FIVE OUT OF THIRTEEN

What happened next? Scroll down for the rest of the sequence!

HOTTER IN THE NORTH

After the cancellation of the first BAS round at Evesham, the Bank Holiday schedule was dominated by two very well supported two-day meetings in the north of England with just one single-day meeting in Scotland. The only scheduled southern event, the first round of the SEGTO Championship at Horndean, was also cancelled.

LEEWOOD attracted its biggest entry in recent years with 165 drivers signed on for Sunday and just a few less on Monday. In warm sunshine on Sunday the first round of the British F600 Championship was the headline act and lived up to expectations with 26 cars featuring in wheel to wheel racing through the heats and finals. The A-final took four attempts to complete, and on the second run Zoe Leyland ended up in the ambulance after a tangle with Terry Cox. But Zoe then bounced back to take a close win from Scottish Borders driver Andy Watson and Northumbrian Max Dawson. The 600s had another full programme on Monday, and Zoe made it a double by overcoming Lincoln’s Gav Waby and Jonny Dawson.

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No official points scoring was available for the supporting classes, which meant that on Sunday at least the programmed finals didn't happen, so we’ve made up our own results from the three heats that were eventually run. Close and spectacular racing on a well prepared track was only interrupted by two rolls on each day; Andrew Owen’s Class 2 and Pete Astbury’s Class 1 on Sunday and John McGrady’s 2 and Trev Frost’s 600 on Monday.

LEEWOOD RESULTS (unofficial)

FORMULA 600 A-FINAL: 1st LM1 Zoe Leyland 2nd SB20 Andy Watson 3rd SL102 Max Dawson 4th LM2 Andy Blomfield 5th ST42 Gav Waby 6th SC60 John Aldred. B-final: N41 Gary Shaw. C-final LM69 Chris Kearney. D-final WR400 Trevor Frost.

CLASS 1: 1st= LM46 Simon Mills & LM112 Matt Astbury  3rd LM999 Harry Chadwick 4th NS63 Josh Evans. CLASS 2: 1st LM49 John McGrady 2nd LM43 Alan Stretton 3rd LM64 Dave Mansfield 4th G23D Tony Hawkins. CLAS  3: 1st SR22 John Shorter 2nd NS334 Martin Gould 3rd SN270 Barry Almond 4th ARC27 Lee Almond. CLASS 4: 1st NS206 Joe Pipe 2nd LM66 Mark Egan 3rd NW144 Kev Kemp 4th NW13 John Griffiths. CLASS 5: 1st NW19 Chris Colegate 2nd S60D Stuart Deacon 3rd LM4 Terry Rigney 4th LM76 Jonny Haile. CLASS 6: 1st NW165 Neil Williams 2nd LM410 Jake Calvert 3rd ARC41 Marc/Steven Francis 4th NS434 Ben Gould.  CLASS 7: 1st NS205 Andy Pipe 2nd NW70 Jamie Lea 3rd A13 Lawrence Blaber 4th LM37 Ant Herbert. CLASS 8: 1st= NW106 Jay Jones & NW60 Kenny Roberts 3rd N8 Simon Reeve 4th C108 Bill Bradford. CLASS 9: 1st BC70 Phil Matthews 2nd LM8 Roger Haynes. CLASS 10: 1st NW117 Tony Jones 2nd NS1 John Gaffney 3rd ARC9 Gareth Hankey 4th ARC1 Lee Seagreaves. CLASS 11: 1st LM87 Louise Clancy 2nd LM49 Annette McGrady 3rd LM236 Melissa Frankel 4th WR611 Chloe Calvert. CLASS 12: 1st LM34 Lucy Lockett 2nd NS219 Angela Evans 3rd LM66 Sharon Lockett. CLASS 13: 1st SR22 Sally Shorter 2nd A13 Laura Blaber 3rd SN270 Beth Flynn 4th ARC27 Lisa Almond. CLASS 14: 1st WR400 Hilary Bird 2nd LM9 Mel Gallagher 3rd LM2 Suzanne Gibbons 4th LM5 Kelsie le Carpentier. JUNIORS: 1st NS63 Ross Evans 2nd SL6 Daniel Talbot 3rd NW149 Jordan England 4th NW95 Billy Butt. JUNIOR SPECIALS: 1st NS15 Dan Owen 2nd NW711 Aaron Jones 3rd C118 Leigh Hughes 4th NW200 Kieran Sheffield. JUNIOR OPEN: 1st LM13 Brad Gallagher 2nd NW711 Aaron Jones 3rd NW80 Trystan Roberts 4th NS171 Zarah Sutton. ALLCOMERS OPEN: 1st NS63 Josh Evans 2nd LM62 Grant Mitchell 3rd S60D Stuart Deacon 4th LM23 David Combey.

YORKSHIRE DALES’ bill on Sunday was topped by the British (not to be confused with National) Championship for the Stock Hatches, which attracted 17 entries and was won by the reigning National Champion's car, but this time with Jack Farrow at the wheel. With a total of 256 cars filling the Thornborough pits and exactly 300 drivers signed on, the other classes had a “fun day” – two sets of heats, officially defined as Opens so that men and ladies could race together, plus some extra fun and games including the track being “hired” by Mr Jefferson for a private “family race”!

Monday was was the main day, with the Stu Nicholls Memorial being, as is now traditional, the first major trophy event of the season. 273 drivers raced and despite cold and windy conditions, the rain held off and the immense amount of work put in by Peter Almack on the newly extended track paid off with some excellent racing. A few non-starters didn’t detract from a close champion of champions, in which Class 4 driver Andy Kirby entered as defending champion and ended up taking the trophy home again after narrowly holding off Mark Grice.

STOCK HATCH CHAMPIONSHIP: 1st S70Y Jack Farrow 2nd Y47 Jamie Patterson 3rd S110Y Tom Farrow 4th YD666 Wayne Barker. STOCK HATCH LADIES’ CHAMPIONSHIP: 1st SL45 Fiona McIntyre 2nd YD38 Suzy Alldritt 3rd YD26 Gillian Grufferty.

STU NICHOLLS MEMORIAL:

CLASS 1: 1st YD35 Rachael Davis 2nd YD197 Alun Adams 3rd SP57 Carl Secker 4th S94Y Shaun Benson. CLASS 2: 1st SR15 Mathew Morris 2nd T132 Conrad Noble 3rd N200 Lloyd Elliott 4th YD65 Terry Alderson. CLASS 3: 1st ST8 Lewis Brown 2nd S145Y Brian Wall 3rd YD28 Paul Langstaff 4th ST24 Simon Farrar. CLASS 4: 1st YD1 Duane Walker 2nd Y42 Andy Kirby 3rd Y60 Mick Norgate 4th YD166 Phil Watson. CLASS 5: 1st Y44 Mark Grice 2nd SL15 Steven Graham 3rd Y84 Amy Bennett 4th YD916 Wes Green. CLASS 6: 1st N25 Andrew Smith 2nd SL22 Jason Ballantyne 3rd SL60 Andrew Davidson 4th SC34 Dan Wade.  CLASS 7: 1st ARC5 Phil Cooper 2nd YD71 Graham Blackburn 3rd SC61 Andy Holtby 4th S333Y Tony Blackburn. CLASS 8: 1st Y811 Dave Newby 2nd SC67 Marc Clayton 3rd SN51 Barry Ashmore 4th T5 Stu Whitehouse. CLASS 9: 1st SC150 Anthony Read 2nd SC14 Russ Thompson 3rd YD117 Dennis Raffel 4th YD182 James Bowe. CLASS 10: 1st SP1 Bill Shaw 2nd NS120 Liam Evans 3rd SC21 Alex Kershaw. STOCK HATCH: 1st Y47 Jamie Patterson 2nd S110Y Tom Farrow 3rd YD93 Darren Bryan 4th YD666 Wayne Barker. JUNIORS: 1st SN201 Jake Bartlett 2nd SC16 Zack Booth 3rd S253Y Michael Armstrong 4th YD500 Joe Flanagan. JUNIOR SPECIALS: 1st SL177 Matty Cobb 2nd SC292 Ellie Lockwood 3rd YD64 Jason Alderson 4th LM60 Taylor Pugh. OPEN: 1st 2nd 3rd 4th . LADIES’ CLASS 1: 1st YD52 Sarah Haigh 2nd S93Y Amanda Tunnicliff 3rd YD501 Jade Dunn. LADIES’ CLASS 2: 1st SL222 Leanne Huschka 2nd SC85 Emma Hall 3rd YD31 Sarah Carden 4th ST474 Kelly Hornby. LADIES’ CLASS 4: No finishers. LADIES’ CLASS 5: 1st YD916 Kim Green 2nd SL15 Julie Graham. LADIES’ CLASS 6: 1st YD131 Sarah Carden 2nd YD85 Katie Sunley 3rd N225 Kerrilee Wilson. LADIES’ CLASS 7: 1st LM30 Charlotte Pugh 2nd ST306 Charlotte Goodsir 3rd N4 Cath Weston 4th N45 Helen Brooks. LADIES’ CLASS 8: 1st WR21 Lindsay Stephenson 2nd SC191 Katie Lockwood 3rd ST305 Georgia Holloway 4th YD20 Emily Gill. LADIES’ CLASS 9: 1st WR20 Gemma Stephenson 2nd YD171 Chris Raffell 3rd YD80 Emily Gill. LADIES’ CLASS 10: No finishers. CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS: 1st Y42 Andy Kirby 2nd Y44 Mark Grice 3rd Y47 Jamie Patterson 4th SL222 Leanne Huschka

