2001

11th August, Arena Essex, Rolling Thunder Show

14 Midgets made the 4th in the Rolling Thunder Series, John Bilby, Chris Phillips, Joe Bourn and Gary Bonner all making a first appearance in the series. The few extra cars made for closer racing, with some different names in the top placings too. Rob Sayell to make it 3 out if 3 in the finals coming in second in the Grand Final. Indeed his form was down on his usual Rolling Thunder showings with only 3rd and 6th placesin the heats respectively. Joe Bourn had a good night winning the first heat, second in Heat 2 and taking a third in the trophy final. But man of the match was recent returnee Gary Bonner who took both the second heat and the Trophy final. "It was certainly worth hanging on for he said as he admired the very night trophy!". Heat One had seen a run away for Joe Bourn with almost half a lap lead at one stage. Gary Bonner tried hard to simulate Joe's example in heat two but Joe never really let go and thus Gary had to put in some fast driving to stay ahead for the flag. Both heats saw a fair bit of congestion further back with the star men pretty evenly matched and therefore circulating en bloc much of the time. The final saw Rob Sayell much more determined and he did eventually break the deadlock to give chase to the now long gone Bonner and Bourn. He closed the gap quite rapidly once free of the pack taking Bourn by surprise and literally only a metre or so behind Bonner at the flag. Given his bad luck at Buxton the week before Sayell must have been happy to find the rebuilt gearbox was okay. Eric Walker's 2 wins the previous week saw him upgraded automatically to red grade and he found that the few yards on the grid could make a big difference commenting later that he was not used to so much traffic so early in the race. All in all the Midgets have enjoyed the slightly different format of the show and are thought to be considering up to 5 shows next year.

Heat One: 9 Joe Bourn, 77 Neil Clarke, 10 Rob Sayell, 61 John Bilby, 12 Chris Phillips, 16 Andrew Bilby, 43 Eric Walker, 78 Barry Goldsby