With the family home literally a stone’s throw from Foxhall Stadium Mike Walmsley used all his local track knowledge to winning effect to lift the Legends British title with a punch-in-the-air as he crossed the victory line, writes Kevin Wegg.

Things weren’t looking quite so rosy for him after a frenetic opening heat when both he and race winner Ian Hales were dropped two places for contact. A magnificent drive from the back of the field in heat two saw Walmsley secure an excellent third place finish with Philip Moore boosting his chances with a fine victory.

Walmsley was clearly a man on a mission as he blasted away at the start of the title race, easily getting the jump on pole-sitter Branson Poyner. Peter Blundell was keen to make the long trek from Preston worthwhile though quickly scorching up to second place. He seemed to have the legs on the local hope especially when backmarkers slowed progress but in his eagerness to get past he clipped Walmsley’s back-end. Although he dived up the inside as a result, a penalty seemed certain leaving Walmsley to hold off a very determined but ultimately fruitless effort by Daniel Holden.

Despite welcome entries from the Trackstar promotion all three victories in the 1300cc Stock cars went to Spedeworth drivers. Daniel Damon took the first after Luke Morphey hit a stricken Jamie Blackman with such force that his bumper was buckled in two. A rain shower prior to heat two caught some drivers out and resulted in a smaller field. Steve Marten then treated the crowd to an impromptu stunt show after failing to be race-ready when on track; got disqualified; then almost rolled over after pulling off and smashing in to the marker barrels. A quiet race in comparison presented Jason Nicholls with a comfortable yet stylish win but neither he nor Damon could make it stick in the final, Nicholls falling foul to the bumper of Mark Bloss. Clark Wells soon took it up although Southerner Jason Askew appeared to have the legs on him and had a couple of nibbles only for Wells to pull away. Nathan Godfrey came from nowhere and seemed to have timed his last-lap bid to perfection rattling Wells in to the armco but only proceeded to spin himself in the process.

Boosted by the cancellation of the Kings Lynn fixture several Banger drivers made the trip to Foxhall instead to make it just one shy of fifty cars for what was an explosive first race. The first couple of laps were the most chaotic seen for many-a-meeting with literally half the field wiped out in one go! Debutant Rebecca Latham was right in the thick of it after being spun and knocked around although Jason Thompson took the worst off it with a stiff jacking and then took another massive hit to bring out the reds but thankfully he was okay. Michael Mills was all-smiles with a winning brace and Daniel Harvey went home £100 better off when he took the final.