OK, so here it goes.....
.................truth be known i wasn't up to much reporting at Spedeweekend this year, the alcohol was just too tempting, and although i feel that anyone who follows racing shouldn't need to read a report from spedeworths flagship racing weekend, i have had some stick for not reporting on it. So if you went to spedeweekend this year, do not read any further (because i remember nothing and i am going to make this up from here, they will never know!).
94 cars were in the pits including all the big names, Alexander Meadows, Jeroen Laurijssen being the biggest with 16 letters each. Gordon Moodie made his expected debut but t-boned David Polleys National Hotrod in the pits and was loaded up. The Aylwards were out in full force with 5 cars on their multi storey trailer, including one for Mark Smith, unfortunately Marks rolled off the top of the trailer so he went for his trusty Carcraft. The cars rolled out onto the track to Stuart Gilchrist singing the Proclaimers classic 'King of the road'.
Heat 1 - 94 cars
94 cars on track was going to spell disaster, and especially when you remember one of those cars was Billy Smith, Billy took out all the red tops in the first bend which sent Mark Smith into a roll. James Meadows was leading being chased by Jack Hughes as further back a game of cat and mouse was brewing between Shaun Brooker and Sarah Cooper, this all ended in Shaun pulling off as he spotted some cheese on the infield, and Sarah running up a tree to chase a bird. Meanwhile Steven Jackson was flying, he must have sat too close to his brother in the van and Martin Coles too busy waving at Jemma Dendy to realise he was fifth. As they entered the last lap Hughes started to line up Meadows for the hit, only for his neckerchief to slip over his eyes and miss the bumper. Meadows won from Hughes, Gray (Alan upsetting Peter with their best finish do far).
Heat 2 93 cars
The second heat was minus Mark Smith who rolled as he lined up in the pits, Jordan Aylward was on a mission this time however as he wasted no time getting up front............and personal. Matt Carberry pulled off as he spotted his mum fighting with some people in a white marquee. Dave Miles Snr legged it off from the start to take up the chase on Aylward (the younger, slightly thinner one). Back in the pack was a battle of previous world champs Garry Sparkes and Glen Salmon, Sparkie was really getting the ex-Jan Scott world winning car going but didnt pass Glen in case he went home before sunday's racing. Meanwhile Dave Smith, Sean Smith and Billy Smith were having a great battle, which Smith won. Steve and Luke Hamilton realised it was harder for people to pass if they chained their cars together, and it worked until they got caught on the end of Dicky Raymond trying to get to Liam Lambert who was sitting by the pit gate chatting to Chris Capon about how good the winter meetings were. With one lap to go Miles was all over Jordans arse, which was far enough away to secure Jordan the win.
Heat 3 - 15 cars
Numbers were down on Sundays races for no apparent reason, Deane Wood (Spedeworth spokesman) said: "Im not realy sure why, we gave out the complimentary tickets then they all seemed to develop problems". Ben Munfords saturday lap times had bagged him pole for the National Hotrod World, which meant he was too exhausted to compete in Sundays racing visit nationalhotrod.com to see how Ben got on. The Green flag dropped however as Lynne Cooper went for a drink and before you knew it the race had started. Proctor got away well, Burkesfield (by now the biggest name in the grid) was chasing. Saunders Spun, Sole and Salmon swam, Micheal Robinson got collected by a Scot when his trailer broke on the way home from Scotland.....but thats irrelavent. Up front Meadows won (the one in the turkquiose and black car) from Cooper (the one in the lorry) and Miles (Dave).
The Eaton Family Cup - some cars
The tension built for this one as the star commentator Jim Gregory got them fired up ....................smoked them..........and went back to the box to commentate. Eddie Edmonds went out early when he noticed his name spelt wrong in the program and pulled to the centre coughing and spluttering. Brett Wesbroom was black flaged for trying to pull the English championship roof off his car on the line up. Paul Langridge and Pip Williams were having a great battle which Pip eventually won by a nose. All this drama was getting the crowd tense, and just like the old days they were looking for fruit to throw onto the track, Jacksons Fruiterers had just closed but luckily Di's Diner reopened and burgers it was they threw................This kept Colin Aylward out of the results, but luckily for the crowd out of the que! Mark Smith got sent into a roll, which Colin ate. Meanwhile almost unoticed Brian Eaton was looking good, but to be fair who is going to notice him next to Sophie Natasha Jackson! Up front Jordan was starting to get arsey and couldnt quite get on the eventual winner, who not only drove his best race yet, made all of the crowd sound like Cheryl Cole talking to someone a while ago......Ashley Watt?
That was spedeweekend then for those of you that didnt go.
For those of you that did..........see you next year.