BriSCA F2 Stock Cars World Qualifying round 2l Bangers 1300 Stock Cars

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars
Nobody could have expected 71 cars to turn up for a BriSCA F2 Stock car meeting at Arena Essex, but that is exactly what was in the pits for this round of the World Championship Qualifiers on April 9. The familiar faces that show up for many of the meetings were lost amongst the hopefuls trying to get a place in the final later in the year, although there were a few faces missing including the notable absence of Mick Sworder, though that tale is told elsewhere.

Chris Cuming won the first heat in a close finish in which he had to hold off Barry Goldin, something of a feat considering that Goldin has held the local track championship title at Arena Essex in years gone by. The lead had been held for most of the 34 car race by Nigel Partridge, but Cuming and Goldin found their way through in the closing stages, leaving Partridge to grab third place, his best finish of the day. Heat two went to Chad Harris after he took the lead and sped off only to be called back following a waved yellow, brought out to clear the track of a mid-race crunch between Stewart Chalkley and Richard Shearing. Harris easily took the race, trailed by Ian Chalkley and Chris Bradbury. Chalkley S. would return in the consolation to win ahead of Bryn Tootell and Steve Green in a thirty-nine car race which was certainly hair raising!

The final, as it turned out, had less cars in it than any of the races preceeding it, but that didn't stop it from being anything short of spectacular. It didn't stop the crashes either as Chris Roots, Tim Farrell and James Rodgers came to grief early on it the race, causing a restart. Jon Gibson took the lead by half way, early leader Partridge forced off the pace by Tootell allowing Gibson the line until Goldin came up. However the crashes weren't over yet and a meeting of Shearing and the notorious Arena wall led to an order restart that worked in favour of Goldin on the restart, pushing past Gibson to take the victory. Gibson trailed in fourth once he had recovered, with Bradbury taking second spot ahead of Cuming. Jon Field would win the latest round of the Grand National qualifiers ahead of Andrew Bertram and David Polley in a race that also saw a stoppage and restart as Farrell mounted Gordon Moodie's car on the QE2 bridge bend.

1300 Stock Cars
The April 9 meeting for the 1300 Stock Cars at Arena Essex produced another heat and final victory for Andrew "Paddy" Palmer, though his first victory had to wait as Alex Mortimer took the lead after half way in the first heat and held Palmer off to deny the current champion a clean sweep. There was something slippery on the pit bend in the second heat that caught more than one driver out, Billy Kavanagh especially sliding into more than one car, which meant that only eight cars finished this race, led home by Palmer. By the final, however, the rain had hit hard, and Palmers win in the final was slow and uneventful as everyone struggled on the wet track.

Bangers
April 9, and a mixed bag of Banger action at Arena Essex saw the first win of the day going to Paul Scully in a quiet race that saw Jim Harding soundly spanked and some action for Jason Green but most of the cars staying out of it. Jason Jackson started a triple off by winning the second heat ahead of Lee Turner in another mostly quiet race, though the head on between Simon Smith and Dan Moulton at the start was a notable moment. And so to the final, and a bit more wrecking. It seemed that the previous hits had triggered something, so we saw Smith going for Dean Theisinger, then for Roy Laybourn. That certainly did trigger events as the rest of the Creams joined in, including John and Jim Harding, as well as Dave Osborn from the Gladiator mafioso, got into it around the pit wall, even Boxer having to survive a clip into the wall to get to the finish line. This continued into the Rawlins 2000 qualifier as Jackson took the win ahead of teamy Paul Whiteman and not-so-teamy Squirt Scully, Danny Brown surviving for the last car entry.

Last car: 507 Danny Brown

Crashnet Photos

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Also see Matthew Bull Photographic for more photos from this meeting.

© 2006 Chris Johnson (Crashnet) / Promotasport Raceways