Formula debuts for brothers Ryan and Jordan Dilly plus a welcome visit from Kieran Burke bolstered the Lightning Rods field on a very slippery raceway, with every race of the day only decided on the very last lap! Mark McCambridge led most of heat one before losing out to James McKinney right at the death, and then Nigel Jackson just pipped Ally Neill to the flag in a drag race out of the last bend to take the heat two spoils.
In the final it was Ethan Dilly who led the way for much of the distance, but once Jackson broke free from the pack he began closing in at quite some rate. He arrived on Dilly’s bumper with a lap to go, and found a run up the inside to out drag Ethan to the line to grab the victory by the smallest of margins – 0.025 seconds.

Amongst the Superstox grid were debuts for Nathan Clarke and Saloon Stock Car star Ryan Wright, as former World Champion Lee Davison proved to be the man to beat on the treacherous surface. Lee swooped past long time leader Sean Mark to take the opening heat win with Kyle Beattie in third, before repeating the feat in heat two. Jordan Robinson was runner up this time ahead of David Beattie.
Disaster struck for Davison in the final as he hit mechanical problems early on and his hat-trick hopes were dashed. Mark made a fine start from the yellow grade once again, and this time Sean wouldn’t be caught as the Cloughmills man took the flag and the silverware to mark his return to form in some style. Robinson and Craig McConnell filled the podium places ahead of Steven Haugh, Brian Lammey and Nathan Beattie.

Welcome Scottish visitors Liam Loggie and Jack MacLeod joined the Junior Production regulars for the day, with the field also boosted by debutant Jake Devlin. It took three attempts to get the opening heat underway as the youngsters struggled on the greasy track, and once they did get going they produced a cracking race! Aaron Dynes led early on before the chasing pack of star names caught up towards the end. Jack Morrow went ahead before he tangled with Chelsy Rainey, which opened the door for Loggie to take a superb victory. Rainey and Dynes filled the places ahead of a demoted Morrow.
Morrow made no mistake in heat two, taking a great win ahead of Dynes and Declan O’Connor. The final saw Dynes make an early break for the front, and despite the best efforts of the chasing Morrow and O’Connor, Aaron held on to record a very popular win, the first feature race victory of his career.

Three eventful races from the 2.0 Hot Rods entertained the crowds, with Garvagh’s Johnny McCloy breaking clear to win heat one over British Champion Conor Hughes and Irish Champion Jordan Rochford. Gary Fowler led heat two early on, before NI Points Champion Drew McKeown raced ahead to win over McCloy and Rochford.
The final saw a great battle between McCloy and McKeown for the lead, before they were joined by Hughes to make it a three way scrap. Hughes almost got past McCloy, but as they were side by side they ran wide which a driver of McKeown’s calibre was always going to seize upon. He nipped inside them both and ahead to take the silverware over Rochford and McCloy.

A full field of twenty Thunder Rods took to the grid, with returnee David Reynolds from Clough taking a tough fought heat one win over Daniel Rodgers and Ryan Murphy. An eventful second heat fell to Ricky Bradley over Murphy and Rodgers, and heading into the feature race final it was a tough call as to who would take the honours. On his comeback meeting, it was Ballymena driver Rodgers who was the man on a mission, as he relegated early leader Clifford Gordon to take a decisive win. Murphy and Gordon completed the placemen.

The Ninja Karts field was bolstered by England’s Jack Jones and Scottish racers Kenzie Bell and Tommy Melrose. The racing was fantastic all afternoon from the 6-11 year olds, with Crumlin’s Riley Dawson-Stirling taking the opening heat over World Champion Leyton Hughes and Keegan Turtle. Heat two saw Riley take his second win of the day, coming through late to snatch the victory with Hughes and Turtle again the placemen.
The final was a contender for race of the day, with Caolan Fegan setting a blistering pace out front with Charlie Johnston and Turtle chasing hard. The star men were struggling to get on terms from the rear of the grid, leaving the leading trio to fight it out between them. Just as he looked to have the trophy in the bag, Fegan hesitated ever so slightly in the backmarking traffic allowing the others to close on the run to the line. It was a real blanket finish with Turtle getting the nod and the winner’s trophy by just 0.042 seconds! Fegan had to make do with second ahead of Johnston and Hughes.

The exciting Caravan Destruction Derby completed the holiday programme, with the drivers driving through and over each other to absolutely destroy the caravans. The entertaining event was won by Tony Gillespie from Strabane with Ballymoney’s Ian Bolton starring with a big rollover to end his chances.