Surprisingly, Sheffield was actually warm and dry. The forecast probably didn’t do Steve Rees any favours as the crowd was not huge. 14 Hotstox assembled in the pits including ex F1 driver Adam Squance – now registered as 395. Heat 1 gridded the full 14 cars and was led away by 129 Paul Davies. Squance spun early on and could not restart as Davies raced off into a healthy lead. 281 Lee Summers complete with onboard cameras took up the chase after passing 275 Trevor Hawkins who was to bust his engine later in the race. 161 Mark Allen led the reds with 131 Kev Stuchbury not far behind. Try as he might, Summers could not reel in Davies who looked very comfortable out front. 328 Michael Boswell gained on Summers but then came under pressure from Allen and Stuchbury. 147 Colin Taylor hit the fence in turns 1 and 2 after a tyre deflated and 370 Chris Melbourne retired after blowing the engine in the borrowed 363 Craig Brough car. Allen hesitated to deal with Boswell and that was all the invitation Stuchbury needed as he bundled past the pair but there wasn’t enough time as Paul Davies crossed the line to take his first ever V8 win and very very chuffed he was too. Summers came home 2nd with Stuchbury 3rd.

Heat two gridded 12 cars with the Colin Taylor team managing to repair the damage from heat 1 but the car cried enough after a few laps and duly broke the propshaft to end his day. Davies once again made the running with Summers again in pursuit after barging past Squance. Further back 117 Rob Scriven and 355 Bryan Andrew were having a great scrap as 131 Stuchbury lost ground after climbing all over the front of 439 Jay Kellett who kept his foot well in as he flew across the centre with Stuchbury perched on top. The two separated and Stuchbury set off without so much as losing a place in the process with Mark Allen again slow to land a telling blow on the tangled pair to gain an advantage. Boswell tangled with Adam Squance and retired as Davies scored his second win with Summers the bridesmaid with Stuchbury again 3rd. Mention must be made of young ex Ministx driver Michael Steward making his debut in the Frankie Wainman owned Hotstox with the number 512. Although he kept out of trouble, he drover very sensibly and scored a few points in the process.

The Final saw just 11 cars make the grid and all eyes were on Paul Davies to see if the white grader could make it a hat trick. He made a good start but so had 439 Kellett who took a lap or two to make it by Summers for 2nd. Boswell also made it by Summers as further back a misfiring Stuchbury suddenly found his engine burst back into life which caught him out and sent the 131 car spinning. Stuchbury recovered and spluttered after the field. 161 Mark Allen and 355 Andrew were soon by Summers just as Kellett caught and spun Davies to relieve him of the lead. Boswell then retired to leave Andrew in 2nd who was doing a remarkable job racing a car with a broken rear leaf spring and Allen in 3rd. Further back Scriven was catching Summers but then had to deal with a fast closing Stuchbury who caught and passed the veteran. The laps ran out before Stuchbury could mount a challenge on 4th placed Summers as Kellett scored his first Hotstox final win finishing well clear of Andrew in 2nd and Allen in 3rd.

Despite a low car count, the racing was pretty good with Lee Summers top points scorer on the day. After checking mylaps.com for the transponder info, it made very interesting reading to find that the Hotstox lap times were within a second of the F1’s – pretty amazing !