HOT RODS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HYLANDS DOMINATES THE HILLS

Organiser: Incarace When: August 6/7 Starters: 52

Although heat wins may have eluded him, Adam Hylands still managed to claim pole position for the final, the former European champion going on to lead every one of the 75 laps. Having given chase in vain throughout, Carl Waller-barrett took second ahead of Rob Mcdonald.

John Christie didn’t get a dream start to heat one from the front row, his venerable Fiesta getting railroaded backwards as he got stuck on the outside line. It was polesitter Jason Kew who set off into a lead he was not to lose.

Shaun Taylor got away fast to lead heat two but was overwhelmed by the chasing pack, Stewart Doak taking over at the front but he was under pressure from Rob Mcdonald, who went ahead after they touched on the East bend. Doak was forced backwards as Waller-barrett and David Casey forged on towards the front, but this was Mcdonald’s all the way.

Heat three provided another flag to flag win, this time for Glenn Bell’s new Duratec-powered car. In the fourth encounter, Shane Bland get an incredible launch at the green flag, which he was able to turn into a virtually unopposed win and the run of relatively easy victories continued in heat five, with Jack Blood leading every lap.

Heat six broke the mould, with Shane Murray setting the pace up front, chased hard by Adam Maxwell. Maxwell was edging closer until Philip Mccloy spun and got hit by another car, the leader also clipped the stricken car as the yellows came out but it was enough to eventually put him out with a flat. That handed Maxwell the win.

The last chance race pitted all the non-qualifiers against one another for the final two places on Sunday’s grid. Ken Marriott and Shaun Taylor were the drivers who took advantage of it.

Hylands had been suffering fluctuating oil pressure during the heats and changed engines overnight, the replacement powerplant working well as he made a clean getaway to head the pack.

Waller-barrett, Keith Martin, Adam Maxwell, Mcdonald and David Casey disputed the places early on, with Mcdonald getting stuck on the outside and forced back to seventh at one point.

Eventually the order settled down, with Hylands running a short distance ahead of Waller-barrett and Maxwell, at which point Bell caused a stoppage when his car burst into flames on the infield. During the hiatus, Maxwell was forced out with an oil leak, which put Derek Martin up to third place with the recovering Mcdonald right on his hail.

The Scot quickly relegated Martin after the restart to set off after Waller-barrett. But despite a long, hard chase through dense and sometimes uncooperative traffic, the first three would remain unchanged and fairly well spread out for the duration.

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