IN a sensational twist of fortune, Jamie Hopkins bounced back from a huge rollover in a qualifying heat to win the Junior Banger final at Arena Essex on Sunday.
Hopkins and the closely following Charlie Murrell met with a slow moving Samuel Voller in heat two and as they both pulled out to pass, Murrell tipped Hopkins into a spin. Hopkins car rolled towards the barrier with Murrell’s car also rearing up for a moment as Hopkins rollover ended with a high speed trip along the back straight on his side.
At the restart Murrell was dealt swift revenge with a big hit from Joey Holmes, who followed him all the way into the fence and into a rollover of his own. Simultaneously, Ellis Hopkins attempted a similar move on Ronny Gillett as revenge for an earlier spin, but probably took more damage herself as Gillett backed her into the fence. Alfie Jones and Bradley Lee were the heat winners.
The final started with a bang as Ellis Hopkins perfected her technique and took in the unfortunate Chloe McDonald, who had earlier been the first rollover victim of the day. Somehow the earlier instances of cars being followed into the fence had slipped under the radar, but Ellis was correctly disqualified at this point, although she chose to ignore the black flags being waved at her. Justice took its own hand though as she found herself upside down on the exit of turn two after being tipped over by Samuel Voller!
At the restart, the battered car of Hopkins spun Ben Raby out to take the lead, narrowly avoiding being taken into the home straight barrier as he did so. Raby recovered, but only for third place, Bradley Lee making it into second.
Numbers were slightly down on the norm in the senior PRI Bangers, although there were still enough cars for two qualifying heats, won by Danny Brett and Micky Cornish – the latter most surprised to inherit the win after the top three were all found with illegal wheels/tyres.
The consolation was stopped in the early laps after a heavy collision between Debbie Taylor and Jordan Webb left both requiring recovery time. Two victims of the post race scrutineering failures after heat two then made up for their disappointment, Paul Whiteman winning the restarted consolation whilst Karl Davis romped away to win the final.
The Ford Focus of Jamie Harding was unstoppable in the Destruction Derby, the car perhaps proving itself to be a little too strong for the class, the biggest wrecks from the earlier races also occurring after a collision with one of the handful of Focus’s present.
The PRI Bangers return on Easter Sunday along with a good looking programme of 2L Stock Cars, Mini Stox and Lightning Rods. Meanwhile Easter Monday features the Micro National Banger Team racing, Junior Bangers, Stock Rods and the Ninja Sprints. That’s two great meetings over Easter, start time 1pm both days.
