Arena Essex Raceway - Meeting 05/21 Sunday, July 10, 2005 Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 2005 Index > Meeting 05/21

Group A Hot Rods Jim Richards Memorial Lightning Rods Supreme Championship Qualifier National Bangers

The meeting at Arena Essex on Sunday, July 10, was started with a minute's silence for those that lost their lives and those that lost relatives and friend in London on Thursday, July 7, when terrorists bombed three underground trains and one double deck bus in the middle of the morning rush hour. Whilst we shall never submit to the demands of terrorists whilst they insist on taking innocent lives in the name of publicity, we shall also never forget those that were taken from us so cruelly.

Group A Hot Rods
Keith Perren's old car was out for the first heat in the Jim Richards Memorial meeting at Arena Essex on July 10, making good progress under the guidance of banger driver Paul Lawes through the early racing, burning off Ian Jardine before Dave Lamb, who had been trying to shake off Steve Gooch, finally passed Lawes and took the first trophy of the day easily. Perren himself made an appearance in the second heat, but it was an easy win for old Group A hand Alan Thorndyke who easily sprinted home ahead of Dave Lamb who had to overcome Alan Rouse before his attempt on the lead, too far behind and far too late to catch up. The third heat was largely a repeat of the second, Thorndyke getting ahead early on and staying there whilst it all happened behind him, defending title holder Perren being slaughtered on turn two in a racing incident. Dave Lamb, however, couldn't be stopped despite needing a push to get away from the start line after the race! The final started with a white top scrap between Steve Holmes and Paul Lawes before Lamb came through, having beaten off the competition, and easily took the race though obviously he hadn't noticed what was going on behind him, some drivers getting far too fond of using the front end to get ahead. It seemed that some ex-Ministox drivers, in particular, had still not learned the meaning of the term "non-contact".

Lightning Rods
It was an easy win for Brian Smith in the first race for the Lightning Rods in their final Supreme Championship qualifier at Arena Essex on July 10, though most of the action was behind him, especially with Sonny Sherwood making his Lightning Rod debut, getting tenth after being taken out late in the race, one of a number of cars that were spun during the race, John Christie being the first casualty, Martyn Jones and Darren Cardy also in trouble.The second heat also saw its fair share of troubles, Colin Murray catching Stuart Palmer on the back straight whilst Barry Lee hooked up Smith, who had a sizeable lead at that point, out of turn four. Smith retained lead but much reduced as Jones gained and started to pressure. In the last lap, Jones pressed too hard and Trevor Draynor pulled inside for second, Jones having to settle for third. It was open to some debate as to how stupid Cardy was in his temper tantrum on the centre green at the end of the third heat, but he was loaded as a result along with Murray who had finished in tied ninth place. The trophy went to debut driver Sherwood who clinched the race on turn three in the final lap, holding the inside line to pass long time leader Jai Summers, who would again have a tight race in the final but would hold out this time to win ahead of Christie, with Jones third despite a closing stage disaster that would see him lose his position on Christie's tail that would have given him a chance at a win.

Bangers

The first race for the National Bangers was marred somewhat at the July 10 Arena Essex meeting when the Smith family decided to give their team a boost. This started when Ian Smith took Guy Edwards head on by the pits, and continued through the race. Although Paul Russell was given the win, it was following a stewards' warning to the entire team about team racing in a solo meeting. That didn't stop a few memorable hits including Danny Brown taking Lewis Barber into the smouldering remains of Edwards. Jason McMahon took the rather pedestrian second heat that had to be started three times following a couple of dead starters. The allcomers' final was anything but pedetrian, however as Lee Madden won ahead of the immaculate Mark Johns Granada estate and Paul Whiteman, who managed to squeeze past Paul Hunter in the closing stages. Mark Marchant was well and truly squished inside on the pit bend as a succession of hits went in from various Gladiator affiliates, mostly as a result of Marchant spoiling their wrecking session as a number of Smith friends and relatives turned the wrong way on turn four. The usual Rawlins bash-up took a slightly different twist as Hunter grabbed the last car award whilst Andrew Davies, somewhat preoccupied with wrecking in this meeting, shared the last car award with Stephen Hale.

Last car: 47 Andrew Davies/395 Stephen Hale

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

© 2005 Chris Johnson (Crashnet) / Promotasport Raceways