main dashboard

Arena Essex Raceway

1.00pm , Sunday, 20 May - National Bangers Bob Kitchener Memorial plus Super Bangers, Lightning Rods Dave Meningen Memorial & Supreme Q/R 2 for Stock Rods/Group A Hot-Rods
Gates open at 10:00 AM
Admission prices on the gate - Adults: £13.00, Children: £6.50 (under 5's free), Family: £35.00, Concessions: £6.50
No need to pre-book. Purchase tickets at the gate. 

It's about this time of year when our thoughts turn back to some of our past circuit heroes. For the Lightning Rods, it's Dave Meningen and for the National Bangers, it's Bob Kitchener. To that end, end of the formulas will be doing that little bit extra today in their memory. The Group A/Stock Rods will also be doing a little bit more, though in their case it's all about getting the best result they can toward their starting grid position on this years' Supreme Championship grid. We also have the SuperBangers.
It's our fifth running of the Bob Kitchener Memorial. It's a meeting that certainly was something to remember last year, especially Danny Guidotti and John Harris who met up in a spectacular head on by the start line mid-meeting! John certainly emerged smiling from the remains of his car – as a certain magazine once had it; Smile On Impact! The Guidotti family were (and I believe still are) neighbours with the Kitcheners, one of a number of families that gathered to pay tribute to the “Rock and Roll Granddad” at the start of the meeting last year, all decked out in the Clockwork Orange colours that Bob raced in during the closing part of his racing career. I'm told by another neighbour, Dave “The Windowcleaner” (show me a sane man, I'll cure him for you!) that son Rob is preparing a car for today, one of a few of the remaining CWO drivers that makes the trip out. Not that these are the only drivers that pay their tribute to Bob each year.
Our most recent bit of Lightning Rod action was the ORC English Championship which was a fantastic display of racing with a good turnout, something that isn't so common around the various circuits that run this 2l Sierra based formula these days. Whether that is something to do with the problems of finding a suitable car to race, given that the Sierra has been out of production for so long now, or that racing these days isn't as cheap as it once was, or that the formula just isn't as popular as it was back when Dave Meningen was racing, I couldn't say, but on the odd occasion such as the English, we get a glimpse of what Lightning Rod racing was like in its heyday. Today's meeting, however, has a pretty good history of its own, with thrills and spills aplenty. Just ask the Reeves boys about how they finished last year, for example!
The Group A/Stock Rod formula is not here for a memorial today (they get theirs a bit later in the season) but they do have an important mission to complete today should they choose to accept it! The formula has certainly taken off this year, each successive meeting improving on the last with drivers appearing not just from the ranks of the stock rod but with a few folk from the Group A past popping up too. Not that Nick Hill got any success when he was here – the car is a vital factor in this formula and Nick's car just wasn't up to it. The same couldn't be said for Steve Gooch in his appearance in our last meeting where he tore up the track as though the very hounds of hades (or Lambs of hell, possibly?) were bellowing up his exhaust! With some promising new talent such as former Ministocker, Jamie Lee Callis, this formula has really lit up again. Not that the SuperBangers are being left behind either. This was a formula that was in danger of being cut a couple of years ago for lack of interest. With some behind the scenes work and a few new drivers, this formula took off again in the middle of last year and doesn't appear to be looking back, unless you count what happens when you get spun (then looking back down the track is quite natural!) When the rain hits, more often than not, you will tend to see veteran Super driver Brian Jarvis cutting through the field to win, but get the track dry and you never know who will take the trophy, and it's that uncertainty and the competition that goes with it that has really brought this formula back to life.
And so we look forward to the next couple of weeks at Arena Essex, cracking off this Thursday with Drift Car practice from 4-9pm, bookings from the Arena Essex office at £40 per car. We get a bit of a break here on four wheels other than that over this period but don't forget the Speedway on Friday June 1 (more details on the back cover).
We're back on Sunday June 4 starting at 1pm with more from the National Bangers and Lightning Rods along with 1300cc Stock Cars and Ministox. See you then!
Click here for more fixtures.
Click here for more fixtures.
Tavern and function room hire

The Lakeside Hammers speedway captain, Lee Richardson, died today in Poland as a result of injuries sustained in a racing accident.

Our thoughts are with his family at this most sad of times and we know that all fans will share our total devastation at this tragic news.

Further information is available via the Lakeside Hammers website.