DE BUT ANT O’ BRIEN STUNS ON UK LEGENDS DE BUT WITH WINS
American one-off entrant Jordan O’brien stole the show at the BARC Anglesey meeting, with a stunning weekend in the UK National Legends series.
O’brien, in his first ever race meeting in the UK, was required to start all six races from last place on the grid, but this did not stop him climbing to third in heat one of round one. He followed that up with a seventh in heat two before another third-place finish in the round one final.
Stephen Whitelegg picked up the heat one victory, while championship leader John Mickel came away with a brace of wins in the following two events.
But in the round two races held on a damp, rain affected Sunday in North Wales, O’brien was very nearly unbeatable.
In the 10-lapper heat one race, Miles Rudman was just able to hold the 19-yearold American off by the slim margin of 0.083s. But O’brien got his revenge in the heat two race, pipping Rudman to first place by just over two tenths.
In the round two finale, O’brien put in a stunning recovery drive to take the win. After scything through the field, he was quickly up to third place, but contact at the Banking halfway through the 12-lap encounter led to a 360-degree spin, which only cost him three seconds to leader Sean Smith.
O’brien then set about chasing Smith down, carving chunks of time out of the leader. On the final lap, at the Rocket complex, O’brien nipped through to score a memorable win.
Unlike in the UK Legends, the Scottish and Irish equivalent could not deliver the same excitement and suspense. This was despite four different drivers taking the spoils.
Irishman Paul O’brien (no relation to Jordan) was in fine form on Saturday, picking up a heat two and final win around Anglesey’s coastal circuit. David Hunter took the heat one win.
With the constant threat of rain rolling in from the Irish Sea looming over the track on Sunday morning, Jordan Hodgson took heat one victory, while Hunter doubled-up in heat two.
Geoff Richardson followed the theme of the winner being relatively untroubled with a resounding 6.6s win over James Holman in the round two final. Over the course of the six races, both Scotland and Ireland won three events apiece.
The Scottish Motor Racing Club held its annual ‘away-day’ from Knockhill, with the Minis providing the highlight.
In a closely fought opener, John Duncan completed a lights-to-flag win, but was under severe pressure from the pack, led by Dominic Wheatley.
Wheatley was within 0.5s of Duncan for the 15-minute race, but never truly looked like making a move for the lead. The top four in the race were separated by just 1.4s, with David Sleigh and Michael Weddell adding to the excitement in the four-car train.
In race two, Craig Blake led initially but would drop down to third by the flag, as Wheatley eased to a 4.4s win over Robbie Dalgleish after hitting the front on lap six of 10.
Invincibility was the name of the game for Paul Rose in the CNC Head Sports and Saloons, with three wins from three. Fellow Saker RAPX S1-400 exponent Steve Harris kept Rose honest in races two and three after finishing 29.3s down in the opener.