Aldershot Raceway has certainly started its 2012 with some sparkling race action and this past Sunday was no different as the 2.0 Hot Rods competed for their Southern Championship.

A rather punishing session at Ipswich on the Bank Holiday Monday had resulted in several cancellations but 21 cars still made it to the track to do battle. The unluckiest of these was 88 Dale Atkins who blew his engine in practice.

Therefore it was 20 drivers who drew their grid positions for heat one with Charlie Jowers drawing pole position. As the race settled into a pattern, it was still Jowers in front with 65 Mark Willis following closely behind in second place. The tight confines of Aldershot Raceway must have been playing on the minds of the drivers as there were few attempts to make the outside line work. A train of cars lined up behind Jowers who maintained a good racing line on the inside of the track. As the laps wound down, Willis tried to pressure Jowers into a mistake that never came and despite being spun out by Willis; it was Jowers who took the chequered flag with Willis being docked two places for contact.

The second heat saw the drivers line up in a reverse grid from Heat One and was another fast and frantic race with English Champion 43 Paul Wright hitting the wall hard on the back straight, as well as 87 Jason Busby. With the grid positions for the Southern Championship being determined by a driver's combined scores from the heats; every position was fought for and it was 30 Martin Codling who took a hard-earned victory.

Following the two heats; it was Mark Willis on pole with 75 Chris Crane on his outside. World Champion 306 Will Reed was on the inside of grid position 3 and 72 Gary Goodswen on grid position 4.

Willis made a great start and shot into the lead with Will Reed taking advantage of the inside line to relegate Crane into third place. As Willis powered away, a great battle between Reed and Crane ensued with the Farnborough driver unable to overtake the World Champion - the Spedeworth TV camera was mounted on the rear of the 306 car and is sure to show some fantastic action when posted on www.youtube.com/spedeworthtv. As the laps wound down, Crane fell victim to mechanical issues, allowing Danny Fiske through into third place and that is how the drivers finished with a delighted Willis the new Southern Champion, Will Reed in second and Danny Fiske third on what was an action-packed day of hot rod racing.