McAfee Rolls Back The Years for Stock Rod Victor-y

Some excellent oval racing was served up at Aghadowey Oval on Saturday night across all five divisions in action, with Ballymena’s Victor McAfee taking a great feature race win in the Stock Rods. In the 2.0 Hot Rods Portadown’s Wayne Woolsey won the second round of the Hoosier Tyres Challenge Series with Bleary’s Drew McKeown the winner in the meeting final.
Killyman’s Matthew Weir took a closely fought King of Aghadowey title for the Junior Productions, with Drumahoe’s Gavin Gamble taking the King of Aghadowey crown in the Rookie Bangers. The Thunder Rods completed the line up and it was Portglenone’s Jordan Nicholl who scooped the silverware.

Close competitive racing was the order of the day in the Stock Rods, with Sam McNeice first home in the opening after a great late run, ahead of Victor McAfee , Rab Preston and Dan Shannon. Preston then went one better in heat two, taking the win ahead of McAfee and Reuben Kernohan.
In the damp final, Samuel Murphy held sway out front for the first ten laps, before McAfee slipped past to take up the running. Victor was totally in control of the race and the worsening weather conditions, and he reeled off the remaining laps to take a fantastic and popular win. Murphy, Siobhan Martin and Callum Magill rounded out the major placings.

The opening race of the evening for the 2.0 Hot Rods was the final of the second round of the Hoosier Challenge Series which was held over from the last meeting. Wayne Woolsey made no mistake from pole position in this one, pulling clear to take an emphatic win over Jordan Rochford and Drew McKeown.
The opening heat proper of the night then saw a flag to flag win for Colin McFarland, as he held off Jordan Rochford and Aaron Stewart at the line. Heat two saw a clear win for Rob Barnett, who impressed to win ahead of Stewart and Matthew Nicholl.
By final time the rain had arrived, with Barnett leading early on. There was no answer to the pace of McKeown in this one though, as the British Champion powered ahead after just ten laps to reel off a very comfortable win. Woolsey, Rochford and World Champion Adam Heatrick filled out the places.

The Junior Productions were using the reverse grid system as they contested the King of Aghadowey, with Leyton Hughes showing his quality to win the opening heat ahead of Dylan Fegan and Jack Morrison. Charlie Johnston led heat two for a time before Alfie Litter came through to take a hard earned win ahead of Ryan Berry and Owen O’Brien.
The rain appeared before the King of Aghadowey final, with Berry in the lead early on from pole position. Callum Doak then found the slenderest of gaps down his inside to take up the running, but by now all the top runners were together in what was heading for a superb finish. It was becoming an enthralling race, with Harry Minish and Johnston impressing as they came right from the rear of the line up. Doak got edged out of the lead through the Brown Trout Bend, with Minish coming through to take the chequered flag on the road. A number of penalties were then handed out for contact during the race, which elevated Matthew Weir to the win ahead of Hughes and an unfortunately demoted Minish.

The Rookie Bangers were spectacular all evening, with red flags required twice during the opening heat given the amount of action. England’s Harry Botfield came through for the win ahead of Phillip Farrell and Stephen Boyd, before Marc Morrell won the second heat from Botfield. The one also saw a rollover for Rodney Herron on the exit of the Brown Trout bend.
Botfield led the wet final early on, only to lose out to Gavin Gamble who pulled clear. As the action continued all around the track, a late caution for a loose wheel with two laps to go set up a grandstand finish. With the field biting at his tail, Gamble pulled off the perfect restart to claim a well deserved win ahead of Botfield and Farrell.

It was great to see an increased number of Thunder Rods back on track, with the action as frantic as ever. Ballymena’s Tyler McMaster impressed on his way to the opening heat win over Liam Irwin and Robert Nicholl, before Tyler repeated the dose in heat two to take another fine victory over Irwin and Jordan Nicholl.
The final saw a great scrap early on as Sean Boyd, Irwin and Nicholl all contested the top spot. Nicholl used his experience to scythe through to the lead, from where he raced home to take the win. Irish Champion James Goldie raced well to take second spot, ahead of Ian Hobson and Liam Wilson.