National Hot Rods – 2006 Northern Ireland Review

by

DARREN BLACK

With 2005 having delivered a clean sweep of all the major trophies in National Hot Rods for Northern Ireland, it was probably always going to be a little too much to expect it to happen again. Well, we may have lost “our” World Championship trophy once again, but Dungannon’s Keith Martin allowed the loss of his gold roof to spur him on to tremendous late season form, to grab the winners’ trophy at both the National and European Championships. As usual, as much attention was paid to car numbers during the year as to the actual racing itself, with the returning Clive Richardson, Ronnie McMillan and Alan Connolly more than adding to the spectacle created by the regulars during the year. Alan Wilson also stepped up from the 2.0l Hot Rods once again to grace the National class, whilst veteran campaigner Alvin Doak was a sporadic returnee to the field after a number of seasons campaigning in the 2-litres.

We will, as usual, start back at the annual Ballymena Raceway New Year meeting, which this year was held on December 31st, with ten cars in action. At this halfway stage of the World Championship qualifying series, Martin was already top of the tree, with Stewart Doak second ahead of Davy McCall, the Woolsey brothers Gary and Wayne, John Christie and Ian Thompson. There was little between them all, and the five entrants for Ipswich was always coming from these seven drivers. Wayne Woolsey was the final victor of the day after heat successes for Gary W and McCall, although McCall’s victory came during the first of many controversial moments of the year. Christie had built up an almost unassailable lead before the race was halted, and then restarted as the steward felt that McCall had impeded others at the original getaway. A very late call it was, and John was left most unhappy, with the alleged perpetrator McCall going on to win the re-run.

The season proper began with the traditional Good Friday meeting at Ballymena , where we were all pleased to see a 12-car entry take to the track for World Series Round 9, including Ronnie McMillan in the ex-Richardson 206 fresh from its expedition to South Africa in the hands of Martin. Alan Connolly was a welcome returnee too, back behind the wheel of the ex-Neal Smith 206 for his first National appearance in many years since his days in the #987 Peugeot 205. Alvin Doak also re-emerged for this one, at the wheel of the ex-McKellar 205 campaigned by both himself and son Stewart over the last number of years. It turned out to be quite an entertaining meeting too, with Gary W taking the heat one honours before Thompson took both heat two and the final, but still found himself outside the all-important top 5 given his missed round back in late 2005.

Next up was the first Nuttscorner Oval round of 2006, and it would turn out to be easily the most controversial of them all, even if it did produce some exceptional racing. With the top seven in the points still almost too close for comfort in the quest for Ipswich qualification, as the cars lined up for heat one they were briefed as to a change in the qualification rules, which had seemingly been received from the NHRPA. This was along the lines of all seven going to Ipswich, with the fastest from the timed laps going into the World Final race itself. The drivers discussed it, and almost unanimously decided that this was pretty damn ok, as any of them could have found themselves in the “bump” spots quite easily. They were then racing for fun, with no points to think about, and proceeded to put on a masterclass of Hot Rod racing, with McCall taking heat one before Doak grabbed a wet heat two which saw more than one three abreast moment – quite something on the tight Nuttscorner oval. Martin drove an absolute stormer in the final – worth the entry fee on its own - but it was self confessed wet weather expert McMillan who served up his first win back in the premier rod formula. The meeting certainly added fuel to the argument for more “fun” meeting’s without the pressures of playing the points game, but afterwards was overshadowed when the meeting was declared null and void due to what was now called “the misunderstanding“ that had taken place before the racing commenced. All drivers were given their average points for the season for the meeting, which benefited some – Thompson having completed a meeting less than the rest due to a holiday, and therefore benefited from front starts in finals already, and penalised others – Christie having had a mere 10 point haul from round 2 included in his dividing number of meetings. It was a decision which would rumble right through to the World final itself…

Only four rounds remained when the drivers returned to Ballymena for round 11, with former British Champion Clive Richardson rejoining the fray in a brand new SHP 206cc. The null and void decision on the previous meeting was on everyone’s lips off track, but on the raceway points leader Martin shared the heats with Gary W, before Connolly took his first National Hot Rod final win after car trouble prevented him scoring during the heats. Thompson had a night to forget, with a broken driveshaft in heat one causing him to no-score all night as a decent fix couldn’t be sorted at the track, leaving his World Final hopes all but up in smoke. Connolly continued his excellent form the very next week with another final win from the front, after the repaired Thompson and Gary W had annexed the heats. With just two rounds remaining, we now unbelievably had a tie for top spot on the points chart between Martin and Doak, with Gary W and McCall breathing down their necks in third and fourth. Wayne W was in the sixth and first non-qualifiers spot, two points behind Christie, with Thompson now languishing 32 points off John and the passport to Ipswich.

