Second round of Winter Series

THIS Saturday will see the province’s top kart racing drivers in action at Nutts Corner Circuit in the second round of the Creightons of Finaghy supported winter series of races.

Kart racing at the circuit got hit hard over the Christmas period with the 28 December round having to be postponed due to the snow.

However, the 500MRCI promoted parallel series at Kirkistown managed to miss the bad conditions and despite small turnouts the enthusiasm that exists over the winter is clear and this Saturdays race at Nutts Corner will hopefully see first class racing.

In that race the winning senior drivers on the day were Dromores Andrew McClelland and Hillsboroughs Michael Troughton with both really improving the points total as a result.

The Junior Classes had a lot of last seasons big names out but on the day Stoneyfords Scott Finlay was the victor. Portadowns Ben Crealey managed to hold off past NI champion Kyle Price from Lisburn and the challenge by these three in itself is a good sample of what should be in store this Saturday.

The youngest class for the junior Cadets saw Lisburns William Creighton again in winning form and after a very successful last day out at Nutts Corner he will surely be keen for more wins on Saturday.

Dungannon’s Gary Donnelly, Toomebridges Adrian Hegarty and Thomas McIvor all showed close form and that also shows how competitive these young drivers will be this Saturday.

In the Honda Cadet class, Aaron Lennie from Newtownards just held off Ballymenas Jack Graham. Young Graham however was the victor last time out at Nutts Corner so no doubt he will be keen to be on the top step of the podium this Saturday.

Recent seasons have showed that drivers that have continued to maintain their race fitness over the winter have been able to be the pace setters when the main season of races gets underway in March.

With the first big meeting of the year for the Ulster Championships fairly early this year it will be important to have an early advantage.

Racing gets underway at 10am with the first of the heats with finals shortly after lunch.