ROY Rawlins came out on top of the PRI Banger racing pack at Arena Essex on Sunday, the veteran racer winning the final, although he came very close to being collected by a big crash on the home straight when Jamie and Bradley Powers clashed with Rhys Waters, sending Rawlins onto the shale in avoidance.
Jayden Anderson was one of the stars of the show, giving and taking some big crashes throughout the afternoon, including warring with the heat one winner, T-Jay Powers and Danny Mitchell in the final.
Darryl Theedom dished out the biggest two hits of the afternoon, firstly to Grant Kilburn, who was wrecked in the early stages of heat one and then Jordan Webb in heat two, Theedom’s car snapping and rolling on impact with the local Grays racer.
The Destruction Derby was a short but brutal affair. Anderson once again became the centre of attention with Karl Jarvis attacking his front end and Antoni Colby attacking him in the side. Jake Barnes hit Craig Stansfield before taking a big hit himself from Terry Smith. Smith and Colby then settled it with a head on collision, Colby taking the win.
With the top places in the Mini Stox Track Championship very much up for grabs, Charlie Morphey, Steph Sore and Harry Overy clearly had eyes on each other as they battled throughout the afternoon. Each had a spin along the way and their battling kept them out of the places in the heats, which both went the way of Tony Elbourn. But despite some physical stuff in the early laps, the cream rose to the top in the final with Sore just keeping clear of Morphey and Overy by flagfall. The final saw a couple of close encounters on the home straight. Archie Fryatt and Mike Dobney both suffered spins which left them facing the wrong way. Fryatt escaped unharmed but Dobney was dealt a blow by the chasing pack, headed by Ryan Mayling. Dobney was unhurt and happy to pose with a piece of his bumper as a "trophy" from his day.
The Stock Rod Supreme Championship saw a flag to flag victory for Tony Perfect. Perfect beat pole position man, Luke Oliver away at the drop of the green flag and was never challenged, whilst Wayne Shackleford held off Matt Rowling for third. The two heats were closer affairs with Carl Shackleford and Jordan Wainwright taking the wins. The battle behind Wainwright was particularly fraught, Stuart Langridge doing well to keep the pack behind, including Wayne Shackleford, who performed a very impressive two wheeled stunt whilst defending his place from Richard Haines. Unfortunately the steward deemed Langridge’s defence a little too robust and removed him from the result.
For a variety of reasons the Lightning Rods were very short of numbers but it was good to see debuts for Joe Daly and Craig Rose. Rob Merritt has found some good pace in testing recently and lead the first heat for a good while. Unfortunately he hit oil laid down by the expiring car of Anthony Lawrence and spun to a halt. Lee Hall held off the duelling duo of Connor Reeve and Richard Norman to the flag, and repeated the same act in heat two. Hall’s luck ran out in the final where a clash with Nigel Carroll in the early stages allowed Richard Norman to quickly sprint clear.
The next action at Arena Essex is this Sunday 6th September when the National Bangers take a "back to basics" approach, which should hopefully provide a good entry. The Lightning Rod Supreme Championship and Mini Stox are also on the bill, all at the usual start time of 1pm.
