Arena Essex Raceway - Meeting 05/38 Sunday, October 30, 2005 Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 2005 Index > Meeting 05/38

SuperBangers Essex Championship Group A Hot Rods Lightning Rods

SuperBangers
Tubbs Butler finally won the Essex Championship trophy for the SuperBangers at the October 30 meeting at Arena Essex, one year after just missing out on it at the hands of three-times winner Nigel Carroll who, this year, was mostly present in the Lightning Rods. Tubbs had the best start, given that he had already clinched the Drivers' Championship for this season and made the most of it, though the race wasn't all running for the line, especially with banger regular Blacknuts Douglas along for a little light abuse. Vince Wolf finished just ahead of Roger Trickett to get second spot. With no contest for the Drivers Championship points as far as the winner was concerned, attention turned to the second and third places as Graham Heard took a late win in the revenge race, beating out part-timer Bob Dunn who had controlled the race at one point until spinning out late in the race giving Heard and Trickett an easy passage through, though Dunn managed to finish ahead of Wolf. The last race of the season turned out to be a family affair as Chris Trickett pulled across the line in front of the old dog Roger, with Tubbs in third.

Group A Hot Rods
Doubtless the October 30 finale meeting for the Group A Hot Rods at Arena Essex will be one meeting that Dan Moulton will remember for a long time. It all started with the very first race which seemed to be progressing normally enough until, around half way, and coming up from the outside to approach turn three around Steve Holmes, Moulton caught his outside front tyre on the car inside and flipped violently onto his roof, skating across the pit bend to hit the wall, causing a stoppage. The car was righted with little effort and Moulton even returned to the circuit to finish the meeting, though the car was somewhat bent out of shape! The events didn't stop there as Mark Nicholls was spun off the lead by Richard Haines, for which he received a two place penalty. The finish, indeed, was a press as Haines came together with Simon Simmons and Chris Smith on the last corner, Haines making it home first but Simmons getting the trophy. The second race pailed in comparison, though it did feature a herculean effort by Dave Hutchins which eventually gave him the win, Haines again denied a trophy, though he did manage to finally win something in the final, taking the race trophy comfortably ahead of Lee Hall with a good drive from the back by Dave Lamb who seemed to be taking things easy having already won the Drivers' Championship for the season ahead of Steve Gooch and Chris Smith.

Lightning Rods
All eyes were on the current state of play in the drivers' championship for the Lightning Rods at Arena Essex on October 30, with Terry Shelvey's lead reduced significantly following poor performances and some bad luck in recent meetings, allowing Dale Atkins to close up. This wasn't the only thing of note in this meeting, with John Crowther twice spun off the lead, Big John losing his crust with the first culprit, Stu Palmer. Shelvey made good progress through the field in that race, finally getting second place, though he was too late to deny Dave Kingsmill his trophy, and Atkins in third meant that this race didn't do much to relieve the pressure. Things would get even worse in the second race as Shelvey was taken out of the race in a crash on turn two which also saw Paul Harris go out following a tight race between Harris, Shelvey and Atkins. Phil Waite took advantage of the confusion and grabbed the win, but the third place finish by Atkins behind Darren Cardy meant that everything would hinge on the final race of the season. Race three also featured some controversy as Alfie Smith took a win following the dumping of Colin Murray by Darrel Smith, whilst John Christie got a serious clout up the rear after coming to a halt on turn four, which led to a stoppage. Teammate Brian Smith took the final win of the season, the race for the drivers titles being decided by midrace contact; Atkins blew a tyre after coming to blows with Cardy, whilst Shelvey went flying after cluting Steve Willis on the back straight. Both cars failed to finish in points scoring positions, and Lee Morrow's fourth place finish wasn't enough to make a difference, so the position at the finish was as it was at the start; Shelvey won, Atkins second and Morrow third.

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

© 2005 Chris Johnson (Crashnet) / Promotasport Raceways