Slot-Racing 1990's

1990 I continued racing at the Foxhall Foxes Slotstox Club. Slotstox At the Slotstox Foxhall Championship held on the 6th and 13th July, I qualified through the heats as 8th highest points scorer with 26 points before losing semi-final run-off for second place to miss out on a place in the final. After 7 rounds of the Slotstox Foxhall Grand Prix Series Championship, I was joint 14th in the points with one other driver with 62 points. I finished joint 22nd with one other driver still with 62 points. In the Slotstox Foxhall Points Championship as at 1st November, I was 9th with 143 points and red grade. I finished 8th with 190 points and remained red grade. I finished 27th in the Slot-Saloons Foxhall Points Championship (racing as number 362) with 25 points and yellow grade.

1991 I continued racing at the Foxhall Foxes Slotstox Club. Slotstox I was racing a Slotstox built by Chris Butcher Racing and originally raced by my dad. After round 1 of the Slotstox Foxhall Grand Prix Series Points Championship, I was 10th with 16 points. On 5th April – Slotstox Foxhall Points Championship round - I was second highest points scorer in the qualifying heats with 25 points – 1 point behind 1st and 1 point ahead of 3rd but failed to qualify for the final from the semi-finals. After round 3 of the Slotstox Foxhall Grand Prix Series Points Championship, I was 16th with 35 points. I was 6th in the Slotstox Foxhall Points Championship with 64 points and Superstar grade status. I finished 4th in the final at the Slotstox Foxhall Points Championship round on 26th April. I was down to 9th in the Slotstox Foxhall Points Championship with 109 points and down to Red grade status. On 17th May – Slotstox Foxhall Points Championship round - I was highest points scorer in the qualifying heats with 38 points – although only 6 points separated the first eight qualifiers. I qualified for the final as the highest scoring third placed driver (this was a new way of determining final qualifiers from semi-finals on the Foxhall Foxes Slotstox Club’s new five lane track first officially raced on at the Foxhall Foxes Slotstox Club’s 7th birthday meeting) and finished tied 3rd with one other driver. On 24th May, I failed to qualify for the final from the semi-finals following a three way run-off. At the Slotstox Suffolk ‘Open’ Championship’ on 31st May, I was in a run-off after the two qualifying heats. After round 4 of the Slotstox Foxhall Grand Prix Series Points Championship, I was up to joint 7th with one other driver with 92 points. On 28th June – Slotstox Foxhall Points Championship round - I finished 3rd in the final. I was up to 7th in the Slotstox Foxhall Points Championship with 208 points and remained Red grade status. At the Slotstox Foxhall Championship on 12th and 19th July, I qualified for the quarter-finals from the five heats as joint 3rd highest points scorer with 61 points. I qualified as one of the top 2 in my quarter-final but failed to qualify for the final. I raced in the Consolation final which I won with 26 points to finish 6th overall. I also made my first away trip to the Aldershot Knights Slotstox Club as 1 of 10 East Anglians on 24th June - a Monday evening - for the Slotstox British Championship but I did not qualify for the semi—finals from the two heats. Having raced Slotstox as number 546 since I began racing in 1984, for this meeting I was required to change my number to 846 as Aldershot Knights Slotstox Club chairman Mark Butler was also number 546. After round 6 of the Slotstox Foxhall Grand Prix Series Points Championship, I was up to 8th (having been down to 9th after round 6) with 157 points. Around the end of September, I was 7th in the Foxhall Foxes Slotstox Points Championship chart with 312 points and up to Red grade status. I was also 7th in the Slotstox Foxhall Grand Prix Series Championship points after 7 rounds with 213 points. At Slotstox Foxhall Points Championship rounds, I won the final on 20th September, was highest points scorer in the qualifying heats on 27th September, 2nd highest points scorer in the qualifying heats on 11th October, runner-up in the final at Slotstox Foxhall Grand Prix Championship round 8 on 18th October and highest points scorer again in the qualifying heats on 8th November. With this sequence of results, I was up to 5th in the Slotstox Foxhall Points Championship with 424 points remained Superstar grade status. I was still 7th in the Slotstox Foxhall Grand Prix Series Championship points following both rounds 8 and 9 (22nd November) with 266 points and 300 points respectively. On 4th October, I qualified for the semi-finals of the Slotstox East-Anglian Championship hosted by the Foxhall Foxes Slotstox Club. This was the first time I had qualified for the semi-finals of the Slotstox East-Anglian Championship since 1986 when the championship was hosted by the Wisbech Fen Tigers Slotstox Club. Following the closing weeks of the season, including missing the 10th and final round of the Slotstox Foxhall Grand Prix Series Championship, I finished 6th in the Slotstox Foxhall Points Championship with 484 points and 9th in the Slotstox Foxhall Grand Prix Series Championship. More disappointment followed at a major 'Open' championship: the Slotstox English Championship hosted by the Foxhall Foxes Slotstox Club on 15th December. In my four heats, I scored 37 points: 4 points in my first heat (3rd in lane 1 and 4th in lanes 2 and 5), 8 points in my second heat (2nd in lanes 1 and 3 and 3rd in lane 2), 10 points in my third heat (1st in lane 2, 2nd in lane 3, 3rd in lane 1 and 4th in lane 4) and 15 points in my fourth heat (1st in lanes 1 and 2, 2nd in lanes 3 and 4 and 4th in lane 5). Due to a lower than expected number of drivers racing, the championship format was changed from three heats (with twenty drivers qualifying), quarter-finals, semi-finals and final to four heats (with ten drivers qualifying), semi-finals and final. I finished as 11th highest points scorer and was eliminated! SLOTSTOX FOXHALL POINTS CHAMPIONSHIP: 6th - 484 points SLOTSTOX FOXHALL GRAND PRIX SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP: 9th - 300 points SLOTSTOX FOXHALL CHAMPIONSHIP: CONSOLATION WINNER (6TH overall)

