FIRST IN THE KEW FOR JASON AT IPSWICH RETURN
The first National Hot Rod racing in more than eight months had to contend with poor weather, equally poor track conditions and a restricted crowd at Foxhall Heath on July 25.
Those who were in attendance were treated to some entertaining racing with a thriller of a final, Jason Kew snatching the win after a scintillating battle with Gavin Murray and John Sibbald which lasted most of the race.
The heavy rain in practice hadn’t let up for the first heat, where Les Lynch’s Merc led for a lap before being swamped by the pack as Bradley Dynes burst free of the other placemen to take it up.
Dynes was never headed again but there was plenty going on behind him. Murray was second with Shaun Taylor third until he clobbered the barriers and got collected by Rob McDonald, putting the world champ out of the meeting.
A caution period for that incident and further one three laps from home bothered the leader not at all but Murray’s attempts to wrest the lead away saw him drop down the order as John Sibbald and Shane Bland came through for second and third.
Returnee Neil Muddle got in the midst of an early race-stopping crash in heat two, before Murray swiftly went to the front and marched into the distance, eventually winning by half a lap.
Alistair Lowe put up a terrific defence of second, only losing out to Sibbald, Kew and Stuart Mclaird in the last few laps.
The final kicked off with poleman Sibbald going straight into the lead, tracked by Kew and
Murray; the race was going to be all about these three.
With a lot of slurry on the outside, it looked to be becoming a one-line track. But obviously no-one had told Kew or Murray, as Kew repeatedly tried to take Sibbald down the outside with Murray trying hard to do the pair of them by the same route.
Murray eventually made it past the other two and looked to have it won, only for Kew to spot a chink of daylight down the leader’s inside as they took the three lap board, the Ginetta man deservedly holding on for the win.
Unfortunately, tyre logging issues would ultimately rob Sibbald of both his fighting third place and all other points from the meeting. Results
Heat 1: 1 Bradley Dynes (Vauxhall Tigra); 2 Shane Bland (Vauxhall Tigra); 3 Chris Haird (Vauxhall Tigra); 4 Jason Kew (Ginetta G40R); 5 Carl Waller-Barrett (Vauxhall Tigra); 6 Gavin Murray (Vauxhall Tigra). Heat 2: 1 Murray; 2 Kew; 3 Stuart McLaird (Ginetta G40R); 4 Alistair Lowe (Vauxhall Tigra); 5 Aaron Dew (Ginetta G40R); 6 Gordon Alexander (Vauxhall Tigra). Final: 1 Kew; 2 Murray; 3 Alexander; 4 Haird; 5 McLaird; 6 Bland. Points (after 1 round): 1 Kew 60; 2 Murray 57; 3 Haird 47; 4 Alexander 44; 5 Bland 39; 6 McLaird 38.