With qualification on a knife edge it was no surprise to see just two Ulstermen take up the challenge of the Irish Grand Prix the following day, with Doak and Martin the travellers. Doak had taken over his father’s Peugeot 205 in order to save the Corsa for what he described as “the real battle” – the 205 being the actual car in which he had won this event in 2004. Martin wasn’t in his usual machine either, as he took the wheel of Des Cooney’s 206 for the weekend. Both were never on the pace of eventual winner Chris Haird though, the Englishman showing lightning speed all weekend which would be evident at times throughout the remainder of the year. Doak managed a seventh in a heat before taking eighth in the GP itself, whilst Martin’s eighth in heat one was his only score as he was involved in a monumental shunt in heat two – not the best thing to happen when you’re in a borrowed car!

The following week it was back to Nuttscorner Oval for the first of two back-to-back meetings which would round out World Series NI, and decide who would represent the province at the World Final. Doak’s hopes of the NI title went out the window in heat one when a blown diff left him helpless on the infield, as Christie raced to victory. Thompson was the victor of heat two before Ronnie McMillan put the misery of his last Nuttscorner final win being taken from him by the NHRPA to record the feature race win – and it counted this time! A great night points-wise for Wayne W brought him up to fourth in the chart, with just seven points now between himself, McCall and Christie for the last two spots. The final qualifier was going to be a nail-biter…..

In response to several complaints made from different parties, the NHRPA issued a statement before the final round to the end that six qualifiers would now be allowed into the Ipswich showpiece in July, following the misunderstandings of the ill-fated round 10. This meant that Thompson was the one who was missing out, but he still had an outside chance of making it. There was also the battle for the points title between Martin, Doak and Gary W to think about, and sportingly McMillan, Connolly and Richardson declared themselves unavailable for the grid draws, leaving the top seven to battle it out amongst themselves. Thompson drew first blood in heat one to put pressure on those ahead, before Gary W took heat two to leave himself within touching distance of Martin for the NI Championship. The final proved to be a real cracker, with battles throughout the field, but McMillan took the honours for the second week in a row in the McKinstry Skip Hire 206. Thompson slipped inside Gary W nearing the end for third spot, and it was this which ultimately cost Gary the points title, as Martin’s sixth was sufficient for him to keep the lead he had held for most of the season – by one solitary point! Thompson was in need of a retirement amongst his rivals to help him on his way to Ipswich, and when Christie slowed during the closing laps with the oil light clearly visible it seemed Ian’s prayers had been answered. John somehow though nursed the ailing Fiesta home, the seized motor on the slow-down lap worth it as his boat to Foxhall was booked.

Much has been said about the controversy surrounding the null and void Round 10, the issuing of average points and the increase in places to six. The person who did miss out was Ian Thompson, and no matter what way things had been calculated – Round 10 results as they stood, no points at all, or average points – Ian still wouldn’t have made the cut, with a missed round and some mechanical maladies causing his downfall. Had it been left at five qualifiers, what way Round 10 was taken would have dictated whether Christie had qualified or not, so the increase to six could probably be described as the best solution to a very bad problem - one which should never have raised its head in the first place. Lessons learned and all that….

With the qualifying series out of the way, June is usually the time to get cars, and drivers, into top shape for early July. It’s also Thunder 500 time too, and this year Christie and Gary W were the NI representatives. John was back at the scene of his first foray onto the mainland a year previously in readiness for his first World Final, whilst Gary was back to acclimatise himself with Ipswich after a few years away. Woolsey was on top form all night, with a second and third in the heats helping him to a front row start in the final. He couldn’t live with Carl Boardley’s pace though, and spent the race locked in a titanic battle with Christie. John got the nod by the stewards to take fifth spot with Gary in sixth.

