Carl Boardley rewrote the history books by winning the World Championship for a record fourth successive time. Yet again he won the title from pole position but it was a cracking race that raged behind him.

Qualifying
Hot laps returned this year, but the groups were still maintained with the added incentive that any driver could secure pole position with the fastest lap. 994 Keith Martin was the first driver setting a lap time of 14.83, he held pole until seventh to run 911 Malcolm Blackman dropped the time down to 14.60. 13th out was 41 Carl Boardley, his first lap of 14.53 was good enough to secure pole but his final lap was quicker at 14.47. The first four on the grid were made up of English: Boardley, Blackman, 115 Chris Haird, 303 Matt Simpson followed by four Irish drivers 940 Gary Woolsey, 962 John Christie, 261 David Casey and 9 Glenn Bell.

Race:
The grid rolled around the Foxhall tarmac with a packed (sunburnt) crowd looking down onto the main event. As the green dropped Boardley took the lead while Woolsey dropped out on the first lap. M Simpson moved pass Haird for third place. Christie was really struggling in the early part of the race and was easily passed by Bell, Casey and 95 Gavin Murray. Still within the first five laps 467 Winnie Holtmanns had a half spin on turn 4 while at the other end of the track 734 Ralph Sanders was beached on the kerb at turn 2. The yellows were aired, Sanders returned to the back of the pack, 6 John Holtby retired at this point.

Only two more racing laps were run before 427 Jay Austin got out of shape coming off turn 4 and barged into the wall on the home straight, the yellows were out again but Austin scampered to safety. Christie and Haird pulled up on the centre green with mechanical problems.

From the restart back-marking Holtmanns was causing problems for the faster drivers trying to lap him, 61 Andy Holtby was stuck on the outside line, as he tried to manoeuvre to the inside the following 72 Willie Hardie was half way inside and that sent the funky black and orange Tigra spinning to the inside and into retirement.

Another two laps of running and more incidents. 14 Phil Spinks was trying the outside but 278 Colin Gomm (who had fallen a long back from trying the outside line) knocked him into the wall exiting turn 4. Spinks bounced off the wall but the commotion caused the other in close proximity to take avoiding actions. That resulted in 31 Dick Hillard and 78 Lauren Van De Velde hitting the wall and 761 Brendan O’Connell getting pushed onto the speedway. With 15 laps complete and green ready to drop the running order was Boardley, M Simpson (having just moved up), Blackman, Bell, D Casey, Murray, Holtmanns (lap down), Hardie, Martin, 85 Stu Carter and 3 Jeff Simpson.

Van De Velde was next to retire after clouting the wall and bending a wheel. Boardley got into a good lead, not looking stretched and comfortably ahead of the field. Murray was pressuring D Casey for many laps and as soon as gap appeared he went for it, this was exiting turn 4 and it Murray barged his way through spinning Casey to the centre and moved up to fifth, Casey retired. Holtmanns had another half spin and got himself to safety but quickly after Sanders stopped against the wall over the start/finish line. The yellows were aired again, 960 Mark Heatrick was disqualified for the removal of Sanders.

Boardley shot off again from the green while back in 9th Carter was slow to react to the green and had J Simpson on his outside and passing him the following lap. With the leaders not bunched but still pretty close to each other backmarkers were having an effect on the leaders, 66 John Van De Bosch had a spin causing Bell to hesitate slightly in turn 4 allowing Murray up another place to third. A lap down 174 Jason Kew and 996 Stewart Doak were fighting hard, Boardley swept past but the others couldn’t get by so easily. Doak got himself off line and ended up going into the wall exiting turn 2, his car slide along the back straight before retiring on turn 3. Kew still had the battle for second place behind him. Kew stayed out wide but M Simpson just didn’t have the pace to move beyond. Blackman decided the outside line was the quickest place to be and got into Kew’s tow. Murray had just reeled this pair in and put himself inside Blackman. With these four racing hard something had to give and it was Blackman spun across the start/finish line into the tyres on the speedway. Murray was now up to third but collected a black cross, Blackman got himself back into the race but retired before the end.

Making a late charge was J Simpson and 970 Shane Murphy passed Martin for 5th and 6th place as the former World Champion struggled with brakes. The race was heading into the final stages, Boardley was clear but M Simpson, Murray and Bell were locked together and being caught by J Simpson and Murphy. Murphy made an ambitious move inside J Simpson, spinning him out in a similar incident to Blackman’s demise. With 4 to go Murray got himself inside and M Simpson and edged ahead, while Bell passing on the final lap. Although this was an interesting battle ahead Boardley had gone on to win his fourth World title and probably could have gone quicker if pushed. After a stewards decision both Murray (2nd over line) and Muphy (4th over line) were disqualified for contact during the race.
W/F 41 Carl Boardley, 9, 303, 994, 155, 961, 278, 85, 955, 3, 174, 519

