37th ORC/PRI National Bangers World Championship 1300cc Stock Cars Supreme Championship

Bangers
There was plenty of controversy in the September 16 meeting at Arena Essex, the 37th ORC/PRI World Championship for National Bangers, the oldest event of its kind in the country, as the title was awarded to Paul Whiteman.

Paul, from Bean in Kent, had led the World Final for a while after early leader Dean Mayes of Spedeworth dropped from the lead with engine trouble, only to be passed by runaway PRI points leader Jason Jackson. Boxer Jack seemed to have the race won until, with the race running down, pole sitter Ian Beaumont turned his car the wrong way on turn three and took the leader out with a classic head-on, allowing Dale Hughes, who had been second by that time, to get to the finish first ahead of Whiteman and 2005 champion Matt Fuller, with Steve Bailey of Autospeed in fourth place. Following post-race checks on Hughes' car, it was found that something had been changed between the pre-meeting scrutineering and the race. Hughes was removed from the result, his car judged to be illegal, and Whiteman was declared the winner. The race itself had to be restarted twice; the first incident occurred on turn three by the pit gate when Malcolm Fuller bounced off the wall and into the traffic, causing John Seex to go over the kerb and roll onto his roof, the second when Steve Thacker of Buxton Raceway was demolished by the bridge bend wall.

Malcolm Fuller had managed to get into the World Final by winning one of the two last chance heats at the start of the meeting, the other going to Sam Trim of Bristol, both races seeing plenty of wrecking action as the Team Black vs. Condom war paid a swift return to the circuit to add to the usual Bad Company vs. Gladiator business, the worst hit being on Andrew Davies who, despite having his car towed off in pieces, managed to resurrect it for a last crash in the Rawlins 2000 event at the end of the day. Michael Seex managed to win the consolation race after the World Final, easily outrunning the field which seemed increasingly intent on destroying itself, as it turned out in the Grand National final with only four cars surviving to the finish including Whiteman who took the trophy, which was awarded by a group representing the Brooklands School, a special needs school in Reigate, and Children In Need. The Rawlins event was eventually won by Dean Goodearl, with second place Ricky Korpiela surviving Ian Smith to take the last car trophy.

1300cc Stock Cars
This years' Supreme Championship for the 1300cc Stock Cars was won by Derry Monk. The Horley ace managed to overcome track points leader Phil Wise in the early stages of the race, leaving him to battle second place with Paul Haralambou and Billy Kavanagh, the places changing with Wise dropping back to fourth at one point before clawing back third place past Kavanagh, Haralambou taking second spot. Day licence driver Marty Colliver won the sprint race, staying far enough out from the front to give eventual second place driver Neal Gardiner an impossible task to catch, while Mitch Terry managed to overcome his own problem, that being his engine which had been a cause for concern earlier in the meeting to win the last race of the day, a "helter-skelter" race, again condemning Gardiner to second place in his distinctive pick-up style Nova.

Sponsored Event
On 4th November, Paddy Palmer will be racing a 29ft Lincoln limousine as part of the 2007 Firecracker XVI meeting. Paddy and wife Joan are raising funds as part of Children in Need for a special needs school in Reigate. The Brooklands School provides for children with severe learning difficulties. The car made an appearance at the September 16 Banger World Final event and donations were taken as Dudley Bear (Pudsey wasn't available, so I was told - the person under the mask was actually banger driver Karl "Blacknuts" Douglas!) and school staff led the finalists to their starting positions.

The school staff, as well as the signwriter that prepared the car and Paddy himself are all giving their free time to help with this project, and the school also sponsored the Grand National race during the September 16 meeting.

Crashnet Photos

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Also see Racepixels for more photos from this meeting.

© 2007 Chris Johnson (Crashnet) / Promotasport Raceways