First weekend in July, and anyone from Ulster with an interest in short oval racing was on their way to the Foxhall Stadium in Ipswich for the 2006 World Championship. Defending Champion Martin was in his usual 206 having spent his recent time building or refettling cars for others, whilst both Woolsey brothers had new SHP 206cc’s at their disposal. Many say a new car for the World isn’t the best idea, but McCall had gone that way too with another 206cc, this time self-built as usual. Christie and Doak made up the Ulster qualifiers, both in their usual steeds. Hopes were high for the timed laps, but for most it was a disappointment with grid slots outside the top ten, including the defending title holder. We say most, because John Christie was the one who did not disappoint, as a fantastic 14.722 set the Fiesta on the outside of the front row in a superb first attempt at the World Final. The all-conquering Boardley though was on pole, and almost 2-tenths of a second quicker at that.

Race day dawned blisteringly hot, and the cars and pilots would be up against the elements as well as the daunting 75 laps of Foxhall. As Christie settled in amongst the front runners, the rest of the NI challenge was fading, with Gary W an almost immediate retirement, followed not long later by defending champion Martin, and then McCall and Wayne W with barely thirty laps gone. Christie was now running third behind Boardley and Andy Steward, before it all went pear-shaped when Mike Riordan blew a motor into turn three and John found himself on the slippery stuff and buried in the back of the #142 Mitsubishi. A few yellow caution laps before the reds finally got aired meant that John found himself well back at the restart, but soldiered on to finish sixth in a what-could’ve-been race for the World Final rookie. Boardley took a controversial win after a last lap clash with Steward, while Stewart Doak was the only other Ulster finisher in 14th, having been delayed by a spin during the Christie/Riordan incident.

In the Spedeweekend support races, both Ronnie McMillan and Thompson, now in a splendid new Ludlow Tigra, were on hand to entertain the Ulster contingent on the terraces. Thompson showed just what might have been had he made the big race itself, as the gold machine looked awesomely quick racking up a first and second in his heats before leading the final from start to finish.

*  * *

Usually the Northern Ireland drivers are thrust straight back into qualification action a week after the World Final, although this thankfully was not the case this year – they had all of two weeks! Wayne Woolsey drew first blood with victory in the first heat at the 12-car Ballymena encounter, before Christie somewhat fortunately took heat two after contact on McMillan nearing the end went unpunished. McMillan had held the lead in a somewhat battered looking rod, after a start line stall saw him rear-ended by Connolly and Richardson, which eliminated both on the spot. Connolly was repaired and back for the final though, and duly claimed the win.

The following week the rods had a busy weekend, with Ballymena staging round 2 on Friday night, before the now annual qualifier on the Saturday night of the Nuttscorner Oval Speedweekend. McMillan and Richardson shared the Ballymena heats, with Stewart Doak taking a rare final win in a meeting that saw Ian Thompson snr make his home debut, just as son Ian jnr prepared to throw his qualifying lot in with the Irish Republic. Richardson repeated his heat win the following evening at Nuttscorner, with Martin taking the other heat before Connolly once again grabbed the final honours. Alan Wilson had been campaigning his Audi TT since early in the season, and the fruits of his labour were now there for all to see as the big car was looking much more to Scobie’s liking than ever over the two nights of racing.

Early August is now becoming traditional as the National Weekend, and a large contingent of Ulster rodders made their way to the fast Hednesford Hills Raceway in Staffordshire. Notable amongst those travelling were Alan Connolly, having his first international meeting on the mainland in the formula, while ex-Saloon Stock Car and F2 pilot Ian Thompson Snr was having his first international meeting in the car his son pedalled to victory 12 months earlier. Gary Woolsey once again perservered with his new SHP 206cc, but although it looked quicker than we had previously seen, it would be the final time-but-one that we would see it sporting the number 940. Alan Wilson was the most unlucky of those who travelled, as a blown motor in Friday practice sidelined “Scobie” for the weekend. Thompson Snr would suffer the same fate, but not until the first heat of racing on Saturday.