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The third meeting of the bank holiday weekend was the season opener at CENTRAL SCOTLAND. The newly drained and much improved Avonbridge track saw a successful meeting with several new drivers making their debuts. Highlights included the Juniors’ final, won by Cameron Doak from Amy Keenan (in her first ever race meeting) and Billy Donoghue. The Champion of Champions was as spectacular as always in Scotland, Blair Robertson winning in his Class 1 despite a nervy moment on two2 wheels after clipping a cone on lap 1. Mick Nairns drove a storming race in his Class 10 from the back to get second, while Joe Murdoch just piped Jaki Scott on the line to take third. A promising start to the season with just two weeks to go before the sixth running of the Scottish Championship weekend.

... and this is how Eddy Church's little stunt ended!

We've no idea how Eddy saved that one!

WASHOUT WEEKEND

After another week of torrential rain, those clubs who'd cancelled Autograss meetings knew they'd done the right thing when conditions over most of the UK became even worse. Only Ireland escaped the worst of the weather and WEST WATERFORD were the only club to complete their meeting, running in cold and windy conditions.

WEST WATERFORD RESULTS:

CLASS 1: 1st WW226 Paul Pearce 2nd WW3 Kieran Cashel 3rd WW216 James Daly. CLASS 1A: 1st WW58 Damien Houlihan 2nd WW147 Willie O’Dwyer. CLASS 2: 1st MA30 Aidan O’Neill 2nd CK7 Steven White 3rd CW22 Shane Farrell. CLASS 3: 1st CW25 Ed Sheehan. CLASS 4: 1st WW921 Brian Kearns 2nd WW50 Jim Hayde. CLASS 5: 1st CW12 James Brady. CLASS 6: 1st WW73 Alan Houlihan 2nd CK138 Liam Eyre 3rd CK43 John Thompson.  CLASS 7: 1st MA404 Mark Dolphin 2nd CW247 Keith Quinn. CLASS 8: 1st MA69 Mick Hogan 2nd DA821 Joe McGrath 3rd CW17 Paul O’Brien. CLASS 9: 1st WW399 John Fuller 2nd WW252 Shane Houlihan 3rd .F600: 1st WW11 Sean O’Sullivan 2nd WW77 Kevin Keating 3rd WW78 Kenneth Cashel. LADIES: 1st CW43 Orla Galvin 2nd 3rd WW319 Jessica Browne. JUNIOR CLASS 1: 1st CW7 Ryan Mulroy 2nd CK6 Jamie White 3rd WW106 Brian Meagher. JUNIOR CLASS 1A: 1st WW108 Cillan Doherty 2nd CK296 Eoghan O’Neill 3rd CK396 Robert Buttimer. JUNIOR SPECIALS: 1st MA96 Niall O’Brien 2nd CW160 Liam Roche. CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS: 1st MA30 Aidan O’Neill 2nd MA211 Seamus O’Riordan 3rd WW73 Alan Houlihan. WINNER OF THE MICHAEL TYRELL PERPETUAL SHIELD: MA30 Aidan O’Neill.

After cancellations at St Neots, North Shropshire, Concord, York, North Wales, Wessex, Gloucester, Hereford and finally the SEGTO meeting at Tongham, NOTTINGHAM ran the only grass meeting in the UK, and unfortunately the weather caught up with them at 1 am on Sunday. Even so, 117 drivers signed on for some fun in the mud, but there are limits, and after two heats everyone was on the way home.

Steve Belcher was one of the few photographers to brave the conditions and you can view his photos at www.southyorksphotography.co.uk

Wet weather racing can be good value - especially if you do it on tarmac, as was demonstrated by the Rolling Thunder Show's racers at ARENA ESSEX on Saturday night. Despite torrential rain and deepening standing water, all nine classes provided close fought and entertaining racing, with the highlight being a four car battle for the Superstox final win, decided in favour of James Forrest as Luke Perry and John Enright tangled entering the last lap. Former Autograss Junior Mike Collins dominated the Stock Rods.

RTS RESULTS:

Outlaw Hot Rods: 1st 8 Stu Hammond 2nd 285 Trevor Ward 3rd 55 Alistair Lowe. Superstox: 1st 48 James Forrest 2nd 874 Neil Moss 3rd 555 Luke Perry. Stock Rods: 1st 100 Mike Collins 2nd 45 Dave Oliver 3rd 106 Ricky Walker. Euro Rods: 1st 21 Alan Newbon 2nd 2 Dean Webster 3rd 65 Mick Prowse. Formula Fords: 1st 132 Steve Norman 2nd 31 Dave Follett 3rd 411 Colin Fuller. Junior Hot Rods: 1st 9 Sammy Mileham 2nd 16 Jimmy Newbon 3rd 7 George Morris. Street Stox: 1st 96 Mason Parker 2nd 137 Curtis Tebbenham 3rd 37 Fred Tebbenham. Reliant Robins: 1st 13 Alf Clarke 2nd 9 David Weaver 3rd 104 Billy Kavanagh. Mini Sprints: 1st 10 Tyler Proudlock 2nd 216 George Baker 3rd 73 Ollie Owen.

BEATING THE WEATHER

QUALIFIERS GALORE

With Easter out of the way the attention of most leagues turned to National qualifying. EVESHAM ended up with the biggest turnout of the year so far when a combined qualifier for MAP, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Leagues brought in 291 entries. The busy day was punctuated by quite a few spills, including a heavy Class 2 roll that caused Phil Badman to be airlifted to hospital, fortunately without serious injury.

PENNINE club hosted the first East Midlands qualifier at Darleymoor with 121 entries. This meeting also featured two massive rolls, one accompanied by a brief fire for Carl Swift's Class 7 and one for Ben Gadsby's Class 2. Otherwise the unluckiest driver of the day was young Louis Gutteridge, who continued his domination of Class 6, only to break a shaft in the final.

CWMDU's event at their historic Lyonhall venue attracted 185 entries with qualifying points up for grabs for the West Midland League and WASA, while there was also a very strong contingent of South/West Wales visitors. Thankfully there were fewer accidents here, with rolls for Deri Davies in Class 9 (while leading his first heat) and Martin Bowen and James Lewis in the Class 6 final, while Matt Dance's Class 5 went up in flames (also while leading his first heat).

CAMBRIDGE enjoyed a very successful day in ideal conditions as they hosted the first East Anglian qualifier, while CONCORD staged the first Essex qualifying round.

SOLWAY opened their season at Hay Close; this one wasn't a qualifier but intensive work by the club members resulted in an excellent turnout of local and visiting racers who found the track to be in perfect condition on a sunny but chilly day. Three heats, finals and opens were all completed by 5 pm, with the only mishap being a quick roll for Andrew Shaw's Stock Hatch.

