Stock Car Racing is Magic

24TH NOVEMBER Issue 1 is now available from Spedeworth raceways and is a superb pictorial looking back at the 'Cross In Hand Raceway' and with over 200 photos, many never published before, will stir many memories of the excellent and sadly missed track down in deepest East Sussex.

The pictorial has been created and published by Dean Cox and Dave Baldwin (Graphics by Dave), and produced not only to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Spedeworth next year, but just as importantly, a tribute to the memory and life through the lense of 'Fred Buss', one of Spedeworth's photographers of the late 60s up to his retirement around 1980.

A donation from every copy of 'Stock Car Racing is Magic' will go to Cancer Research, and whilst published earlier than planned, more issues are designed and ready for publication with issue 2 due out at Easter next year, featuring more classic photos from Fred's collection covering Arlington, Wimbledon and Spedeweekednds from those memorable days.

Dean Cox and Dave Baldwin hope you will support and throughly enjoy this fantastic trip down memory lane, the cost of each issue available at £2.50 The magazine is now available by post at £3 including p+p, with cheques being made payable to D.R Cox

Please send to:
Stock Car Racing is magic
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Group A Hot Rods Supreme Championship

29TH OCTOBER The 22 car grid was lined up in points scored from 3 qualifying rounds, all non-scorers lined up at the back. The class still provided a look back to the past with 6 cars being Toyota Starlets. One of those starlets was 82 Dave Lamb's who had qualified on pole position, next to him on the grid was 136 Steve Gooch and then 121 Gary Kirby and 37 Steven Lawes.

Lamb took the lead off pole from Gooch, from the back 14 Lee Rogers was the man to watch and carved his way up to 6th place after just 5 laps. This progress was stopped by 47 Dan Moulton and that allowed reigning champion 18 Chris Smith and 32 Paul Lawes to catch and provide the main battle for the race. Lamb's massive lead so him close onto this battle for fourth as he took the flag. After the chequers dropped Kirby lost a wheel but he had already finished the race in 9th place. Lamb won the title for a fourth time after previously winning in 2004, '05 and '06.

Although stated as a reverse grid of the Supreme it was only the points scorers in the series that was reversed, non-scorers again started at the back. 68 Steve Searle led the first half of the race but he dropped back once 69 Paul Haralambou moved through. From the back 136 Steve Gooch moved onto Haralambou's tail but he couldn't pass and he had Rogers and 8 Robert West closing in. With 3 laps left Haralambou ran wide exiting turn 4 putting Gooch into first, but going into the next corner he also ran wide putting the lucky Rogers into first place. Rogers who took a hatrick at the last meeting (since moving from Rolling Thunder's Stock Rods) won this race after starting from the back.

The last race was lined up in graded order 39 Brad Sullivan and Searle led away from the white's and it stayed that way in a race where the only highlight was Paul Lawes sliding off the track and crashing into the floodlights on the centre of the circuit. After winning the Supreme Lamb didn't race any more but had clinched the points title before the meeting had begun, Moulton and Gooch took the other places in the points championship.

Supreme: 82, 136, 37, 47, 14, 18, 32, 8, 121, 69
Reverse heat: 14, 8, 69, 4, 68, 37, 47, 2, 90
Graded heat: 39, 68, 31, 69, 4, 2, 14, 90, 6, 8

Following the Group A Supreme Championship, 47 Daniel Moulton left the stadium before having his car checked. For this mistake he was taken out of the result, however since then he has had his engine checked by Alan Thorndyke. The engine was still sealed and all checks that were made found no illegalities. This does not mean he will be re-instated into the result, but just proves that his engine wasn’t illegal. Unfortunately 82 Dave Lambs engine had an irregularity that was deemed illegal and disqualified from the result and from all points scored since the Festival of Speed when the engine was sealed. Dave Lamb and Polleysport are appealing the decision to the ORC.

Outlaws - Arena Essex 25th October

29TH OCTOBER The first heat of 8 cars (all different models) was led away by pole from 198 Andy Steward, fellow front row man 89 Mick Cave slipped back on the outside line. A fairly static race had no real movement although 113 Richard Simmons did latch onto the tail of Steward with 2 laps left. 296 Chris Wood's noisy Peugeot 306 did complete the race but he loaded up after this heat.

The reversed grid second heat was started with 5 cars but 10 Simon Smith was quickly parked up on the speedway in retirement. 8 Stu Hammond led away from pole, 421 Philip Young's attempt on the outside dropped him back to last, Simmons moved to the outside but this gave Steward and Young the chance to move up, Hammond got some breathing space in the final few laps.

The 8 lap sprint final was lined up in points from the meeting order, Steward stepped off pole and into the lead, Young's demon start moved him from fourth to third in a race with no overtaking but a closely contested one that had 1.3 seconds cover first till last.

