Rochford & Jackson On Form At Tullyroan

Another session of competitive short oval racing entertained everyone present at Tullyroan Oval on Saturday, July 25th. Portadown’s Jordan Rochford had a great night on track, scooping victory in the second round of the Hoosier Tyres Challenge Series, whilst fellow Portadown man Nigel Jackson took an unprecedented eighth victory in the Lightning Rods Tullyroan Challenge Cup.
Gregg Hyndman from Londonderry marked his return to racing with a controlled Superstox final win in the slippery conditions, whilst Kilrea’s Joshua McMullan was victorious in the Thunder Rods and recently crowned Irish Open Champion, Jack Morrison from Portadown, took the Junior Productions honours.

Only a week after the British Championship, it was great to see a 19-car turnout take to the Tullyroan track for Round 2 of the Hoosier Challenge Series. Dean McFarland pulled out a substantial lead in the opening heat before a late race yellow flag, called when Ally Neill lost a wheel. That gave World Champion Adam Hylands the opportunity to power ahead at the restart to win over Jordan Rochford and McFarland. Londonderry’s McFarland made no mistake in heat two, winning at a canter over Andy Best and Ronan McNally.
The final saw McFarland and Rochford share the front row on what was now a damp, slippery track. Rochford wasted no time hitting the front, and from there he pulled clear to take a clear win and receive a new race tyre from the series sponsors. James McKinney got the better of a great scrap with Hylands to take second, with new British Champion Callum Doak in fourth.

An excellent field of Lightning Rods, including several Tipperary Raceway visitors, were on hand to contest the Tullyroan Challenge Cup. European Champion Jake Morgan took the honours in heat one ahead of a tight battle for second between Nigel Jackson and Mark McBurney. Heat two saw Irish Champion Ross Houston take the win from a hard charging Ronan O’Connor.
Jackson quickly assumed the lead in the Tullyroan Challenge Cup final, with McBurney in second until Houston found a way past. Jackson controlled things from the front to take an amazing eighth victory in the race, despite looking as though he had hit mechanical trouble on the final lap. Houston held off the advances of Michael Moloney to take second, with McBurney and O’Connor rounding out the top five. Brandon Litter and then Neil Hyndman had spells ahead in the opening Superstox heat, but it was Stephen Stewart who pounced on the last lap to snatch an excellent victory ahead of the newlywed Dean Catherwood and Jamie McCann. Litter again led heat two, but this time Stewart hit the front just past half way to record his second win of the night and earn an upgrade for the final.
With the track at it’s worst for the final, Gregg Hyndman came into his own and quickly stretched out quite an advantage that he wouldn’t lose all the way home. As he took a fantastic win, British and Irish Champion Jordan Robinson also impressed on his way to second ahead of Troy Crawford and Neil Hyndman.

The Thunder Rods made one of the their regular visits to Tullyroan, with Jason Darragh the winner of the opening heat before Sam Dougherty sped to a career first victory in heat two.
The racing was close and exciting all evening, and in the final it was Joshua McMullan who edged clear to record the victory over star men Liam Wilson and James Goldie.

The teenagers in the Junior Productions were as close and competitive as ever, with the race wins unfortunately being decided in the post race scrutineering checks. Luke Goligher had driven superbly to take the flag in all three races, only to fail a post final weight check. That saw him unfortunately excluded from all three races on the night, meaning the heat wins ultimately went to Ryan Abernethy and Casey Cherry, with Jack Morrison inheriting the final victory ahead of Charlie Hill and Leyton Hughes.

Added 27/07/2026