In Ireland CARLOW enjoyed an excellent day's racing but SEGTO had a disappointing weekend with TONGHAM's meeting cancelled due to heavy rain in the preceding week

EVESHAM RESULTS

CLASS 1: 1st E121 Brian Kelsey 2nd S88D Matt Middleton 3rd R137 steve Edwards 4th E391 Eric Canning. CLASS 2: 1st B12H Scott Cheshire 2nd E291 Martyn Canning 3rd A23 Jonny Barber 4th S32D Dean Hill. CLASS 3: 1st R169 Mick Sumners 2nd 123F Dave Westlake 3rd R70 Dean Guy 4th B21H Jim Corbett. CLASS 4: 1st E220 Darren Grasby 2nd E51 Luke Oakley 3rd E37 James Cuthbertson 4th E66 Sam Forsey. CLASS 5: 1st ST6 Colin Chilvers 2nd E10 Julian Heath 3rd S73D Graham Stedman 4th E152 Matt Manning. CLASS 6: 1st R161 Tony Gilder 2nd R27 Dave Houghton 3rd SS3 Gary Parsley 4th G7D Nick Hyndman.  CLASS 7: 1st S29D Neil Robins 2nd E14 Rob Holloway 3rd S47D PJ Bott 4th R139 Paul Waldron. CLASS 8: 1st S50D James Candy 2nd S27D Scott Aldridge 3rd B129H Ben Reade 4th B108H Matt Cleeveley. CLASS 9: 1st R252 Mike Bluck 2nd E26 Mark Barker 3rd S2D James Candy 4th R309 Mike Liddiatt. CLASS 10: 1st R7 Paul Fackrell 2nd SS166 Paul Coles 3rd S74D Phil Young 4th R200 Kevin Hurdman. JUNIORS: 1st R515 Kieran Waterhouse 2nd R313 Will Barrett 3rd B115H James Reid 4th S64D Jake Webb. JUNIOR SPECIALS: 1st YS73 Matt Bishop 2nd NS15 Dan Owen 3rd NS115 Matt Owen 4th R190 Ted Preedy. LADIES’ CLASS 1: 1st E391 Laura Canning 2nd B35H Katie Lee 3rd B10H Ash Bryan 4th E105 Anna Langridge. LADIES’ CLASS 2: 1st B12H Amanda Cheshire 2nd E61 Ali Gurney 3rd R26 Sarah King 4th E126 Stacey Herbert. LADIES’ CLASS 3: 1st E214 Robyn King 2nd R388 Jodie Wakefield. LADIES’ CLASS 4: 1st E220 Lisa Grasby 2nd R47 Claire Lancaster. LADIES’ CLASS 5: 1st S121D Donna Smith 2nd E10 Diane Heath. LADIES’ CLASS 6: 1st S18D Michelle Tee. LADIES’ CLASS 7: 1st E122 Jill Grasby 2nd R21 Katie Walker 3rd S3D Yvette Jackson 4th R13 Jayne Barrett. LADIES’ CLASS 8: 1st S50D Bev Candy 2nd WR21 Gemma Stephenson 3rd S27D Tracey Aldridge 4th ST305 Georgia Holloway. LADIES’ CLASS 9: 1st WR20 Lindsay Stephenson 2nd S14D Nancy Hughes. LADIES’ CLASS 10: 1st YS37 Kelly Bishop.

CWMDU RESULTS

CLASS 1: 1st SV100 Conner Griffiths 2nd SV69 James Mayo 3rd C17 Steve Duggan 4th C35 Ian Weaver. CLASS 2: 1st C20 Dan Evans 2nd P13 Richard Jones 3rd C220 Shane Smith 4th C63 Ian Harvey. CLASS 3: 1st CM4 Viv Cole 2nd C12 Pat Smith 3rd NS111 Nick Shaw 4th LUD9 Stewart Moore. CLASS 4: 1st PAC3 Rob Corbett 2nd BC25 Jumbo Williams 3rd SV9 Kev Barnett 4th BC32 Kiah Stevens. CLASS 5: 1st LUD8 Jabez Smith 2nd SV20 Lee Cox 3rd C31 Ian Jones 4th C5 Barry Williams. CLASS 6: 1st P6 Nicky Newton 2nd PAC91 Ken Thomas 3rd P55 Dylan Major.  CLASS 7: 1st SV2 Mark Griffiths 2nd BC9 Gareth Thomas 3rd BC59 Simon Bentley 4th LUD23 Alfie Smith. CLASS 8: 1st BC55 Tom Lewis 2nd C10 Steve Mills 3rd BC2 Will Corfield 4th BC98 Dek Traylor. CLASS 9: 1st BC34 Ian Stead 2nd SV93 Derek Warren 3rd BC70 Phil Matthews 4th C25 Matt Page. CLASS 10: 1st BC19 Colin Court 2nd NR2 Paul Smith 3rd BC96 Derek Adams 4th BC52 Trev Stead. CLASS 11: 1st BC11 Becky Shaw 2nd C60 Donna Howells 3rd H95 Amy Jones 4th SV666 Michelle Williams. CLASS 11A: 1st C13 Louise Duggan 2nd H14 Melissa Perkins. CLASS 12: 1st Se Leanne Lewis. CLASS 13: 1st NS111 Mandy Shaw 2nd C12 Penny Smith 3rd TA43 Donna Jones. CLASS 14: 1st= BC92 Charlotte Lewis & H150 Jade Dyke 3rd CM5 Michelle Phillips 4th BC14 Carol Stead. JUNIORS: 1st SV212 Rhys Griffiths 2nd SV4 Kieran Griffiths 3rd C17 Dan Duggan 4th SV68 Connor Green. JUNIOR SPECIALS: 1st H30 Jai Jones 2nd C55 James Ashmore 3rd C118 Leigh Hughes 4th BC18 Ellie Court. (Classes 4, 10 and Ladies’ results over three heats)

PENNINE RESULTS:

CLASS 1: 1st N53 Lloyd Elliott 2nd L6 David Hampson 3rd P65EM Steve Heath. CLASS 2: 1st SC600 Anthony Conway 2nd N1 Ivan Elliott 3rd P12EM John Gadsby. CLASS 3: 1st L44 Kev Branston 2nd N22 Kev Thorpe. CLASS 4: 1st N295 Rob Drake 2nd L7 David Hampson 3rd P20EM Martin Hucknall. CLASS 5: 1st P24EM Brian Wright 2nd N17 Gary Cheetham 3rd N333 Joe Smith. CLASS 6: 1st N25 Andrew Smith 2nd N10 Martyn Janes 3rd N11 Gary Cheetham.  CLASS 7: 1st P23EM Phil Barleyman 2nd N70 Rich Lee 3rd P26EM John Cottrill. CLASS 8: 1st NS151 Tom Chadwick 2nd N8 Simon Reeve 3rd M11 Ben Harper. CLASS 9: 1st P5EM Jason Richardson 2nd N27 Matt Rigby 3rd N54 John Boaden. CLASS 10: 1st LM35 Rob Simmonds 2nd N7 Ian James 3rd P208EM Andy Hunter. STOCK HATCH: 1st N184 Tom Holtam 2nd N363 Baz Wasley. CLASS 11: 1st NS226 Dawn Faulkner 2nd LM36 Sue Gillard 3rd P29EM Charlotte Rice. CLASS 11A: 1st SC122 Jess Robers 2nd N18 3rd L254 Mandy Cashmore. CLASS 12: 1st SR6 Jodie Faulkner 2nd P59EM Pam French. CLASS 13: 1st SR22 Sally Shorter. CLASS 14: 1st M11 Barbara Harper. JUNIORS: 1st P53EM Shaun Nelson 2nd P22EM Ainsley Walker 3rd N46 Lewis Dann.

SOLWAY RESULTS:

CLASS 1: 1st YD35 Rachael Davis 2nd SL65 Andrew Wilkinson 3rd SL12 William Jackson. CLASS 2: 1st SL70 Andrew Davidson 2nd SB93 David Ford. CLASS 3: 1st SL44 Terry Kitching 2nd SL66 Mark Little 3rd SL68 Neil Barnes. CLASS 5: No finishers. CLASS 6: 1st SL11 Joe Threlkeld 2nd YD235 Dan Grafferty 3rd SL60 Andrew Davidson.  CLASS 7: 1st YD71 Graham Blackburn. CLASS 8: 1st SL1 Mark Dalgleish. CLASS 9: 1st YD143 Ben Wilson 2nd SL75 Greg Brookes. CLASS 10: 1st SL5 Mark Johnston 2nd SL76 Les Aitchinson. STOCK HATCH: 1st SL90 Paul Harrington 2nd SL64 Lloyd Stephenson. F600: 1st SB20 Andrew Watson 2nd SL101 Jonny Dawson 3rd SL102 Max Dawson. JUNIORS: 1st SL6 Daniel Talbot 2nd SL24 Lauren Charlton 3rd YD100 Kieran Graham. JUNIOR SPECIALS: 1st YD64 Jason Alderson 2nd SL177 Matty Cobb.LADIES’ CLASS 2: 1st SL222 Leanne Huschka. LADIES’ CLASS 5: 1st SL85 Gill Graham. LADIES’ CLASS 6: 1st YD235 Suzy Aldritt. LADIES’ CLASS 9: No finishers. LADIES’ CLASS 10: No finishers.  

Thanks to Andrea Boerngen for the Pennine photos and Gary Jones for the Cwmdu photos - our own galleries from the weekend's racing at Arena Essex and Cwmdu are now uploaded.

