Arena Essex - ae0612

Arena Essex Raceway - Meeting 06/12 Sunday, May 14, 2006

Crashnet > Reports Index > PRI 2006 Index > Meeting 06/12

1600cc Banger Series 1
Ladies Bangers Q/r 2
Ministox
Outlaw Hot Rods

Report

Bangers
There was plenty of good material on offer at the fifth Shootout at Arena Essex, May 14, with visitors from all over the banger racing world including a few over from the continent, some of whom would provide plenty to talk about as the meeting went on. Indeed, this meeting had a little of everything. We started with a fairly standard race, won by Dale Hughes, though the race was brought up early after what looked like a rollover on the bridge bend by Gavin Perryman's Jag. Some of the team based performances in recent weeks have led to some of the more gruesome hits, and the second heat saw a little of this as it had to be restarted following a dooring for Kelly Wilson, whilst Blacknuts Douglas continued his personal war on the Colchester folk, though the biggest hit was at the other end of the circuit from all that as Steve Moore was left with his hearse embedded in Ton Van Haaren's impressive stretch yank. Not that this was the last we would see of Ton during this meeting but, first, they needed to separate the two wrecks. The second race was won by another Hughes, this time Lee Hughes. The third and final heat started tamely enough but got heavier as it continued, especially when Robert Broughton had his hearse dismantled along the back straight. The win went to Dean Goodearl. During these three heats, there had been awards for presentation. These were picked up by Anthony Pemberton in the first heat for his Ant Hill Mob Granada, Julian Garmand in the second for his "Little Garmo" Jag and Mark Johns in the third, although his stretch Granada didn't make it to the starting line.

The consolation was, if anything, wrecking heaven to those banger crash junkies, though not from a source that anyone expected. All through the season, the Midnight Runner team have avoided as much of the contact as possible, which has meant that a Runner has won many of the finals, and the various members of the team dominate the driver's championship this year. Exactly what happened to change this isn't clear, but the consolation saw them really pile in on anything that moved, although a lot of the best hits came from Alan Trickett, an old master and former Suicide Squad driver, who put his ex-Firecracker Rolls Royce to good use in what turned into a scrapyard on turn four. Only five cars would finish this race, Lee Turner leading them home. The Runner wrecking spree continued through the final and into the Rawlins qualifier at the end, Pemberton suffering the onslaught of Paul Whiteman and Matt Fuller whilst pinned against the Frank Williams car similarly being attacked by Jason Jackson. Not that the Runners were alone, even Roughneck Bernie French, these many days a SuperBanger racer and seemingly with his banger days behind him, came in to do a number on RDC irregular Ian Redden, presenting a perfect target for Lee Hughes. With turn four clogging up again, the Shootout winner this year turned out to be Malcolm Fuller who led only nine cars home. Dean Goodearl would take the second of his two trophies for the day in the Rawlins 2000 qualifier ahead of Wayne Holton and Mark Marchant, while Lee Hughes took his second trophy the hard way as last car running. A special award for best wrecked car went to CAMSO's Richard Steeghs, though he didn't show up for it!

2l Saloon Stocks
It always seems unfortunate that the 2l Saloons only get to Arena Essex once a year, but they normally provide top class performances, especially with a dry track. They had it this year as they appeared during the 2005 Shootout for the Essex Championships, the circuit giving enough grip to allow them to put their collective feet down. This years' championship was emphatically won by Eddie Darby who took two of the three heats, the final and the allcomer's race, though he didn't get it all his own way. Whilst he easily took the first race ahead of Danny Hunt and Shane Brown, and took the second heat in the closing stages following a good performance by Richard Paris, the third heat was lost to a last corner ambush by Dave Aldous, the shove sideways being enough to give Aldous the win by inches. Aldous might have won the final too had darby not repaid the favour with a last corner ambush of his own, the pair rumbling past Tommy Barnes at midway following a waved yellow when the abandoned Andy Santry car rolled across the racing line. Brown managed third as Barnes went backwards, finally ending up seventh. The allcomer's race was a little tricky following the banger final releasing oil across the exit to the pit turn, the developing dry line giving Darby an easy route to the front before half way.

Result

1. Bangers Heat 1	227 Dale Hughes	460	308	330	331	23	242	539	190	592	Smart car: 741 Anthony Pemberton
2. Saloon Stocks Heat 1	677 Eddie Darby	382	720	401	569	369	402	220	511	499
3. Bangers Heat 2	24 Lee Hughes	395	6	536	69	550	500	NOCR			Smart car: 53 Julian Garmand
4. Saloon Stocks Heat 2	677 Eddie Darby	11	382	401	499	720	402	22	511	220
5. Bangers Heat 3	271 Dean Goodearl	99	60	46	841	200	188	10	148	853	Smart car: 600 Mark Johns
6. Saloon Stocks Heat 3	499 David Aldous	677	720	402	401	156	220	382	369	150
7. Bangers Consolation	137 Lee Turner	322	196	208	71	NOCR
8. Saloon Stocks Essex Championship	677 Eddie Darby	499	720	401	156	511	26	999	2	569
9. Bangers Shootout V	46 Malcolm Fuller	227	395	592	24	242	196	6	200	NOCR
10. Saloon Stocks Allcomers Race	677 Eddie Darby	156	499	720	428	26	999	369	149	2
11. Bangers Rawlins 2000 Qualifier	271 Dean Goodearl	200	592