It was a sunny, but cold day at PR1MO International Raceway on Easter Monday, but the drivers in all four formulas certainly did their best to warm the crowd up with some fantastic racing.

Ady Taylor (624) was the star of the show in the Stock Rods, which boasted a good grid of cars throughout the grades. Ady, who has had little luck and poor results of late, could do no wrong and promptly posted a 3 race maximum score which will elevate him instantly to Blue grade, before a possible red roof in the May gradings. Gareth Barton (874), star of the Birmingham meeting in March went close in heat 1, and the first outing in 2013 for Dave Paterson (900) gained him valuable points with a 2nd in heat 2 and third in the final. Mark Barber (755) had a good day too, getting better each race with a 5th, 3rd and then runners up spot in the Final.

The Oval Track Legends staged Round 2 of their 16 round Points season and it was side by side action all the way in another great session for the 5/8th scale American cars. Aaron Lee (272) took heat 1 just ahead of the fast charging Ian Hales (6), who was recovering from a disastrous first meeting at Hednesford a couple of weeks ago; Jon Evans (11) was third in his first race of the season.
Jon took heat 2 ahead of Ian Hales, with Aaron Lee completing the top three this time – could the same three dominate the 30 lap final too?
Well, almost! Stuart Radley with a stunning new paint scheme on the 62 car took the lead on lap 1 and retained this until lap 9 when Jon Evans, followed by Aaron Lee went through – it took just one more lap for Ian Hales to join the other two, but this time, Peter Amas (33) was there too and he ‘gate crashed’ the top three party of the day. Hales took the lead mid race with a stunning move on turn three, but he failed to notice a fight back on turn 2 of the following lap from Evans, which caught the eye of the Stewards for a video review at the end of the race. Hales took the flag by a ‘country mile’ from Evans and Amas in third, but the decision to penalise Ian following a Stewards enquiry, dropped him two, so for the second meeting running, the result of the big race of the day was decided in Race Control. Jon Evans was therefore declared the winner, Pete Amas promoted to second and Ian Hales third – a great days racing for the Legends – they move to Birmingham next time for their Midland Championship.

The Junior Bangers were without doubt the stars of the show! 2012 Points Champion, Ben Lund (201) was in his final meeting, which should have been ay Birmingham on 23rd March, but the snow put paid to that – having turned 16 on 31st March, due to the unusual circumstances, he was allowed to make his final appearance in the Juniors, before he embarks into his Adult racing career, initially in Modstox in the popular I Factor Series. He celebrated in fine style too to take a lively Heat 1, with plenty of action provided by the youngsters.
Heat two was won convincingly by Joe Parsons (25), but his eagerness to make a good start was thought to be outside of the spirit of the rules and was demoted to third place, leaving James Head (284) as the winner.
The Midland Championship Final was started in points order, with Ben Lund heading the field. It wasnt long before the challenge came from Joe Parsons and he never looked back, winning the title from Ben Lund and Ton Castle (815) in third. Tyler Wilkin (330) was officially placed fourth, having finished 2nd , but he became the second driver to be docked for a jump start. A great days racing from the Juniors!

The Senior section of the Bangers certainly had something to follow each time and the 20+ strong field didn’t disappoint either! Barry Staples (23) took heat 1 from Joey Holmes (90) and Heat 2 was saw Trevor Perry (471) take the win, this time on his own, following his Bride and Groom exploits with Sarah Davies on Saturday at Birmingham Wheels.
The Final however was taken by Alistair Camp (610) ahead of Trevor Perry and Mike Watts in 710. It really was a lively session of racing from the Banger boys, who always put on a great show at the PR1MO Raceway, Northampton.