EASTER- GOOD IN PARTS

DOWN AUTOGRASS kicked off the Northern Ireland season with a two day meeting at Maghaberry on Saturday and Sunday. SCUNTHORPE attracted 243 entries for their Easter Sunday meeting; the rain held off and the sun even made a brief appearance during a slickly run meeting at which the only major mishap was a heavy roll for James Brooks’ Class 7. Also on Sunday SCARBOROUGH ran their annual “Dash for Cash” meeting.  INVICTA KENT made the best of a rather wet start to run a successful first meeting of the year, while NORTH WALES and GLOUCESTER also enjoyed good events, as did WEST WATERFORD.

HEREFORD’s meeting was reduced from a three day to a two day format this year and although the weather on Sunday defied the forecast and stayed dry, everything else that could go wrong did. The track, due to its river bank location, was soft underfoot and right from the start was rougher than most modern day grassers are used to; there were delays caused by start gate e problems and a few visits to the fence; then the water cart blew its nozzle off and flooded part of the pits bend, directly contributing to a massive accident for Paul Bailey’s Class 6. The finals eventually started at 6 pm and were completed at 7.15, but despite all the problems the big entry produced some highly competitive racing.

Monday’s meeting was a completely different proposition with, despite a few new arrivals, only 49 drivers taking part. Steady rain all day, together with track work the previous night, did wonders for the surface and the Lugg View Raceway turned out to be an excellent wet weather track. With trophies but no points on offer the atmosphere was transformed with everyone racing just for the enjoyment, and the only downside was an accident towards the end of the day that hospitalised Zack Neville, whose car had broken down and been hit from behind just as he was heading for his third Junior win of the day.

Monday’s SOUTH WALES LEAGUE fixture at Red Roses, which was due to have seen the South and West Wales Leagues running their first “joint” points meeting, was to nobody’s surprise rained off first thing in the morning with dreadful overnight weather only promising to get worse, leaving YORK’s traditional Easter Monday fixture as the only other NASA meeting, attracting the expected big turnout despite changeable weather conditions. SEGTO meetings took place at HORNDEAN on Sunday and STANDLAKE on Monday.

HEREFORD RESULTS (SUNDAY - 183 entries)

CLASS 1: 1st SV100 Conner Griffiths 2nd SV69 James Mayo 3rd C17 Steve Duggan 4th ARC29 Danny Hobson. CLASS 2: 1st C20 Dan Evans 2nd LM43 Alan Stretton 3rd SV5 Tim Harber 4th C220 Shaun Smith. CLASS 3: 1st NS242 Raife MacDonald 2nd LUD9 Stewart Moore 3rd NS111 Nick Shaw 4th BC16 Matt Tennant. CLASS 4: 1st BC25 Jumbo Williams 2nd CM53 Lyndon George 3rd BC32 Kiah Stevens 4th PAC3 Rob Corbett. CLASS 5: 1st LUD8 Jabez Smith 2nd SV20 Lee Cox 3rd E10 Julian Heath 4th C5 Barry Williams. CLASS 6: 1st BC5 Martin Bowen 2nd H55 Martin Jones 3rd BC99 Matty Newman 4th H5 Chris Price.  CLASS 7: 1st SV2 Mark Griffiths 2nd BC59 Simon Bentley 3rd LUD23 Alfie Smith 4th H1 Geoff Gibbs. CLASS 8: 1st LUD80 Jimmy Smith 2nd C9 Cameron Mills 3rd BC98 Dek Traylor 4th C10 Steve Mills. CLASS 9: 1st S8 Matty Jones 2nd SV77 Barry Hanks 3rd BC70 Phil Matthews 4th SV93 Derek Warren. CLASS 10: 1st C8 Nathan Powell 2nd BC19 Colin Court 3rd BC52 Trev Stead 4th BC96 Derek Adams. CLASS 11: 1st PAC212 Emma Lewis 2nd BC163 Gemma Frankland 3rd ARC20 4th C60 Donna Howells. CLASS 11A: 1st LM49 Annette McGrady 2nd LM64 Sue Mansfield 3rd H14 Melissa Perkins. CLASS 12: 1st PAC37 Jenny Brown 2nd C121 Mandy Newman 3rd E10 Diane Heath 4th E122 Jill Grasby. CLASS 13: 1st A13 Laura Blaber 2nd BC63 Claire Hockly 3rd NS111 Becky Shaw. CLASS 14: 1st BC92 Charlotte Lewis 2nd BC53 Katie Peace 3rd BC14 Carol Stead 4th H150 Jade Dyke. JUNIORS: 1st SV4 Kieron Griffiths 2nd SV11 Dylan Evans 3rd C17 Dan Duggan 4th PAC222 Sophie Lewis. JUNIOR SPECIALS: 1st NS15 Dan Owen 2nd C55 James Ashcroft 3rd C118 Leigh Hughes 4th BC18 Ellie Court. (Classes 3, 4, 10 & ladies results over 3 heats)

HEREFORD RESULTS (MONDAY - 49 entries)

CLASS 1: 1st H155 Steve Fish 2nd LUD53 Jessy Smith 3rd SV31 Henry Over 4th H69 Ian Marsh. CLASS 2: 1st P13 Richard Jones 2nd P226 Dai Preece 3rd H180 Jason Holland 4th H177 Aaron Bird. CLASS 5: 1st S60D Stuart Deacon 2nd BC10 Pete Savage 3rd SR74 Paul Randles 4th SV66 Andy Pyle. CLASS 6: 1st H5 Chris Price 2nd P6 Nicky Newton.  CLASS 7: 1st R41 Martin Wright 2nd SR90 Colin Griffiths 3rd C110 Bill Bradford 4th H33 Sean Stanley. CLASS 8: 1st H8 Paul Murphy. CLASS 9: 1st BC70 Phil Matthews 2nd PAC4 Derrick Brown 3rd PAC72 Phil Griffiths 4th H150 Marc Paskell. CLASS 10: 1st SS166 Paul Coles. CLASS 11: 1st LUD41 Melissa Burghill . CLASS 11A: 1st H14 Melissa Perkins . CLASS 12: 1st C121 Mandy Newman. CLASS 14: 1st H150 Jade Dyke. JUNIORS: 1st H3 James Stanley 2nd H247 Zack Neville 3rd LUD53 Adam Smith 4th 196F Josh Holden. JUNIOR SPECIALS: 1st H30 Jai Jones 2nd H8 Ryan Murphy 3rd SS167 Victoria Coles 4th TA144 Dave Packer. (All results over 3 heats)

SCUNTHORPE RESULTS (243 entries)

CLASS 1: 1st SP57 Carl Secker 2nd P65EM Steve Heath 3rd T1 Shaun Percival 4th P56EM Andy Heath. CLASS 2: 1st SC85 Phil Clark 2nd N200 Lloyd Elliott 3rd P12EM John Gadsby 4th SC49 Chris Juggins. CLASS 3: 1st ARC8 Ged Power 2nd ARC17 Ryan Power 3rd SC100 Martin Walker 4th ST24 Simon Farrar. CLASS 4: 1st ST52 Alex Fretwell 2nd SC36 Dane Coupland 3rd ST18 Chris Wood 4th ST4 Andrew Wood. CLASS 5: 1st SC149 James Meakin 2nd ST69 Wayne Yeardley 3rd N34 Matt Tasker 4th SC112 Norman Zeifert. CLASS 6: 1st P3EM Louis Gutteridge 2nd N25 Andrew Smith 3rd SC7 Shaun Thompson 4th Y308 Eddy Church.  CLASS 7: 1st SC19 Tom Page 2nd SC61 Andy Holtby 3rd N70 Rich Lee 4th YD21 Andy Jefferson. CLASS 8: 1st Y7 Andy Hornshaw 2nd T5 Stuart Whitehouse 3rd WR32 Bryn Hawkins 4th Y811 Dave Newby. CLASS 9: 1st SC4 John Whitehouse 2nd SC150 Anthony Read 3rd ARC7 Sean Power 4th Y6 Russ Addyman. CLASS 10: 1st SC21 Alex Kershaw 2nd SC3 Ken Salt 3rd LM19 Roy Blower. F600: 1st ST52 Gav Waby 2nd SC60 John Aldred 3rd N41 Gary Shaw 4th WR392 Neil Richardson. CLASS 11: 1st L10 Ella Markham 2nd SC851 Emma Hall 3rd SC31 4th SC122 Jess Roberts. CLASS 12: 1st YD85 Katie Sunley 2nd ST69 Sharon Syson 3rd ST213 Jodi Rudkin. CLASS 13: 1st SC121 Charlie Wright 2nd YD71 Pam Blackburn 3rd P307EM Lyndsay Allen. CLASS 14: 1st SC191 Amanda Lockwood 2nd WR20 Gemma Stephenson 3rd Y7 Sue Herdman 4th WR2 Rosemary Glover. JUNIORS: 1st N47 Aiden Derry 2nd P56EM Dan Heath 3rd P70EM Jordan Hampson N41 Gary Shaw 4th WR192 Joe Jopling. JUNIOR SPECIALS: 1st ST60 Matt Barnbrook 2nd LM96 Taylor Yates 3rd SC460 Luke Tongue 4th ST691 Zack Yeardley.

