Standlake Arena
13 MARCH 2016

Standlake's non-contact classes, together with the Superstox, had to wait a month for their second meeting of the season as the late February fixture had been changed to an all-Banger programme. The Superstox, Hot Rods, Production As, 1600 Prod Rods and of course the Juniors were joined by the Drift Rods, who did retain their place on the 28 February programme, but were demonstrating their drifting prowess rather than racing. The mid-March meeting, with a bright sunny day following a foggy start, was a busy one. Ladies' Bangers were added to the regular line-up leading to a packed 31-race programme.

The highlight this time was provided by the Hot Rods, with five Outlaw/2-litre cars pitched against a trio of FWD Stock Rods. Former Swansea Class 9 racer Ian Tatchell spun out in the first two heats but headed the final most of the way before losing out to the Redtop-powered Starlet of Rich Barton, who'd earlier taken a last corner win in the second heat. Josh Campbell's RWD Nova, Darren Taylor in the ex-Graham Fulker Nova and John Hawkins' Corsa completed the evenly matched RWD pack, battling to pass the well driven Stock Rod Novas of Pete and Andy King and Justin Winfield.

The 1600 Productions provided the closest finishes. There were quite a few additions since the first meeting, including Liam Hanley, stepping back from the Hot Rods for the day in a very tidy Peugeot 106. Liam led the first heat before losing out in the last corner to the Rover of Scott Tuttey and Dale Hall's Civic. Heat two saw another last corner lead change as Gary Hicks' Corsa stole it from race-long leader Paul Withers' Starlet. The Starlet set the pace in the final but Scott Tuttey and Dale Hall burst through in the closing stages; Scott's car let him down and Dale took the win from Liam Hanley, Craigy Pullen's Saxo and Mark Royall's Focus - unlike many such classes the Standlake Prod Rods are a long way from becoming a one-make dominated class.

The Superstox (billed here as F2 Stox) are always spectacular around the short and wide Standlake oval. The entry was slightly down on the opening meeting, partly due to one or two mechanical problems in practice and partly to the clash with Grimley, but the dozen cars present again produced quality racing. Carl Lewis took a heat and final double while last time's winner Neil Soule missed the first heat while changing a broken valve spring, won the second and charged back to second in the final after a dramatic early tangle.Paul Jacobs, Harley Cornock, Ricky Jacobs, Gary Webb, Gary Jacobs and Jay Lamb were all in contention in the final, with Andy Webb and Linz Richens completing the finishers.

Despite the very healthy influx of new drivers into the Juniors this year, the novices were now mixed in with the experienced drivers, the resulting big field then being split in a two-thirds format. Lewis Saunders nipped past Louis Rayner in traffic to win the first heat; Louise Ankerson took advantage of a late race restart to beat impressive novice William Breakspear in the second and Daniel Kent took the third after Zak Moores' bid for the lead ended in a tangle with William Breakspear. William went on to lead the final all the way, holding off Louise Ankerson, Zak Moores, Daniel Kent, Lewis Saunders and Eliot Wise in a very close finish. The non-qualifiers were treated to a B-final, won by the immaculate new Mini of Henry Strickland.

The Prod As had three very close races. George Moore held off Kyle Williams to win the first heat, while 2015 points runner-up Paul Beer took the advantage over Adam Galliford in heat two. Harry Kerbey led the final all the way, fending off James Watts, while Adam Galliford took third in a scramble for the line with George Moore and Kyle Williams, while class champ Aaron Charles (who was racing three cars in three classes all day) again upheld Mini honour against all the quick Novas.

The Drift Rods were as entertaining as ever with “Winnie” Alan Cartwright excelling on the drifting side even if we couldn’t work out what he was driving! (Ford Scorpio Liftback we later decided). Carly Hart was in a Lexus this time and again won the final. Aaron Hawes’ XJ6 led the way in both heats; he spun out in the first race, which was won by Darren Taylor’s BMW, but the Jag held on to win heat two. Carly Hart passed the Jag early on and ran away with the final, while Chris Chambers’ BMW also escaped from the pack in second, while Aaron Hawes fended off David Wilson’s smaller S-type Jag and the varied Beemers of Gary Godsmark, Sheldon Gardner and Dave Coombes, while the more varied field included one of the old RTS Pickups in the hands of James Potts.

The Bangers brought out almost balanced fields of 40 cars each in the Ladies’ and Men’s classes, with both groups having split heats for their first time out and all-in thereafter. The Ladies’ heats were won by Misha Russell, Stacey Holdsworth and Gemma Bricknell. Gemma, in a Focus, won the final and Stacey Holdsworth driving some sort of MPV won both the Dash before beating the men in the DD. Michael Bunyan’s Focus again led the way in the Men’s Bangers, winning both his heats and the Dash, but coming second in the final behind the other heat winner, Guy Wise.

Unfortunately our full schedule might not allow us back to Standlake now for a while, but it’s good to see this most independent of tracks (despite its SEGTO affliation) thriving and a good year’s racing’s in prospect for all the classes in Oxfordshire’s only race venue.