Heat 1
100 Dick Burtenshaw led the first part of the race but 491 Colin Smith blasted around the outside and pulled away. 208 David O’Regan was next going around the outside of Burtenshaw. From the back 170 Steve Thompson looked quick easily picking off Burtenshaw and O’Regan.
Res: 491, 170, 208, 100, 198, 209, 601, 997, 871, 333

Heat 2
963 Terry Maxwell was an early spinner exiting turn 4, at the other end of the track 7 Paul Crawford was in the fence between turns 1 and 2 to start a caution period. Leader 271 Neil Stimson backed up the pack on the rolling restart, Thompson put himself to the outside here and was adjudged to jump this restart and shown the black cross. Once the race got into it’s stride the top three were Stimson, 192 Tony Moss and Thompson, dodging in and out of the slower traffic. Onto the final lap Stimson starts to slow, Moss hesitates and Thompson charged past the pair of the them and clearly ahead by the time he enters turn 3. Moss crosses the line second and Stimson manages to cruise around for third, but with Thompson’s black cross Moss is awarded the win.
Res: 192, 271, 170, 68, 198, 74, 369, 844, 209, 997

World Final Revenge Race
After a great world final drive Murray only lasted one lap his engine blew up, Tom Casey took a spin on turn 4; Pepper, VD Bosch, Spinks and Carter got themselves in a tangle on the home straight and the race was restarted. Heatrick briefly led until Kew moved past him, with Holtmanns in third place. Mulvey had been soaking up the pressure from Martin and Jeff Simpson in a decent fourth but retired. Suddenly on turn 2 cars were spinning in all directions, the carnage wiped out several top drivers Christie, Matt Simpson, Hardie and Myburgh all out. Although a yellow was waved, the cars stopped circulating as cement dust was put down for the majority of the track. From the green Heatrick moved back into the lead. Holtmanns looses out to Martin and Jeff Simpson, while Boardley was making great strides from the back. Gomm’s attempt for fifth ended in the wall as he couldn’t get beyond Holtmanns, Boardley showed him how to do it sweeping past for fifth. That became fourth as Simpson retired with a puncture.
Res: 960, 174, 994, 41, 155, 115, 961, 467, 261, 911

The final race for the National Hot Rods was supposed to be the revived Best in Britain championship, with the top 15 from the supports and the world. Sadly Steven Jackson had a massive crash in the Superstox, with time restrictions the Nationals had to be cancelled.

World and reigning British champion 50 Wayne Woolsey headed entry, the Northern Irish drivers were over in force with 12 drivers representing the country. Although the title was named British there were 2 South Africans in the event. SA1 Johan Krynauw in the Dick Hillard Saxo and SA2 Frans Joubert in the Skitmore/Leonard Corsa. 2005 champion 96 Kevin Randell was out in Mark Gilkes Fiesta that Randall previously raced.

Heat 1
43 Paul Wright took an early lead from polesitter 931 Mark Madill, Joubert and 204 Carl Pye moved past Madill before the track became slippery. 503 Chris Harvey spun his Corrado on turn 4 and 900 Darren McGeady crashed into him, Harvey was now straddling the kerb but the race continued. SA2 spun exiting turn 4 in the slippery conditions, some were finding the conditions difficult but not 70 Shane Murray who eased into second, Wright took the win. Just before the end Woolsey retired. The bumping and barging saw plenty of penalties handed out.
Res: 43, 70, 931, 304, 204 (x-2), 110, 306, 209 (x-4), 308, 160 (x-2)

Heat 2
988 Fergal McNally moved around the outside of 57 Jemma Dendy for the lead, Dendy went backwards as 60 Mark Paffey moved up, going past 10 Sam Holland for second and then beyond McNally for the lead. Woolsey’s bad luck continued as he punted off turn 4, 160 Richard Poulter hit the wall and 266 Matt Wells crashed into him for the red flag, bringing the race to an early end.
Res: 60, 988, 10, 900, 308, 933, 197, 57, 8, 199

Final
Paffey on pole, is it worth reading the rest? Paffey led away 308 Mark Cooper as Wright got stuck on the outside at the start of the race, he settled into third while McNally slipped back to 9th. After a few laps that became 7th as Murray (4th) and Wright (3rd) both stopped with mechanical failures under the scoreboards on the same lap. Paffey held a decent lead that only shrunk when 75 Chris Crane blew up. Woolsey’s spin ended a miserable weekend that slightly held up Paffey but Cooper never got enough. Revelling on the slippery track was 209 Kym Weaver who moved beyond McNally and then nipped past Holland on the final lap. Paffey won the British title for the first time in 10 years.
Res: 60, 308, 306, 110, 197, 209, 10, 988, 8, 199