SEVERN VALLEY BLOCKBUSTER

SEVERN VALLEY staged the first West Midland League National qualifier at Withington, and also played host to the Wiltshire League's qualifier, resulting in the biggest meeting of the year so far, with 292 drivers signed on.

UNOFFICIAL SEVERN VALLEY RESULTS:

CLASS 1: 1st TA66 Darren Thomas 2nd WS40 Dougie Atkins 3rd SV69 James Mayo. CLASS 2: 1st C20 Dan Evans 2nd C220 Shaun Smith 3rd SV5 Tim Harber. CLASS 3: 1st 123F Dave Westlake 2nd R388 Lee Wakefield 3rd C12 Pat Smith. CLASS 4: 1st SV9 Kev Barnett 2nd BC25 Jumbo Williams 3rd TA36 Trystan Daniels. CLASS 5: 1st S24D James Candy 2nd S45D Jeff Bateman 3rd WS11 Jason Saunders. CLASS 6: 1st H99 Paul Bailey 2nd N10 Martyn Janes 3rd BC99 Matty Newman. CLASS 7: 1st S29D Neil Robins 2nd SV2 Mark Griffiths 3rd BC59 Simon Bentley. CLASS 8: 1st BC55 Tom Lewis 2nd SS38 Daz Mullen 3rd C10 Steve Mills. CLASS 9: 1st SC4 John Whitehouse 2nd S2D James Candy 3rd S14D Nigel Candy. CLASS 10: 1st BC52 Trev Stead 2nd BC96 Derek Adams 3rd C8 Nathan Powell. CLASS 11: 1st TA66 Fiona Thomas 2nd C60 Donna Howells 3rd H95 Amy Jones. CLASS 11A: 1st N18 Becky Smith 2nd H14 Melissa Perkins. CLASS 12: 1st CM25 Danielle Phillips 2nd S121D Donna Smith 3rd S45D Sarah Bateman. CLASS 13: 1st A13 Laura Blaber 2nd TA31 Michelle Phillips  3rd S3D Yvette Jackson. CLASS 14: 1st S50D Bev Candy 2nd WR20 Gemma Stephenson 3rd H150 Jade Dyke. JUNIORS: 1st C17 Dan Duggan 2nd SV4 Kieron Griffiths 3rd SS10 Dev North. JUNIOR SPECIALS: 1st YS73 Matt Bishop 2nd PHD17 Ben Williams 3rd H30 Jai Jones.

Andrea's photos from Severn Valley will all be on view at www.absnapshots.co.uk

EAST ANGLIAN OPENER

The East Anglian League's opener at ST NEOTS attracted 140 entries with a good mix of locals and visitors providing some good racing in the bright sunshine, on a track that was kept deliberately moist for most of the day before being allowed to dry out during the finals. The closest competition came in Class 2, where Gary Clapham kept in front of some fraught action; Class 6, won by Warren French's new Saxo after two superb heat wins for Anthony Phillips' pretty VW Lupo, and Class 8 where Barry Ashmore put his wife in her place after Aly won both her heats.

Elsewhere, the North Western League opened at LEEWOOD. Other NASA events were at MELTON, NORTH SHROPSHIRE and YORK. MALLOW club staged its first meeting for five years with a qualifying round using the Cork track at Castletownkenneigh. SEGTO raced at TONGHAM.

ST NEOTS RESULTS:

CLASS 1: 1st CA28 Shayne Deegan 2nd SN164 Alex Hill 3rd SN10 Mark Empson. CLASS 2: 1st SN391 Gary Clapham 2nd SN450 Tony McKenna 3rd SP15 Bob Ellis. CLASS 3: 1st SN269 Dave George 2nd CA546 Adam Saint 3rd SP401 Aaron Mackenzie. CLASS 4: 1st P20EM Martin Hucknall 2nd IK221 Pete Berry 3rd CA242 Gary Pemberton. CLASS 5: 1st CA4 Dan Neville 2nd SC72 Martin Dixon 3rd SN42 Rob Ashley. CLASS 6: 1st CA285 Warren French 2nd SN73 Matt Tibbitts 3rd SN711 Anthony Phillips. CLASS 7: 1st SN145 Kraig Murley 2nd SP25 Kenny Perry 3rd CA236 Steve Fisher. CLASS 8: 1st SN51 Barry Ashmore 2nd SN514 Aly Ashmore 3rd SP98 Mark Willson. CLASS 9: 1st IK95 Scott Shell 2nd E18 Trevor Smith 3rd SP12 Andrew Hill. STOCK HATCH: 1st SN14 Mark Hill. CLASS 11: 1st CA181 Rachel Taylor 2nd SN288 Hayley Empson 3rd SN18 Lottie Tillson. CLASS 11A: 1st SN47 Sharron Barrett. CLASS 12: 1st CA18 Rachel Taylor 2nd SN668 Vicky Sole 3rd SN14 Abiee Hill. CLASS 13: 1st E16 Chris Harris 2nd SN269 Trish Simmonds-Grant 3rd SN231 Emily Empson. CLASS 14: 1st ST46 Tina Hilton. JUNIORS: 1st SN201 Jake Bartlett 2nd SN12 Tom Hall 3rd SP144 Jack Whitmore. B-final SN617 Tom Baker. JUNIOR SPECIALS: 1st SN11 Ash Howard 2nd SN2 Josh Howard 3rd SN9 Max Fleckney. UNMODIFIED OPEN: 1st SN110 Jack White 2nd SN37 Ian Parsons 3rd CA80 Mark Harland. MODIFIED OPEN: 1st 1st SN351 Richard Spavins 2nd SN396 Harry Tillson 3rd SN42 Rob Ashley. SPECIALS OPEN: 1st IK95 Scott Shell 2nd SP12 Andrew Hill 3rd CA21 Jason Ansell. JUNIOR OPEN: 1st SN90 Charlie Fleckney 2nd SN232 Kirsty Empson 3rd SN94 Rhys Puddiphatt. ST NEOTS OPEN: 1st SN145 Dave George 2nd SN351 Richard Spavins 3rd SN164 Alex Hill. ST NEOTS JUNIORS: 1st SN11 Ash Howard 2nd SN2 Josh Howard 3rd SN41 Jessica Browning. EAST ANGLIAN OPEN: 1st SN164 Alex Hill 2nd SN37 Ian Parsons 3rd SN110 Jack White.

CORK QUALIFYING

Southern Ireland's first National qualifying meeting brought a good attendance to the CORK club's track at Castletownkenneigh on 25 March, the first of two successive qualifiers at the West Cork venue, as Mallow club are due to use the track for their meeting on 1 April.

CORK RESULTS

CLASS 1: 1st CK21 Pat Warren. CLASS 1A: 1st CK38 Kevin O'Donovan. CLASS 2: 1st MA211 Seamus O'Riordan 2nd WW159 Michael Fuller 3rd CK54 Darren Swanton. CLASS 4: 1st WW921 Yvonne Kearns 2nd CK999 Ronan Bennett. CLASS 6: 1st MA183 Declan Browne 2nd CK138 Liam Eyre. CLASS 7: 1st MA404 Mark Dolphin 2nd MA18 Donal O'Brien 3rd WW933 Terry Falvey. CLASS 8: 1st MA48 Donal O'Brien 2nd MA69 Mick Hogan. CLASS 9: 1st WW399 John Fuller 2nd WW252 Shane Houlihan. FORMULA 600: 1st WW77 Kevin Keating. JUNIOR 1A: final 1st CK296 Eoghan O'Neill 2nd CK123 Cian O'Mahoney 3rd CK164 Gary Lordan. JUNIOR 1A Consolation final: 1st CK53 Sean Leahy 2nd MA290 Dylan Browne 3rd CK52 Cathal Clarke. JUNIOR 1: 1st CK6 Jamie White. JUNIOR SPECIAL: 1st MA969 Niall O'Brien. LADIES: 1st MA48 Nicole O'Brien 2nd CK21 Jenny Warren. WINNERS RACE: 1st WW159 Michael Fuller 2nd CK999 Ronan Bennett 3rd CK21 Pat Warren. HELPERS RACE: 1st CK123 Michael O'Mahoney 2nd CK296 Stephen O'Neill 3rd CK20 Mark Collins.

