19th February 2017
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ESSEX JUNIOR BANGER CHAMPIONSHIP
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Today saw the first ever Essex Championship, held entirely for the Junior racers (under 16's). Twenty four youngster attended, all hoping to raise the trophy at the end of the afternoon! With a great array of Juniors on show, we were in for a fun afternoon. Some lovely looking cars on show, and congratulations to 999 Peter Townsend and 317 Ben Sanders for winning the Smart Car awards.
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HEAT ONE
Luke Bicknell, Brandon Davies, John Foley, Jess Fuller, Jay Hennessey, Sonny Holtom, Caitlyn Howard, Taylor-Jay Liles, Josh Mackey, Robert Pinnell, Ruby Ree, and Billy Sandford.
ROUND ONE - and the battle began! A brilliant start for Jess and Josh, racing bumper to bumper for most of the race resulted in them finishing on splits, with Jess taking the chequered flag and Josh 2nd place. Coming home in 3rd place was Billy with 26 laps and finishing 4th was Taylor-Jay with 21 laps. With 19 lap, Jay took 5th place, and 6th was Brandon.
ROUND TWO - and another close encounter for Jess and Josh, again finishing on splits, but it was Josh that crossed the line in 1st place this time, with Jess finishing 2nd. Billy came home in 3rd once more, with 26 laps, and 25 laps placed Taylor-Jay in 4th. Finishing 5th with 19 laps was Sonny, and 6th place went to Luke.
ROUND THREE - and yet again Jess and Josh were almost chained together! Josh crossed the line just a cat's whisker in front of Jess, giving him the win and Jess 2nd place. Third place went to Taylor-Jay with 27 laps and coming home in 4th was Billy with 23 laps. Sonny finished with 15 laps in 5th place, and with 15 laps, Ruby finished in 6th.
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HEAT TWO
Charlie Aylward, Jack Aylward, Jack Booker, Jak Conyard, Joe Dobbs, Lucie Donovan, Alfie Dye, Draven Ellis, Alfie Ford, Ben Sanders, Peter Townsend, and Zac McIntosh.
ROUND ONE - A flying start for Jack B, with the Aylward brother hot on his heels. Jack managed to stay just ahead and took the chequered flag, with Charlie coming home 2nd with 29 laps and Jack A finishing 3rd with 24 laps. Alfie F took 4th place with 24 laps, Joe came home in 5th place with 22 laps, and 21 laps gave Jak 6th place.
ROUND TWO - Jack B took off, with the hope of securing another win, but Charlie beat him to the finish line and Jack came home in 2nd place, a lap behind. Joe came home in 3rd place with 28 laps, and Alfie F finished 4th with 27 laps. Draven had a great run with 23 laps and finished 5th, and taking 6th place with 19 laps was Alfie D.
ROUND THREE - Charlie was again the first one across the finish line, with Jack B following him to take 2nd place with 29 laps. Jack A came home in 3rd place on splits with Joe in 4th, both with 26 laps. Ben completed 25 laps to take 5th place, and 6th place went to Jak with 24 laps.
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FINAL
An all-in final saw 21 juniors take to the track and lined up in points order. A great race, and a great achievement for the top runner, managing to get through all the carnage. Luke managed just 5 laps to finish in 21st place, with Lucie completing 7 laps to come home in 20th place. Alfie D also completed 7 laps, just ahead, and finished in 19th place. Robert came home in 18th place with 11 laps, and 12 laps saw Peter take 17th. In 16th place was Brandon with 14 laps, and in 15th place was Sonny with 16 laps. Caitlyn came home in 14th place with 18 laps, and Zak completed 20 laps to finish 13th. Crossing the line in 12th place with 23 laps was Jay, with Ben just a touch in front, also with 23 laps, taking 11th place. Jak, Alfie F and Joe all finished with 26 laps, with Jak in 10th place, Alfie F in 9th place and Joe in 8th place. Crossing the line in 7th place was Billy with 28 laps. Split timing separated Charlie in 6th place, and Taylor-Jay in 5th place, both with 36 laps. Just one lap ahead of them, taking 4th place was Jack A, and lifting the 3rd place trophy was Jack B with 37 laps. A fight to the end made this a hard run race for the remaining two. Both Josh and Jess pushed hard, but split timing finally placed Jess in 2nd place and Josh lifted the winner's trophy to be crowned ESSEX JUNIOR CHAMPION 2017! Congratulation Josh, you did really well, as too did you Jess, you made him fight for it! Well done all who took place today, an excellent meeting and some terrific racing.
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DD
Lots of carnage and damaged received by all, but congratulations to Jack Booker for managing to survive long enough to become last man running and taking the winners trophy for the DD.
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