Chris Haird made his first visit to Ipswich along with the rest of the National Hot Rod circus since his emphatic victory under the blazing July sunshine however under the blazing Foxhall floodlights it all ended in virtual tears, broken cars and plenty of finger-wagging on the last lap of a pulsating grand final writes Kevin Wegg.

The nationals have been brilliant all year providing an entertaining mix of close, fast, racing with plenty of door handle rubbing plus on this occasion fireworks as well when Colin Gomm spilled burning fuel after being caught by James O’Shea in race one. Luke Armiger took a comfortable win but the real excitement was further back as series points leader Willie Hardie spun and slammed in to the wall before Haird drove superbly round the outside of the field to take second place. Dick Hillard had a heart-stopping moment at the start of heat two careering across the shale and skidding back on to the tarmac just missing the pack. Later in the race he attempted to roar up the inside of the race leaders only to send cars spinning in all directions and earned himself a load-up in the process. Terry Hunn decisively took that one and Armiger would have done so in heat three until backmarkers spun in front of him forcing him to spin and hand the win to Dickie Burtenshaw. The level of contact had definitely been simmering in the heats and sure enough boiled over in the final which produced some great racing and competition throughout the field mind but ultimately came down to a decisive three lap conclusion. Hunn had worked hard to keep the lead and latterly Maxwell but as the last lap board came out a superb outside pass had wrestled the lead away. Meanwhile Chris Haird had made a storming run from the back and was right in the mix and seemingly ready to pounce when suddenly Hunn spun on the back straight collecting Haird in the process who smashed in to the fence. Instantly the red flags came out and the result was taken from the last completed lap, minus Hunn, who appeared somewhat unlucky to be removed from the result.

The Stock Rod entry was boosted by a strong Scottish presence who underlined their intentions in the first race (drawn grid) with Robert McDonald finishing very strongly behind Graham Moreton. Another Scottish second place in heat two his time from David Philp in a nose-to-tail finish with Stuart Smyth and Dean O’Dell also showed well in third. Smyth was well shuffled in the point order final however with the two Scotsmen on the front row there was no doubt as to the likely result although O’Dell again did well in third to give the English some hope in their World title race at Foxhall next month.

The European Late Model V8 cars again served up some thrills and spills, including a fire in the rear of Kelvin Hassell’s car whilst both Shane Bereton’s brake discs were glowing spectacularly red hot each time he braked in to the bends. Bereton, Gary Ellis and Jean Vasseur all used the outside line to make good progress in race one but couldn’t catch Joep de Kort and neither Eric Schmidt in the second, which was unusual as Ellis in particular had been awesome on his previous visits. He put that right in the final though with his trademark outside bursts around the field to win in impressive style whilst Hassell completed a destructive evening having added to his earlier fire with a crash in heat two and then an even bigger crash in the final which took the panels off the side of the car.