The second visit to Buxton this season was under the promotership of Steve Rees' Startrax banner. Bookings looked good with 23 cars signed up but 18 materialised on the night. The recent regrading saw a few cars with new paint on their roofs / aerofoils and it was going to be interesting to see how those drivers faired from their new grades. Most eyes I would imagine, were on 473 Chris Bracher who has been in superb form allbeit from blue. Would he be able to haul in the points as successfully from the dizzy heights of Super Star ?

Heat 1

A full house of 18 for the first race with down gradee 439 Jay Kellett making a determined start. Further back Bracher laid out his stall and cracked the bumper in sending 355 Bryan Andrew and 131 Kev Stuchbury amongst others wide on the pit turn. 575 Darren Cottrill had escaped the melee and set off after the leaders. Stuchbury repassed Bracher a few laps later as Kellett was still out in front with 240 Tom Conwell running 2nd. Cottrill passed Conwell and reeled in Kellett. Stuchbury passed Conwell then ran Cottrill and Kellett down. Cottrill passed Kellett with Stuchbury also making his move on the white top. Stuchbury squeezed the pair wide coming out of the pit turn and never looked back going on to comfortably take the win. Bracher caught and dispatched Cottrill to land the runner up spot with 575 3rd, Conwell also made it by Kellett before the chequered fell to round out the top 5.

Heat 2

All 18 made it for heat 2 with Kellett again leading the early stages. Stuchbury made the moves at the back and led the charge of the red brigade. 184 Carl Boswell was punted into a spin by 72 Kev Thornton who was at the wheel of the Swinton Motor Project car, on the pit bend and couldn't refire the car, having to sit out the remainder of the race from the rumble strips. Stuchbury duly passed Kellett on his way to another emphatic win but this time only Cottrill and a determined 210 Matt Smith made it by Kellett who came home 4th with 355 Bryan Andrew in 5th. 436 Mick Cotterill scored his first points in a V8 Hotstox impressively bringing the spare Jamie Marson car home in 8th.

The Final

286 Dan Bradley failed to grid for the final with a sheered distributor drive ending his night. Trouble erupted early on as Stuchbury laid the bumper into 210 Smith but Stuchburys engine died on impact and he limped around the bend. Smith then encountered 112 Marson and made contact sending Marson into the fence exiting the pit turn with pieces of the 112 machine flying everywhere. Smith also suffered a lifeless engine and he joined 131 to coast onto the centre. The race was cautioned to retrieve Marson, his car and his car's bits !. Kellett lead the restart and pulled clear of the rest. Cottrill and 355 Andrew were looking the likely men but their scrap let Kellett build on his lead. Andrew managed to get by Cottrill and set off after the flying white top. It took a fair few laps for Andrew to catch Kellett and it must be said that Bryan made short work of cleanly passing Kellett for the lead. A few laps later Cottrill repeated the move to take 2nd as Bracher closed in on Kellett. Onto the final lap and Bracher cracked the white top who had moved wide to let Bracher through. The hit was hard enough to send Kellett to the wall which perhaps was a little unsporting of Bracher who had no threat behind him. Kellett scraped round the fence and set off again, unfortunately either his composure or probably crash damage caused Kellett to spin on the final turn which robbed the white top of a top 4 placing in the final. Andrew had secured the win with Cottrill 2nd and Bracher 3rd. 373 Rob Hartley came home 4th with 439 being scored in 5th although both 7 Nigel Parker and 72 Kev Thornton both passed the white grader but lap scoring errors placed them behind Kellett.

I have to say it, this meeting was better than the last Buxton meeting and with less cars !. Another good finish to the final with Bryan Andrew deservedly bagging the win. Cottrill again looked good on tarmac and indeed top scored although I'm certain Darren is still looking to squeeze out a bit more from his tarmac car. Bryan Andrew also picked up the ex Dave Hobbs car which he intends to use on shale.

Jay Kellett at last scored some points and showed he is more than capable of driving his ex Neil Fry car.  Chris Bracher looked more than comfortable from Super Star and scored some valuable points. New blue's 42 Rob Barber, 7 Nigel Parker and 112 Jamie Marson had a disastrous day with Nigel being robbed of a top 5 final placing. 373 Rob Hartley faired a lot better and this young man is certainly making great strides amongst others with a lot more experience.

I have to finally mention 436 Mick Cotterill and 216 Reg Smith who both plugged away and were rewarded with a few points. They deserved more for their entertainment value alone. Keep it up !