26th September 2000 :- Trophy Presentation Evening - The winners of the 1999/2000 season are as follows:- Club Champion - Nick Beech Points Champion - Charlie Middleton Finals Winner - Steven Mesham Whites & Yellows Champion - Carole Jones Kiwi Cup - Nick Beech Reg Brown Trophy - Carole Jones See Roll Of Honour for past winners

June 2000 to October 2000 - Off Season Events
The 1999/2000 season is officially over but that doesn't mean to say that there is nothing going on. Off season racing will still continue every two weeks from June to October (see fixtures list), although the points gained during this period won't be counted it is an excellent opportunity for racers to get new cars built and tested or to try out some new race tactics. There is also the possibility of the introduction of a new formula of racing as several drivers now have their own saloon cars built and ready to race so watch this space. In the meantime check below for upcoming and past events.

28th August, 2000 - Photo Gallery Updated
Pictures of all the racers who took part in the Corporate Event last week are now included in the Britannia Racers section of the Photo Gallery.

23rd August, 2000 - Photo Gallery Updated
Pictures taken at yesterdays event have been added to the Britannia section of the Photo Gallery. They include pictures of the winning team and the final two races.

22nd August 2000 - Britannia Corporate Event

Corporate Race Night on behalf of Britannia Sports & Social Club - this is the club's first private event. A team based event which involved saloon car racing and marshalled racing. Teams were split into two halves with the 'A' half racing while the 'B' half marshalled and then vice versa.

Due to the number of people in attendance it wasn't easy for everyone to see the racing first hand but no-one missed out as a video feed to a big screen tv in the next room provided live footage of the action as it happened.

Full results of the evening will be posted here as soon as possible.

Some pictures taken during the event are shown in the Photo Gallery.

15th August 2000 - It'll Be Alright On The Olly White Night

Previous Club Champion Olly White returned but this time not to race. After months away from the track (for various reasons) he decided to sell some of his race kit, including cars, controllers and other spares. Many thanks go out to Olly as the equipment will come in very useful, as it is always difficult to get hold of such kit once racers are unable to attend.

14th August, 2000 - Top Search Engines Find Leek Slot Stox Club !
It has been noted that this site is now listed on two of the top and most respected internet search engines, Yahoo! and Lycos. Based on a search on just two words 'slot' and 'stox', our site is ranked Number One by both sites ! This can only help to add to the numbers of visitors to the site which continue in steady numbers.

Yahoo! Powered by Google
www.yahoo.com

Lycos (US Version)
www-english.lycos.com

12th August, 2000 - Photo Gallery Updated
A couple more pics have been added including pictures of some of the new saloon cars and new paint jobs on Nij and Ben's Stox cars.

6th August, 2000 - New Web Space Provider
We are currently trying out a new free web space provider. The site was previously hosted by Virgin Net but very poor reliability has caused a ridiculous amount of downtime for the site and hence a move. It has been moved to US based Freeservers.com, who come with an exemplary record - for example from my own tests their downtime has amounted to less than an hour in the whole of the last three months ! This does, however, mean the addition of advertising banners for the time being but hopefully it will be worth it.

The new 'direct' address is www.leekslotstoxclub.8m.com and the original ones (www.here.at/leekslotstoxclub and www.here.at/lssc) now divert to it.

6th June, 2000 - 12th Annual Club Championship & Reg Brown Trophy
The 12th Annual Club Championship is the climax of the season and was held at our usual venue, Britannia Sports & Social Club, Leek, on the 6th June. The drivers who qualified were - Ben, Bros, Chaz, Mesh, Nick and Nij. Each of them were to play their own individual role in what was to be one of the closest Championship races ever.