With six heats of qualifying on day one of the weekend, not one win fell the way of the Ulstermen, although Martin claimed a brace of seconds to snatch pole position for the Dungannon ace. Stewart Doak and Connolly both put a second spot on their results sheet too, while Ian Thompson’s 3rd and 4th finishes were somewhat overshadowed by his disqualification from heat three after a clash with Mike Riordan. John Christie, like in 2005, was impressing again, but 11th spot on the grid would ultimately be too much to overcome in the final. Martin led the big race from pole all the way from flag to flag, although the early demise of his brakes allowed Steve Thompson to challenge right at the end. Keith was equal to it and had everything under control, storming home to complete his full set of all four major trophies in National Hot Rods. Believe it or not, it had taken almost 20 years, with the British going onto his CV as far back as 1987. Gary W was the only other NI finisher in any sort of contention, recording 7th place at the end of the gruelling 75 laps.

Two weeks later and it was back to World Series duty for a very poor eight cars at Ballymena. The entry was rubbish, and the weather was even worse, but the quality of the racing could never be doubted. Martin and the Woolsey bros. had a battle royal during heat one, with the lead changing hands many times, before Keith came back through to take the chequered flag - and a great reception from the fans, who had just witnessed a truly remarkable motor race in horrendous conditions. Stewart Doak claimed heat two, before McMillan revelled in his favoured conditions to take the final win. After four rounds, perennial top points man Martin already had an eleven point lead over Gary W, with Doak, Wayne W and Christie next up.

Round 5 at Nuttscorner at the back end of August was notable for the absence of Connolly from the line up – a family holiday leaving the Ballymoney ace with a nil score and a lot of ground to make up. Former 2 Litre Hot Rod World Champion John Murray joined in the fun in the McCall 206cc, while John Christie took the win in heat one, which was to be the only dry race of the day. The drizzle only started as the cars set off for heat two, but soon turned torrential with the reds coming out early to hand the win to Doak as conditions became just too dangerous. Stewart had been revelling of late in his wet set-up, but try as he would he couldn’t dislodge Richardson from top spot in the final, as the Horta Soils man completed his first final win in over a year. A poor afternoon for Martin had helped Gary W close the gap at the top of the points to just two, with Doak only 4 behind Gary in third.

Into September and Round 6 at Ballymena, with Gary W racing his 206cc for the first time at a qualifier, and he duly took the heat one victory to get his night off to a fantastic start after Martin retired from the lead with a blown gearbox. A spectacular clash between Wayne W and Richardson was the story of heat two, with Wayne excluded and Clive’s car badly damaged before Connolly claimed the win, to which he would add the final after his absence from the previous meeting gifted him a pole start. Wayne W drove the race of his life on the outside line to net third spot at the line behind Ronnie McMillan. Gary W now replaced Martin at the top of the table thanks to Keith’s gearbox trouble – the #994 pilot dropping to third behind Doak.

The drivers always enjoy a chance to stretch their legs, and with Mallory Park absent from the calendar in 2006, it was the inaugural Rockingham Ovalfest, promoted by Nuttscorner Oval, Incarace and Spedeworth, which attracted four Ulster representatives in Doak, Will Scott, Wilson and Murray, once again at the wheel of the McCall 206cc. John at times looked the pick of the field, only to be let down by gearbox trouble in every race. Doak too looked pretty handy with a third in heat two, before he also succumbed to transmission failure which resulted in severe rear-end damage from a flailing driveshaft. It was left to the surprise of the meeting to uphold Ulster honour, as the Rockingham Motor Speedway-backed Audi TT of Wilson claimed an excellent second in heat two before climbing onto the podium with an outstanding third in the Ovalfest final behind Matt Simpson and Dutch visitor John v/d Bosch.

The wide open spaces of Rockingham forgotten, it was back to the quarter mile ovals the Nationals know so well with back-to-back meetings at Nuttscorner and Ballymena for Rounds 7 and 8. Doak and Christie claimed the heats at the ‘Corner, before Connolly reeled off yet another final win to claw back more of his lost ground. At Ballymena, Richardson drew first blood in heat one, before Connolly took over to annex both heat two and the final – his third straight feature race win on the trot. Wayne W looked good in the final with the track a little slippery just as he likes it, but engine trouble dropped him back, whilst a steering breakage saw Christie notably post a non-finish in heat one, coupled to the diff failure which saw another zero points race in the final at the previous Nuttscorner round. It could well be unfortunate events like that which determine who goes to Ipswich in July ’07, and who doesn’t……

As usual the last major of the year was up for grabs at Tipperary in October, with Keith Martin’s European title on offer. A grand total of 10 NI registered cars made the trip south, including debutant Mark McKinstry in the ex-Thompson 206, and it would turn out to be one of our most successful weekends in quite some time.

