Ray Morton had his gating skills to thank as he scooped the annual Essex championship at the Purfleet Raceway.

On an evening of high drama and one or two nasty crashes, the Isle of Wight rider soared through in the final ahead of Arena Essex's Troy Pratt and Phil Morris of Reading.

The key was his semi-final victory over Morris, Arena's Savalas Clouting and Michael Coles, which gave him the option of choosing the favoured gate three.

In the final he powered out ahead of the pack, but a fall from Jan Pedersen - which earned him an exclusion - caused the race to be re-run. Even so, there was no comeback for the others on the restart, with only Pratt coming to within a couple of bike lengths of the speedy Isle of Wight rider.

Morton's victory was also aided by the absence of the defending champion, Arena's Colin White, who was forced to pull out owing to a family illness.

His place was taken by Newport's Chris Neath, who joined the other 11 riders in competing in four races in the first round stage.

In the early stages it was fast-starting Scott Swain who caught the eye, with only Pratt managing to steal a heat win from the in-form visitor.

But he was eliminated in the semi-final by Danish rider Pedersen, who sneaked through after two laps to make the final alongside Pratt.

Of the remaining Arena riders, Gary Corbett was taken to the medical centre after a smash with Pedersen in heat 11 and Justin Elkins had yet more mechanical problems.

Qualifying scores: Swain 11, Pedersen 10, Morton 10, Coles 8, Clouting 6, Morris 6, Neath 6, Pratt 6, Howe 4, Evans 3, Corbett 2, Elkins 0.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.