05/03/2005 - Arena Essex -  2 Litre Bangers Report by Steve and Daniel Stacey PRI’s first meeting for 2 litre bangers attracted 49 cars to the Purfleet circuit. The star car on the day was a nicely turned out, Mazda 929 Estate for 165 Herb Wilson. Other smart cars were a nice Bluebird Estate for 456 Nathan Roberts, 395 Steven Hales team car from last week & 200 Skippy’s Cavalier. Amazingly the Gladiators resurrected 336 Smiffy’s Capri from last weeks team round this time 349 Lewis Price at the helm. 22 cars for a quiet heat 1. The first action was 527 Danny Gardiner being spun into the wall by 3 Terry Peacock, but Peacock was given the same treatment by 543 Mark Telfer. 345 Craig Hewitt was the next driver to be introduced to the wall courtesy of 508 Harry Bradbury only for Bradbury to be hit by 527 Gardiner. The race was won by a hard charging 550 Rob Farringdon. Results:- 1st 550 Rob Farringdon, 2nd 64 Barry Lee,  3rd 395 Steven Hale,  4th 112 Ian Greatrex 5th 49 Billy King,  6th 36 Del Waterman,  7th 327 Chris Worthington,  8th 323 Sam Rigby,  9th 456 Nathan Roberts,  10th 507 Danny Brown There was a larger grid of 26 cars for heat 2 which was again very quiet. 60 Steve Laybourne was t-boned by 139 Sean Fuller, 349 Lewis Price was then spun into the wall by 111 Lee Buckley. 326 Mark Woolner was then hit by 111 Buckley & 539 Michael Outen. 552 Karl Douglas then got in the act by spinning 250 Carl Howard, & also t-boning him . On the last lap Howard was also jacked by 165 Herb Wilson. The race winner was another Condom 47 Andrew Davies. Results :- 1st 47 Andrew Davies, 2nd 539 Michael Outen, 3rd 116 Mark Want, 4th 474 Anthony Oak, 5th 589 Simon Smith, 6th Ian Smith, 7th 4 Mark Burroughs, 8th 326 Mark Woolner, 9th 160 John Harding, 10th Karl Douglas There were 24 cars for the consolation, on the QE 2 bend 346 Kirk Bodnar was t-boned by 165 Herb Wilson this caused a pile up of the following cars. 165 Wilson was then followed in by 139 Sean Fuller. The last action was 200 Skippy launching 527 Danny Gardiner into the wall. This time the race was won by 17 Malcolm Mortimer. Results :- 1st 17 Malcolm Mortimer, 2nd 27 Andy Reynolds, 3rd 174 Dave Osborne, 4th 183 Paul Hunter, 5th 200 Wayne Holton, 6th 508 Harry Bradbury, 7th 567 Gary Brown, 8th 309 Shane Collins, 9th 308 Mick Bradbury, 10th 2 Billy Lee 27 cars made it back out for the final which was a complete rod-fest, there was only one hit of note during the race with 507 Danny Brown being walled by 323 Sam Rigby. But then after the Chequered & red flags 474 Anthony Oak turned around & t-boned 323 Rigby, who then retaliated by giving Oakey a head on. In the race, long time leader 112 Ian Greatrex slowed down & was overtaken by 116 Mark Want & 550 Rob Farringdon, with Wanty taking the win. Results:- 1st 116 Mark Want, 2nd 550 Rob Farringdon, 3rd 112 Ian Greatrex, 4th 47 Andrew Davies, 5th 160 John Harding, 6th 49 Billy King, 7th 183 Paul Hunter, 8th 456  Nathan Roberts, 9th 395 Steven Hale, 10th 589 Simon Smith Last up was the Rawlins into DD race, another quiet race had 323 Sam Rigby t-boning 60 Steve Laybourn. In front of the grandstand 250 Carl Howard hit an unseen car which started up a jacking train, with Howard being done by 4 Mark Burroughs, who in turn was done by 165 Herb Wilson, with the last car in the train being 507 Danny Brown. In the closing stages of the race 550 Rob Farringdon was spun into the wall by 552 Karl Douglas. The race was won by 160 John Harding. Onto the DD & 160 John Harding gave 323 Sam Rigby a big follow in into the wall, but this was swiftly avenged with 336 Smiffy following in Harding. 60 Steve Laybourn was then t-boned by 139 Sean Fuller & 2 Billy Lee. 336 Smiffy then received a couple of t-bones from 552 Douglas then 507 Brown, Brown was then boned by 589 Simon Smith. The last 3 cars running were all Gladiators/Wrekin Krew 336 Smiffy was quickly finished leaving 349 Lewis Price & 589 Smiffy jnr to have one final head-on with neither car backing off & sharing the last car spoils. Amazingly the 349 Capri has now shared the last car award for 2 weeks on the trot. Results:- 1st 160 John Harding, 2nd 47 Andrew Davies, 3rd 49 Billy King Last Car 349 Lewis Price & 589 Simon Smith dead heat. Overall a poor meeting for fans of wrecking, with bigger hits in the previous Group A hot rod races. The Meeting only really burst with the wrecking train in the Rawlins race & a brutal DD.