Bros quickly established an early lead but it didn't last for long. Both Nij and Chaz we racing well, evening things up and then beginning to pull away. Nick was unable to make any impression on the leaders as he found himself the target of Ben's front bumper, who put him in the fence for at least three consecutive races. However, changing to a more cautious approach, Nick managed to put in some good results. This didn't go noticed by Bros who decided to go for what turned out to be an ill-timed lunge at him, taking only his own car off the track. "That has cost me the race" he concluded pessimistically. Inevitably Nij, whose points were climbing ever higher, started to get dizzy. Somehow Mesh was managing to keep out of trouble but couldn't seem to make any significant impression on the race. Chaz and Nick's joint lead began to stretch away and it became clear that one of them would soon be triumphant. As the last race began, Bros realised he was in a position to take out one or more of the leading racers. He took an almighty lunge down the back straight crashing into several cars. Out of those cars emerged that of Nick's, still running and with most of the rest of the cars now off the track, he just had to pick his way through to the finish. Did he have some luck on his side ? Did he have skill ? Did he care ?.... he was the newly crowned Gold Top.

Many encouraging comments were extended to Nick in celebration of his win, like "You b*****d", "Spawny git" and "I wouldn't walk down any dark alleys if I was you mate" to mention just a few.

The qualifiers for the Reg Brown Trophy were - Carole, Dee, Fiona, Paul and Phil. Not unlike the Club Championship race, this was another close battle with a lot of high quality racing. The conclusion of the race was another well-deserved trophy win for Carole.

23rd May, 2000 - Race Meeting 16
Imagine a scene - set in the wild, wild, west-ern side of Leek. Two lone gunmen (oops, I mean drivers) standing back to back (ok, side by side, nit-picker), awaiting the final showdown. The hand controllers are the guns, the cars are the bullets and death or glory are the only two possible outcomes. And you just thought this was slot car racing but believe me, if you were there you'd understand it from the sheer tension, the pungent smell of fear. We are, of course, talking about the race for the Whites & Yellows Championship which before this meeting was separated by a single point. Carole managed to qualify straight into the final whereas Ben had been forced to race for his place via the consolation heat. He rose to the challenge, however, and fended off an onslaught of cars trying to force him off the track and gained the remaining vital position to race in the final.

Meanwhile, in the heats, Chaz was forced into having to work hard to protect his previously comfortable lead in the Points Championship. Although Nick had a bloody good go at scraping a few points back, it was not to be enough. Charlie Middleton deservedly and proudly took his highest accolade in twelve years of racing - the Points Champion and Silver Roof. Previously Chaz had been second place, runner up and nearly man of every championship, competition or prize you could possibly mention. This time the man had won !

So the last final of the season was to be run next and there was still so much to play for. Carole needed the best place possible and Ben needed to keep his cool (and a certain amount of luck) to secure the Whites & Yellows. Mesh wanted another final win to secure the highest ever number of wins in one season - currently tying with Nick's previous record of seven. Any of the other racers could have chosen to help or hinder progress for the racers. Nick went out of his way to make sure he did not influence the outcome whereas Nij made sure he was in everyone's way. But in the end, to the surprise of most, not least himself, whilst everyone had been concentrating so hard on their own performance, Nij managed to sneak through and claim the last final win of the season. Hot on his heels finished Nick then Mesh followed by Ben in fourth. Due to Ben's lower score in the heats, Carole's fifth place gave her just enough points to claim the coveted 'mid-runner' title - Whites & Yellows champion.

Well-earned congratulations go to both Chaz and Carole for their achievements throughout the season and that leaves two further trophies - the pivotal cup, the jewel of the slot stox crown known as the Club Championship Gold Top, along with the ubiquitous Reg Brown Trophy to be fought for on 6th June 2000. Click here for Final League Table .

9th May, 2000 - Race Meeting 15
Intense concentration was the order of the day for meeting 15, as the outcome of the season-long championships (the Points Champion and Whites & Yellows Champion) will be decided over the course of the next two meetings. Even a single point won or lost could transpire to be a crucial one as the 16 meeting season begins to draw to its inevitable conclusion.

Whilst all the point grabbing action was going on and drivers were trying hard to keep their cars on the track, someone who is more associated with helping other drivers' cars off the track, decided to step in with some good racing instead of the usual carnage inducing bumper-work. Yes, of course, it was Nij who managed a commanding lead throughout his first final win of the season. It just seems as though it might just be a little too late for that "late surge" he keeps telling us about.

It will all be decided at the next meeting on 23rd May.

25th April, 2000 - Race Meeting 14 - Kiwi Cup
Things are hotting up a bit now as the 1999/2000 season reaches the last few meetings. The race for the Whites & Yellows Points Championship is extremely close with only seven points between first & second placed Carole and Ben. And Chaz's 57 points for the evening puts him well into the lead in the League Table.

