UNLIMITED Banger World Champion, Jason “Boxer Jack” Jackson, lasted just long enough to win the hardest hitting Destruction Derby of the season at Arena Essex on Sunday. Just as the crowd were giving him a justified round of applause around his victory lap, his car burst into flames in protest at its rough treatment.
Unusually Jackson hadn’t won any of the preceeding races on the day, the heat races being shared by brothers Georgie and Alfie Lee and Cream Team stalwart, Nathan Roberts. Jack Tuffen won the final, bringing to an end Alfie Lee’s run of final victories. Jackson instead concentrated on dishing out some heavy crashes, with his demolition of Buster Hutchins particularly notable.
Father and son, Stuart and Jordan Cumming, found themselves up against Dean Goodearl and his team mates. Seriously outnumbered they suffered some heavy damage in their first heat, but repaired for the destruction derby where they managed to dish out as many hits as they received.
The Destruction Derby came down to a battle between members of the Cream Team and the Midnight Runners with Wayne Burns being the last man standing for the former team, in fact his car was still running but in such a state that the marshals decided it would be too dangerous for him to take any more hits, so he eventually climbed clear to a good reception from the crowd. This left Scott Cornish and Jason Jackson battling for the win with both trading hits around the whole raceway, eventually a large head on collision on the pit bend was Cornish’s downfall and Jackson was able to back away and get partway round the oval before his car burst into flames.
Steve Norman took a heat and final double in the Lightning Rods. Chris Reeve was able to fight his way past Norman for the other heat win whilst the allcomers race at the end of the day proved to be the best race of the meeting. Kiereen Thomas held of Reeve and the rest for the whole distance with cars tripping over each other in their pursuit of him. Reeve did get alongside but was eventually shuffled back through the pack with Peter Waite grabbing second on the line.
The Junior Mini Stox saw Harry Steward steal a march on his rival at the top of the points chart, Ryan Polley. Polley had a troublesome day which started with a spin into the armco in heat one, courtesy of Sadie Betts. Both heats featured the same result, Steward winning with Marcus Reeve and Dan Newman following. The final had a slightly different script with an oil slick catching out many on turn two which caused a brief stoppage whilst cars and oil were cleared. Reeve and Polley were amongst the spinners and this allowed Steward to win, with Newman second and Alfie Jones third. The allcomers race at the end was a Morphey family benefit with Charlie taking his first win in the class from his more experienced brother, Will.
This Sunday at Arena Essex the Rookie Bangers return for another day of crashing at the Thurrock venue with the event dedicated to the memory of former racer, Bob Kitchener. The Rookies last appearance on May 6th was one of the highlights of the season so far. With SuperBangers and Stock Rods in support this is a meeting not to miss. Start time 1:30pm.
