By Dave Young

Following on from Round 1 at Pinewood, the Slot It Challenge bandwagon rode into the North Staffs Scalextric Racing Club at Stoke on Trent this last weekend for Round 2 with a completely different surface to Pinewood at Round 1 to compete with. With Sandtex to compete with over Poly, that didn’t put off the competitors as over 50 adults and youngsters turned up to race and prove just how popular this series is, in terms of the racing, the company and the overall organisation of each round and event.

Word on the street was that where as at Round 1 the Flat 6 and Flat 6R motors were going to prove their worth, at North Staffs they were not quite what was required, in fact rumour was that with the unregulated power supply North Staffs uses, the Flat 6 was not the motor choice at all, as one or two of the club members had seen them expire! So, practice on Saturday saw a mixture of Slot.it cars take to the track, with the Maclaren in 25k Scaleauto can angle winder guise seemingly to be the most popular (and powerful) choice with the Jaguar close behind it. However, trying to get below the elusive seven second barrier seemed too much to ask with grip seeming to be a little elusive and as much as everyone tried the barrier remained intact even though some dipped into the low seven's giving hope for Sunday racing.

As Sunday dawned and a long day looking likely , a steady stream of racers duly arrived early, eager to get on with final preparations, scrutineering and of course the all important thing – racing! As the day unfolded, Shaun Mitchell proved to be the dominant home driver being both untouchable in the heats, leading the pack home by over 6 laps from fellow North Staffs driver and good friend Mark Probert. The A final proved a similar story with Shaun winning in style from Mark Probert with 'Banzai' Chris Lyons a very creditable third, Paul Charlton, top visiting driver (and driver of the day) fourth from Nic Hirst and Gareth Jones fifth and sixth respectively.

In the Juniors, Wolves own 'pocket rocket' Lewis Gough proved unbeatable from Toby Pawson, and the Juniors is looking to be a championship worth watching with both Toby and Lewis looking like two great contenders for this years championship.

And so, the day proved to move along quickly, efficiently and was over in good time for people with long journeys to make their way home.

Next up on the calendar is Llantrisant in South Wales in June, look forward to seeing you all there.