Please note - the score previously listed for Phil in the 'Qualifying Round Points' column was incorrect. It now correctly reads 131. Thanks for pointing that out Phil and can all other racers please remember that they are responsible for checking their own scores.

The Kiwi Cup is an annual event held at around the same time each year. It is open to all racers and everyone has an equal chance of qualifying as usual by racing in heats. Some racers found the heats to be relatively simple whereas others had to do it the hard way - the result of the consolation was a dead heat between Mesh & Nick forcing a two-car 'run off' for the last remaining place in the final ! However, Nick somehow won and scraped through.

The final got off to a good start with some very close racing between Bros, Chaz and Nick. As soon as Nick was silly enough to gain a few points lead, Nij quickly stepped in with his usual bumper work putting several cars into the fence. The last race of the evening involved yet another multi-car pile up, through which Nick emerged, conveyed along someone else's lane on his way to an uninspiring win.

The beleaguered crowd were devastated. The looks of adulation were conspicuous by their absence. The birds outside stopped singing. People ran into their houses and bolted their doors. It started to rain. It had clearly not been a popular win at all. Congratulations were definitely not the order of the day. You needed a sharp knife just to cut the atmosphere. You would think Saddam Hussein had just been elected as Prime Minister or even worse that drinking beer had just been made illegal. Next meeting - 9th May.

12th April, 2000 - Site Update
The Photo Gallery has been extensively updated. It includes pictures of the drivers along with some information about each one of them. It also has some updated pics of the cars. The League Table page has also been added to, with a graph of the league points.

11th April, 2000 - Race Meeting 13
Race meeting number 13. Thirteen is an unlucky number for some. But not our Mesh. Oh no, certainly not unlucky for him as we'd all hoped and prayed. I don't need to tell you who won the final this week. Nij had gone out into an early lead - yes I know it's hard to believe but it's true - Nij was winning. He was then closely followed by Nick and Bros as they began to get their act together. But yet again Mesh struck in the last few races with a couple of six pointers and clinched it on the last race. Ok - to give credit where it's due, Mesh has now equaled the club record of seven final wins in one season - will he beat the record ? His win this evening was no easy ride though.

Current Club Champion Paul Jones's car decided it had had enough and promptly disintegrated, forcing him to use a loan car. The cause of his car's demise may have been something to do with the large hammer he used to make it fit in the scrutineering box. Chaz had the best score at the end with 54 moving him a full 16 points closer to league leader Nick - the gap now down to only 4 points. Next meeting - 25th April.

29th March, 2000 - Pages Updated
A map showing directions to the club has been added to the location page. The links page has been updated with graphics relevant to the links shown.

28th March, 2000 - Race Meeting 12
It may come as no suprise that tonights final was yet another two-horse race between (yes - you've guessed it) Mesh and Bros. And you will no doubt be even less suprised that the outcome was exactly the same (yet again) with Mesh winning and Bros second. So how do these two guys keep running away in the finals, is the question on everyone's lips. Where was the bumper action we usually see from Ben and Nij ? Have they lost their bottle ? More importantly how can they be stopped, without the use of physical violence ? Even Nick's attempts to eject the offending cars from the track failed miserably as his all new, scratch built, (concept) car had about as much pushing power as a drug dealer at a Policemans Ball. Just to add to the insult Mesh also scored the highest of the night - 59 points - the crowd were NOT impressed.

At least there is some comfort in the fact that Mr Mesham is back at the red line for the next two meetings. He has done a swap with Nij who has returned to yellow. There were no other changes in the grades and there was just the rise of a place each for Paul and Carole in the league table.

27th March, 2000 - 1st Quarter Results - Number Of Visitors On The Up !
Although only launched three months ago and with no financial outlay to the club, the Leek Slot Stox Club web site has managed to receive an increasing amount of visits each month so far. With the site promotion efforts taking effect in the second half of February the most hits for a single week so far was 87 for the first week in March. The total hits by month was January - 24, February - 140 and March - 270.

