MOTOR SPORT: Despite the busy Bank Holiday weekend, which included four meetings in four days around East Anglia, the short circuit racing drivers are back in action again this weekend with the Foxhall Stadium, Ipswich, staging an important four formula meeting on Saturday evening.

MOTOR SPORT

DESPITE the busy Bank Holiday weekend, which included four meetings in four days around East Anglia, the short circuit racing drivers are back in action again this weekend with the Foxhall Stadium, Ipswich, staging an important four formula meeting on Saturday evening.

The Superstox are joint top of the bill for part one of their East Anglian Championship, with the second and deciding part to come at Yarmouth on Sunday evening.

These very fast single seat specials have provided some spectacular action at Foxhall already this season, and this week promises to be no exception. They are allowed to push and shove which adds to the spectacle of 35 or so of these racing around the quarter mile Foxhall circuit – at the sort of speeds they reach here, a little nudge is often enough to push someone off line and overtake, but sometimes rather heavier action is called for as the big names have to make their way through from the back of the grid.

All the top drivers are expected including World Champion Mark Eaton and British Champion Geoff Bridges, along with local star Gary Sparkes from Felsham, who won the English championship at Foxhall last time out, and is also the defending East Anglian Champion.

Others for whom there will be considerable home support include Rob Terry from Diss who won the Southern Championship down at Eastbourne on Jubilee Monday, former Stockcar World Champion Steven Jackson from Harleston, and Ipswich's up and coming Guy Fisher who has had a couple of wins at recent meetings.

The other top of the bill attraction is round three of the World Championship Qualifying Series for National Bangers. There are 12 rounds in total, held at six different stadiums the top seven drivers from those rounds going forward to the World Championship at Wimbledon in November where they take on all the qualifiers from other promotions and nations.

The first two rounds, at Yarmouth and Swaffham, have been well subscribed, with many of the big name Southern stars scoring well, in particular Keith Painter from Oxford and Southampton's Mark Simmonds.

But the locals are matching them point for point at present, Yarmouth's Mark Smith scored well at his home track, while Steve Mayes from Scole had a very successful round too. Apart from Woodbridge's Nutty Whayman, none of the other Ipswich based drivers have made much of an impact on the scoreboard so far, so they will be looking to improve on that on Saturday.

The V8 Stockcars – bigger version of Superstox and powered by five and a half litre American V8 Chevrolet engines – are also on the bill, the line up here including World Champion Peter Scott and two former champions in Stu Blyth from Wisbech and Ipswich's Marty Page, while the V8 Hotrods (powered by a similar engine but in Mercedes and BMW bodies rather than a Stockcar) also get another Foxhall outing to complete a good looking mix of speed and action.