Grieve back on top...

Chris Grieve was back on top form in round five at Croft although the four races were all won by different drivers.

Steve Mills was in good form and led the first lap before Lawrence Davey came through to lead. Davey has been close to his second career win in the National Championship several times but on this occasion 'nearly' was not going to be good enough as he put in six good laps to claim the chequer. John Higgins was second with Jamie Clarke third and Mills fourth.

Race two saw Peter Morton take a hard earned win after early Dave Newsham suffered a puncture as a result of hitting the kerbs. Newsham gamely drove around the last lap on just three inflated tyres to take third place behind Grieve.

The last heat looked like it might go the way of Davey once again but Grieve was the man on a mission and took over at the front on the last lap - the two youngest drivers in the championship heading home the again impressive Mills and Dave Moore.

The final capped a fine weekend's action with the lead battle being the main focus between two drivers who really do deserve more of the limelight than they have had before. Malcolm Clark got the lead on lap one and held on for one more tour before being passed by Steve Thompson. Many thought that would be the result but Clark had other ideas and set about repassing Thompson. A classic scrap saw Clark taking the power initiative on the back straight and into the right hander at Tower whilst Thommo looked more useful around the twists of the complex. The pair traded the lead several times over the last three laps but as is often the case with Legends it was the last circuit that counted. Thompson had retaken the lead on the penultimate lap on the entry of the complex when Clark's car understeered wide. Tommo led across the line and onto the back straight but Clark had a good run and powered through before Tower. The 17 car remained in front until the complex when once again he understeered although to a lesser degree. The gap was still big enough for Thompson to draw level but the two cars clashed. The crowd held its breath as it looked like the pair would spear off into the run off but they both held on. Thompson got both the initiative and the flag to take the win. Clark's fine drive (along with his other good performances over the round) earned him 'Driver of the Day'.

Overall meeting points: 1st Chris Grieve (525pts), 2nd Lawrence Davey (495), 3rd Jamie Clarke (480), 4th John Higgins (475), 5th Dave Newsham (420), 6th Simon Belcher (370).

Driver of the day: Malcolm Clark

Race one: 1st 19 - Lawrence Davey, 2nd 3 - John 'Jon' Higgins, 3rd 79 - Jamie Clarke, 4th 14 - Steve Mills, 5th 50 - Dave Newsham, 6th 54 - Ian Sturt, 7th 32 - Peter Morton, 8th 81 - Derek Pierce, 9th 11 - Simon Belcher, 10th 65 - Nick Evans, 11th 43 - Kevin Clark, 12th 77 - Robin Webb, 13th 4 - Matthew Pape, 14th 40 - Paul Thompson, 15th 26 - Steve Reynolds.

Race two: 1st 32 - Peter Morton, 2nd 73 - Chris Grieve, 3rd 50 - Dave Newsham, 4th 3 - John 'Jon' Higgins, 5th 41 - Steve Thompson, 6th 11 - Simon Belcher, 7th 17 - Malcolm Clark, 8th 4 - Matthew Pape, 9th 2 - Lee Fitzpatrick, 10th 43 - Kevin Clark, 11th 49 - Dave Ward, 12th 85 - Iain Holden, 13th 81 - Derek Pierce, 14th 76 - Neil Tressler, 15th 48 - Brian Webb.

Race three: 1st 73 - Chris Grieve, 2nd 19 - Lawrence Davey, 3rd 14 - Steve Mills, 4th 18 - Dave Moore, 5th 54 - Ian Sturt, 6th 79 - Jamie Clarke, 7th 65 - Nick Evans, 8th 40 - Paul Thompson, 9th 85 - Iain Holden, 10th 49 - Dave Ward, 11th 48 - Brian Webb.

Final: 1st 41 - Steve Thompson, 2nd 17 - Malcolm Clark, 3rd 79 - Jamie Clarke, 4th 81 - Derek Pierce, 5th 18 - Dave Moore, 6th 73 - Chris Grieve, 7th 3 - John 'Jon' Higgins, 8th 11 - Simon Belcher, 9th 19 - Lawrence Davey, 10th 50 - Dave Newsham, 11th 2 - Lee Fitzpatrick, 12th 40 - Paul Thompson, 13th 65 - Nick Evans, 14th 72 - Glenn Burtenshaw, 15th 85 - Iain Holden, 16th 43 - Kevin Clark, 17th 49 - Dave Ward, 18th 4 - Matthew Pape, 19th 76 - Neil Tressler, 20th 48 - Brian Webb.