There are many plans for additions and updates to the site as time goes on (including an update to the photo gallery very soon) and any comments or suggestions are always welcome. Many thanks to those of you who have sent emails and taken the time to sign the guestbook - it is greatly appreciated !

14th March, 2000 - Race Meeting 11
Ben evidently decided to take a leaf out his dad's (Nij) book during the heats tonight blatantly firing several cars into the fence and shouting "Hahhahhah got yer !". It would appear he's copied the tactic a bit too well though as he also ended up fencing himself each time - just like his dad does.

The ominous presence of Mesh's girlfriend Alex was noted during the final again today. Although arriving late she managed to do her lucky charm bit as Mesh stormed yet another final win making 5 wins out of 7 meetings attended. "I perform much better when I'm inside Bros though" he announced - ah well each to his own as they say. Bros was none too pleased after coming within spitting distance of a final win once more - he could be challenging Chaz for the title of Mr Nearly Man the way he's going - that's now six times out of nine that he's come second in the final ! And as Bros is due to have an operation on what he called "me crown jewels" this week it looks as though he will have to get used to coming second for a while.

Chaz managed the highest score of the night with 58 points significantly narrowing the gap between himself and current league leader Nick.

13th March, 2000 - Important News - Fixtures List Updated !
The eagle eyed amongst you may have spotted the obvious mistake in the dates on the fixtures list. Unfortunately the leap day of 29th February 2000 was not taken into account and as a result all the dates from Meeting 10 onwards were a day out. This has now been rectified - sorry about that ! Please see the latest list.

12th March, 2000 - Local Leek Link
Following our request we have now been listed on the Leek Online site.

'Leek Online'
www.leekonline.co.uk

This is a site which provides a wealth of information relating to the town of Leek and it's people. As with all sites that link to us, a link back to their site is added to our links page.

11th March, 2000 - Slot Stock Link
We have added a link to another Slot Stox Club on their request.

'Rossendale Model Stock Car Club'
www.rmscc.fsnet.co.uk

They are based at Nelson in Lancashire. Take a look at their site - it's well worth a look.

29th February, 2000 - Race Meeting 10
Despite being sent back to the blue line in the last grading period, Nij's scoring has continued on a high placing him back at red top - he WILL be pleased (not). Fiona's impressive four meeting average see's her move up to blue, pushing Mesh down to yellow in spite of his recent final's successes.

A good standard of racing resulted in uneventful but high scoring heats, followed by an equally uneventful final. Mesh failed (at last) to come up with the goods and even Nij's usually chaotic race style was notably forgettable. And there to pick up the pieces was none other than 'Nick None' who comfortably cruised in for his second final win of the season. Nick still leads in the points league but Mesh is still out in front on finals wins with four. Next meeting - 13th March.

22nd February, 2000 - We've Been Linked
I have received an email from Ian Mattocks saying we've been added to the links page at Aldershot Knights.

'Aldershot Knights Slot Stox Club'
members.xoom.com/akssc

This is a fellow Slot Stox Club racing near Farnham in Surrey.

19th February, 2000 - We've Been Added
Richard Cullen tells me that we've been added to the following site and are listed at number 4 !

Richard Cullen's 'Slot Car Links Page'
www.geocities.com/slotcarlinks

This is a new site which aims to give detailed information about all slot car clubs.

18th February, 2000 - Slot Stox National Team Championships 2000
We have had to accept that we are not entering this year. The 25th running of the Slot Stox National Team Championships is to be held tomorrow at Leamington Spa but due to an unfortunate lack of notice we were unable to send a team to represent Leek Slot Stox Club. This has been somewhat disappointing as the Club has entered for a good number of consecutive years now and even hosted (and won !) the event in 1991.

However, we would like to wish all the best to event organiser Clifford Bunn and good luck to the Clubs who are competing - hopefully we will see them all next year.

17th February, 2000 - Web Site Promoted More !
Following our request we are now also listed on :-

Dave Cheeseman's 'Directory of UK Slot Car Clubs'
www.zagato.demon.co.uk/scalex/ukclubs.html

Many thanks to Dave - see his site for details of other UK Clubs.

