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| Added: 28 Jul 2015 |
Category: 2015 Oval Racing |
| 1300s Steal the show at Aghadowey |
Aghadowey staged the first day of the DMC Summer Speedweekend on Saturday night where the 1300s stole the show with an epic last bend finish to the evening which seen Callum Barclay take the win in the 2015 Irish Masters. Adam Hylands retained the 2.0 Hot Rods British Championship, Dan Shannon won the ProStocks Irish Open, Winston Weir won the Lightning Rods Irish Masters and Jay Clyde took the spoils in the Ninja Karts Stars or Tomorrow trophy.
Like the meeting did I’ll start with the Lightning Rods. The heat wins went to Craig Boyd, Winston Weir and Gary Beggs. Winston Weir landed pole for the final and went on to take the win after holding off early pressure from Nigel Jackson who later retired. Richard Stewart was second with Ben Murray third.
In the 2 Litres there was an opening heat win for Mark Madill, heat two went to Adam Best and the third heat went the way of Adam Hylands, which I think left Hylands and Madill tied on points for the final and the draw gave the inside to Hylands. Like the Lightning Rods before them the big race was just a case of the pole man holding off early pressure and then driving off into the distance. Hylands led home Madill in second and Joel Richardson third.
No doubt not helped by a clashing meeting at Cowdenbeath and the Irish open being the lesser title of the two staged at DMC this season, the other being the British in September, we ended up with a ProStock Irish Open with no visiting drivers I think for the first time. Steffan McClelland took a comfortable win in the opening heat having started on row two. Heat two then brought about a grand stand finish with about ten cars in the battle for the lead in the closing laps which McClelland got through to take the win. You somewhat felt that if McClelland got round the first corner he’d be gone and indeed that was the way it looked to be heading, but oval racing doesn’t always work that way and with 2 laps to go McClelland’s engine let go and as he tried to get it to the line it went on fire and with a lap and a half to go the car went on fire and the yellows came out. The caution bunched the pack for a shoot out style finish in which Dan Shannon took the lead on the last bend and the win.
In the Ninja Karts there was misfortune for past winner Adam McFall who ended the opening heat on his roof and ended up with axle damage in the second heat. The two heat wins for Sam McNeice. The final became quite a long drawn out affair and took around an hour to run with stoppage after stoppage after stoppage and a few big crashes in which drivers needed medical attention. Given the way the race had been going I eventually decided it seemed like a good time to grab a bite to eat. Jay Clyde was the eventual winner just pipping Jack Hazlett to the flag.
I think I’m right in saying that the 1300s hadn’t been to Aghadowey this season and I’d been looking forward to their first trip, but as the speedweekend approached the booking list grew and grew and included some big names and it looked more and more like a decent meeting was on the cards. The 1300s didn’t disappoint, two superb heats went the way of Adam O’Dell and Aaron Rainey. The final too was a lively one and looked to have gone the way of O’Dell up until a late stoppage and then a lively last bend which seen Barclay take the lead, Ryan Stewart and Kyle McClean ride the wall and O’Dell was left sitting in the wall. Barclay took the win Stewart was second and McClean third.
Like many speedweekend’s of the past the Saturday night had saved the best to last.
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