MONDAY afternoon's motor sport meeting at the Foxhall Stadium, Ipswich was headlined by the high speed National Hot Rods who had reached round 15 and the second last, of this year's World Championship qualifying series.

MONDAY afternoon's motor sport meeting at the Foxhall Stadium, Ipswich was headlined by the high speed National Hot Rods who had reached round 15 and the second last, of this year's World Championship qualifying series. Although eighteen of the 20 available places for July's World final race now seem to be allocated, five drivers still held realistic hopes of filling the remaining two, while amongst the 18 who are safely qualified, fierce competition was expected as where the driver finishes in the points had a bearing on his grid position for the World Championship. The entry of just over 30 included most of the regulars, plus Irish star Davey McCall, while English driver Mick Robertson (one of the those battling to fill the remaining places) turned up to do a couple of laps, and therefore qualified for attendance points, even though he had one of his fingers cut off in an accident during the week and was clearly not able to race.

Phil Spink and world champion John Steward both won both their heats, and when Spink took the lead in the final, it looked as if he was going to go through the day undefeated. However, in taking the lead, it transpired that he had spun Keith Chesher and was subsequently disqualified, Mark Willis inheriting the victory.

Ipswich driver Carl Boardley who had a couple of good results in the heats, and then finished fifth in the final, was also disqualified while Steward, who finished sixth, was penalised two places after spinning the Scottish driver Jock Burgoyne.

The Lightning Rods fielded over 30 cars as well, although numbers were severely reduced for their final after a lot of damage in the opening heats. Trevor Stroud won heat one, by about an inch from Darren Warne, while Chris Selfe just held on to tip Stroud in heat two, again by less than the length of a car.

The final was rather more clear cut as Diggy Smith took up the lead within a few laps and went on to win by a considerable margin, despite barely being able to walk after a stock car crash at Yarmouth yesterday. Stroud was a comfortable second, with Gavin Murray just getting the better of Darren Goudy in a race long battle for third.

The Rookie Bangers added to the afternoon's entertainment with four action packed races, although surprisingly there was little success for the Essex boys team of Jason Langley, Scott Harrison and Nicky Bloomfield (who had a hat-trick here last week) while Ipswich's David Canham, who also races with them, had an even worse afternoon after being involved in a big crash in the final which required an ambulance and check over at the hospital. Otherwise the Ipswich drivers had a generally good day although Lowestoft's Sean Bussey had the final.

The Dutch Reserve cars completed the programme with the third meeting of their current UK tour. These are normal cars, but have four reverse and one forward gear to enable them to race backwards. Pascal Zweers won both the races, the second of them comfortably although it was a mass finish in heat one where the first four all crossed the line together, the runner-up actually going across in forward direction but the organisers ruled he had no choice in the matter.

Results:

National Hot Rods: Heat 1: P Spink (Harrow) 2 Mike Holtby (Barrow) 3 M Thurley (Peterborough).

Heat 2: 1 J Steward (Paddock Wood) 2 C Boardley (Ipswich) 3 K Chesher (Scotland).

Heat 3: 1 Spink 2 Thurley 3 Holtby.

Heat 4: 1 Steward, 2 Boardley 3 Chesher.

Final: 1 M Willis (Slough) 2 M Blackman (Buckingham) 3 G Hendry (Scotland).

Lightning Rods Heat 1: 1 T Stroud (Woking) 2 D Warne (Leiston) 3 D Smith (Dereham).

Heat 2: 1 C Selfe (Hedingham) 2 Stroud 3 Smith.

Final: Smith, 2 Stroud, 3 G Murray (Framlingham).

Rookie Bangers Heat 1: 1 D Lay (Needham Market) 2 T Airey (Kesgrave) 3 R Denby (Clacton).

Heat 2: 1 J Thurlow (Ipswich) 2 C Whitmore (Ipswich) 3 Lay.

Heat 3: 1 S Schofield (Ipswich) 2 J Buck (Fressingfield) 3 S Hewitt (Norwich).

Final: 1 S Bussey (Lowestoft) 2 N Howitt (Ipswich) 3 T Kingsnorth (Woolpit).

Dutch Reverse Cars: 1 Pascal Zweers 2 Bert Haar 3 Jan Van Maanen (all Holland)

Race 2: 1 Zweers 2 Van Maanen 3 Henk Jan Teunnissen (all Holland).