For many fans of oval racing the “proper” racing season gets under way at Easter and this Monday (14.30 start time) sees a great three formula line up at Foxhall as the season gathers momentum.

National Hot Rods head up the afternoons racing with bookings in the mid thirties and could well reach 40 cars by the weekend as we reach round 11 of the series sponsored by Simpson Race Exhausts. Ipswich multi World Champion Carl Boardley is sitting comfortably at the head of the points chart after the Winter break and enjoyed a good haul of points after a steady if unspectacular start to the second half of the season at Northampton a fortnight ago. Russell Wilcox (Market Drayton) dominated that meeting eventually taking a hat trick of victories making the most of his front of the grid position following a switch to a Tigra over the winter.
Spotters of new cars will be keen to see the new Haird Motorsport Tigra B and three of them will be at Foxhall on Monday in the hands of Suffolk based pairing of Chris Haird and Gavin Murray along with Oxfords Mikey Godfrey whose car was on display at the NEC Autosport Show back in January. Its early days for the new Tigra B, and they look unlikely to trouble the established order of Mk1 Tigras and Peugeot 206 at this stage with Murray and Haird fighting under steer all day at Northampton, but rest assured that both of these drivers are more than capable of sorting out a new car in the class and the maiden Tigra B win is not far away. This time of the year always sees anticipation about new drivers and the big news newcomer for 2010 is double Superstox World Champion Jason Cooper from Thetford. Rumours had been doing the rounds since the middle of 2009 about Cooper making the switch to the non contact class,in fact he has had the McCall built 206cc in his workshops since the Summer, the car is actually a chassis rebuild of the car which Davy McCall took the 2002 World Championship in so it knows its way around Foxhall, and there is no doubt in Coopers ability to drive it. The 482 car did not trouble the front runners despite picking up a couple of points first time out at Northampton, with Cooper happy to find his feet in National Hot Rods before making a determined assault on the formula and some major titles for 2011. So who do we watch on Monday? Boardley, always blisteringly fast at Foxhall and he will for sure be the man to beat although he will have his work cut out to get through the large field. Keep an eye to on any of the newer drivers with the front grid start spots, any of them could run away on the day just as Wilcox did at the last round.

Bangers return to Foxhall for round two of the Peter Brown backed Ipswich Track Championship. Its early days in the series with 9 rounds plus a grand final over the season, current leader is Michael Lane with Harwich driver Steen Rozier not far behind him with Woodbridge star Simon “Mungo” Berry in third spot. Berry will be busy in the pits on Monday as he races both his Banger and 1300 Stock Car at the same meeting. Ipswich pairing Darren Yates and Jamie Hadley sit back in 12th and 13th but given this early stage in the season they will not be too worried as they look to climb the points over the season. Expect a good mix of old cars in the pits for one final day of glory!

Its the first outing of 2010 for the 1300 Stock Cars and the aforementioned and busy Simon Berry is the local man to beat as he makes his return to the full contact class where he made his name. Likely to stop him having things all his own way on the day are Norfolk trio of Daniel Wenn, Michael Madden and World Champion Simon Welton. Southern traveller and former World Champ Aaron Morris makes the journey up from Bracknell and he can be very fast around the wide open Foxhall race track. 1300 Stock Cars are not a one make formula but the Vauxhall Nova is regarded by many as the tool for the job, but get them out at Ipswich and the power of the Toyota Starlet can give the extra boost which the larger tracks need, the rear wheel drive cars could well be the ones to watch this Easter.