Defending champion Mark Smith looked to have started things off quite nicely when he drew grid position number one. The grid was:
416 540
279 369
176 161
17 482
233 23
426 51
60 376
612 483
4 69
114 517
A rolling start was the order of the day and as the cars set off ready to go, nobody was giving an inch at all. As they took the flag the pushing started and a huge pile of cars went into the Caister bend like a train, with Mark Smith stuck on the end of it. Marks car found a post and the race was stopped with Ryan Eaton, Langridge, Cooper, Munford and James Meadows all involved. This then cause a fairly long delay as they tried to remove Mark Smiths car which was wrapped around the post and it was soon apparent that Mark would not be making it 3 English Championships in a row.
A much smaller grid took to the restart with Brett Westbroom taking the lead until Billy Smith bumped his way in front, not for long however as his engine went sick and he pulled onto the centre. Further back some heavy bumpering saw Chopper find a post to retire him from the race. Up front Wesbroom once again lost the lead, this time to Steven Jackson, who had Martin Coles right with him, and Coles waisted no time in giving Jackson an almighty shove to move through. Jackson wasn't done yet though and repayed the hit, which gave Westbroom the chance once again to take it up, with Ben Marjoram now in hot pursuit followed by Shaun Brooker from the back of the grid. The Coles Jackson battle still carried on as Coles put the 376 car into a post. Marjoram was going nicely now and took the lead from Wesbroom who a few laps later had to give up second to a now quick looking Brooker. Although Marjoram's lead was good his car didn't seem to be handling as well as Brookers and as they took the 5 laps to go board it was looking like Brooker may catch the 60 car, Wesbroom was still not far behind and Coles was recovered in 4th with Sarah Cooper going really well to in 5th. As they entered the final lap, Marjoram seemed to have a problem an the Caister bend and waved Brooker (who was now on his bumper anyway) through, however Marjoram's car seemed fine as they went down the straight into the last corner and he gave Brooker an almighty hit to send Shaun into the fence sideways. Wesbroom nearly managed to nip up the inside of Ben as they exited the turn but Ben managed to get away first and take the flag, Wesbroom crossed the line second followed by Coles. Brooker was knocked out in the final bend and ended up with nothing for his efforts, Marjoram stopped to apologise to Shaun for the wave through and explain that his car had started to run out of fuel.
This was not a race for the faint hearted, anyone who says Superstox do not hit really should have watched this race and the crowd were treated to a real show.
After the race Ben Marjoram was found to have a irregularity with his tyre numbers and was disqualified from the result, handing the win to Brett Wesbroom. Marjoram didn't hang around for long as he felt there had been a mistake made, and it is hard to believe that Ben would do something like this, however rules are rules and decisions have to be made.
Westbroom was delighted with his win (although not as pleased with the thought of starting at the back for a year!), and fully deserves the title after a hard fought drive against some much bigger budget racers. I'm sure Brett will be a worthy champion as he is a good traveller and a credit to the sport. After an eventful race Martin Coles was promoted to second and Sarah Cooper took her best result to date with a third place finish.
The rest of the meeting saw the fairly depleted field race for 2 heats, the first of which had Garry Sparkes leading by some way until he pulled off with engine problems handing the win to Steven Jackson. The second heat saw Sparkie leading once again with Brooker, Aylward and Jackson chasing. Brooker caught Sparkie and gave him a shove on the last bend resulting in a drag race across the line and a short wait whilst they checked the computer system to find out that Brooker had just pipped Sparkie for the win and a small bit of compensation for his English Championship upset.
Many drivers suffered fairly bad damage at this meeting and maybe the racing was a bit too rough at times but i heard many spectators saying they hadn't seen supers that good for some time, i feel there is more of that to come!
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| Line up for the English Championship |
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| Mark Smith found a post at the start |
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| Marjoram and Wesbroom race to the flag |
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| Marjoram talk to Brooker at the end |
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| Sarah Cooper got a good third in the championship |
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| 2011 English Champion - Brett Wesbroom |
Photos by Clive Marchant