Rochford Romps Home For Aghadowey Victory

Irish Champion Jordan Rochford from Portadown produced a superb drive on the outside line to take a well deserved final win in the 2.0 Hot Rods at Aghadowey Oval on Saturday night, August 8th. On a night a competitive racing and close finishes, the annual Young Trophy for the Junior Productions went the way of Ryan Berry from Richhill, with the other feature races falling to another Richill driver in Ian Hobson (Lightning Rods), Kilrea’s Adam McMullan and Magherafelt’s Jordan Davis (Ninja Karts).

2.0 Hot Rods
Dean McFarland quickly hit the front in the opening 2.0 Hot Rods heat, racing home to win ahead of Rab Preston and Rob Barnett. Heat two saw Aaron Dilly taking the flag, just holding off Adam Weir and James McKinney.
The final was arguably the race of the night, with a first lap skirmish when Barnett spun delaying all of the star grade. Dilly held on out front, with McFarland trying the outside line for the lead but he just couldn’t make it stick. The others were now queuing up behind, with little between up to 10 cars at a time. Rochford clawed his way back into the lead pack late on, quickly working his car onto the outside line and past Dilly for a sensational win. Aaron held on for second ahead of Weir, with British Champion Callum Doak coming on late to snatch fourth having actually spun in the first lap melee.

Junior Productions
Novice grader Rowdy Grattan was the man to watch in the Junior Productions heats, taking a career first win in the opener ahead of Ryan Berry and Jack Morrison, before superbly repeating the feat in heat two to win again over Berry and Casey Cherry.
The Young Trophy, a superb cup presented annually by the Young and Hosie families, was up for grabs in the final with polesitter Grattan unfortunately going out early on with a broken driveshaft. Berry assumed the lead and fought an impressive rearguard battle as the placement were breathing down his neck lap after lap. Ryan held his nerve to take a morale boosting win ahead of Leyton Hughes and Noah Teggart, with grade awards going to Kori Curran and Charlie Hill. The Endeavour Award went the way of Liza Kennedy-Gurney who didn’t put a foot wrong all night in only her second outing Lightning Rods
Long distance traveller Dermot Tynan drove a great race to win the first Lightning Rods heat ahead of Conor Doherty, before Doherty went one better to win heat two ahead of Mark McBurney.
The final saw Ian Hobson hit the front and he managed to hold off the whole pack who were crawling all over him for much of the duration. As Ian took the win, the places fell to Irish Champion Ross Houston and Doherty.

Thunder Rods
A bulging grid of well over 20 Thunder Rods entertained as they always do, with Jordan Nicholl taking the opening heat after lead duo Sam Dougherty and Joshua McMullan tripped over each other on the last lap. Nicholl looked set to win again in heat two, only to slow late on handing victory to Dougherty.
The final kicked off with a big crash on the Brown Trout Bend in the opening laps which eliminated a number of cars. Once things settled down Adam McMullan hit the front, and he held on to take the silverware from Dougherty and James Steele.

Ninja Karts
There was also a big grid of Ninja Karts on hand, and young racer Paul Crooks took his first ever win in the opening heat and celebrated in style over the line! Harry Hoy and Joey Henderson filled the places. Heat two saw a huge rollover for Matthew McNeill, as Jack Murphy took the win over William Brown and Ollie Williamson.
Henderson led much of the distance in the final, only to tangle with Cahan Bradley and Hoy in the latter stages. That opened the way for Jordan Davis to power through for the victory over Luke Grattan and Denver Bevan.

Added 10/08/2026