Although the National Bangers topped the bill with their annual “Volcano” shindig it was the 2.0 litre Stock Cars that very much stole the show with three simply “magic” races, writes Kevin Wegg. With a modest twenty-two entry any fears that they may be thinly spread around the vast Foxhall oval were quickly dispensed in race one, as was Diggy Smith who was turned fencewards by Cecil down the back straight and dragged along the armco. In fact both drivers ended up having a barren evening as did birthday boy Robert “Spud” Gamble who ended up with the wrong sort of bumps after being stranded at the exit of turn two to bring out the yellows. Freddie Kinsella was entertainingly aggressive all evening and had a text book “tit-for-tat” with George Morphey as they both wrestled for the lead. This allowed Billy Wood to catch up and join in the fun as too Billy Smith which resulted in a magnificent four-abreast spectacle coming out of turn four. It simply had to end in tears and promptly did as Smith and Kinsella ended up on the shale with Colin Farley profiting most with the race win. The finish to race two was just as good even though it was only a battle for third place with Morphey and Wood arguing the toss together with Daniel Langley and Robert George. On the very last lap Morphey got up inside George only for Wood to attempt a “last bender” which wasn’t quite enough to dislodge him. Quite brilliant to watch.

With a “closed grades” start to the final anything could happen and promptly did once again on the last lap, but not before we’d had another four-abreast treat and some ‘threes’ for that matter along the way! George and Diggy were early casualties as too pace-setter Pete Ross who was spun out by Spud. Kinsella was eager to add to his heat two victory and passed Gamble to nose ahead whilst all eyes quickly switched to the back-marking Diggy who took the opportunity to re-pay Cecil with a large hit but he held it well. Farley also had Cecil on his “hit list” and tried a similar move again to no avail, however he wasn’t to be denied. With the last lap board out he finally nailed him on turn four only to snare Keith Miller in the ensuing shemozzle which sent the Norfolkman hard in to the fence backwards only for Lee Hall to also hit him for good measure. Thankfully all was well, as it was with Morphey whose second win of the night was no more than he deserved although full marks go to all drivers for their superb all-action efforts. If Oliver were writing this he’d clearly be shouting “Please Mr Wood, can I have some more?!”

The visiting Mascars made their Foxhall debut with twelve cars and took to the track like ducks to water. Under the lights they really looked the part and crucially weaved around nicely to keep things interesting. Steve Stanford nicely blasted around the outside of Paul Patrick to take it up only to limp out after clipping the wall a couple of laps later when he drifted wide. Patrick had an even harder impact when he and Mark Bates tangled. Meanwhile, Russ Best and Wayne Galloway swapped passes for the lead which the former finally kept. Honours were spread amongst the field as Richard Wilkes took heat two with Steve Dakin using the outside to claim second place and then went one better in the final passing both Nathen Bath and Galloway on the same lap.

Just twenty-eight Unlimited Bangers contested the first race and with world championship qualifying points also up for grabs it wasn’t long before the blue flag was in regular use to encourage drivers to hit something other than the accelerator. Jason Jackson duly obliged with a good jack on the estate of Charlie Callard in heat one then David Wilde was both the giver and receiver as he sorted out Christopher Wilcock in heat two only to receive a portion courtesy of Matt High a short while later. Having secured a 1-2 finish in heat one, the class act of Lee & Dale Hughes nearly repeated the dose in the second only for Shane Davies to get the better of them but there was no stopping their express train in the “Volcano” final which despite more blue flags saw them so clear of the field that they even had time to slow right down and attempt to cross the line in a dead heat – Lee just edging it to retain his title. Boxer Jack, Daniel Sutton and Matt High deserve credit for a hastily-arranged DD which saw High deservedly victorious after steaming around nicely in his Jag.