If it is possible for the crowd to 'virtually' pull a car to the finish line then it was clearly evident at Foxhall last weekend as Nigel Robinson from just up the road at Martlesham took his first win in the Historic Stock Cars during their opening heat on a track that he first graced more than thirty years ago, writes Kevin Wegg.

He hit the front with just a couple of laps to go and his fellow competitors seemed even more pleased than the typically relaxed, dyed-in-the-wool old school stock car enthusiast himself, applauding him warmly on the parade lap. Andy Dodge spun Thomas Richards on the way to the flag to claim second place and went one better next time out after Mervyn Lockwood came off worst in a four car smash against the armco. Star grade drivers Gordon Coull, Dave Taylor and Gary Madgwick were having their own three-way battles throughout the evening and surprisingly failed to bag a win between them with Tristan Matthews becoming the third different winner on the night as he claimed the final.

There was another touch of nostalgia in the 2.0 Hot Rod final with the returning Mark Willis looking well up for it in heat one until he became a tad too eager entering turn three and ended up facing the wrong way. Tommy Miller and Rob Ashman had a heated verbal exchange after a turn four smash and the race temperature kept rising as Charlie Jowers over-cooked it when attempting to pass race leader Marc Crome and was subsequently dropped two places for contact. New world champion Will Reed was making his first appearance since his historic win in Ireland the previous weekend and failed to finish all three races during his attempt to try out a new engine. A nose-to-tail train in race two for several laps saw Paul Trimmer hold his nerve to win with Lewis Shelley adding third place thus adding to his opening race win. He then completed a fine evening with another third place in the final yet it was Willis that was once again looking in splendid form as both he and Kevin Randell used the ever-improving outside line to great effect. With just three laps to go Willis had blasted round the outside of Shelley to take it up and Randell claimed second after diving up Shelley's inside with just one lap to go.

The small-engined "micro" Bangers were big on action notably in race two when a high-speed smash on the opening lap left Peter Sutton on his side then Jason Thurlow did likewise courtesy of Kelvin Banthorp. Banthorp went on to win the final after Paul Felgate and Simon Rose had initially enjoyed a great battle for the number one spot.

This also ensured a hat-trick of very much local success with Derek Spall and Michael Mills taking the earlier heats with Ipswich driver Dave Canham ensuring a clean-sweep with victory in a lively destruction derby after using the reverse-driving technique to perfection.