BIRTHDAY BOY KEW PICKS UP BUXTON RACEWAY BONUS
National Hot Rods: Buxton
Organiser: Buxton Raceway When: August 18 Where: Buxton Raceway Starters: 19.
Jason Kew marked the return to a sunny Buxton Raceway as well as his birthday by taking the final honours.
He held off form-man Rob Mcdonald in order to do so, forcing the World and National champ to settle for second. Mcdonald had previously taken a scintillating victory in the opening race, while Carl Waller-barrett headed Kew home to take the other heat.
Although the 19-car entry may not have looked much to write home about, it was enough to create an absolute classic in the opening race.
Alastair Lowe led them away, pressed from the outset by Mark Shelper, and these two fought it out for many laps. But behind them a great race was soon shaping up. Carl Waller-barrett was busy hunting down the leaders, while Mcdonald had started well down the grid but was advancing up the order from the word go, his attacking drive also forcing the pace of those around him.
Making up around six spots in only a couple of laps at one point, the Scot clawed his way into fourth just as CW-B got on terms with the leaders too. In some three-wide racing Wallerbarrett was forced wide , allowing Mcdonald to swoop on Lowe instead and hit the front.
The fight to live with Mcdonald had brought a host of fast movers into the reckoning, with Lowe having to fend off Aaron Dew, CW-B, Perry Cooke, Shane
Bland and Kew as they got the two-laps-to-go board. Wallerbarrett managed to get up the outside to inch ahead of the impressive Lowe, but the ousted driver was still battling to the end, grabbing third spot from a blanket finish where 10 cars charged the line as one. There was less than 0.5s covering second through to ninth.
The second heat and final were just a shade less frenetic but still very watchable.
In race two Lance Bowen, set the early pace and looked as though he might make it a flag-to-flag job, but it was not to be. A yellow flag period, caused by the stricken cars of Chris Haird and Bland stopped at opposite ends of the track, closed the field right up.
This enabled Waller-barrett to charge straight round the outside of the erstwhile leader and away to the win, despite a challenge from the fast-finishing Kew nearing the chequers.
The final pitted polesitter Waller-barrett against Kew again in the first third of the race but they were gradually caught by Mcdonald and Jack Blood. Kew darted past CW-B down the inside just as Mcdonald went for the outside attack, both men making it past. That set up a fight to the finish between the pair, but Kew had things well under control, and never really looked like letting this one slip through his fingers.
Mcdonald did manage to close right up at one point, but the leader had opened out the gap again by flag fall.
Results
Heat one: 1 Rob Mcdonald (Vauxhall Tigra);
2 Carl Waller-barrett (Vauxhall Tigra); 3 Alastair
Lowe (Vauxhall Tigra); 4 Aaron Dew (Ginetta G40R); 5 Perry Cooke (Vauxhall Tigra); 6 Jack Blood (Vauxhall Tigra); 7 Shane Bland (Vauxhall Tigra); 8 Jason Kew (Ginetta G40R). Heat two: 1 Waller-barrett; 2 Kew; 3 Stuart Mclaird (Ginetta G40R); 4 Dew; 5 Ivan Grayson (Vauxhall Tigra); 6 Cooke; 7 Blood; 8 Shaun Taylor (Vauxhall Tigra). Final: 1 Kew; 2 Mcdonald; 3 Waller-barrett; 4 Dew; 5 Bland; 6 Cooke; 7 Mclaird; 8 Dave York (Vauxhall Tigra); 9 Lowe; 10 Grayson. Standings (after 2/14 rounds): 1 Kew 96; 2 Wallerbarrett 92; 3 Mclaird 86; 4 Mcdonald 84; 5 Dew 78; 6 Blood 75.