Randalstown racer has World title in his sights
Thursday, 21 August 2008
Randalstown’s Shane Murray will battle it out for the World Stock Rod title this weekend.
RANDALSTOWN Stock Rod racer Shane Murray is bidding for World Championship glory at Ballymena Raceway this weekend (August 22-23).
The teenage race ace, son of former Hot Rod World champion John Murray, has enjoyed his best ever season on the track and will start as one of the favourites for the coveted crown.
Murray opened the season in fine style by capturing the Yokohama Championship over Easter - and he hasn't looked back since.
Indeed no other driver has won more Stock Rod races at Ballymena this season than the Randalstown lad who also collected the European Challenge Cup on a trip to Foxhall Raceway in Ipswich during July.
Along with Murray there will also be another five drivers from the Antrim Borough participating in the World Championship event.
Antrim driver JP Kilpatrick, Nutts Corner racer Raymond Harper and the experienced Michael Byrne from Randalstown will be joined on the grid by Glenavy's Matthew Moore and Crumlin's Gerard Hartley.
The driver that all the others have to beat is defending champion Glenn Bell. The Portadown ace won the title for the first time at Raceway back in 2004 when he was just fifteen years of age!
Bell, who also races in the National Hot Rod class, added his second title at Cowdenbeath in Scotland last year and is sure to put up a stern defence of his crown.
Other contenders for a Northern Ireland victory include 2001 winner Alastair Calvin, from Richill, and reigning Irish Champion Victor McAfee, from Ballymena.
Topping the list of visiting drivers is World number two and current British Champion Stuart Fox.
The Crewe based driver is one of the top names in the class and will be a main contender for the spoils, along with Scottish champion Robert McDonald from Armadale. Davy Philp Jnr from Scotland is the current British Long Track champion and fancied to go well, while English duo Mark Barber and Ed Trofer are both former National Champions.
Other competitors making the trip from the mainland include Tony Lattka and David Patterson, while a number of drivers representing Tipperary Raceway in the Republic of Ireland are making the trip north to compete in the championships.
The drivers will contest a gruelling session of qualifying heats on Friday evening (August 22) to earn their position on the grid for the final which takes place on Saturday (August 23).
The top thirty-six drivers will go directly into the World Final line-up while the remaining drivers will have to battle it out in a last chance race to claim the final two slots on the grid.