British Revenge
A reverse to the previous nights championship race put Dendy on pole, she led 275 Brett Collison for a while until Joubert moved into second but he retired from that position. Poulter moved up to second place and started to reel in the leader. With 3 to run Poulter got half inside Dendy on the back straight and pushed her sideways but lifted off allowing her to straighten up, this cost Poulter time and Pye closed onto his tail. The quicker Poulter moved onto Dendy tail within 2 laps and entering the back straight for the final time moved to the outside. Dendy wasn’t going to give up the lead easily and swung out wide, Poulter kept himself on the outside but couldn’t move ahead, but somehow Dendy was docked for not holding her line on the final lap.
Res: 160, 204, 57(x-2), 10, 110, 30, 304, 8, 75, 199

2008 champion Nigel Jackson out of the formula the title was up for grabs. Former champions 351 Richard Spavins, 288 Dale Atkins, 923 Steve Emerson, 267 Gary Greenland and 81 Lee Parsons were present and all had a decent chance of retaking the title, at last years Spedeweekend it was 541 Harry Skoyles winning in the European Championship. World Champion 187 Terry Shelvey has never won this title.

Heat 1
The big cars were crashing on the first lap as 92 Jason Clifford was pushed sideways by the pack, lots of cars piled into each other and the race was restarted. 98 Dave Leech pulled away in an incident packed race that saw black flags handed out to 411 Richard Warner, 636 Lee Skoyles and Clifford. Warner still circulated and was eventually spun out by 452 Adam Eyles, the spinning Warner car clipped Shelvey ending his race.
Res: 98, 131, 923, 351, 288, 781, 355 (x-2), 81, 28, 452

Heat 2
445 Craig Boyd lead the start of the race from Greenland and that is how they finished, but as usual the action was contact behind. Warner was again in the wars this time 926 Davy Hearst spun him out and then the damaged car smoked up the track. 917 Aaron Stewart had a spin on the home straight causing a yellow. From the restart Warner t-boned Hearst on the back straight briefly holding up the leaders. Shelvey was again taken out this time by 441 Gary Le Grice who only picked up a black cross, that wasn’t the only penalty of the race.
Res: 445, 267, 937, 368, 227, 307 (x-2), 81 (x-2), 288, 541, 923

Final The remaining 34 cars of the weekend started this race; although Atkins was the only driver with two top 8 finishes he started third behind Emerson and Boyd. Emerson led the pack away that became stretched early and the leaders were soon lapping cars. In traffic Boyd was hampered running wide allowing Atkins and Parsons through. Atkins gradually started to close in on leader who was struggling with backmarkers. Emerson spun 207 John Randall off the back straight onto the speedway track. Randall got himself back into the race and was soon ahead of Emerson a further lap behind, as Emerson tried to go to the outside Randall took revenge and slowed him down, Atkins and Parsons swept past on the inside. Randall and Emerson were both disqualified for their actions. Atkins was booed by the Northern Irish crowd even though he done nothing wrong, keeping himself out of trouble and won the British Championship for the second time.
Res: 288, 81, 445, 351, 355, 2, 441, 368, 131, 267

As usual with the class at the Spedeweekend the entry involved top names from Northern Ireland, Scotland and England. Choosing the winner would never be easy.

Heat 1
447 Stuart Smyth led away but had plenty of fast drivers behind. 29 Davy Philp went around the outside of 500 Kym Carter for second, and quickly moved inside Smyth for the lead. Philp held a slight lead over Smyth for the remainder of the race. The last lap everything changed with 472 Stephen Phair spinning 115 Michael Madden, although not for a major position it was just ahead of Philp. Philp headed to the outside to the dodge the colliding cars, but as Smyth approached there was a gap to move past on the inside. Entering the home straight Smyth had lucked in and found himself in first and taking the chequered flag.
Res: 447, 29, 500, 924, 657, 70, 280, 313, 91, 49 (x-2)

Heat 2
163 Jason Pickett took the lead from pole, there were plenty of spins in the start of the race that left 924 Stuart Wright, 152 Shaun Taylor and 36 Simon Gade in the wall but the race continued. Pickett took a flag to flag win, 162 Carl Waller-Barrett faked a moved to the outside but never put any serious pressure on Pickett.
Res: 163, 162, 49, 17, 70, 116, 829, 817 (x-2), 730 (x-2), 87

Final
21 laps of the same leader might sound pretty boring but the race was probably race of the weekend. Polesitter Philp led from the drop of the flag but for the majority of the race had 49 Alastair Calvin glued to his back bumper and 70 Shane Murray on the outside. Murray spent so many laps trying the outside, sometimes edging ahead, sometimes looking like Calvin was going to pounce. On the 22nd lap back marking 101 John Bowring loomed, Philp looked to the outside and Calvin shot through the small gap and into the lead. Calvin crossed the line from Murray and Philp, the crowd applauding all three as the crossed the line. Calvin though was docked two places for contact in taking the lead giving the race to Murray (who won this race last year). With most eyes on the battling trio for the lead the charge from 829 Stuart Fox from mid grid to fourth was unnoticed.
Res: 70, 29, 49, 829, 447, 657, 163, 162, 17, 500

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