THE first ever all Ford Ka National Banger event drew a couple of dozen cars to Arena Essex on Sunday and, although Georgie Lee won all the races on offer, the real winners were the crowd, who were treated to some great action.
The highlight of the meeting was the double rollover for Darren Mouser, who launched himself off the car of John Small at the start of the second heat. Darren simply drove away as if nothing had happened! Later in the same race ,Mouser and Small were part of a big wreck up on the pit bend which accounted for many of the runners.
In the final Terri Anderson had her day finished by a big hit from Jack Puddle whilst Georgie Lee did a good deed after he had taken the flag by pushing the car of Jack Deacon across the line to record a finish – Deacon having ground to a halt with a dead engine.
The Destruction Derby was a hard hitting affair with James Head striking first by hitting Jamie Harding head on. Head was then annihilated by two heavy hits from Steve Collings and Karl Douglas. Georgie Lee punted Jordan Edwards into the pit bend wall where he lay prone for a Ka killing hit from Collings. Ricky Hutton finished Collings interest in the event with a big hit, but was unable to find reverse gear quick enough to escape and Ricky Korpiela landed the final hit of the contest to take the win.
Jeffrey Rogers came within an ace of winning his first ever Lightning Rod race, but for a dramatic last lap in the first heat. Richard Warner blew an engine on the back straight and Rogers was the unfortunate one to be the first to find out just how slippery the track had got out of the penultimate turn. He got completely sideways and slid onto the speedway track and then spun back across the track, collecting Richard Norman as he passed, allowing Nigel Carroll to sweep around the outside of everyone to take an entirely unexpected win! The Norman brothers dominated proceedings from then on, with Richard taking a heat win and Steven just holding off his brother to take the final.
Last lap dramas also affected the Stock Rod final. Jon Turvey probably had a right to feel aggrieved when the combined weight of Richard Haines and Carl Shackleford nudged him sufficiently wide to allow Haines a gap up the inside. Turvey tried to shut the door on Haines, but they both clipped the speedway track and lost momentum, allowing Shackleford to take to the outside and the victory. To further add to Turvey’s woe, Haines and double heat winner, Dale Atkins both demoted him at the flag.
The Mini Stox had to suffer the worst of the track conditions in heat one with oil from the car of Archie Fryatt mixing with a wet track to make it like a skating rink. Car after car added itself to the turn one car park resulting in a stoppage. Lauren Overy took a fairly trouble free run to the flag at the restart. Heat two saw Josh Rayner take the spoils whilst the final also needed a stoppage after a crash on the pit turn from Ben Nicholls. James Waite took a dominant win at the restart with Steph Sore and Lauren Overy the best part of half a lap in arrears.
The next action at Arena Essex comes over the weekend of 18th/19th July with the annual Stunt Show on the Saturday night followed by the incredibly popular Caravan Race on Sunday. Entries have been flooding in for the Caravans and the race will be the culmination of a full day of contact motorsport contested by the PRI Bangers, Junior Bangers, 2L Stock Cars and Mini Stox. Start time 1pm.
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