2l Bangers Lightning Rods Group A Hot Rods Supreme Championship Qualifier 1

Bangers
The April 30 Arena Essex meeting might have passed off as another of those tame filler meetings that fans with a preference for major wrecking might moan about except for the incident that set the whole meeting alight. The first heat had little to commend it, with Lee Hughes beating Jason Jackson home, a race and not much more. The second heat, however, met with a considerable delay. This was caused when Simon Smith, stuck against two other cars on the pit wall, was attacked at full bore by Blacknuts Douglas, the t-bone flattening the passenger compartment fully up to the drivers' side so that Smith had to be cut free. There was some conjecture about the reason behind the hit, some saying that this was a tit-for-tat attack following an incident in the previous meeting, but the animosity from sections of the viewing public was fairly obvious. This wasn't the only hit as Nathan Roberts also planted his car firmly into the rear end of Sam Rigby yards from this incident and moments before the red flag had been shown. The wrecking didn't stop there, though the hits exchanged by Steve Laybourn and Dan Taylor were somewhat less than what had gone before, the race going to Jimmy Randall ahead of Paul Whiteman. Billy Brotherston provided the stoppage in the final as he met up with the turn two wall, the complete restart going to Jackson to extend his points lead, while the Rawlins qualifier ended in a dead heat as Randall went one-on-one with Dave Barwick in a rare visit to the circuit, the pair getting the last car award together in another race won by Boxer.

Lightning Rods
Richard Norman redeemed a mistake in an earlier heat to come out on top at the Lightning Rod meeting at Arena Essex on April 30 with a convincing final win. Finding the inside of early leader Brian Smith, he jetted away whilst Smith would eventually end up being spun out late in the race by Stuart Palmer which cost the third heat winner two places in the result. The day started off in a bit of a shambles as Chris Jones made a mess of passing Andy Oliver, the resulting spin causing a pile up that also caught Norman and Jumbo Kingsmill around turn four. The race looked like a certain win for Mark Collins who took control of the complete restart until he pulled off on the last lap, leaving the way open for Mark Mackenzie to take a win. It was in the second race that Norman would suffer the wrath of the steward, shredding the rear bumper of long time leader Smith before spinning him, the steward docking him a place in the result that was won by Anthony Lawrence who managed to hold his line as the cars spun around him. Palmer would take the third heat after passing Collins early on, but would be pressed all the way by Smith with Mackenzie, Dale Atkins and Terry Shelvey all making late efforts.

Group A Hot Rods
The Supreme Qualifiers always seem to bring the most competitive racing out of the Group A Hot Rods, and April 30 at Arena Essex saw plenty of that as one name made a return to the formula. Time was that the name of Hunn was a dominant force in the A's before they moved on to other things, but Danny Hunn returned for the first Supreme Qualifier of the year and proved that the name did still stand for something as he easily carried off both heats. The first heat was an easy catch as Hunn grabbed the lead early on, then concentrated on picking off back markers on his way to victory, though the second heat was a different story as Ian Jardine saw his lead cut short by a waved yellow following a meeting between Simon Simmons and Joe Weal, Hunn taking full advantage on the restart. However, it was also fairly obvious that other things had changed since the days of Ricky and Jason, with a lot more talent on hand, some of it coming to the fore when you least expect it. The final, therefore, saw a stirring effort by Ken Gillman who managed to hold off the likes of Hunn and Mark West before Dave Lamb piled through in the closing stages to take the final trophy.

Last car: 91 Dave Barwick/208 Jimmy Randall

Crashnet Photos

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

© 2006 Chris Johnson (Crashnet) / Promotasport Raceways