All the thrills and spills
After the tarmac fun at the Skegness seaside last weekend it was back to the shale of Stoke Speedway for MDS Racing and stock car 63 on Saturday evening with all points counting towards the World Final.
With a new supporter, Newark Self Drive, on board the team were hoping not to disappoint their sponsors
A last minute change by the organisers added an extra race for the V8’s into the program, making for a shorter turn round time between races. Shale circuits always provide exciting racing and Stoke Speedway didn’t disappoint.
In a field consisting of mainly the higher grade red star drivers Dave lined up as the only blue roof behind car several white grades and 182 Dave Cheetham the only yellow grade entry.
With a pack of red grades chasing the rest of the field race started on a freshly watered track. Shunts and spins were inevitable with such a high grade field. As drivers tried to hold on to places and fight off the onslaught from behind Dave was hit hard and forced into the armco where a second hit from other cars forced him to withdraw from the race. The winner of heat one was car 482 driven by Martin Fletcher a white grade driver , 69 Matt Barnard red grade came second followed by 174 Richard Pursey another white grade driver.
A quick check over of the car revealed no damage, refueled and with a change of rear tyre and it was back out for heat two.
Yet another frenetic race with many cars spinning off and crashes galore Dave managed to avoid the carnage to finish in a creditable tenth place to gain valuable World Championship points. The winner was 482 Martin Fletcher second 491 Paul Prest and third 498 Ollie Spencer
With two races from the other formulas between the V8 races it was another quick inspection and turn round of the car for the pit crew before the final . Double points were up for grabs in a twenty lap race and the red grades provided the entertainment on the slippery shale Dave drove well and held out for seventh place. The winner of the final was 69 Matt Barnard second 485 Steve Thompson third 131 Kevin Stuchbury all red grade drivers.
The final race of the day the Grand National is always entertaining with the winner of the final starting a lap behind everyone else and trying to make time up and gain places. This task fell to Matt Barnard. Again Dave drove well battling on to produce a solid ninth place and gaining those all important points. The winner of the grand national was 491 Paul Prest second 131 Kevin Stuchbury and third 485 Steve Thompson.
Next weekend sees the Brisca V8 stock cars back on tarmac with a Saturday evening meeting at Birmingham Raceway and a Sunday meeting at the scenic Buxton Raceway.