Heat 1: 198, 113, 421, 8, 296
Heat 2: 8, 198, 421, 113
Final: 198, 8, 421, 113, 10

Being the last Outlaw meeting of the year Philip Young was crowned points champion ahead of Hammond and Simmons.

Wimbledon - Rookie Rods 27th September

8TH OCTOBER Spedeworth’s budget class raced alongside the Superstox at their World Championship. The size of the grid split the pack into 2/3rds.

Heat 1
The first heat had the usual spills of the class, 16 Daniel Baldock having the most impressive when he toppled over on lap 10. In the race 148 Dave Dewey moved into first place, he lost that to 267 Dan Vick. Vick survived a last lap scare when 23 Terry James was spun by 160 Daniel Keeping.
Res: 267, 148, 144, 131, 5, 24, 475, 28, 22, 92

Heat 2
White top 608 Ricky Wareham leads the race with 303 Paul Francis moving into second place. 306 Simon Williams moved into second and closed up in traffic. While Wareham got boxed behind 614 allowing Williams to sweep into the lead. 537 Billy Clarke bumped Wareham out wide and closed up on Williams. 2 laps remaining Williams go out of the race, Clarke takes the chequered flag but is disqualified for the contact he makes, 144 Lee Evans (not the comedian) takes to the win.
Res: 144, 303, 212, 608, 187 (x-2), 157, 313, 46, 5, 130

Heat 3
Wareham was away in the final heat, he was being caught by the faster drivers from behind but with 133 Andrew Blackhurst spinning in front of James and 535 Matthew Cooke.
Res: 608, 23, 535, 267, 212, 137, 148, 24, 130, 706

Final
Wareham led most all of the race until 537 Billy Clarke and 5 Malcolm Burton cruised onto his back bumper. Wareham ran wide, and then on the last lap Burton muscled him wide which cost him a few more places.
Res: 537, 5, 313, 46, 608, 251, 133, 24, 23, 148

National Hot Rods - Ipswich 26th September

8TH OCTOBER Not quite the 40+ cars that was booked in but there still a big field of cars racing. On the car front 41 Carl Boardley was racing the Mercedes that had taken its maiden win in the previous qualifying round at Hednesford. 72 Willie Hardie was back in the Tigra repair painted in the old Stock Rod colours of silver with blue and orange. Richard Smith was back after about a year away, his son Daniel had raced the car recently with the Outlaws at Arena. Former Lightning/2 Litre Hot Rodder 224 Ray Harris in an Audi TT previously raced by Chris Haird/ Ian McKellar and Steve Mannett.

Heat 1
500 Tim Pullen got the drop at the flags to take the lead, while at the back 61 Andy Holtby slide off the track. The big movers in this race were 3 Jeff Simpson and 41 Carl Boardley, they closed in on the top 4 of Pullen, 333 Lee Wood, 74 James O’Shea and 155 Lee Pepper towards the end of the race. Pepper seemed to get a new life as these approached going on the outside to move beyond O’Shea and then trying the same on Wood as the leaders approached the chequered flag.
Res: 500, 333, 155, 74, 3, 41, 734, 174, 303, 95

Heat 2
An early spin for 67 David Brooks on the exit off turn 2 caused a big crash that could have been so much worse. As the cars went dodged the carnage 27 Mikey Godfrey got knocked across the track in a impact that put him on two wheels and 285 Darron Lewis filled the void underneath his car. Lewis continued at speed with Godfrey straddling the car, his Saxo looking like it would topple over, but Lewis eased off and Godfrey came back to rest on his wheels. The cars behind hadn’t escaped 95 Gavin Murray had front end damage and a broken wing, 491 Colin Smith also had a damaged wing. The race was completely restarted and Godfrey lined up, NO FEAR!

O’Shea spun on the home straight as the green dropped, he got himself in more trouble later in the race getting tangled up with Boardley and 305 James Jamieson Jnr. Once the race got into it’s stride Brooks, lead 519 Luke Armiger, 198 Andy Steward and J Simpson. Armiger was punted into turn 3 by Steward, he caught the back of the car before it completely rotated but he now off line and straddled the inside kerb. Steward moved to Armiger outside as the cars moved down the home straight but he bumped off the wall and into retirement on turn one. Further back in the pack Hardie is taken out by 170 Steve Thompson on turn 3. Back to the front and J Simpson moves past Brooks on the outside, 65 Mark Willis completes the same manoeuvre on Armiger for third place. 115 Chris Haird was the man making the moves following Willis beyond Armiger and then passing Brooks. Brooks suddenly went backwards quickly. Simpson had pulled out a slight lead but Haird reeled that in, for the last five laps Haird was visibly quicker but Simpson ran wide on the straights and didn’t give him space to attempt an outside pass, no blues were shown here though.
Res: 3, 115, 65, 155, 100, 14, 170, 285, 519

