Hughes and Beattie Kings of Aghadowey

Antrim’s Conor Hughes and Aughnacloy’s David Beattie were crowned King of Aghadowey in the 2.0 Hot Rods and Superstox respectively following an entertaining mid-summer’s meeting at Aghadowey Oval on Saturday night. Cullybackey driver Marc Morrell managed a heat and final double in the Stock Rods whilst Dungannon’s Ben Hawe was victorious in the Ninja Karts and Strabane’s Chris McNeill was a first time winner in the Thunder Rods.

The 2.0 Hot Rods blasted off the grid for their opening King of Aghadowey heat, and Michael Woods took victory over Jordan Rochford and Jordan McCann in a race which was pretty settled. Heat Two saw Ryan McCrory manage to hold off Conor Hughes and Drew McKeown for the win.
For the King of Aghadowey final, Hughes set a great pace early on in the race as Rochford tried to chase him down with McCrory following. Hughes managed to take the victory, even though Rochford had driven a great race to chase him down but he had to make do with second ahead of McCrory, Grattan, and Drew McKeown. After completing points calculations Jordan Rochford was declared 2.0 Hot Rods NI Points Champion for 2021/22.

Also contesting their King of Aghadowey title were the Superstox, and in heat one Neil Hyndman and Ross O’Shea had spells out front. Craig McConnell made his march from red grade to just miss out on a last lap lunge on Hyndman. Hyndman held a steady head throughout taking the win over McConnell and David McMenemy. Hyndman also led the majority of the race in heat two, before two yellow flag caution periods allowed Kyle Beattie time to slice through and take the chequered flag, with David Beattie and McConnell filling out the places.
The closed grid final was always going to produce fireworks, and that it certainly did. Right from the off McConnell and Kyle Beattie managed to break away from the rest of the pack with Lee Davison charging down fast, all eyes were on the lead scrap, as the laps kept ticking down, and it came down to a last lap showdown. David Beattie was playing a watching brief in fourth as Davison came in with a massive blow on Kyle Beattie and McConnell as their cars scattered around the pit bend, David Beattie carved his way through the carnage to romp home to a decisive and pleasing win, with Kyle Beattie and Jordan Robinson filling the places on the podium.

A huge field of 25 Thunder Rods took to the Aghadowey circuit for their opening heat, with Jason Darragh grabbing the win over Andrew McClean and David Reynolds on a very busy raceway. Heat Two was dramatic to say the least, as two caution periods were enforced as a result of Rick Purdy colliding with the wall on turn two and Gareth McCrory coming to a halt on the home straight. Christopher Baird took the honours in Heat Two ahead of David Wilson and Chris McNeill.
The final was another hard-fought race, which seen the red grade scrambling to make their way through the grid. McNeill managed to get ahead from the pack in front of Adam McKinney and Sam Watt. Josh Goligher was hoping to heap on pressure on the leading pack, although the extended laps still didn’t allow him time to mount a challenge. McNeill therefore took the silverware over McKinney, Watt and Goligher.

The first Stock Rods heat saw a huge battle for the lead at the early stages, as Colin McNiece managed to make the long way round the outside of Samuel Wilson to take off into the distance. McNiece landed the victory with Thomas Morrison and Stevie McNiece in behind.
Heat two saw a win for Marc Morrell, as he quickly made his way past Samuel Wilson, who managed to finish in second ahead of Dan Shannon after Shane McMillan failed to make an outside charge for second succeed.
The final, saw Morrell complete a heat and double final as he paced himself home ahead of Mark Overend and Morrison. After a year long points chase, Dan Shannon was declared Stock Rods NI Points Champion for 2021/22.

Ninja Karts heat one saw a frantic race among Ryan Abernethy Jnr, Riley Dawson-Stirling and Noah Teggart as they scrambled to collect points to see who the 2021/22 NI Points Champion would be. Teggart came out on top in heat one ahead of Caolan Fegan and Charlie Johnston. Heat two, saw a caution period for the stricken Rowdy Grattan, which allowed the red graders to make a strong charge on the lower grade drivers. The race went the way of Abernethy Jnr followed by Ben Hawe and Caolan Fegan.
The final had another caution period, as Johnston made contact with the Kayla Fegan kart early on resulting in debris on the track. As the race re-commenced Ben Hawe made a super charge for the lead and kept a cool head throughout to take victory, with Riley Dawson-Stirling and Alan Beattie picking up the podium places. After completing points calculations Ryan Abernethy Jnr had been declared Ninja Karts NI Points Champion for 2021/22.