Sammy Mileham gave a master class in car control as he powered his mighty V8 Sprint Car to a title winning hat-trick at Foxhall Stadium.
With 400bhp under his right foot, slick racing tyres and a soaked raceway for good measure, Mileham’s feat was nothing short of remarkable.
He claimed pole for the English title shoot-out which he went on to win by a country mile.
After winning the opening heat from the front row he completed daring outside passes in the rain next time out to get up to second yet seemingly with little chance of catching the leader Dean White. Remarkably, though the cars were nose-to-tail entering the last lap, with supreme throttle control he powered up the inside to take the flag by inches.
In the title race, Mileham was long gone after lap one. Both Ben White and Roy Thompson spun when second to underline the treacherous conditions. Conversely, South African Trevor ‘Wildebeest’ Keir realised the outside line was offering grip and deservedly took second, albeit over half a lap behind Mileham.
Mark Watts (Felixstowe) proposed to his fiancée Sophie on track before the opening Banger race. She willingly accepted!
After that it was somewhat downhill. He spun Martin Kent in the fence only to receive pay-back with a head-on. Things were cranked up a notch come the final with Kent delivering a massive blow to Watts’ passenger door.
In-between Jamie Hadley took the first of three East Anglian successes in the opener. Simon Berry (Martlesham) and Stuart Dowson swapped the lead several times in heat two before Berry dropped back. Kieran Greenway took the flag.
Berry was again looking good in the final. That was until a spinning car forced him on to the soaked speedway shale. He lost control, spun and was then hit by two other cars. One time Ipswich Championship leader Damien Wright took it up in a borrowed car and promptly stayed there.
Southerner Craig Hook boosted his chances in the series with top three finishes in all three.
Lone Suffolk hopefuls Graham Booty and Chris Crisell-White battled hard in the Stock Rods ultimately to be overcome by the vastly experienced Southern raiders. Crisell-White led the first until just before the half-way stage as Nick Aldridge took it up. He then had something of a wobble passing a backmarker giving Stuart Smyth the opportunity to pass.
Ashley Brown picked off Wayne Pettigrew for the win in heat two only for the novice driver to have the last laugh in the final.
With the star men struggling to make progress Pettigrew made the most of his lightning start. Crisell-White again valiantly defended second only for Aldridge to again slip past. The focus switched to the battle for third in the closing stages with Jamie Akehurst getting the better of Alan Thorndyke.
Stuart Barton won the typically hilarious Caravan Crasharama from a good entry despite a brave attempt by Trevor Airey and last-caravan-standing Niki Jarvis.
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