1992 I continued racing at the Foxhall Foxes Slotstox Club. Due to a 'misunderstanding' with Club 'landlords' Spedeworth over an article in the Spedeworth 'Wheelspin' magazine, the Club spent the first part of this season away from Foxhall Stadium; racing at the Graham Court Hotel and Restaurant in Anglesea Road nearer the centre of Ipswich. By May the Club were back at the Foxhall Stadium. My dad Peter was appointed the Club's racing manager. Slotstox I won the final on 14th February, was runner-up in the final on 28th February, 3rd in the final on 13th March before runner-up again in the final on 27th March. With this sequence of results, I was 3rd on the first Slotstox Foxhall Points Championship chart of the season with 129 points, Superstar grade status and only 4 points behind 1st. I was also 3rd in the Slotstox Foxhall Grand Prix Series Championship points after round 1 with 57 points. Whilst maintaining 3rd and Superstar grade status with 224 points on the second Slotstox Foxhall Points Championship chart of the season, I was down to 7th in the Slotstox Foxhall Grand Prix Series Championship points after round 2 on 5th June with 81 points. A 5th in the final on 19th June was followed by 4th in the final at the Slotstox Foxhall Grand Prix Series Championship round 3 on 26th June. On the third Slotstox Foxhall Points Championship chart of the season, I was up to 2nd in the Slotstox Foxhall Points Championship with 330 points and still Superstar grade status. I was up to 6th in the Slotstox Foxhall Grand Prix Series Championship points after round 3 with 133 points. This good sequence of results continued at the Slotstox Foxhall Championship held on 10th and 17th July. I only qualified from the heats as joint 16th highest points scorer (out of twenty qualifiers) with 36 points: 12 points in my first heat (2nd in lanes 1, 2 and 4, 3rd in lane 3 and 4th in lane 5), 7 points in my second heat (1st in lane 1 and 2nd in lane 4), 7 points in my third heat (2nd in lane 1, 3rd in lane 5 and 4th in lanes 3 and 4), 5 points in my fourth heat (3rd in lanes 3 and 5 and 4th in lane 4) and 5 points in my fifth heat (2nd in lane 1 and 3rd in lane 5). I scored 12 points in my quarter-final (2nd in lanes 1, 2 and 4, 3rd in lane 5 and 4th in lane 3) and qualified for the semi-finals. I scored 10 points in my semi-final (2nd in lane 1, 3rd in lanes 3, 4 and 5 and 4th in lane 2) and qualified for my first Slotstox Foxhall Championship final. In the final I scored 15 points (1st in my first race in lane 4, 2nd in my second race in lane 1, 3rd in each of my two races in lane 2 and my first race in lane 3 and 4th in my second race in lane 3 and my second race in lane 4) and finished as runner-up. I was the only semi-finalist to be racing with a MRRC 222 engine - the other drivers racing with either an SRS or Parma engine! For a variety of reasons, unfortunately, this highlight of my Slotstox racing career to date did not go down well in some quarters. This included racing during the latter stages with a back axle holder that kept breaking during races and lowering the rear of my Slotstox making it harder to knock-out or pass. Also due to only winning two (including one of my two races in lane four of the final) out of the forty-five races that I competed in during the Championship. This compared unfavourably with the Champion who won seventeen races and the other finalists who each won fourteen races; plus with thirty-two drivers having competed in the championship: my number of race wins was beaten by two drivers who finished outside the top twenty qualifying places for the quarter-finals! I was 5th in the final on 28th August. On the fourth Slotstox Foxhall Points Championship chart of the season, I had 434 points and was still 2nd in the Slotstox Foxhall Points Championship with Superstar grade status. Having missed round 4 of the Slotstox Foxhall Grand Prix Series Championship on 7th August, I was down to 7th in the points and following round 5 on 4th September, I had 170 points and was still 7th in the points. At the Slotstox East Anglian Championship hosted by the Foxhall Foxes Slotstox Club on 25th September, I qualified from the heats with 32 points: 8 points in my first heat (1st in lane, 2nd in lane 4 and 4th in lane 5), 13 points in my second heat (1st in lane 1, 2nd in lane 2 and 3rd in lanes 3, 4 and 5) and 11 points in my third heat (1st in lane 1, 2nd in lane 2 and 3rd in lanes 3 and 4). I finished 4th in my semi-final with 4 points (I started in lane 5 and won in lane 1) and was eliminated. Due to the damage sustained by my Slotstox at the Slotstox Foxhall Championship, the fall out from my result affecting my enthusiasm, plus running in a new Paul Mower Racing built Slotstox my results over the remainder of 1992 tailed off significantly. Having been up to 5th in the Slotstox Foxhall Points Championship with 510 points and Superstar grade status I ended up finishing in 13th with 510 points and back in Red grade status. Having been 7th in the Slotstox Foxhall Grand Prix Series Championship with 191 points, I dropped to finish 19th with 191 points after the final round on 27th November. SLOTSTOX FOXHALL CHAMPIONSHIP: RUNNER-UP SLOTSTOX FOXHALL POINTS CHAMPIONSHIP: 13th - 510 points SLOTSTOX FOXHALL GRAND PRIX SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP: 19th - 191 points SLOTSTOX FOXHALL STATISTICS: 15 SEMI-FINALS, 8 GRAND FINALS, 39 BONUS POINTS, 1 FINAL WIN

Slot-Racing 2000's