Christie got the meeting off to the best possible start with a heat one victory, and then Gary W, still in his Corsa, took the laurels in the next qualifier, although only when the now “Tipp-expert” Chris Haird had retired after a stirring drive into the lead. Richardson kept the Ulster bandwagon rolling with the win in heat three, but only after McMillan had looked odds-on for the victory until a clash with Andy Holtby which saw the Lincolnshire driver penalised. Tom Casey stopped the steamroller from north of the border in the final heat with a well received home win.

All of this left Richardson on pole for the European final, with Martin third (third and a fourth from his heats) and Wayne W fourth (second and sixth). Gary W was sat on row four alongside Christie, with Doak on grid thirteen.

The race for the massive Volker Timm-sponsored trophy was won and lost on the first lap, when Richardson left a glaring gap on his inside to allow Martin into the lead. Richardson pressed hard, followed by Wayne W in an NI top three, before Wayne and Malcolm Blackman found a way inside Clive too following a brief caution for a melee which had seen Doak spin out of contention with a little help from Shane Murphy. Gary W was the next to depart the fray, as he rode the pit gate wall very high becoming embroiled in a spat between Christie and Mike Oliver - with the Welshman unsportingly trying to get under John’s feet in retribution for an earlier incident. Gary meanwhile, made it plain how he felt about it; “not too pleased” could be classed as understatement of the year!!

Meanwhile, as we entered the final stages Wayne W was pressurising Martin for the lead, but despite a few looks outside the #994 rod, the much improved #50 206cc had to settle for a fine second behind the back-to-back European Champion. Blackman was third, with Richardson and Christie giving Ulster four of the top five places to go with three out of four heat wins.

The European meeting usually signals hibernation for the local drivers, but this year they had one more World qualifier to contest at Nuttscorner Oval in late October. Ronnie McMillan will remember this one for all the wrong reasons, as he slammed the turn one wall horrendously hard in practice after his throttle jammed, leaving the #944 pilot in hospital with thankfully only a bad knee injury – it could have been much worse.

Connolly and Gary W shared the heats, before Richardson took the final win after a Stewards enquiry into his passing of Connolly for the lead found that he had no case to answer.

After nine of the sixteen rounds in the quest for the five World Final places, Gary Woolsey leads the charge on 452 points at the end of 2006. It couldn’t be closer at the top with Martin and Doak tied for second just fourteen points adrift of the leader, while Richardson and Wayne W hold the all important final two slots on the Foxhall grid at present. Christie and Connolly are both within twenty points – a race win – of qualifying, whilst McMillan can still harbour hopes of his first World Final despite his nil score after the horrifying accident he endured.

*  * *

Overall 2006 was another year where the Ulster National Hot Rods continued to show just how well they can compete with the best the formula has to offer. With no British Championship competed for, we claimed via Keith Martin wins in two of the three majors on offer in the National and European Championships. The World Final was once again a major disappointment, save for John Christie’s efforts, but the form shown by quite a few at October’s European can hopefully bode for better to come next July.

Car-number wise, it has now become quite regular for fans to be disappointed with single figure turnouts which were the norm not too long ago, while the loss of Ian Thompson and Davy McCall to regular racing was a huge blow to the racing in the province. However, over the course of the year we saw the returns of Connolly, McMillan and Richardson which was a major shot in the arm for the formula, and the grapevine suggests there may be a few more to join them in the months to come. Keith Martin has already debuted a superb new machine, and there will be more to follow from other major players on the local scene as they look to take the challenge to Messrs Boardley, Blackman and co. for yet another season of great National Hot Rod racing that 2007 promises to serve up. 

Darren Black

Photos courtesy of Simon Kennedy, Brian Lammey, Martin Kingston, Keith Duke & Lisa Dedman

Back to HOME