korpiela in the opening stages whilst Peacock was totalled from behind by a full bodied follow in by Steve Wilson while Lewis Price managed a flag to flag victory in yet another Smiffy cast off! Warner recovered from his rollover well, returning to the circuit for a double win, first in the consolation, then later in the Rawlins 2000 qualifier. The final that day became a real dash, Gary Greenland getting into a four way tie-up with Andrew Davies, Mark Want and John Harding. Want forced the issue as he put the pressure on around the pit bend which allowed him and Davies to race home, Davies just taking the win on the line.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars
There was a good turnout on World Qualifying day at Arena Essex on April 10 for the BriSCA F2 Stock Cars, including some good action in the heats and some promising new talent amongst the old stagers. The fight for the front in the heats often started all the way at the back with plenty of competition between blue and red tops sometimes making for a late finish, giving the lower grades time to grab important places. This was what effectively happened when Mark Kiff first sprung to the attention of everyone as he managed to win the consolation race ahead of Chris Stephens and Bryn Thomas, though he would again get noticed in the final as his car, stalled during the early stages and stuck in the middle of the home straight, was hit hard from behind by current PRI Track Champion Mick Sworder. Both emerged unhurt, but both cars were finished for the day. The final eventually went to another prolific winner at Arena Essex, Barry Goldin, taking the victory ahead of Daz Kitson and Carl Issitt.

Earlier victories went the way of Chris Bradbury in the first heat, who managed to grab victory by burning up Stewart Chalkley amongst others, while the second heat went to Chris Lindsay. Chris Stephens would improve on his consolation performance later in the day with a win in the Grand National Qualifier ahead of Bradbury.

Last car: 432 Mark Munson

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

© 2005 Chris Johnson (Crashnet) / Promotasport Raceways