Hat-Trick Hero McKeown Dominates At Aghadowey

Co Armagh driver Drew McKeown was the star man at Aghadowey Oval on Saturday night, May 16th, as he went through the card unbeaten to scoop a hat-trick of wins in National Hot Rods World Series NI Round 12.
On a night of close, competitive racing Meath’s Declan O’Connor won the coveted William Cooke Memorial Trophy for Stock Rods, whilst there were King of Aghadowey title wins for Portadown’s Steven Haugh (Superstox) and Ballymoney’s Nolan Wilson (Thunder Rods). The other feature race of the evening fell to Lurgan’s Duane Wheelan as he completed a heat and final double in the Lightning Rods.

Davy Clarke stepped off the front of the grid to lead the opening National Hot Rods heat, but he had no answer to the pace of Drew McKeown as he powered through to the front to win over Derek McMillan and Jeff Riordan. Heat two saw McMillan the first to challenge Clarke on the outside line, but McKeown pulled off an opportunistic move up the inside of both to take his second victory of the night, this time ahead of Dean McCrory and Riordan.
McKeown quickly worked his way to the front in the feature final of World Series NI Round 12. He soon stretched clear and took the win to complete his hat-trick for the evening in some style after a faultless performance. McMillan impressed in second as he kept McKeown honest all the way home, with Riordan, McCrory and Adam Maxwell next over the line.

The Stock Rods were contesting the William Cooke Memorial Trophy, with the first graded heat win falling to Sam McNeice after he relegated Declan O’Connor after what was an excellent race. O’Connor made no mistake in heat two, this time getting his win ahead of Stevie McNiece and Siobhan Martin.
The final for the coveted trophy saw O’Connor grab the lead from pole, as major threat Sam McNeice got railroaded back from his outside front row start. Martin settled into second, but she just couldn’t quite get on terms with O’Connor to mount a challenge. Declan sped home to take the spoils after a fine drive, with Martin, Darragh O’Shea and Mark Foster filling the places.

Jordan McFetridge impressed out front in the Superstox heats, the novice leading the opener until three laps to go when World Champion Steven Haugh powered through to win over Sean Mark. In heat two it was Conor Murphy who took over out front, taking a popular win from Mark and Ethan Martin.
The closed grid King of Aghadowey final saw Mark and Murphy occupy the front row, but it was Haugh who got the better of the early exchanges to hit the front, even holding off an early attack from Jamie McCann. Haugh then pulled clear to take the King of Aghadowey crown from McCann and Dean Catherwood.

It was also King of Aghadowey time for the Thunder Rods, with twenty cars on hand for the first heat. Andrew McLean soon hit the front in this one to win over Adam McKinney and Jason McMullan, before the reversed grid heat two went the way of Norman Purdy with Joshua McMullan and Mark McLaughlin following him home.
There was a huge early battle in the final for the second place, but this only allowed polesitter Nolan Wilson to edge further and further clear out front. McLaughlin eventually broke clear from the pack, but by now Wilson was long gone and he took a very impressive win indeed over McLaughlin, Jason Darragh, McKinney and James Goldie.

The Lightning Rods, whilst down in numbers, produced some outstanding racing all evening. Andrew Woods held the lead in the opener before Duane Wheelan rushed around his outside to grab a great win over Mark McBurney. In heat two it was Tom Hewitt who broke Woods’ resolute defence to take the win over Ian Hobson.
The final again saw Woods out front, and once again it was Wheelan who powered around the outside to complete his double for evening after a great performance. Conor Doherty and McBurney completed the top three.