16th February, 2000 - Web Site Promoted !
Following our requests we have received confirmation that this site is now being listed by the following sites:-

Roger Venison's 'Rogers UK Oval Racing Pages'
www.btinternet.com/~rogerv/

Ken Marx's 'Home of the Slot Racing Web Ring'
www.slotcargarage.com

Our thanks and appreciation go to Roger and Ken. Please visit their sites when you get a moment.

15th February, 2000 - Race Meeting 9
Confidence was running high for some, but not others, at the outset of this meeting's final as Mesh's car had become somewhat 'tail happy' and Nij was starting back at Blue Top where he belongs (out of harms way). Even Chaz fancied his chances - "I've noticed it goes all right when the motor's in" he announced. However, Mesh's car seemed to make a miraculous recovery when it mattered most. For the last race it was to be neck and neck between Mesh and Chaz and whoever crossed the line first would win. And just as Chaz's car got caught up in some wreckage, Mesh ploughed through, pushing his car aside, to take yet another final win and the highest score of the night - 56 points.

Nick took over the lead in the league points table as Andy moved down into third place having had to miss two meetings due to work commitments (he's only working away in Finland, you'd think he could have at least made the effort). Next meeting - 1st March.

1st February, 2000 - Race Meeting 8
The middle of the season is upon us already and it saw yet another close final. Phil, who managed to qualify for the final by winning the consolation race took an early lead. Nick chased hard only to come within one point of winning but from nowhere Mesh stormed in with a five pointer on the last race to take the win. It's his third win out of the four meetings he's been to this season. Mesh attributes his success to the attendance of his girlfriend - "Every time she comes to support me I win a final" he said with a look of joyful surprise on his face. Looks like money will be changing hands to ensure she won't be in attendance at the next meeting.

Nick put in a good score of 58 to move him slightly closer to the current league leader, Andy. The recent form of Nij's has seen him back at blue top (just how he got down to white top remains a mystery), while Carole and Phil both moved back up to yellow.

18th January, 2000 - Race Meeting 7
The drivers with new grades soon got used to and took advantage of their new starting positions. "I like starting right back here" said Dee, now at blue top, "It keeps me out of the way of all the carnage up front !". At the other end of the track Nij, now starting at white was grinning like the proverbial cat from Cheshire, "This is so easy" he laughed, "I think I'll go for the points tonight". And how he did with a massive score of 67 which leapt him 4 places up the league table putting him in 4th place.

The final was another nail biter which could have been won by Andy or Chaz on the last race. Both racers were forcibly ejected from their lanes (fenced) but Chaz had got the advantage and secured his first final win of the season. A small mention must also go to Hannah who managed to double her score from the last meeting. This week she scored 10. Never mind Hannah, keep trying ! Next meeting - 1st February.

16th January, 2000 - Web Site Updated
Two new pages were added - a Club News page and a Slot Car, Slot Stox & Stock Car Links page. Contact Nick if there are any links you would like to be added.

9th January, 2000 - Web Site Updated
Pictures have been added to the Photo Gallery. If you want to see any additions contact Nick.

4th January, 2000 - Race Meeting 6
The first race meeting of the millennium saw a low attendance (methinks a few too many sherries and mince pies etc., consumed by some !) but a high level of enthusiasm from the regulars at Leek Slot Stox Club. Racing was (unusually) of a high standard which resulted in a very close final. It was Fiona who emerged victorious with her first ever final win. Well done Fiona.

Others performed well without even being present as the new grading period for meetings 7 & 8 meant both Julie and Dee graded at Blue Top - best ever grades for both of them. Just goes to show how consistency, if not high scoring, can pay dividends. At the other end of the scale Ben, whose previous high scoring rounds became but a distant memory, saw his grade return to a lowly White Top. However, after only 6 meetings of 16, there is plenty of time for change yet. Next meeting - 18th January.

31st December, 1999 - Official Web Site Launched
It's here ! The Official Leek Slot Stox Club Web Site has been launched. The site may be in its infancy but there's already a host of information all about the club including, fixtures, up-to-date league table, roll of honour and a photo gallery. The site is being added to all the time so join the mailing list to keep informed or sign the guest book after your visit.

At the time of going to press the site can be accessed at either of the following locations :-

www.here.at/leekslotstoxclub

www.here.at/lssc


Click Here for 2001/2002 Season News
Click Here for 2000/2001 Season News