The annual May Bank Holiday weekend visit to Skegness gave us some glorious weather for a change. 32 cars were on hand to do battle for the National Pairs Championship which saw the top of the points paired with the bottom of the points with the best scoring pair taking the title over the two days.

Sunday’s Heat 1 of a 2/3rds format allowed Chris Fort to open his account with 81 Matt Smith looking good in his new car for 2nd. 159 Carl Radforth took heat two ahead of 178 Richard Burt and Forty made it two from two with victory in heat 3 followed by 210 Matt Smith. The final was all in with lots going on all through the pack. Undeterred and pretty much unmatched for pace, Chris Fort stormed through to take the win. 131 Kevin Stuchbury took the runner up spot with 178 Richard Burt taking 3rd but only after shaking off the attentions of a lap down Neil Stuchbury.

Monday’s field was reduced by 2 so the 30 car field ran to a 2/3rds format once more. Heat 1 gave an unstoppable Chris Fort another win with 131 Stuchbury a fairly distant 2nd. Stuchbury duly took heat 2 before Fort made it 5 out of 5 in heat 3. The all in final had Stuchbury and partner 151 Jeff Colledge on 70 pts and Fort and pairing 75 Terry Hawkins ahead on 80 pts. Stuchbury needed to come home well ahead of Fort to retain the pairs title he won last year with 216 Reg Smith. In the event, Fort was just too quick for Stuchbury as the pair finished 1st and 2nd respectively with 473 Chris Bracher coming home a good 3rd after a weekend of very good results to book his Super Star status for the re grading. Further down the field, 178 Richard Burt and Neil Stuchbury tangled with Stuchbury going into the fence backwards with Burt off of turn 4.

Obviously, Chris Fort's dominance once again stole the show. His driving skill allied with his setup knowledge together with a car that is not short of speed, is making Fort pretty much unbeatable. Other notable talking points over the weekend were the debut of 222 Guy Jolly's ex F1 car which is a bit of a heavyweight outfit - only just being legal on the scales. Guy unfortunately suffered with a missfire for most of the weekend. 151 Jeff Colledge did not survive Sunday's session after suffering engine damage. Never the less, Jeff scored his first points and will be back for more. There were two day licencee's in the shape of 166 Lee Wilkinson and 499 Rob Whittaker who are both neighbours of 77 Paul Heath. Both had a shot in Paul's car with perhaps Whittaker showing the most promise. In fact, Whittaker has since purchased the ex Chris Mellor car so, he obviously enjoyed his outing. Rob hopes to be out at Buxton in July. 240 Tom Conwell made his return to the tracks and after blowing out the cobwebs on Sunday, Tom really started to get into his stride on Monday - picking up some useful places for his trouble.

Hotstox return to Skegness on the 13th Aug for the annual Summer season midweek date before returning two weeks later to do battle for the European Championship on the 28th and 29th.

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