Hughes & Corry Crowned Kings of Aghadowey

A fine, dry evening at Aghadowey Oval on Saturday, June 13th, saw some tremendous racing served up on track by the five formulas in action. Antrim’s Conor Hughes claimed the 2.0 Hot Rods King of Aghadowey crown, whilst Portadown ace Mark Corry took the King of Aghadowey for the Lightning Rods. The other feature race winners at the meeting were Meath’s Declan O’Connor in the Stock Rods, Portadown’s Steven Haugh in the Superstox and Ballymoney driver Norman Purdy in the Thunder Rods.

The opening 2.0 Hot Rods heat saw Kells driver Shane McMillan take the win despite late pressure from Jordan Rochford and Callum Doak, before the reversed grid heat two went the way of Conor Hughes ahead of Thomas Dilly and James McKinney.
On aggregate points from the heats Hughes and Rochford shared the front row for the King of Aghadowey race, with Conor quickly pulling clear out front. A great battle for second ensued, with McKinney holding sway until a superb move into turn one from Doak saw him grab the runner up slot. Hughes was well down the road by now though, taking an emphatic win over Doak, Rochford and McKinney.

The Lightning Rods utilised graded heats, with both falling the way of Mark McBurney with ease. He claimed the opener ahead of a huge places battle that went the way of Conor Doherty ahead of Irish Champ Ross Houston. Heat two was once again a McBurney benefit, as he won at a canter to beat Houston and Mark Corry.
World Cup holder Corry quickly found a way past pole man McBurney in the King of Aghadowey final, but he soon had Houston and a number of others squabbling at his heels. Mark held resolute all the way home to take the chequered flag after an intense encounter, with Ian Hobson great value in second after a fine outside run. McBurney, Stuart Agnew and Andrew Woods were next home. Neil Capper and Jaydon Brunton both led a big field of Stock Rods early on in heat one, before star man Harry Minish powered through to win ahead of European Champion Dan Shannon and Darragh O’Shea. Recent Junior Productions graduate Ryan Jackson impressed out front in heat two, but he succumbed to a late charge from the evergreen Victor McAfee as he took the win. Jackson and Sam McNeice completed the top three.
Jackson again set the pace in the final, but come mid distance he was being chased hard by Minish. Just as Harry arrived to commence battle he hit mechanical issues and retired in a cloud of smoke. That left Declan O’Connor to chase the leader, and he pulled off a superb outside line pass with less than three laps remaining to take a very good win indeed. Jackson could be well pleased with second, ahead of Shannon, McAfee and Samuel Murphy.

A much improved field of Superstox impressed all evening with some excellent racing, and the opening heat fell to Sean Mark after early pacesetter Neil Hyndman and then Ethan Martin tripped over backmarking traffic. Behind Sean, Martin and Steven Haugh completed the placemen. Heat two saw plenty of action early on, with Mark going ahead before star grader Dean Catherwood sped through to win over Jamie McCann and Haugh.
Hyndman hit the front early in the final until he hit problems, handing the mantle to Martin. But Ethan had no answer to the flying World Champion Haugh, Steven slicing through to yet another win and in some style too. McCann, Martin, Jordan Robinson and Mark completed the top five.

The Thunder Rods fielded a very impressive 22 cars, with Toby Hutton leading the opening heat until the very last lap, when Jordan Nicholl pulled off an impressive outside line overtake to win, with Hutton and Lee McCloy next home. Heat two saw lady racer Stephanie Hawthorne lead the pack for almost the whole distance, until Norman Purdy went ahead late on. But Purdy has docked by the Steward for an incident earlier in the race, handing a first ever career win to a delighted Hawthorne.
The final was action packed on a very busy track indeed, with Hutton showing well out front until Purdy showed his hand in the closing stages. Norman powered past with five laps to go, and this time there was no penalty to worry about and he collected the silverware. McCloy and Hutton completed the top three ahead of Adam McKinney and James Steele.

Added 15/06/2026