KEW HOLDS OFF THE QUEUE FOR BUXTON FINAL VICTORY
Jason Kew took the final honours after an almost racelong battle for the lead with Rob McDonald when the National Hot Rods returned to Buxton for their second visit this year.
McDonald took the first heat while 16-year-old Ashley Shaw took his maiden win in heat two. Heavy rain before the meeting had left the track awash and an unfortunate Joey Palmer had his engine go sick on him in practice ruling him out of the rest of the meeting.
By the time of the first heat, the rain had stopped although the track was still very wet. Shaw was the lone white grader and as the green flag dropped on the rolling lap, he missed second gear allowing Barry Limer to nip through for the lead, with Shaw getting going to take up second.
Shaw chased after Limer, who was several lengths clear. He finally caught him just after half distance and, after a couple of laps, found his way past to take up the lead.
Further back McDonald,
Kew and Haird had been cutting through the pack and, with four laps to go, were up on Shaw.
McDonald went swiftly round the outside to take up the lead with Kew and Chris Haird going past a lap later.
The track was starting to dry for the second heat, but wets were still needed. Shaw got away cleanly this time and held onto the lead to the chequers. Behind, Ivan Grayson and Dave Brooks had a fierce battle for second trading places several times until Grayson finally got the better of his rival with a couple of laps to go.
The track had a dry line towards the climax of the meeting, which meant last-minute tyre changing from wets to slicks ahead of the final. The single drier line was going to make passing on the outside difficult, but the track was gradually drying throughout the race.
Kew had done enough to earn him pole with Shaw alongside and McDonald behind Kew.
Kew got the drop on Shaw at the green, with Shaw dropping in behind with McDonald in his wheeltracks.
However, it only took another lap for the McDonald to blast down the outside of Shaw on the back straight. There then followed nearly 30 laps of McDonald trying to get past Kew. The World Final winner tried several times on the damp outside line but could just not get enough grip to go by Kew.
Haird was revelling in the conditions and was quickly up to third to join these two and he got past McDonald for second.
The track was now starting to dry fast and Haird started to drop back giving McDonald second place back. Billy Wood was making the most of the drying track swiftly moving up past Grayson and Chris Aldridge and Haird and chasing down the leading duo, with McDonald still trying to get past Kew on the outside. With two to go Wood had caught them and dived down the inside of McDonald, Kew just hung on to take the win from Wood and McDonald.
Results
Heat 1: 1 Robert McDonald (Vauxhall Tigra), 2 Jason Kew (Ginetta G40R), 3 Chris Haird (Vauxhall Tigra), 4 Ashley Shaw (Vauxhall Tigra), 5 Dave Brooks (Ginetta G40R), 6 Dick Hillard (Vauxhall Tigra), 7 Perry Cooke (Vauxhall Tigra), 8 Billy Wood (Vauxhall Tigra). Heat 2: 1 Shaw, 2 Ivan Grayson (Ford Fiesta), 3 Brooks, 4 Hillard, 5 Kew, 6 McDonald, 7 Mark Shelper (Peugeot 206CC), 8 Alistair Lowe (Vauxhall Tigra). Final|: 1 Kew, 2 Wood, 3 McDonald, 4 Grayson, 5 Chris Aldridge (Vauxhall Tigra), 6 Haird, 7 Hillard, 8 Cooke.