Foxhall Stadium opened it’s doors to a very special season which sees the 50th running of the Superstox World Final and the promise of another crackin’ season from the open-wheelers already getting my pulses racing. On this occasion however it was equally encouraging to see the pits positively bulging with entries in all three formulas for the 2010 opener and plenty of exciting, full-bloodied racing throughout, writes Kevin Wegg.

The Historic Saloon Stock Cars had the privilege of getting things under way to an impressive start with a superb thirty car entry. Stephen ‘Grizzly’ Adams took the honours for the first spin of the year as his vintage 1950’s Wolseley got no further than the first bend and was then promptly hit hard by Chip Howland. That set the tone for some entertaining racing throughout the evening as long-distance traveller Willie Irvine from Bournemouth christened his Ipswich debut with a race win after hounding leader Ian Hall for a couple of laps before spinning him in time-honoured fashion coming out of turn four. His 100E looked particularly rapid and also netted him heat two a feat which Wayne Farrer emulated in the twenty-nine car Lightning Rod entry. He took full advantage of his yellow grade start to gradually reel in and pass early leader Darren Wells who belied his white grade start to set an impressive pace. Proceedings were brought to an abrupt end when Jordan Spavins spun out of turn four causing a seven car pile-up with top PRI performer Gary Greenland suffering considerable damage as too Richard Warner. Wells again looked quick when leading in the second heat but a fatal twitch coming out of turn four left a gap up the inside for Farrer to seize which Wells was unable to resist and promptly spun out. A similar fate befell Spavins with disastrous consequences for Jason Gibbs who managed to miss him only to slam in to the armco for yet another declared result. Farrer was on for a hat-trick in the final however the handicap of starting from the blue grade for this one proved too much thus opening the door for Wells to gain revenge. He was looking good too until the back-marking Warren Farazmand re-joined the race in front of the leaders giving Wells a dilemma – should he try and pass on the inside or outside? He chose the latter, clipped the fence in the process and allowed Lee Skoyles who was breathing down his neck to take full advantage in an exciting climax.

A fully-subscribed and whopping sixty-three car entry got the Banger racing season off to an explosive start with two massive pile-ups on the home straight, one of which saw Luke Parker smashed from pillar-to-post on two occasions. Scott Piggin needed brief attention from the medics before Steen Rozier led them in to a thrilling last lap. Jason Neale was flying in a car that had an equally impressive paint job and went in hard on both Rozier and second-placed Michael Lane to take the flag. Unfortunately a post-race check not revealed illegal tyres but also that Michael Allard had somehow evaded the race radar and was eventually accredited with the win. His luck changed dramatically in race two when he completed one-and-a-half heart-stopping rolls at speed yet fired the car up again after it was pushed back on it’s wheels and wanted to start again! Almost unnoticed John Parrott had crashed at the same time further round the bend and unfortunately needed the assistance of the fire brigade to cut him free after trapping his leg and also injuring his back. This resulted in a forty-five minute delay thus causing the cancellation of both the Banger and Stock Car finals due to Council time restrictions but the good news is that John is in good spirits and talking of returning to racing at Yarmouth in a couple of weeks time which might be a tad ambitious but shows you can’t keep a good Banger man down for long!