MIDSUMMER IN MARCH

With glorious summer weather covering most of the country, there were eight meetings to choose from on 25 March, the third Sunday of the NASA season. NOTTINGHAM and STAR were already be on their second meeting of the season, with the Mick Wyld Memorial event and the first Shropshire League qualifier respectively. The season opened at RADFORD, SOUTH SOMERSET, PENHOW, SCARBOROUGH and CONCORD, although two scheduled meetings were cancelled with a waterlogged track at SPALDING and the new PAC track not yet ready. There was Irish action at CORK and for SEGTO racers HORNDEAN had its first meeting of the year and there was another meeting at STANDLAKE ARENA.

RADFORD, opening their 45th season, had the biggest turnout with 173 entries and enjoyed an excellent day with close racing and no major incidents on the hard and fast Westol Hall Farm track. Full marks to Radford as, despite the big turnout, they gave drivers generous race distances, A, B and C finals where they were, needed and open racing to complete a very full day.

RADFORD RESULTS:

CLASS 1: 1st R302 Lewis Waterhouse 2nd E391 Eric Canning 3rd R183 Ollie Sole. B-final E167 Dan Griffin. CLASS 2: 1st E291 Martyn Canning 2nd R140 Damian Harris 3rd E109 Kev Littlewood. B-final R701 Marc Rolls. CLASS 3: 1st R169 Mick Sumners 2nd R70 Dean Guy 3rd E56 Neil Corbett. B-final E16 Pete Haines. CLASS 4: 1st E220 Darren Grasby 2nd E37 James Cuthbertson 3rd R47 Rob Lancaster. CLASS 5: 1st E10 Julian Heath 2nd R71 Dan Lewis 3rd E152 Matt Manning. B-final S30D Nick Rose. CLASS 6: 1st BC5 Martin Bowen 2nd M59 Nicky Williams 3rd R27 Dave Houghton. CLASS 7: 1st E14 Rob Holloway 2nd S29D Neil Robins 3rd S47D PJ Bott. B-final R119 Phil Travers. CLASS 8: 1st Y34 Mark Grice 2nd E68 Rich Cooper 3rd E1 Andy Kelsey. B-final B129H Ben Reade. CLASS 9: 1st E26 Mark Barker 2nd R252 Mike Bluck 3rd E18 Trevor Smith. CLASS 10: 1st R7 Paul Fackrell 2nd BC22 Lance Bowen 3rd SV81 Mark Webber. LADIES' CLASS 1: 1st R183 Missy Mosley 2nd E105 Anna Langridge 3rd E391 Laura Canning. LADIES' CLASS 2: 1st R140 Sue Harris 2nd E291 Laura Canning 3rd E61 Ali Gurney. LADIES' CLASS 3: 1st E56 Sally Corbett 2nd R388 Josie Wakefield 3rd E214 Robyn King. LADIES' CLASS 4: 1st E220 Lisa Grasby 2nd R47 Claire Lancaster. LADIES' CLASS 5: 1st E10 Diane Heath. LADIES' CLASS 7: 1st S3D Yvette Jackson 2nd E122 Jill Grasby 3rd R21 Katie Griffiths. LADIES' CLASS 8: 1st E17 Sally Stratton 2nd E111 Diane Heath. LADIES' CLASS 9: 1st H150 Jade Dyke 2nd E26 Sharon Barker. JUNIORS: 1st S64D Jake Webb 2nd R313 Will Barrett 3rd S42D Chloe Smith. B-final E46 James Bubb C-final R36 Ryan Meacham. JUNIOR SPECIALS: 1st C118 Leigh Hughes 2nd R64 Ryan Curnock 3rd R44 Sam Davis. UNMODIFIED OPEN: 1st E129 Sean Herbert 2nd E19 Mark Stallard 3rd R2 Adam Waldron. MODIFIED OPEN: 1st 1st R388 Lee Wakefield 2nd S60D Stuart Deacon 3rd R41 Martin Wright. SPECIALS OPEN: 1st E68 Rich Cooper 2nd E1 Andy Kelsey 3rd R151 Mark Hawkins. JUNIOR OPEN: 1st R313 Will Barrett 2nd R515 Kieran Waterhouse 3rd E12 Jake Bailey.

PENHOW attracted 82 entries, including many of the top names from South and West Wales - look out for Andrea's photos on www.absnapshots.co.uk

PENHOW RESULTS (UNOFFICIAL):

CLASS 1: 1st CM22 Matt Scourfield 2nd TA13 Otis Williams 3rd A3 Alan Trott. CLASS 2: 1st A23 Jonny Barber 2nd P13 Richard Jones 3rd PAC28 Bob Sawyer. CLASS 4: 1st CM7 Huw Jones 2nd TA38 Jim Lyons. CLASS 5: 1st C5 Barry Williams 2nd WS15 Chris Tudgay 3rd BC95 Dave Jeffries. CLASS 6: 1st P6 Nicky Newton 2nd G114D Jon Byrd 3rd PHD57 Neil Morgan. CLASS 7: 1st PHD72 Jake Roberts 2nd PAC53 Michaela Bevans 3rd S7D Phil Goodenough. CLASS 8: 1st C7 Ricko Meredith 2nd S33D Tom Ellis 3rd G64D Dane Beard. CLASS 9: 1st PAC4 Derrick Brown 2nd PAC104 Richard Tipping 3rd PAC60 Simon Kemp. CLASS 10: 1st C8 Nathan Powell 2nd P185 Stephen Jones. CLASS 11: 1st PAC2 Alice Bevans 2nd PAC212 Emma Lewis. CLASS 12: 1st G114D Ceri Byrd 2nd TA38 Laura Lyons. CLASS 13: no finishers. CLASS 14: 1st BC160 Cat Mumford. JUNIORS: 1st NR53 James Clamp 2nd 196F Josh Holden 3rd S101D Chloe Heath-Byard.

CAR OF THE MONTH

SEVERN VALLEY CATCHES THE SUN

The weather dealt out varying fortunes to the clubs that scheduled meetings for the second weekend of the season. Heavy overnight rain (and even a bit of snow!) forced the cancellation of PENNINE and NORTH SHROPSHIRE, while EVESHAM and YORK ran successful and well attended meetings. CARLOW's efforts in drying their track paid off with a good start to the Irish season and TONGHAM began their SEGTO season. The best of the weather, and the best attendance, was enjoyed by SEVERN VALLEY. Racing on grass is a rare treat for Autograssers, but the Withington track had been re-worked and seeded to give a nice fresh green start for the 201 drivers who raced at the West Midland season opener. Despite the close and spectacular racing that this track always provides, the day went smoothly with only four races stopped all day. Cat Mumford's vertical take-off on her first lap in her new Class 8 was the most hair-raising exit. Some of the most eagerly awaited new 2012 machinery made its debut, the most successful being Phil Cooper's Class 7, unbeaten all day in a very strong field.

SEVERN VALLEY RESULTS:

CLASS 1: 1st SV100 Conner Griffiths 2nd C17 Steve Duggan 3rd C98 Chris Milner. CLASS 2: 1st NW94 Owain Charles 2nd P13 Richard Jones 3rd P15 Gareth Wiltshire. CLASS 3: 1st C12 Pat Smith 2nd LUD9 Stewart Moore 3rd PAC57 Noddy Roberts. CLASS 4: 1st NS206 Connor Pipe 2nd BC25 Jumbo Williams 3rd SV9 Kev Barnett. CLASS 5: 1st C31 Ian Jones 2nd NS70 John Wilde 3rd C4 Brian Preece. CLASS 6: 1st H55 Martin Jones 2nd H99 Paul Bailey 3rd SV92 James Lewis. CLASS 7: 1st ARC5 Phil Cooper 2nd SC61 Andy Holtby 3rd SC45 Carl Swift. CLASS 8: 1st SS38 Daz Mullen 2nd Y8 Jake Herdman 3rd B129H Ben Reade. CLASS 9: 1st TA17 Anthony Paines 2nd S14D Nigel Candy 3rd BC70 Phil Matthews. CLASS 10: 1st NR2 Paul Smith 2nd BC19 Colin Court 3rd BC92 Richard Lewis. CLASS 11: 1st YS10 Kelly Bishop 2nd C60 Donna Howells 3rd H95 Amy Jones. CLASS 11A: 1st LM49 Annette McGrady. CLASS 12: 1st C31 Sandra Jones 2nd S45D Sarah Bateman 3rd C121 Mandy Newman. CLASS 13: 1st A13 Laura Blaber 2nd C12 Penny Smith 3rd SR22 Sally Shorter. CLASS 14: 1st H150 Jade Dyke 2nd CM5 Michelle Phillips 3rd BC14 Carol Stead. JUNIORS: 1st SV212 Rhys Griffiths 2nd SV11 Dylan Evans 3rd SV4 Kieron Griffiths. JUNIOR SPECIALS: 1st NW80 Trystan Roberts 2nd YS73 Matt Bishop 3rd H30 Jai Jones.

