Bumper month of action in store as Raceway resumes

It’s action all the way during the month of August at Ballymena Raceway with no less than five meetings scheduled to take place at the venue.
By The Newsroom
Published 8th Aug 2013, 11:00 BST
The Stock Rod Elite Series final takes place at Ballymena Raceway on Friday.The Stock Rod Elite Series final takes place at Ballymena Raceway on Friday.
The Stock Rod Elite Series final takes place at Ballymena Raceway on Friday.

It all starts this Friday (August 9) where the final round of the Elite Series for the Stock Rods is the main event of the Gilmore Engineering sponsored meeting. Kells driver Carl Sloan currently heads the series on 110 points with Irish Champion Stevie McNiece snapping at his heels on 106 points. Craigywarren’s Micky McFall is a further 3 points behind McNiece and with a maximum score of 40 points still available an enthralling battle is anticipated before the champion is crowned. Also participating at the August 9 meeting are the GP2 Rod, Prostock and Junior Rod classes with the usual start time of 7:15pm.

The action continues one week later on Friday August 16 when the spectacular National Hot Rods return to the Ballymena Showgrounds to contest round 2 of their World Qualifying campaign. John Christie will make his first appearance at the Showgrounds as World Champion that evening and the Raceway fans are sure to give the popular Crumlin racer a great reception. All the other local stars such as Northern Ireland Champion Glenn Bell, 2005 World Champion Keith Martin and former British Champion Gary Woolsey will also compete at the Ross Hyndman Motors sponsored fixture in search of those valuable World Championship points. An excellent race card on August 16 also includes the Norman Cromie Memorial Trophy for the F2 Stock Cars, plus Lightning Rods and Street Stocks.

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There’s a double helping of thrills in store the following weekend with racing on both Friday and Saturday evening (August 23/24). The Stock Rod class takes centre stage over the two days, competing for the Curtis Cars sponsored Euro Challenge on Friday evening and their UK Championship on Saturday. The Stock Rods always put on a great show at Raceway and this weekend is sure to provide some hectic action from the 1400cc rods, as entrants from England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland battle with local favourites such as Micky McFall, Stevie McNiece, Victor McAfee and World Champion Chris Gordon.

A full programme of support races, sponsored by Wm. Moody & Son Car Sales, are pencilled in for both evenings, with another National Hot Rod World Qualifying round on Friday, along with the Junior Rod Irish Masters and the GP2 Irish Grand Prix. The GP2s are back in action on the Saturday evening, together with the Saloon Stock Car and F2 Stock Cars.

The impressive Raceway line-up for August is concluded one week later on Saturday August 31 by another top line event, the SHP Motorsport National Hot Rod Irish Open Championship for 2013. This will be the 25th staging of this prestigious race and champion Glenn Bell can make history by becoming the first driver to win three times in a row.