NIF2.com - And the Meeting was... Ballymena 30th Anniversary

Bringing The Best of Northern Ireland's Oval Racing
to your browser since 2001

#StockcarRacingIsMagic

Added: 30 Aug 2012	Category: Older Oval Racing
And the Meeting was... Ballymena 30th Anniversary
As we approach the 35th Anniversary meeting at Ballymena Raceway, I thought I`d take a bit of time to reflect on the 30th Anniversary meeting as it sticks out in my head as one of the special meetings that I`ve been to over here. It`s strange referring to something that happened just five years ago as the good old days, but back then spectators could stand on the D-ends, without falling down the bank, and I (amongst others) had the run of the new stand on what was then the back straight to take photos from anywhere I felt was safe, this offered a much wider variety of shots, and I`ve missed stopping and having a yarn on the D-ends now that I rarely see all those I would have stood with at the racing these days. I made a catalogue of bad decisions on the day, my first SLR camera had arrived earlier in the week, but as it was an unknown quantity to me at the time, I chose not to use it and instead took my wee Panasonic camera which never really liked low light and never had a great battery life. Each class had a good field of cars, and there was a few odd appearances as well, Davy McDowell had his Mk 2 Escort production car out, Norman Woolsey had a pair of Mk 2 Escort Historic Hot Rods, Craig Law had his Mini there, Mervyn Percy made a rare appearance in his early 90`s HCD and Billy Finnegan arrived with a car known to me as the wee low one. Kris Meeke and I can`t remember who else did demo runs in National Hot Rods, and the Nationals raced for their Irish Championship title which was won by Keith Martin. I`ve no notes from the meeting of who won what or what happened, but I recall Victor McAfee had a fairly huge shunt in the stock rods just before the break. Here is to hoping that the 35th Anniversary this weekend will be as memorable a meeting, and in 5 years time I`ll be doing a piece on the 35th as we build up to the 40th Anniversary. Here are a Small selection of pics from the meeting

Other Sites we Contribute to

- 2 Litre Hot Rod -
- Ballymena Raceway -
- DMC Race Promotions -
- National Hot Rod -