Garvagh’s William McFaul was crowned King of Aghadowey

An entertaining Saturday night at Aghadowey Oval saw some exciting racing in the 1600 Rookie Bangers.

The William Cooke Memorial Trophy for Stock Rods fell the way of Enniskillen’s Stevie McNiece after a great performance, whilst The Young Trophy for Junior Productions was won by Casey Cherry after a stirring drive around the outside.

The other feature races of the evening went the way of Bleary’s Drew McKeown in the 2.0 Hot Rods and Portadown’s Steven Haugh in the Superstox.

1600 Rookie Bangers

An excellent entry of twenty 1600 Rookie Bangers meant the track was more than busy all evening, with David Gurney leading heat one before Josh Goligher nudged him wide towards a stricken car late on to snatch the victory. Heat two was equally as hectic, with William McFaul this time overhauling early leader Aaron McGraw to take the win over Steven Bolton and Irish Champion John Goligher.

The tension was building as the King of Aghadowey final came to grid, with McFaul executing the perfect start to avoid the onslaught from behind. William continued to pull clear to land a great victory over Josh Goligher and John Goligher to end a superb evening from the formula.

Stock Rods

Rab Preston and Sam Wilson had spells out front in the opening Stock Rods qualifier, before National Champion Jonny Cardwell pulled off a great outside move to take the win over NI Open Champion Mark Foster and Stevie McNiece. Heat two saw a dominant win from Irish Champion Mark Crawford, as he led home Darragh O’Shea and McNeice.

Two third places for McNiece gained him pole position for the William Cooke Memorial Trophy final with Crawford alongside. Stevie quickly settled into the premier position, and despite the best efforts of Cardwell in second he was able to hold his advantage all the way home. As McNiece took the victory by ten car lengths, Cardwell, Crawford, Sam McNeice and Foster filled out the places.

Junior Productions

Novice grader Austin Grattan was the one to watch in the opening heat of the Junior Productions, holding on out front despite the best efforts of Maia Thompson from behind. As Grattan took the win over Thompson, Ryan Berry and Noah Teggart were next home. Heat two again saw Grattan out front early on, but this time it was Scottish lady racer Thompson who found a way past to take the win.

Grattan held on for second ahead of an impressive drive from British Champion Casey Cherry from the rear of the grid.

Grattan and Thompson shared the front row the final, racing for The Young Trophy which has been presented by the Young and Hosie families at Aghadowey for many years now. Ryan Berry burst through from the second row to hit the front but soon had a whole posse snapping at his heels.

Cherry had been shuffled down the pack early on, but he came back with a vengeance to mount a challenge for the lead on the outside line.

As he swept ahead and on to a tremendous win, Irish Champion Leyton Hughes took second ahead of Charlie Johnston. Grattan and Thompson claimed the white and yellow grade awards respectively, whilst Teggart claimed the Merit Award for his fine efforts all evening.

2.0 Hot Rods

Dungannon teenager Jake Devlin was the first to show in the first heat for the 2.0 Hot Rods, holding off the advances of veteran campaigner Colin McFarland initially. Local ace Aaron Stewart then muscled in on the action up front, trying the outside late on in an effort to claim the win.

Devlin held on though for a fine victory, with James McKinney snatching second from Stewart at the line. Heat two followed a similar pattern, and this time Devlin had a much easier path to his second victory of the night, holding off McFarland and Chris Hamill at the flag.

There was an early caution period in the final for a stranded Rob Barnett on the Brown Trout Bend, and that brought the pack onto the tail of the leading Devlin. A hectic restart triggered a turn four clash, and with McFarland stranded the yellow flags came out once again.

British and Irish Champion Drew McKeown went alongside Devlin at the front for the Nascar style two-wide resumption, and he quickly powered ahead to take the flag. Drew survived a post race Stewards Enquiry to hold on to what was a fine win, with Jordan Rochford and McKinney inheriting the podium slots after World Champ Adam Heatrick was docked from second to fourth for contact.

Superstox

Regular raceway photographer Brian Lammey swapped his camera for his helmet to claim a superb win in the opening Superstox heat, holding off Gerard Hartley and Steven Haugh at the flag. Before the meeting new National Champion Kyle Beattie was presented to the crowd after his recent win in England, and he recorded his best finish of the night in heat two as he claimed third spot behind winner Jamie McCann and Haugh.

Hartley demoted early leader Jonathan Crawford in the final, but with four laps to go he had no answer to the pace of the flying NI Points Champion Haugh. As Steven took the flag and the silverware, McCann claimed second from World Champion Jordan Robinson, Beattie and Hartley.

Next Meeting

The next meeting at Aghadowey Oval is On Saturday May 24^th (6.30pm) featuring the final round of World Series NI for National Hot Rods. Also on the programme is the King of Aghadowey for the Thunder Rods plus 2.0 Hot Rods, Lightning Rods and Ninja Karts.