EVESHAM had 141 drivers signed on, and the Dodwell track provided its usual thrills and spills - here's a selection of Andrea's photos, with more to come on www.absnapshots.co.uk

EVESHAM RESULTS:

CLASS 1: 1st R137 Steve Edwards 2nd R49 Max Haynes 3rd E391 Eric Canning. CLASS 2: 1st E291 Martyn Canning 2nd R140 Damian Harris 3rd R246 Alex Broadway. CLASS 3: 1st E56 Neil Corbett 2nd R169 Mick Sumners 3rd R70 Dean Guy. CLASS 4: 1st E220 Darren Grasby 2nd IK221 Pete Berry 3rd E66 Sam Forsey. CLASS 5: 1st S73D Graham Steadman 2nd R72 Joe Karacevic 3rd E10 Julian Heath. CLASS 6: 1st R27 Dave Houghton 2nd R161 Tony Gilder 3rd R61 Dave Gilder. CLASS 7: 1st E14 Rob Holloway 2nd E122 Darren Grasby 3rd R31 Stumpy Anslow. CLASS 8: 1st R777 Dan Page 2nd E111 Julian Heath 3rd R271 Max Lewis. CLASS 9: 1st E26 Mark Barker 2nd E18 Trevor Smith 3rd R8 Andrew Adams. CLASS 10: 1st R7 Paul Fackrell 2nd R209 Ollie Fernihough 3rd S74D Phil Young. LADIES' CLASS 1: 1st R183 Missy Mosley 2nd E391 Laura Canning 3rd E105 Anna Langridge. LADIES' CLASS 2: 1st R140 Sue Harris 2nd E61 Ali Gurney 3rd E126 Stacey Herbert. LADIES' CLASS 3: 1st E56 Sally Corbett. LADIES' CLASS 4: 1st E220 Lisa Grasby. LADIES' CLASS 5: 1st E10 Diane Heath. LADIES' CLASS 7: 1st R21 Katie Griffiths 2nd E122 Jill Grasby 3rd A14 Tracey Victory. LADIES' CLASS 8: 1st E111 Diane Heath. LADIES' CLASS 9: 1st E26 Sharon Barker. JUNIORS: 1st R313 Will Barrett 2nd R48 Chris Ashwin 3rd R389 Liam Wakefield. JUNIOR SPECIALS: 1st R64 Ryan Curnock 2nd R190 Ted Preedy.

CLUBS - if you'd like your results reported here, please drop us an e-mail as soon as possible after your meeting (preferably with names and numbers until we've caught up with everyone who's switched clubs or classes over the winter)

IT'S HERE!

The 2012 Autograss season got under way on March 11 when a warm sunny day made the meetings at NOTTINGHAM and STAR into excellent curtain-raisers, although the other two planned fixtures, FOREST OF DEAN and SCARBOROUGH were wiped out by the wet weather of the previous week. Many of you have no doubt been counting the days since last November, but for us it was once again a question of "where did the winter break go?" Nottingham's superb turnout (214 cars, and 242 entries, plus a few more that didn't make it past scrutineering) spectacular action and excellent track conditions made for an excellent start to the season - for most of us. There were a few mishaps with big rolls in Class 6 for Stephen Pearsall (new car, three years in the building, first race!) and Chris Dunwell, and for Catherine Drake in her first meeting, plus a gentler roll for Junior Megan Daw. An unfortunate injury for Class 1 racer John Palmer and an armco demolition job in the Juniors delayed the finals somewhat but the full programme was completed at 6 pm.

Driver of the day was Dan Barnett who, after a dismal 2011 season, adorned his Nissan V6-powered Imp with a suitably retro colour scheme and then went out to beat a very strong Class 7 field.

FINAL RESULTS:

CLASS 1: 1st SP24 Ash Robinson 2nd YD183 James Bowe 3rd WR27 Sam Hughes B-final N53 Lloyd Elliott C-final SP611 Ryan Sayer D-final C21E Aaron Mason. CLASS 2: 1st SC49 Chris Juggins 2nd N66 Kev Spriggs 3rd T132 Conrad Noble B-final LM43 Alan Stretton C-final N1 Ivan Elliott D-final SC126 Dave Hughes. CLASS 3: 1st R169 Mick Sumners 2nd ST8 Lewis Brown 3rd SC100 Martin Walker. CLASS 4: 1st Y1 Adam Henley 2nd SC137 Brian Smart 3rd SC132 Mick West. CLASS 5: 1st S97Y Josh Simpson 2nd SC149 James Meakins 3rd N333 Joe Smith B-final N17 Gary Cheetham. CLASS 6: 1st N225 Andrew Smith 2nd S277Y Ryan Pallass 3rd N10 Martyn Janes B-final SC7 Shaun Thompson. CLASS 7: 1st N75 Dan Barnett 2nd P25EM Phil Barleyman 3rd SC45 Carl Swift B-final Y26 Wayne Longley C-final SC61 Andy Holtby. CLASS 8: 1st SC67 Marc Clayton 2nd T5 John Whitehouse 3rd ST171 Jack Bailey. CLASS 9: 1st N55 Andy Clarke 2nd N68 Dan Wilson B-final CS5 Keith Matthews. CLASS 10: 1st SP1 Bill Shaw 2nd S74D Phil Young. STOCK HATCH: 1st WR99 Mark Day 2nd N65 Brian Watson 3rd L644 Mick Wood. F600: 1st N41 Gary Shaw 2nd SC60 John Aldred 3rd N115 Pete Sinclair. JUNIORS: 1st SN201 Jake Bartlett 2nd N47 Aiden Derry 3rd S253Y Michael Armstrong B-final WR192 Joe Jopling C-final P22EM Ainsley Walker. JUNIOR SPECIALS: 1st WR44 Callum Ball 2nd T25 Dean Percival 3rd ST691 Zack Yeardley. CLASS 11: 1st L10 Ella Markham 2nd LM87 Louise Clancy  3rd L36 Melaanie Walton. CLASS 11A: 1st LM49 Annette McGrady 2nd M840 Rachel Sims 3rd SC600 Jess Roberts. CLASS 12: 1st ST69 Sharon Syson 2nd S222Y Susan Clayton 3rd YD916 Kim Green. CLASS 13: 1st S209Y Sarah Tateson 2nd N4 Cath Weston 3rd N16 Karen Burke. CLASS 14: 1st WR21 Lindsay Stephenson 2nd ST305 Georgia Holloway 3rd ST74 Laura Makar.

STANDLAKE'S SECOND

A fortnight before the Autograss season got under way, Standlake Arena was already hosting its second 2012 points meeting and, in contrast to the snowy conditions at round one, the 26 February meeting was run in warm spring sunshine. This brought out big fields for all the regular non-contact classes while the Bangers turned up in such numbers for their annual "3 Litre" trophies that both under and over 2-litre classes had to be split. The biggest Hot Rod field for a long time saw Alex Hickman's splendid 100E battling with the "modern" cars, while the Prod As, Prod Rods, Saloon Rods and Juniors all provided close, and occasionally fraught, action. The new limited contact "Mondeo Stox" class showed great promise, running in both clockwise and anti-clockwise directions. Standlake will continue to race roughly fortnightly through the season - Autograss commitments mean that we may not get there again until late in the year, but you can find all the dates at www.standlakearena.co.uk

FINAL RESULTS:PRODUCTION A: 1st X21 Anthony Nash 2nd X68 Kelvin Passey 3rd X62 Les Hatch. JUNIORS: 1st X149 Luke Venvell 2nd X372 Tom Potts 3rd X296 Michael Barber. HOT RODS: 1st X15 Darren Spencer 2nd X668 Brian Cornock 3rd X73 Trevor Harvey.  1450 PROD RODS: 1st X115 Joe Beckly 2nd X103 Keith Heron 3rd X252 Will Bignell. SALOON RODS: 1st X340 Matt Brewster 2nd X10 Matthew Rose 3rd X629 Ben Bowen. MONDEO STOX: 1st 296 Terry Barber 2nd 74 Adrian Kew 3rd 252 Will Bignell. 2 LITRE BANGERS: 1st 427 Dean McPhilimy 2nd 920 Terry Church 3rd 2 Jon Bricknell. UNLIMITED BANGERS: 1st 560 Gary Reynolds 2nd 273 Stuart Emery 3rd 360 Jack Reynolds.

