PRI/ORC National Bangers World Championship 1300 Stock Cars Supreme Championship

National Bangers
This year‘s ORC/PRI National Banger World Championship, held at Arena Essex on September 17, was won by Billy King in a well represented race which could have been written off as processional had it not been for a sensational double roll by the two visiting Irish drivers, Mark Cassidy and Stephen Reynolds.

Cassidy had managed to get pole position in the draw but was soon spun off the front with a succession of leaders including British champion Sean Winchester and Ricky Korpiela. Billy King, holder of the Arena Essex Driver‘s Championship, took over from there, well ahead of the half way flag but not before the roll which saw Cassidy and Reynolds roll over each other on the back straight safety area, just out of turn two. Spedeworth‘s Luke Parfitt was in a good position in second place until, late in the race, he was knocked out by back marker Lee Hughes in a turn four ambush, putting Paul Hunter into second place followed by Paul Whiteman. Parfitt would recover, but not before Dean Goodearl had managed to get past him too.

While the rest of the meeting saw business as usual with the long running team wars, some of the visiting drivers also decided to join in, the first heat particularly good for wrecking as Richie Ahern again managed to get into the final by the back door, though starting him on the front row did make a sure thing more likely. Andrew Davies won the other last chance race, a rather tame affair on the restart following a stoppage for a head on that put Lewis Price out of the meeting. Wayne Cotterrill joined in the search for more metal in the consolation race with a win for Barwick, one of only five cars to finish, whilst the meeting final, which was dedicated to Paul Akehurst, was won by Jason Jackson, almost lapping the field in the process. The Rawlins 2000 went to Mark Marchant with Goodearl picking up the last car award.

1300 Stock Cars
The 1300 Stock Car Supreme Championship, held on September 17 at Arena Essex, was won by Andrew Palmer. He easily took the race after grabbing the lead early on when Derek Mortimer got a little too heavy with a hit on early leader Paul Haralambou, sending both wide on turn three, Neal Gardiner following Paddy through to take second place overall with Alec Mortimer grabbing the other trophy before Delbert came home in fourth ahead of Haralambou.

The two support races also saw a win for Palmer at the expense of Delbert with Paul Griffiths in third in the helter-skelter, but the surprise of the afternoon was left for the sprint race which was won by Wasted Magazine editor and RDC commentator Michael Coventry! The race was mostly occupied with spins and other contact, which kept the action off the lead car, Coventry able to motor away into the distance to get one of the few wins of his 1300 Stock Car career.

Last car: 271 Dean Goodearl

Crashnet Photos

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

© 2006 Chris Johnson (Crashnet) / Promotasport Raceways