The first ever stock car meeting at the Eddie Wright Raceway, Scunthorpe, Saturday night saw Chris Fort take an amazing fourth final in a row when he won the feature after scoring an earlier heat win.

Promoter Guy Parker had put in a lot of work in readiness for the debut of four wheeled motorsport at the Eddie Wright Raceway and the meeting was a resounding success. The track is short - 285 metres - and has a wide racing surface with banked turns which feature burms to catch out those heading into the corners carrying too much speed which is easy to do as the shape of the track encourages some full on and flat out racing with many keeping the hammer down all the way round.

25 cars turned up and a 2/3rds format was run which produced 16 / 17 car heats and an all in final. The weather tried it's best to spoil things but bar a couple of showers which did hamper the first couple of races, the night remained blustery but mainly dry. The track stood up to both the weather and the cars very well which will no doubt have pleased the promotion and the speedway fans in attendance who may have been fearful of damage.

Heat 1 saw 187 Craig Smith lead the first lap before fellow Yellow 129 Paul Davies took over. 3 Chris Fort was clipped and half spun in the pack of reds to delay him as 42 Rob Barber and 131 Kevin Stuchbury took eachother out on turn 3. 77 Paul Heath was going well in 2nd with 237 Daz Parker 3rd. Stuchbury and Barber rejoined with Stuchbury subsequently being passed by 2nd placed Heath. Stuchbury then fenced Heath on turns 3 and 4 to take him out of contention. Up front, Davies continued to lead and 81 Matt Smith was showing well in 2nd but coming under pressure from Fort. Heath lapped slowly until passed by Stuchbury and the 77 chased the 131 down the home straight to repay the fencing. Davies took the win with Fort passing Smith for 2nd to end a good race.

Heat 2 saw 430 Paul Stevens lead them off as 113 Neil Stuchbury tangled with 314 Steve Bowman further back. Fort was on it but had 161 Mark Allen for company as the two lapped very quickly before Fort passed Allen. 328 Michael Boswell took over on lap 7 with 473 Chris Bracher going very well from Red for 2nd. Boswell nearly made it to the finish line for the win but half spun on turns 3 and 4 allowing Fort by for the win followed by Bracher and 178 Richard Burt with Boswell coming home in 4th.

Heat 3 once again saw Stevens make the early running with 75 Terry Hawkins for company in 2nd and 331 Jay Beaumont 3rd. 113 Stuchbury and Bracher engaged in an enthralling battle with each of them taking turns at leading the other before Bracher managed to make the break after Stuchbury half spun. Allen was catching Stuchbury just as the 113 car clipped an infield marker tyre which shot the front end high in the air to a near vertical position sat on its back bumper before coming back down to earth and being collected by Allen who was then left stranded on the exit of turn 2 to bring out the caution. Allen was ok although the car had suffered gearbox damage and retired. The race resumed with Stevens continuing to lead but 355 Bryan Andrew and Bracher were closing in. The laps ran out which gave Paul Stevens his first ever win in Hotstox followed home by Bracher and Andrew to end an action packed race.

All in for the Final with Hawkins leading the way until lap 6 when 314 Bowman took over. The track had dried out considerably and the pace was unbelievably quick. Fort relieved Bowman of the lead on lap 8 followed by the red roofed train with Cottrill looking good. Bracher and Stuchbury once again squared up and battle ensued with neither sparing an inch of track. Stuchbury eventually forced his way by and looked very quick as he then muscled by 81 Smith. Fort took an untroubled win with Cottrill 2nd and a fast closing Stuchbury in 3rd Bracher a very good 4th. 81 Smith took 5th in his new car which went well on it's first outing on shale.

It would be hard to imagine that any formula would not look good around Scunthorpe but, the Hotstox really are suited to the track. Our next visit is 27th June - do not miss it !

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