COVENTRY GRASSERS

The third opportunity for Grassers to race at Coventry stadium was less well supported than the two last year, but enjoyed perfect track conditions. Eleven cars arrived to race, and were split into FWD and RWD groups on the track. Darren "Stumpy" Anslow took his Class 7 to three straight wins in the RWD group while Russ and Harry Tillson's Class 6 Corsa came out on top in the FWDs, with Matt Duffell's Class 1 AX also having a win. The grassers supported a highly spectacular programme featuring a 31 car field for the Superstox Midland Championship, a good field of  "Incahots" and some crazy "Micro Banger" racing that killed enough Nissan Micras to keep Class 1 going for years!

FWD HEAT 1: 1st SN396 Harry Tillson 2nd R302 Lewis Waterhouse 3rd L5 Matt Duffell. FWD HEAT 2: 1st L5 Matt Duffell 2nd R302 Lewis Waterhouse 3rd SN396 Russ Tillson . FWD FINAL: 1st SN396 Harry Tillson 2nd L5 Matt Duffell 3rd R302 Lewis Waterhouse 4th R515 Donna Waterhouse. RWD HEAT 1: 1st R31 Darren Anslow 2nd E38 Jim Hardy 3rd H10 Geoff Gibbs 3rd SR90 Colin Griffiths. RWD HEAT 2: 1st R31 Darren Anslow 2nd H10 Geoff Gibbs. RWD FINAL: 1st R31 Darren Anslow 2nd SR90 Colin Griffiths 3rd H10 Geoff Gibbs 4th R203 Bryan Waterhouse.

RACE RETRO

The NASA stand at Race Retro, the International Historic Motorsports Show, unfortunately lost its planned "Retro" theme but there was a good representation of the range of Autograss saloons from Adam Waldron's basic Class 1 Micta to Matt Scourfield's state of the art Class 1 Mini and Lee Almond's high-tech spaceframed Class 3 Starlet. NASA were attending this always interesting show for the eighth year running and, as ever, there was some very useful interest being shown in Autograss.

And here are just a few of our favourite cars from elsewhere in the show ....

CAR OF THE MONTH

If NASA had played their cards right, this could have been one of 2012's crowd-pleasers in Class 3, carrying a Radford number! But Class 3's loss has been the Standlake Hot Rods' gain.

ALL WHITE AT STANDLAKE

Although the freeze had ended, the landscape was still very snowy at Standlake Arena for the season opener at the SEGTO affiliated Oxfordshire oval. The snow had been cleared from the track though, and there were healthy grids in all the regular classes with exactly 100 cars in the pits. The best action on the track came from the independent F2/Superstox class, culminating in a last corner lunge from Andy Cornock on final leader Pete Webb, putting both out of the race. The next Standlake meeting is on February 26.

FINAL RESULTS:

PRODUCTION A: 1st X441 Tom Major 2nd X173 Naomi Harvey 3rd X68 Kelvin Passey. JUNIORS: 1st X101 Sam Smith 2nd X7 Aaron Charles 3rd X77 Patxi Beasley. HOT RODS: 1st X73 Trevor Harvey 2nd X362 Martin Faherty 3rd X4 Tracey Cotton. F2 STOX: 1st 420 Adrian Baker 2nd 811 Graeme Parrott 3rd 355 Carl Lewis. 1450 PROD RODS: 1st X329 Mervyn Beckett 2nd X252 Will Bignell 3rd X111 Tom Pearce. SALOON RODS: 1st X100 Gary Trafford 2nd X126 Fred Casemore 3rd X220 Benn Watson. STREET BANGERS: 1st 9 2nd 42 Scott Ivins 3rd 803 Jason Wood.

VARIETY AND ACTION AT THE EXPO

The seventh annual Oval Racing Expo, promoted by Vince O'Connor at Arena Essex Raceway, lived up to the event's ever growing reputation. Over the years it's become less of a show and more of a racing festival and this trend continued with a packed schedule of on-track action throughout Saturday afternoon and evening, and then all day Sunday. Once again the January weather played its part; a mild and breezy Saturday night leading to a fine sunny Sunday. Although Sunday's programme had to be shortened after an accident in a Banger race, nobody could complain at 69 races, featuring at least 22 different racing categories and 232 cars.

The main Autograss action took place on Saturday when NASA and SEGTO racers combined to form six well contested classes. All but one fell to SEGTO drivers. Peter Tilley's Nova won the Production A group and Craig Mills took the Production B race in his Mod C class Nova, while Charlene Green put in probably the drive of the day, from the back of the grid to second in her Prod B Nova. The FWD Super Saloons went to 2011 NASA-SEGTO Challenge winner Luke Stonehouse in his Stock Rod-spec Nova, while Standlake Arena based Trevor Harvey likewise dominated the spectacular RWD Super Saloon, finishing ahead of battling brothers Fred and Steve Carpenter in their VW-powered Class 3 Escorts. SEGTO also beat NASA in the Specials this time, with Sam Hartley's 900 Kawasaki powered car coming out on top. NASA's only winner was Jake Bartlett in the Juniors; the only NASA driver in his class managed to find an edge over the SEGTO racers.

On Sunday the NASA and SEGTO cars raced separately in an Open race format. Jason Anderson, representing Invicta Kent's Class 3B, won both NASA heats but was pipped in the final by Fred Carpenter's Class 3. The ladies dominated SEGTO's heats; Charlene Green carved through heavy traffic to win both Production races, while Jody Withers took both Modified races. The shortened all-in final saw Charlene probably just one lap short of a hat trick, but she had to make do with second behind Standlake Prod A racer Kelvin Passey. The Juniors all raced together again and Jake Bartlett made it six wins out of six.

All the detailed results from Saturday's racing are now available to download here

AUTOGRASS STEALS THE

AUTOSPORT SHOW

Once again NASA Autograss played a major part in the success of Autosport International, the world's biggest motorsport show, at the NEC Birmingham. The Oval Racing section of the show included an impressive array of 21 new Autograss machinery - plus a previously raced, one careful owner, Micra to attract interest to the all-important entry level class.

In the Live Action show, Autograss played a bigger part than ever before with the Class 8s performing on Thursday and Friday, and in four of the daytime shows on Saturday and Sunday, while the Class 7s relieved the 8s for one show each on Saturday and Sunday. The highlight of the weekend was Saturday night's Oval Racing Spectacular, in which three of the five classes were provided by NASA. The Juniors put on another splendid show, while the 7s and 8s were as spectacular as ever, with BRISCA F2 Stock Cars and National Hot Rods being the only other classes privileged to share the grassers' show! The action was repeated, without the Juniors, on Sunday afternoon and the "winners" taking the last chequered flags of the weekend were Lyndsey Allen, celebrating her 21st birthday in the best possible way, and Phil Cooper.

NEW YEAR AT STOKE

A good way to start the new year was a trip on January 2 to Chesterton Stadium, Stoke on Trent where a mixed field of 15 Autograss cars shared the bill with Startrax Open Rods and three classes of Bangers. A fine sunny afternoon brought out a decent crowd of spectators, but track conditions were a bit more wintry, after heavy rain the day before, so everyone was soon covered with a layer of wet shale. The Grassers laid on some entertaining racing, with the highlight being a duel between Rob Simmonds and Richard Dunwell, which unfortunately ended with Richard in the wall. North Wales' Mark Ratcliffe took final honours in his Class 2 Nova.

STOKE RESULTS: UNMODIFIED HEAT 1: 1st LM36 Glen Jackson 2nd NW46 Mark Ratcliffe 3rd LM227 Rick Yarwood. MODIFIED HEAT 1: 1st LM34 Rob Simmonds 2nd NW154 Daren James 3rd SR119 Graham Howes. UNMODIFIED HEAT 2: 1st NW297 Andrew Owen 2nd NW46 Mark Ratcliffe 3rd LM227 Rick Yarwood. MODIFIED HEAT 2: 1st LM34 Rob Simmonds 2nd H10 Geoff Gibbs 3rd NW154 Daren James. FINAL: 1st NW46 Mark Ratcliffe 2nd Andrew Owen 3rd LM227 Rick Yarwood 4th NW101James Espley 5th LM34 Rob Simmonds 6th NW125 Lee Powell 7th L5 Matt Duffell 8th LM36 Glen Jackson 9th LM622 Steve Carr 10th H10 Geoff Gibbs.