1987

Graham Sinclair's performance was particularly notable since this was only his second season of racing. Graham made the most of his early season blue grading to dominate the first grading period, picking up the National Championship at Northampton and topping the points at this stage. He then found starting at the rear of the grid a different ball game and a little bit of mechanical trouble and the occasional indiscretion cost him points, allowing Craske and brother Paul to overhaul him. The Sinclairs then suffered a serious setback to their Championship aspirations when their workshop was broken into and wheels, carbs and tools were stolen. This loss forced them to miss the penultimate meeting and effectively ruined their chances of beating Craske. There was still the battle for the runner-up spot with brotherly love going out of the window as soon as the green flag dropped. The final meeting of the season at Arena witnessed a win each, with Graham winning the Casa Contracts Trophy and securing enough points to pip Paul for second place. Paul's successes during the year included retaining the Southern Championship at Ringwood and winning the Bill Boarer Memorial Trophy at Arena.

Stalwart front-engined Midget driver John "Nelson" Lowe finished the season in fourth place after a promising start to the season which saw him battling with Craske and the Sinclairs for the Silver top position. After some early season wins including the Graham Hill Memorial Trophy and the Cliff Davis Trophy, John hit a lean spell and was unable to make up the lost ground. He acquired the nickname "Nelson" after an incident at the European Championship when he was about to be lapped by the leader Craske, and turned a blind eye to the waving blue flag. The fact that his brother Harry was rapidly catching Craske was, of course, purely coincidental! Well, what are brothers for? There was a sequel to this event at the annual prize giving party when Basil made a special presentation to John of a framed 45 record titled "Move over Darling"!

Harry Lowe had a string of victories the previous season with his Spartan Formula Ford based car and looked like a good bet for the '87 Championship but a series of niggling problems kept him well out of the hunt and he had to settle for a brace of wins and fifth place in the table.

Rounding off the top six was Harry Sayell, a driver who epitomises the backbone of any racing formula. He seldom misses a meeting despite racing on a shoestring and enjoys the enthusiastic support of wife, Anne and his two sons. Harry had his best season for some time, picking up three race wins in the latter half of the year to finish on a high note.

Some of the recent recruits to Midget racing are beginning to make their mark. Marcus Retchless notched up a hat-trick of wins but had to look hard over his shoulder for younger brother Philip in his first year of racing with the ex-Brian Forrest Arrow outfit. Philip won two races at Boston and looks like a young man anxious to make his mark on the formula. Former Superstox driver Eddy Ricketts took his Dastle to victory in the East of England Championship for his maiden win. Duncan Reed's new Alfa-Sud engined car had a few problems. The car looked quick in a straight line but Duncan was having trouble sorting out the push-rod operated inboard suspension. The car was built as an engineering project at Duncan's employers, JEB Engineering, and unfortunately one of the apprentices - we won't embarrass him by mentioning his name - crashed the car during a private test session. The car has been rebuilt over the winter with some minor modifications.

On the fixture front the Midgets will be returning to Swaffham in 1988 as well as their regular venues, Arena, Northampton and Peterborough. The formula will be appearing at the Hereward Radio multi-sport "Go For It '88" spectacular on May 29/30 at Peterborough and the Alwalton Raceway will also be hosting the World Championships on August 21. Biggest news on the driver front is that Graham Sinclair will be taking a year's sabbatical to spend more time with his wife and young daughter but will be back in 1989 with a new car and his sights set on being No 1. Graham's car has been purchased by Brian Wright who has great hopes for the coming season. Steve Lay and Rod McLaughlan will be returning after layoffs while Dermott McGivern is building a new front-engined car based on the Mk18 Dastle with a Volvo 340 type de-dion rear suspension set-up. David Wesbroom is having an engine prepared by Mick Bonner which should put him back in the ballpark after a couple of lean seasons. Basil Craske is determined to beat the Europeans on their home soil and has now completed his 145bhp 1600cc VW engined car to even up the odds when the time comes.

Where will the honours go in 1988? Craske, no doubt, will be relieved he has only one Sinclair to deal with on this occasion and we can expect another titanic battle for the Silver top. The Lowes are always in contention while I expect the early season pace to be set by the Retchless brothers, Wesbroom and Sayell. Phillip Retchless could be the one to spring a few surprises if he channels his talent ir. the right direction. Whatever happens, it's bound to be fast, furious and fun so come along and get converted to the Midget habit. The season kicks off at Peterborough on April 3.