With just four points separating current National Hot Rod world champion Malcolm Blackman from points leader Matt Simpson going in to the penultimate qualifying round at Foxhall Stadium the question was “when” rather than “if” and sure enough, the fireworks duly erupted in the meeting final writes Kevin Wegg.

A similar scramble at the other end of the table involving a posse of drivers all battling to make it in to the top twenty simply added to the mix but for all that the opening two heats were remarkably sedate. Irishman James O’Shea gave his hopes a real shot-in-the-arm with an impressive win in the first with Paul Frost recording his best Foxhall showing yet with second place.

Mike Loosemore was at the head of a high-speed rod train in both that and the next heat with Gavin Taber the first to make a fine outside pass stick to set off after the leaders but they were long gone as David Brooks took a comfortable win.

Events were cranked up a notch in heat three with Daniel Hunn slamming in to the wall before O’Shea’s qualifying dreams took a nose-dive when spinning out whilst third with a puncture. Similarly, Gavin Murray charge for a top four finish in the points went pirouetting as he spun out all by himself. Terry Hunn and Blackman completed an almost synchronised spin-out with Kym Weaver following suit one lap later in the same spot as Shane Brereton claimed an easy win.

We didn’t have to wait long in the final before Blackman and Simpson exchanged paint on turn four and then ended up in a heap entering turn one with Blackman than giving Simpson a Banger-style head-on, all of which netted him a disqualification and ban from two future qualifying meetings. Their next joint appearance at Foxhall for the gold roof shoot-out on July 8 will undoubtedly be positively riveting!

Brereton meanwhile was again away to ultimately record a tidy brace but there was a thrilling battle for second (David Brooks) and third(Jack Blood), with O’Shea once again looking in determined mood and sliding past Blood only to drift wide and loose places. With every place and point counting he once again fought back only to be spat out on the last bend after what looked like contact with Sam Holland.

BANGERS
It was a fittingly-rough opening heat in the John Earrey Memorial Banger team event with a monumental jacking by Mike Nicholls on Simon Ford and a similarly large hit by Alec Savage for “Old Stock Car Pics Masters” on Simon Smith. The Masters were particularly good value all night with brothers Dave and Gary Madgwick in fine form as too Terry Hall who was perhaps the unofficial ‘Entertainer of the Night’. Fellow team-mate Kevin Thurlow was very much on the receiving end though when Jason Thurlow from Team Simple ‘B’ landed a monster hit. Wins for Michael Lane (Team Old Stock Car Pics) and Jake Stewart (Team Simple ‘A’) set things up nicely for the final however a second place for Stewart wasn’t quite enough to deny Lane’s team however with Nathan Olden ultimately bringing home the bacon following a huge back straight pile-up.

LEGENDS
Feature race for the Legends was their British Championship with heat winners Ian Hales and Graham Blundell on row one and a notable row three start for Dan Hughes despite a high-speed ‘360’ spin in heat two which only cost him one place! Despite Hales’ hitting the front Blundell was giving it everything to make an outside pass stick. He fought gamely for a couple of laps before losing out on second place too only to cut inside and spin himself out when fighting back. This allowed Hales to get away however Stephen Treherne was gradually reeling him in and piled on the pressure. Hales held on gamely as Treherne tried all angles in a superb racing exhibition. A dive up the inside was crudely cut short by Hales which nearly caused the Battersea-based driver to spin but he came back once more and an outside pass just failed as they crossed the line only to clash after the flag. Hales was soon dropped two places for contact giving Treherne a much deserved ride on the pace car. Post-meeting scrutineering ruined the party though as faults with several cars meant Dan Holden was posthumously awarded the title with Jon Evans placed second and Hales third.

DESTRUCTION DERBY
A crowd-pleasing Destruction Derby delivered one of the best finales yet as car after car slammed in to an ever-increasing stationary train with Nicholls and Jamie Hadley in particular giving it everything leaving last-car-running Darren Parratt to complete the train in style and take the spoils.