Birmingham, scene of Damian's Triple Crown triumph from last season, and the total washout that greeted the start of this season. Once again we made our way up the A14 hoping it wouldn't rain as forecast this time!

The racing got off to a pretty rubbish start, and went downhill from there! Damian started in heat #2, at the back. He finished heat #2, at the back! And in heat #3 Damian decided to try a radical new overtaking manoeurve, going OVER the car in front, rather than around them!

In heat #3 Damian was making decent progress, working his way up the pack with his usual any way round will do technique, when he found himself behind car #614. Not a problem, except car #614 decided on the back straight to break it's throttle cable, Damian slammed into the rear wing and was launched into the air, coming down with a bang that bent various parts of the chassis, and his steering column!

It was doubtful he'd make the final, this being the last heat he only had the time it took for the other 2 forumulas at the meeting to have their last heats to get the car track worthy. A bumper was borrowed, a foot plate vigourously jumped up and down on to get in back into shape, various things hit with various hammers and other large objects to make the car roughly the shape it was supposed to be, and some last second adjustments to make the wheels point roughly in the same direction, and off he went to the final.

Placed pretty much last on the grid, this looked like being a "let's hope he gets round in one piece" kind of final. But Damian doesn't do "best of a bad show", he goes for it whatever the circumstances, and with some 30 odd cars on the track he clawed his way up to finish 8th in a typical gutsy performance.

All in all an eventful meeting, and some good driving on display, and for once the wheather didn't spoil things. Well, it is July after all, some people even claim it's summer!

After a long absence Damian was back on track this weekend at Arena Essex, a new circuit for Oval Track Legends this season. With a re-built engine and a new track it was anyone's guess what this weekend would hold in store. Fortunately the weather was perfect and there was plenty of time for a few practise laps before the racing got under way.

Damian came out in heat 1 and from 12th on the grid finished a respectable 5th (or there abouts). Particularly as the new circuit proved quite a challenge for many of the drivers, being quick and tight it made overtaking difficult. Damian wasn't happy he'd got the tyre pressures right, and so it proved in the 2nd heat when he started mid-grid and finished there.

In the feature final Damian started 7th on the grid. There had been a few collisions in the heats and the Final was no exception, Damian managed to claw his way to 4th with some superb driving, and then narrowly missed being spun out himself as he passed 4th and 3rd on the 5th from last lap to get into 2nd place. Unfortunately there was a 5 car shunt on the same lap and the race was first of all stopped, and then abandoned due to excessive oil on the track. The final result was based on the last full lap completed, and because Damian's manoeuvre to take 2nd had come on the final lap deemed to have not been completed he was awarded 4th instead of 2nd.

Still, an impressive return to the oval tracks having missed several fixtures this season. Let's hope Damian can get back to winning ways at Birmingham, scene of last season's Triple Crown winning performance.

Photos from this event can be viewed in the Gallery here:-

http://www.legend114.co.uk/index.php?name=Picture&aid=10

Videos of the event should be uploaded within the next few days, all 3 heats and the Final.