PRI Banger Team Championship Qualifier 2 1300 Stock Cars SuperBangers

Bangers
Victory at round two of the PRI Banger Team Championship on May 1st at Arena Essex went to the Midnight Runner team with a heat and final double from Jason Jackson along with other notable performances as the Runners continued to avoid the wrecking that had been a major part of their previous season's performance. Jackson took the front of the first heat, getting past the shunting that left Waz Barber of the Bad Company team totally wrecked at the hands of the Gladiators and their puppet team the Wrekin Krew. This was an obvious fallout of the Douglas/Smith incident the previous day, and would feature again before the meeting ended. Dean Goodearl would contribute a heat win from the back of the grid in the second for a healthy tally for the Firm, this race seeing Blacknuts Douglas taken out early. This heat also featured a rollover by Darren Nash, this year a Condom, whilst feelings were running high in the centre green, notable members of certain teams exchanging strong views while Nathan Roberts, stranded on the outside of the circuit, risked a dash to the centre to join the debate. Martin Bowmaker led a trio of Firm faithful home at the front of the consolation race which also saw a sizeable number of Gladiators make it home for a place in the final. Said final was somewhat quieter than the heats, with Boxer grabbing the lead five laps out ahead of Eastender Tony McNeil whilst the notable Condom pack pushed through, making the most of the seeming inability of any other driver to hit anything pink. This time, however, it was too few and too late as the defending champions could only muster enough to get third spot behind the Firm. The race wasn't devoid of hits though, Jack King getting together with Raymond Clark with some involvement from Martin Bowmaker. King would also do a head on number with Marshall Bowmaker too. Coincidence? The running feud between the Gladiators and pretty much anyone else that takes their fancy continued into the Rawlins qualifier, notably the desire for some revenge against Douglas. They could be said to have gained a measure of revenge as, following a trip to the pit wall, Douglas received a t-bone that sent him rattling from one side of the car to the other, temporarily stunning him. Whilst Douglas recovered, the restart saw yet another Boxer win before the Runners carried on into the demolition derby section of the event, though things got a little hairy as one of their number decided to ignite on impact! Ricky Korpiela survived to grab the last car award.

1300 Stock Cars
The first 1300 Stock Car Supreme Qualifier of the year at Arena Essex on May 1 was all about Paul Haralambou. Former banger racer and member of the infamous Rabbit team, one time Group A driver, he dominated the meeting with a complete whitewash, leading Neal Gardiner home by a comfortable margin in the first heat, then again in the second heat with Scott Waite as the second place passenger, then yet again in the final, again with Waite trailing. The final was marked, however, with rather a lot of Palmer on Pratt contact, Paddy Palmer no doubt trying some of those moves he learned in his recent banger dabblings to get third spot.

SuperBangers
Tubbs Butler shoved Brian Jarvis aside on his way to victory in the final of the SuperBanger meeting at Arena Essex on May 1, the lead having changed hands several times including a battle between Nigel Weeks and James Avison that eventually ended in the pit wall. Avison had taken a win earlier in the day with a flag to flag victory in the second heat whilst Phil Butler won the first race, an event which had a fair amount of contact.

Last car: 242 Ricky Korpiela

Points - Round 2

Crashnet Photos

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

© 2006 Chris Johnson (Crashnet) / Promotasport Raceways