PRI Banger Team Championship Final Eliminator BriSCA F2 Stock Cars 1300 Stock Cars

1300 Stock Cars
Paul Haralambou managed to sweep the board at Arena Essex in the 1300 Stock Car meeting on August 20 as he held off Scott Waite in the first heat and Paddy Palmer in the second heat and the final. Haralambou took the final after a concerted last effort by Palmer to knock him off the lead on the last bend of the race but, due to losing ground following a crash on turn two that forced Palmer to take evasive action, he was too far off Haralambou to make contact and had to back off to maintain his second place finish ahead of Derek Mortimer.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars
With the World Finals less than a week away, the cars that turned out for the BriSCA F2 meeting at Arena Essex on August 20 were mostly blue and yellow graders, with the heats dominated by Simon Edwards, the final going to Chris Mikulla. The first heat saw Edwards win comfortably ahead of Mikulla who took second ahead of Mark Guinchard in the closing stages, while Edwards got the lead in the second race after early leader Martin Elsden was taken to the wall, Chris Stephens taking second spot ahead of Mikulla. Stephens would suffer in the result of the final as he was forced from the circuit early in the race which would cost him one place when the result was given out. His trip to the shaleway gave Guinchard a brief trip to the front, but he was soon overhauled by Mikulla who was unchallenged from there on, most of the racing taking place for second spot between Stephens, Neil Hooper and Justin Fisher. Stephens grabbed the second spot on the line, third after the steward got his way whilst Fisher had to work to get past Hooper to take third, elevated to second after the Stephens penalty. Stephens would redeem himself in the Grand National Qualifier, getting well ahead of the main scrap for second between Hooper, Fisher and Dave Polley with Edwards also moving up.

PRI Banger Teams
The Final Eliminator for the PRI Banger Team Championship was taken by the Midnight Runners, with the defending champions, the Gravesend Condoms, getting second place and first rights to the main head-to-head competition with the Runners in October. The third and fourth place teams, the Cream Team and the Eastenders, will also appear in that meeting for a third place showdown.

After some criticism for a lack of involvement in the contact in the last round of the qualifiers, the Condoms were a little less reluctant to get involved in the Eliminator, though it did allow other teams to get more points under their belts and, ultimately, meant that they didn't win the round. The main contact of the day, however, was split as the long-running battle between the Bad Company and Essex Gladiator teams was supplemented by a developing squabble between the Gigglers, who had been fairly quiet so far this year following their grudge match with the Runners last year, and the Canvey Cowboys, now reformed after a year out in 2005. The first round saw Sam Rigby loaded following a dodgy head on with a couple of the Cream Team at the top of the home straight, the actual race dominated by the Midnight Runners, though Rob Farrington was the actual winner for the Condoms. The second heat, however, kicked off with the Cowboys giving the Gigglers a good shafting by the pit gate, overshadowing the pre-existing battle which continued regardless. The Condoms closed the gap in this race, though the heat winner was Eastender Steve Willis, his points contributing to the overall position that got his team to the third place playoff. Steve Ward of the Gladiators got ambushed by John Harding, who had been one of the drivers attacked by Rigby in the first heat, and Jim Harding outside turn four in the consolation, whilst Andrew Davies was fairly surprised as he was given the win despite being pushed onto the safety area around turns one and two early in the race.

The final was mostly rodding, many of the front cars being Runners, though there were a few other teams up there. Most of the Condom team were firmly stuck at the back and stayed there throughout, Shane Davies and Dave Palmer only getting to eighth and ninth respectively, dropping their team firmly behind the Runners in the points, though the lead scrap did keep them ahead of the rest. That scrap between Dale Hughes of the Condoms and Paul Whiteman of the Runners went right down to the line, a fudged last bend ambush leaving Whiteman and Hughes both struggling for control, then a run to the line leaving Whiteman little alternative. He rammed Hughes, the idea being that Hughes would either spin or crash into the home straight wall, which he did, but not before both cars scraped down the wall and over the line, Hughes clinging to the lead all the way.

Whiteman would eventually take a rather gory Rawlins qualifier ahead of team mate Jason Jackson with Farrington in third before the last car contest kicked off. That was slow to start but would eventually get going on the pit bend, ex-World Champion John Harris would take a head on contest to get the last car award.

Last car: 418 John Harris

Note: Event 6 featured one driver that had already qualified in an earlier heat. Since qualified drivers are not allowed to re-qualify, the place marked with a cross is void. This does not affect the points scored by other drivers in the event.

© 2006 Chris Johnson (Crashnet) / Promotasport Raceways