Arena Essex Raceway - Meeting 05/20 Sunday, July 3, 2005 Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 2005 Index > Meeting 05/20

Plastengrave Bangers incl. Ladies Banger Championship Qualifier Ministox

Bangers
All seemed well in the Plastengrave Non-Ford Bangers at Arena Essex on July 3 until Carl Howard decided, having been disabled on the outside of turn four, to go in on Ken Hollamby. This held things up somewhat as they extracted the visitor from his wreck in the pit wall. The ordered restart after that was a straight race, although there was the occasional hit. The one hit expected was supposed to come from Gary Brown on race leader Rob Farrington in the last lap but Brown left his charge too late and was too far off to make contact so he had to make do with second place behind Farrington with Mark Want in third. The second heat was relatively straightforward, Billy King getting the win after Mark Woolner went wide down the back straight inside the last lap. The win, however, put King at the top of the RJK Export Drivers' Championship standing. The consolation went to Ivan Clarke in a race that saw plenty of wrecking action, notably for Steve Laybourn who, seeing as he had no Runners to hit, decided to take on the Bursta Bloodvessel team instead and was squished on the pit bend having caught Ben Hamilton there, the rest of the team plus a couple of Southend Menace cars getting caught up in the rush to pulverise the Rat. If some of the racing was a bit pedestrian in the final, the wrecking certainly wasn't, with Phil Pratchett carried into a four point rollover by Tony Fair in traffic on turn one right at the start of the race, Nathan Roberts took on consolation winner Clarke at the same end later in the race and Paul Hawkes got a jacking from Mark Want under the Tavern. King made it a double, burning off Phillip Smith to win the final. Phillip and brother Simon Smith then took the trophies in the Rawlins qualifier, the destruction derby section a little slow to start as all the surviving cars, those that hadn't driven off after the race section, were all related teamsters.

Ministox
Luke Armiger was the first winner at Arena Essex at the July 3 meeting for the Ministox, beating Reece Laybourn home handily in a race stopped midway after a couple of crashes obstructed the back of the circuit, though the second race proved far closer, Jack Wearn just hanging on to the winners' trophy from Kerri Witherington in the middle of back markers. Kerri made good progress through to the front towards the end of the race, getting past Craig Oliver inside the last couple of laps before challenging for the lead off the last corner. T-Jay Powers managed to repeat his feat from the last meeting as Brad Turner failed to catch up in time in the third heat, a much quieter race than race four proved to be as Josh Fuller was hit badly on the back straight inside the first couple of laps, causing a complete restart. Jack Woodroffe took the victory in a last quarter dash that saw him pass Andrew Taylor, Jamie-Lee Callis and Ian Beaumont, then sprint away leaving those three to argue about the places, Beaumont taking second with Callis in third.

The final started well enough with the two white top heat winners fighting over the early lead until Taylor was turned sideways on the pit bend in traffic, collecting Jamie McAngus and bringing the race to a halt, a complete restart required after that. Another couple of red flags later, the first when Bailey was spun on the exit to turn four, the second when Powers failed to start, and Wearn started the race clear, Laybourn having a private battle for second with Sonny Gay. This turned into a scrap that saw Oliver and Beaumont both black flagged for contact amongst others, Oliver getting a little too fond of using his front end, getting the challengers for second into trouble and leaving an open gap for Armiger to come through, Laybourn keeping hold of second spot. Alex Guintini capped his own debut by winning the consolation final, narrowly holding on at the end from Rob West, Jack Wheelwright and Jimmy Galloway.

Last car: 589 Simon Smith

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

© 2005 Chris Johnson (Crashnet) / Promotasport Raceways