Arena Essex Raceway, Thurrock, Essex

Fixtures - Review of recent meetings



Monday, 04 May 2015 - PRI Bangers plus Junior Bangers, 2L Stock Cars and Ministox
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Bank Holiday Monday was a superb meeting, with plenty of action action in every formula. The Mini Stox probably stole the formula of the day title, with a trio of races that had the big crowd buzzing. 14 year old, Steph Sore served notice of what was to come and instantly justified the write up I gave her in the programme that day, by winning the first heat ahead of the soon to be retiring duo of Sophie Fasey and Harry Steward. Lauren Overy had just taken the lead of heat two when it was brought to a halt by a rollover from Incarace visitor Craig Eltham. With the result taken to the last completed lap, Marcus Reeve was instead awarded the win. Eltham was unharmed, but his mum was on hand to remind us of the significance of the May 4th date. On that day last year we were witness to a high speed head on collision up at Northampton, with Craig on the receiving end of that too. The team have vowed to never again go racing on May 4th! Craig's brother, Bradley, made his debut on Bank Holiday Monday, the two identical cars looking resplendent on the grid. Bradley didn't have much luck unfortunately, becoming part of a start line shunt during the final. That shunt also accounted for Kieron Rowe, who required another check over by the medics, thankfully he was unharmed except for bruises. Harry Steward and Charlie Morphey clashed for the second time of the day as the red flags came out and that might have had a bearing on what was to come next. When the final did get underway we saw David Shearing put Jack Goldsmith into the fence very hard, undoubtedly a revenge shot for the last meeting when Shearing was knocked out by the force of Goldsmith's fencing. Hopefully this feud won't escalate any further as both crashes were a little excessive. The feuds weren't to end there either. Morphey slowed in front of Steward and began to lose him places before Steward eventually managed to shake himself free, but another stoppage was required when Abbie McGuiness backed into the wall on the exit of turn four. At the restart Morphey toured around and we assumed he was looking for Steward, but he instead pushed Fasey hard into turn three, losing her time and allowing Steph Sore and Luke Dorling to race past Fasey. Suddenly there was a lap shootout for the win and all three attacked the penultimate bend with Dorling getting launched into a huge rollover off the kerb whilst Fasey spun to a halt. Despite the rollover, the race ran to its conclusion with Sore unchallenged over the remainder of the lap. Despite being a victim to Morphey's delaying tactics earlier in the race, Harry Steward took advantage of the last lap sort out to came home in second with Lauren Overy third. The PRI Bangers provided three lively races won by Chris Whiteman, Mark Carroll and Ricky Deans. The meeting featured a return for Amanda Harris, who hadn't raced at the venue for the best part of a decade, she took a third place in her heat. Having less luck was Roy Rawlins, the veteran getting spun into the armco at the start of his heat, not to reappear. The Destruction Derby provided Micky Hamer with the wreck of the day courtesy of Darren Briggs, Ricky Deans followed up his final win with victory here too, just outlasting Tom Greenstreet, Paul Korpiela and Dave Smith. John Gillman managed two separate rollovers in the Junior Bangers. I missed the second rollover but luckily my 7 year old son Lewis was on hand in the crowd down on turn four with my spare camera, so we reproduce his fine effort. I couldn't have done any better myself - what exactly are the child labour laws again? It was very much a day for the Murrell cousins. Jamie winning heat and final whilst Charlie and Joe had podium finishes too. Alfie Jones won his heat and then looked on course for final victory until an attempt to spin Charlie Murrell saw him delayed. Bradley Lee took second with Jones recovering for third. Jay Barker had a quick hospital visit but was thankfully unharmed after his first ever race ended with a hard shunt from Reece Jackson. Meanwhile Samuel Voller provided plenty of entertainment, despite going it alone he wasn't fearful of going up against the Midnight Runner team mates, or the Murrell cousins. His day was ended with another big crash from Jackson. Glenn White dominated the Stock Car final. The Ringwood based driver in a smartly re-liveried machine which we believe was the former Dan Langley car. White has raced Bangers and 1300cc Stock Cars in the past and has always favoured the Stockies. After returning from a long period out in Australia the 2 Litre class seemed to tick all the boxes for him and he has taken to the formula very well indeed. In the final, White was well clear of a great battle for second place. Steve Davies, Phil Wise, Dave Palmer, Brian Jarvis and Matt Fuller were battering each other on each bend until both Fuller and Wise suffered spins. That was just the beginning of a great recovery drive for Fuller who managed to get back to third place behind Davies by the end. The numbers were a little down following the ongoing political dispute, but we hear of plenty of other cars and drivers waiting in the wings which will boost numbers. Whether Darryl (The Barrell) Theedom finds himself in trouble for the unnecessary follow in he dished out to Andy Oliver we will perhaps find out, we can only assume it was payback for something that happened down at Ringwood, but whether that is the case or not the action is lively enough without such illegal manoeuvring. Some experimentation went on last time out with various tyre makes. The aim is to get a cheap tyre that can last about 5 meetings that can be brought in as a control tyre for the class. Better to spend £20 on each corner rather than the £100 rubber that some National Banger racers are running! Captions: Steph Sore won a dramatic Mini Stox final on Bank Holiday Monday It's May 4th, so disaster for Craig Eltham is inevitable. There he goes.... Luke Dorling rolls his car as longtime leader Sophie Fasey spins out of the lead. Glenn White took his smart car to Stock Car Final victory last time. John Gillman managed to rollover twice during the afternoons events. Photo by Lewis Clarke-Bull - age 7. Micky Hamer took home the biggest wreck after the Destruction Derby, courtesy of Darren Briggs.


Sunday, 05 July 2015	Chick Woodroffe Memorial Meeting Featuring All KA Micro National Bangers plus Ministox, Lightning Rods Supreme Q/R 3 and Stock Rods Supreme Q/R 3
Sunday, 07 June 2015	National Bangers W/Q round 2 plus Ministox, Lightning Rods and Stock Rods
Monday, 25 May 2015	PRI Bangers plus, Stock Rods Supreme Q/R 2, Ministox and Junior Bangers
Sunday, 17 May 2015	All MPV (people carriers) National Bangers plus 2L Stock Cars, Stock Rods and Lightning Rods Supreme Q/R 2
Monday, 04 May 2015	PRI Bangers plus Junior Bangers, 2L Stock Cars and Ministox
Sunday, 19 April 2015	National Bangers W/Q Round 1 plus Stock Rods, Lightning Rods and Grand Prix Midgets Southern Championship
Monday, 06 April 2015	Micro National Bangers 4 Man Teams plus Junior Bangers, Stock Rods Supreme Q/R 1 and Ninja Sprints
Sunday, 05 April 2015	PRI Bangers plus Ministox, Lightning Rods Supreme Q/R 1 and 2L Stock Cars
Sunday, 22 March 2015	PRI Bangers plus Junior Bangers, Lightning Rods and Stock Rods
Sunday, 08 March 2015	Open Shakedown X featuring National Bangers Unlimited Overs and 2L Unders plus Ministox and 2L Stock Cars

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