Heat 3
The race was going for long before another caution. Armiger was spun out on the exit of turn 4, trying to avoid the spinning car Smith and Haird went into the wall on the back straight while Hardie speared off onto the speedway and slammed into the marker tyres. The race was brought under yellows, as the cars crawled through the carnage Armiger took his revenge by driving towards Wood’s driver’s door. He then lined behind him for the restart, as the green dropped Armiger nailed Wood into the first turn Brisca style. Medics were required for Wood, while a ban should be given to Armiger for a pre-mediated attack on another driver. Once into their stride Brooks led Pullen and 100 Dick Burtenshaw, Willis and Hardie displaced Burtenshaw and set after the leaders. Pullen moved to the outside but entering turn 3 he went straight on. Willis soon started challenging Brooks on the outside, while Hardie moved onto the pair’s tail. Brooks couldn’t hold a tight line and this allowed Hardie inside the pair in one pass, although he took the flag Hardie was dropped two places for contact so Willis had his first win since returning to the class.
Res: 65, 100, 72 (x-2), 911, 278, 31, 6, 285 (x-2), 61, 85

Final
This race may go down in history as being one of the worst races ever and it only lasted 13 laps. Godfrey, 444 Sammy Shudall and 66 John V.D Bosch were early spinners (though they could have been hit), Murray was taken out by Boardley. Upfront 8 Tam Rutherford was leading O’Shea and Brooks the bigger names were trying to muscle their way through the pack. Boardley was again being heavy handed in his racing, this time Thompson went off via his bumper (very similar incident to Murray’s removal of Blackman at the World). Upfront O’Shea went the long way to take the lead from Rutherford, Rutherford was then tagged by someone which put the orange 206cc on the speedway and he almost careered back onto the track. The end of the race came when 278 Colin Gomm barged his way inside Brooks and Pepper for second place, the trio all ran wide on turn three but Brooks eventually rotated and ended up on the racing line. The following cars couldn’t react quick enough, Burtenshaw hit him and Hardie jacked the back of Burtenshaw (second time in three meetings been jacked) sending the rear of the Mitsubishi a few feet in the air. The race was red flagged and ended there at 10:08, even though the curfew still had time left. After the reds a few drivers were still rubbing panels in front of officials, more penalties should be incurred by drivers.
Res: 74, 67, 155, 285, 278 (x-2), 3, 6, 100, 72, 303, 31

The full extent of the damage has not been covered as I do not go to meetings to write driver x hits driver y, driver z crashes, blah, blah. I write some notes after the race has finished. I will say that this is probably the only time I’ve left a National Hot Rod meeting feeling very disappointed, next time the Nationals are at Ipswich I will NOT be attending.

Stock Rods - Ipswich 26th September

8TH OCTOBER 42 cars made it to Ipswich to prove the class is still going well with a few drivers making the trip down from Scotland. The all-in format was used for the Foxhall 500.

Heat 1
The car lined up in graded order but were split via the ‘Incarace draw’ that put the first few rows to the back of the grid. Once the race begun 60 Daniel Rea and 194 Tony Barnes were in the fence on turn 4 which called out the yellows. 555 Lee Close led much of the early put of the race, he was passed cleanly by 72 Jimmy Galloway, then 288 Harry Palmer barged his way past Close for second place going into turn 3. Out of nowhere 17 Rob McDonald came storming through from the back. The top 7 all ran closely when on turn 4 a crash involving 472 Stephen Phair, 106 John Ridley and 152 Shaun Taylor brought out the yellows, the cars still lapped as three tours the chequered was dropped.
Res: 72, 17, 381, 288, 4, 280, 77, 14, 213, 91

Heat 2
The reverse grid put 29 Davy Philp Jnr on pole and he eased away. 144 Matthew Woodcock had a monumental blow-up on turn 3 and quickly pulled off onto the speedway, what happened after is anyone’s guess and the track was covered and impossible to see. The haze gradually eased and 101 John Bowring was in the fence; the rest of the race some drivers were still taking it easy but Philp ploughed on for the win.
Res: 29, 168, 447, 316, 17, 171, 472, 87, 28, 77

Final
McDonald qualified on pole with Galloway, Philp, 447 Stuart Smyth, 381 Richard Pope and 77 Andy Owen lining up behind. From the green McDonald and Philp got the drop on the field and pulled away. Philp retired with 5 laps remaining leaving McDonald taking the flag ahead of last year’s winner Smyth.
Res: 17, 447, 381, 77, 72, 280, 168, 171, 316, 87