The 2nd meeting at the Eddie Wright Raceway, Scunthorpe hosted a qualifying round and the first leg of the Northern & Midland Championship on Saturday 27th June. The weather was warm and dry and 21 cars arrived to do battle which saw an all in format adopted which would guarantee action on the superfast shale.

A full compliment of 21 cars for heat 1 which was led away by the Bradley brothers Karl (186) and Dan (286) with Dan taking the initiative to lead. Meanwhile, 131 Kev Stuchbury and 473 Chris Bracher tangled on turn 3 with Bracher being turned around and left facing the traffic on the racing line. 575 Darren Cottrill and 187 Craig Smith also chose turn 3 to bang wheels as the pair ran into an infield tyre marker. Cottrill suffered panhard rod damage in the tangle but was about to rejoin the frey when the yellow flags came out to retrieve Bracher as Chris was unable to fire the car up and was in a dangerous spot with cars going every which way to avoid him. Dan Bradley resumed the race in the lead spot but was quickly passed by 81 Matt Smith who had 361 Steve Reedman for company with 3 Chris Fort loitering with intent in 3rd. Smith was despatched fencewards as Fort took over just as Karl Bradley lost his steering and clattered into the pit gate hard to bring out the yellows. Karl exited the car ok although winded. The race was called with the lap charts going back to the last completed lap which should have given Smith the win but, the victory was awarded to Fort amongst some confusion.

Neither of the Bradley's made heat 2 as Karl's car needed repairs and Dan's had clutch issues. Reedman settled into the lead and began to break away from the field. 281 Lee Summers and 42 Rob Barber were making good ground. Summers managing to keep a gap on Barber who was then passed by a rapid Smith in the 81. Summers passed Reedman to take it up with Smith also making it by for 2nd. 355 Bryan Andrew joined the chasers in 3rd but none could make an impression on the leader as Summers took the chequered to score the win.

The Bradley's made it back on track for a full compliment of cars for the final. The whites were too busy arguing amongst themselves so 129 Paul Davies took the lead. A flying Summers then went by Davies to take it up with fellow blue 328 Michael Boswell going well to join him in 2nd. Unfortunately for Davies, he happened upon a couple of red graders who tangled in front of him to leave him facing the wrong way on the home straight. Further back, 131 Stuchbury, 161 Mark Allen, 3 Chris Fort and 473 Chris Bracher were involved in a great battle as they made their way through the field. 42 Barber managed to bumper past Boswell for 2nd who then lost 3rd to Smith in the 81. 355 Andrew joined the group and passed Smith for 3rd and then Barber for 2nd. However, Summers was once again enjoying a very good lead with no one seemingly able to close the gap sufficiently to have a go. Summers crossed the line to take a great heat and final double ahead of Andrew and Barber with Smith, Stuchbury and Fort rounding out the top places.

Summers took the handicap to lead them away for the Grand National. Steve Reedman headed the field for 3 laps before a very rapid moving Bryan Andrew took over. The racing all night had been very fast and the GN was no exception. Michael Boswell made it into 2nd but could not hold off Stuchbury who was having a much better meeting than he has of late. The laps ran out quickly with Andrew taking the win with Stuchbury 2nd and Boswell taking a well deserved 3rd. Summers unable to make it into the top 10 as he finished a very hotly paced race in 11th.

It has to be said that Chris Fort had one of his quietest meetings but then having set some kind of record by taking every final so far this season, it was a heck of winning streak which I'm sure will take a lot of beating. Still, Chris is far from out of the hunt for the Northern & Midland which see's Bryan Andrew top of the points with Matt Smith (81) and Lee Summers all in with a good shout at Buxton in a fortnight on the 12th July

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