Gary's glee as Production cars return to Raceway

Indeed that trend for firsts continued throughout the RS Tyres and Batteries sponsored meeting at a sun-trenched Showgrounds, with Gary Blair (F2 Stock Cars), Freddie Fleck (Group Two Lightning Rods) and Kenny Wilson (Classic Hot Rods) all registering their first final wins at Raceway this term.

F2 STOCK CARS

Gary Blair set the tone for the evening with a comprehensive flag to flag victory in the opening heat, while Adam Maxwell and Denver Grattan worked their way through from the back of the field to finish in second and third.

Blair continued his dominant form in heat two with another clear win and Grattan showed up well again in second with Gavin Fegan occupying third on this occasion. Blair completed a perfect night of racing for the Antrim man by making it three wins out of three in the meeting final.

The evenly matched pair of Maxwell and Grattan again made good strides through the field to claim second and third respectively, with Fegan, Davy McCrory, in his new Randall Motorsport car, and Gary Grattan completing the top six.

Heat One: 1. Gary Blair (Antrim), 2. Adam Maxwell (Crumlin), 3. Denver Grattan (Banbridge)

Heat Two: 1. Blair, 2. Grattan, 3. Gavin Fegan (Lisburn)

Final: 1. Blair, 2. Maxwell, 3. Grattan.

PRODUCTION CARS

Gregory Crawford's big advantage in the opening heat was gradually whittled down by the fast finishing Jonathan Redmond, but the Antrim man driver had just enough in reserve to claim victory over Redmond and Ollie Gilmore.

A caution period during heat two bunched up the entire field and four-way battle out front between Crawford, Gilmore, Gareth Sloane and Mark McCambridge. Sloane and Gilmore both bit the dust at Suffolk bend as McCambridge stormed through for his first ever Raceway victory.

Crawford was quickly out of the blocks in the final and his Ford Sierra was never headed in this one, with Redmond once again his runner-up.

Heat One: 1. Gregory Crawford (Antrim), 2. Jonathan Redmond (Portadown), 3. Ollie Gilmore (Randalstown)

Heat Two: 1. Mark McCambridge (Crumlin), 2. Gareth Sloane (Rathfriland), 3. Crawford

Final: 1. Crawford, 2. Redmond, 3. Gilmore.

CLASSIC HOT RODS

Form man Stephen Nevin continued his winning streak with another win in the opening heat race, before young Caleb Howard romped away with heat two in his Mk. 2 Ford Escort.

Desie Howard and Nevin fought out an entertaining scrap for second in this one, but the same pair would then clash controversially at the start of the final. Howard was spent spinning out of contention and Nevin was disqualified by the race steward for his part in the incident.

Out front it was Kenny Wilson who set the pace and the Ballymena man demonstrated a good turn of speed to claim his first silverware of 2010.

Heat One: 1. Stephen Nevin (Macosquin), 2. Kenny Wilson (Ballymena), 3. Caleb Howard (Moneymore)

Heat Two: 1. C. Howard, 2. Desie Howard (Moneymore), 3. Nevin

Final: 1. Wilson, 2. C. Howard.

GROUP TWO LIGHTNING RODS

Jonny Gillespie rocketed through to the front of the 19 car field assembled for the opening heat and the Galgorm man pulled well clear for a good win ahead of Graham Young and Kenny Carson.

Brian Alexander demonstrated that his Vauxhall Astra goes just as well as it looks in heat two, the Ballymena man leading from start to finish for his first Raceway victory of the season.

Freddie Fleck made a good start to the final in his Broughshane Car Dismantlers backed Vauxhall Cavalier and was still out front as the race entered its closing stages.

Young emerged from the pack to challenge Fleck strongly over the closing laps, but the canny Fleck was equal to the task and successfully held out for his first final win of 2010. Young was a very close second, with Gillespie going well again in third.

Heat One: 1. Jonny Gillespie (Galgorm), 2. Graham Young (Limavady), 3. Kenny Carson (Ballymena)

Heat Two: 1. Brian Alexander (Ballymena), 2. Gillespie, 3. Young

Final: 1. Freddie Fleck (Broughshane), 2. Young, 3. Gillespie.

JUNIOR RODS

Dean McCrory started the evening with a win in the opening heat before Sean McFerran turned the tables to claim the honours in heat two.

It was McFerran's Vauxhall Corsa and McCrory's Peugeot 106 which battled out the final too, with McFerran gaining the upperhand again to record his second win of the evening. McCrory had to settle for second with James Steele from Cullybackey third in his Vauxhall Nova.

Heat One: 1. Dean McCrory (Antrim), 2. Sean McFerran (Portglenone), 3. Daniel Shannon (Glenavy)

Heat Two: 1. McFerran, 2. McCrory, 3. Shannon

Final: 1. McFerran, 2. McCrory, 3. James Steele (Cullybackey).

THIS WEEKEND

The popular Two-Litre Hot Rod formula makes its first Ballymena Raceway appearance of 2010 this Friday evening (June 25).

The meeting is the opening round of their Hoosier Tires/LJN Designs Series and it promises to be a keenly contested event with a number of top contenders in the line-up. World Champion Wayne Woolsey from Portadown will start as one of the favourites, along with European Champion Andrew Best, while Irish Champion Shane Murray from Randalstown knows every inch of the Raceway track from his successful time spent racing there in the Stock Rod class.

The busy programme also features races for the Stock Rods, Classic Hot Rods, Saloon Stock Cars and Group Two Lightning Rods with the first race getting underway in the Ballymena Showgrounds at 7:15pm.