There were reports that some of the locals were frantically trying to find Dr Who’s Telephone Box on Saturday night in a vain attempt to add some semblance of reasoning to what was unfolding on Foxhall Heath yet this was no fictional journal back in time – this was very much for real writes Kevin Wegg. From the Spedeworth staff behind the scenes and on the front-line, to a glittering array of vintage tin both in the car park (classic car show) and in the pits this was a real classic by anybody’s standards. Indeed, spectators and drivers travelled from across the UK and Europe to give it a truly international retro feel and soak up the hard-hitting nostalgia. Three relatively sedate opening heats - the first featuring the oldest car out there in the shape of the only P3 present which looked truly immaculate in the hands of Bob Ballard – nonetheless gave us several tasty morsels to savour including a real textbox drive from Keith Reynolds which was sheer poetry in motion. He literally showed the rest how to do it as he literally spun or pushed anything in his way to take a well-deserved win as Scotsman Laurence Ault received a huge hit from ‘PeeWee’. The legend himself, Mr Malcolm Girling, was out in race two which he duly finished in a notable fifth place and fittingly son Calvyn took the win. It was another famous Spedeworth ‘Old Boy’ – Speedy Reed – who was among the mix in heat three with Steven McGrath from Nutts Corner landing a stonking hit on Andrew Cullen as Steven Reynolds took the flag.
ALLCOMERS
Things cranked up a couple of notches in the fifty car plus ‘Allcomers’ with a thundering roar followed by equally earth-shattering thuds emanating around the stadium! A huge turn four pile-up ensnared ‘Mad Malc courtesy of Steven Reynolds and then they went piling in with ‘Keefy’ in the back of Girling as several others joined in the for good measure. A narrow chicane was all that was left which kept getting narrow still until Andrew Cullen blitzed Shaun Dyer! Jake Swann clearly wanted some of the action and reversed out temptingly until Dave King could resist no more and duly smashed him as only Kingy can! Irishman Jon Millen took the win with only 5 recorded finishers. Great stuff!
Steven Reynolds hit the front early on in the final and took an easy win as another huge pile-up built up, this time on turn one. Gladiator Phil Smith duly paid back the returning Barry Keer for an earlier hit with a hefty follow-in on turn three to rekindle memories of previous battles back in the 80’s only to in turn receive it ‘large’ from Curtis Rathbone.
With the Council curfew creeping ever closer the 10 lap Dash in to a DD became a 5 lapper but what an impressive shindig it was too with two rollovers, courtesy of Tony Roe and Kieran Greenway. Steven Reynolds again took the honours with the DD commencing simultaneously. Phil Smith delivered one of the real power hits of the night on Nigel White and it was all boiling-up nicely until a spectator decided to climb the catch-fencing and the resultant loss of time to deal with that meant the curtain fell on what had undoubtedly already been an unforgettable All-Rover night to remember. This was always going to be about the visual treat as much as the racing itself and it certainly delivered. Great credit goes to all drivers; teams; spectators and officials for their respective efforts…….
CLASSIC HOT RODS
Although somewhat overshadowed they nonetheless looked a magnificent sight and by golly do they motor! The sight of ‘Polley’ (albeit he failed to start on track); ‘Leapy Lee’ and the Austin A40 driven by Craig Boyd was indeed a sight to behold. As indeed were all the cars. With the laps counting down in the first it became a nose-to-tail four car snake; then five and eventually six with Jamie Johnson gamely holding on. Three Anglias, three-abreast around turn four. was an amazing sight which quickly descended into chaos as Robert Montagner joined in fun up the inside and all of a sudden he was careering across Patrick Smith Junior with the latter literally squashed at full chat in to the armco. Sadly Montagner had to go to hospital with a suspected shoulder injury whilst Smith almost certainly faces a near write-off. Not surprisingly there was no outside line to speak of for the Rods however no-one would have caught the bullet-like Graham Fulker in heat two anyway. Former Super Rod star Tim Foxlow looked well at home with his second runners-up spot of the night and was looking good in their East Anglian title race, but he just couldn’t hang on as that man Fulker again blasted past and away in a time only fractionally shy of the national hot rods!