Bell Rings Up Another National Hot Rod Victory

An exciting evening of racing at Tullyroan Oval on Saturday, May 23rd, saw Portadown ace Glenn Bell take the National Hot Rods honours in Round 13 of World Series NI. Dungannon’s Jake Devlin was another big winner as he scooped the 2.0 Hot Rods silverware, whilst the other feature race winners at the meeting were Garvagh’s Stephen Boyd (1600 Rookie Bangers), Ballymena’s Mark McBurney (Lightning Rods) and Magherafelt’s Jordan Davis (Ninja Karts).

The opening National Hot Rods heat saw Adam Heatrick out front until he hit trouble in the closing laps. That handed the lead and the win to the similar Mazda of former World Champion Derek Martin ahead of a fast charging Glenn Bell and Jeff Riordan. Heatrick led heat two before retiring once again, handing the lead to Martin before a caution was called with just three laps to go when Nigel Mccauley found himself stranded on the Tullyroan End. The restart was nail-biting stuff, with Martin getting bundled wide which opened the door for crowd favourite John Christie to take the win ahead of Martin and Bell.
The final saw Davy Clarke and then Martin ahead, but Derek then had no answer to the lightning fast duo of Bell and Christie. Both swept around the outside to hit the front, with Bell taking a very creditable victory despite the Lotus of Christie being glued to his rear end over the final laps. Riordan, Adam Maxwell and Derek McMillan completed the places.

The local 2.0 Hot Rods drivers were joined for the evening by World Champion Jason Secker from Scotland. The heats were all about Portadown man Rab Preston, as he grabbed the opener by a distance from Ronan McNally and Jake Devlin. Preston made good use of his white grading once again in heat two, taking another morale boosting victory. Stuart Agnew and Ryan McClure completed the top three after Devlin was docked for contact from second.
Preston again made his getaway at the front in the final, but Devlin once again had the bit between his teeth as he basted clear of his fellow blue graders. Jake pulled off a great outside pass to hit the front, taking a pleasing win over Aaron Stewart and Preston.

There was action aplenty from a strong 24-car field of 1600 Rookie Bangers, with plenty going on around the track right from the first green flag in heat one. Steven Bolton broke free to win this one ahead of Deano McGrath and Alan Haugh.
Heat two again saw incidents galore, with a number of stoppages to rescue stranded drivers. Bolton was the man to watch once again as he took his second win of the night over Jonny Rutherford and Haugh.
Aaron McGraw set the pace in the final until he hit trouble and retired, which put Dubliner McGrath into the top spot chased by Haugh. Haugh then went out too, with Stephen Boyd getting himself ahead at this stage to win the silverware to round off a very entertaining evening. Lee Booth, Rutherford and Keith McMahon filled out the top spots.

The best entry of Lightning Rods so far this season included a couple of Tipperary visitors, but it was Conor Doherty who took the opening heat having held off Mark McBurney all the way home, with Tam Agnew in third. Heat two followed a similar pattern with Doherty again the victor despite the efforts of McBurney from behind. Ricky Shaw and Aaron Rogers were next home.
McBurney got to the head of the field quickly in the final, and from there he never looked back as he took a great win. In his mirrors though was a great places battle, which saw Nigel Jackson take a great runner up slot, equalling his lap record in the process. Doherty, Mark Corry and Shaw rounded out the top five.

The Ninja Karts field again burst through the 20 kart barrier, including England’s Bobby Davis Jnr Jnr and Tipperary’s Tadhg Coonan. Sophie Evans led early in heat one before she was overhauled by Joshua Moore who raced clear to take his first ever win over Davis Jnr Jnr and Ollie Williamson. Moore and Joey Henderson disputed the early lead in heat two before they tripped over each other and went out. Harry Hoy took over up front but it was Jordan Davis who powered through to the lead and the win over Davis Jnr Jnr and Irish Champion Jack Murphy.
Evans, Henderson and Joey McNally all had spells out front in the final, before star man Jaxon Cairns took over with Murphy right on his tail. Contact between the two saw Cairns spin out, and although Murphy came through to take the chequered flag he was unfortunately disqualified for his part in the demise of Cairns. That handed a delighted Jordan Davis his second win of the night ahead of Eddie Fowler, Davis Jnr Jnr and Williamson.