NIF2.com - 2012 - #31 – Ballymena Raceway

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Added: 26 Aug 2012	Category: 2012 Oval Racing
2012 - #31 – Ballymena Raceway – 24/8/12
Day one of the Ballymena Raceway Speed Weekend and 2012 Stock Rod World Championship. Somehow when the rest of the country seemed to be getting rain it was dry at Ballymena, I’m certainly not complaining, I’m just more used to Stock Car racing being in the only place in the country it is raining. I opted out of playing indoor football this week in order to be at Ballymena in time for the start, which was a bit odd for me not having to try and work out which races I’d missed and I even had to cue to get to get in and things like that, like normal people who arrive on time do. The meeting kicked off with the Junior Rods and a cracking field of seventeen cars boosted by two visiting Spedeworth cars in the form of Mitchell Souter and Jack Grandon. The opening heat went to Calvin Blake, before heat to and the final went the way of Dean McCrory. The group 2’s raced for their Grand National Championship in 2 graded heats with a closed grid final. The opening heat went to James Gillispie (I think that name is right, number 5 anayway) with Brian Alexander taking heat two and pole for the final, which was won by Curtis Greer. The Open Hot rods had a decent opening race with Jaye Nevin battling to keep Thomas Dilly on the outside of him for most of the race and eventually taking the win. In the reverse grid heat two, Dilly drove off and left the field giving him pole for the final when he repeated the act to take their Irish Grand Prix title. And so onto the Stock Rods, the headline act of the weekend, a very respectable field of cars was gathered with a decent amount of visiting drivers from England, Scotland and Ireland for the World Championship. Colm O’Sullivan took the opening twenty six car heat with a light to flag win. Chris Gordon did the same in heat two as he drove from flag to flag and it was Scottish visitor Andy Grant taking the win after holding off Stuart Fox when it looked and sounded as though Grant was running the car in the wrong gear after losing drive in the middle of the race. Grant was later excluded from the result for a weight irregularity. The heats passed without incident and I think it is fair to say they were quite un-Stock Rod like, given some of the chaos that has been seen in previous years. Approx Car Turn Out: 88 Cars (40 Stock Rods, 7 Open Hot Rods, 24 Gp 2’s, 17 Juniors)















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