HEAD to Head Banger Team Racing returned to Arena Essex on Sunday with a large crowd on hand to witness the Midnight Runners take a dramatic victory.
Heat one pitted the long distance travellers, the North Cornwall Motor Club against Ringwood Raceway and the two teams came to blows on the exit of the pit bend with a huge pile up necessitating a complete restart. Cornwall took the victory at the restart with Dan Smith completing the laps as his team mates dealt with the last remaining Ringwood car – Reece Fields.
Heat two saw the long running fued between the Cream Team and the Gladiators come to a head with both teams agreeing to field both their A and B Teams together, making it potentially a 16 vs 16 car encounter, although the Creams failed to grid three of their cars. This made all the difference with the Cream Teams brave fight being brought down with a series of huge crashes on the pit bend, Dale Hughes taking the victory for the Gladiators.
Heat three pitted the two favourites together with the Midnight Runners vs TMT. Tom Waller put on a brave performance for TMT, but with his rear wheel hanging on by a thread he was powerless to prevent a huge T-Bone from Jason Jackson which terminated his race. Mark Marchant was going well for TMT and as well as being the last man standing he was leading the race too, but then with yards to go to the flag he was stopped head on by Andrew Jones and then destroyed by a succession of hits from Jackson, Dave Bull, Scott Cornish and Jones. Paul Whiteman duly took the win for the Midnight Runners.
The final heat saw Ringwood given another chance, this time against Stansted Raceway. After a series of collisions only Alex Ganter remained for Ringwood, but he managed to evade capture and Stansted was soon down to one car too with Jamie Pickett several laps ahead of Ganter. That means little in Banger though, but Ganter’s last ditch attempt to stop him on the last corner failed, allowing Pickett to secure a final berth for his team.
The consolation turned out to be the race of the day with plenty of representation from both the Cream Team and TMT. The two teams battled hard and TMT’s Tom Waller forced his way through the mass of cars on the exit of the last bend only for his motor to die a few feet from the finish line. To the delight of the crowd, Micky Maskell managed to free himself from the pile up and push his team mate across the line to secure qualification for the final.
After an emotional release of hundreds of balloons in memory of Maya Ford, the little girl who inspired the meeting and the fund raising efforts on the day for the Meningitis Research Foundation, the final got underway with a huge grid of cars.
It soon became clear that it was a straight fight between the Midnight Runners and the Gladiators with both teams meeting on the pit bend. Dale Hughes looked on course for the win for the Gladiators until an alert Paul Whiteman turned around and stopped him on the last bend, sparking off a series of collisions which uniquely saw Dale wrecked by his brother Lee (in opposing teams for the day) and World Champion, Scott Cornish victim to a huge crash from Callum White. Despite being pitched up onto two wheels as he made his way through the final bend debris, Lee Hughes took the win for the Midnight Runners. TMT took the runners up spot with the Gladiators salvaging third.
The Destruction Derby was a fantastic end to the day with Charlie Daniels surviving an assualt from Simon Smith which saw the latter roll his car into the pit bend chaos. He was fairly powerless however to prevent Dave Osborn from securing the win with a big crash which reduced the wheel-base of his car by some considerable amount.
Essex Championships for both the Stock Rods and the Lightning Rods were also on the schedule. Dale Atkins won heat and final on his way to the former title whilst track champion, Wayne Shackleford fell victim to a guided missile in the form of Tommy Parker in a heat and then lost a wheel within sight of the flag in the final. Pole position man, Anthony Lawrence was bundled backwards in the early stages of the Lightning Rod Essex Championship race. Nigel Carroll lead from flag to flag with Steven Norman allowing his brother Richard through into second to take on the ultimately fruitless pursuit of Carroll.
The next action at Arena Essex is on 16th August when the National Bangers return for Round three of their World Qualifying series and their Essex Championship. The 2L Stock Cars, Mini Stox and Stock Rods are also on the bill at the usual start time – 1pm.
