Hughes outlasts rival drivers

Press, 24 February 1986, Page 25

Hughes outlasts rival drivers

Andrew Hughes, driving a Vanguard station-wagon, took the $lOOO prize in the Demolition Derby at Woodford Glen Speedway on Saturday evening. Fifty cars and station-wag-gons battled their way round the track for 40 minutes in the third derby to be held this season.

The A grade saloon cars were dominated by the Valiant of Tlmaru’s Neville Stowell, and Tony Blanchard, Steve Nugent and Nelson Soper in their very quick Escorts.

Kevin Parkinson’s Victor led out the first race, but was soon reeled in by Blanchard and Soper, while Stowell moved through from the back of the field. With two laps to go, Stowell brilliantly drove round the two Escorts, but overdid it going into the back straight, allowing both Blanchard and - Soper back through. Stowell chased hard to streak past Soper right on the finish line to pinch second placing. ' .

The second race once again had Blanchard and Soper coming through the pack, this time Stowell having to be content with third. But Stowell took his revenge in the third race to claim the win, this time from Steve Nugent ahead of Blanchard.

A first for this season was the return of Force Four racing — a race for fourcylinder cars only. Brian McSaveney led out in his Viva from the Mini of Terry Waters, but Blanchard and Nugent soon moved through, followed by Soper.

Blanchard eventually went wide, allowing Nugent to go on to win from McSaveney and Waters. McSaveney had previously won a B grade saloon race, with wins also going to Adam Stevenson’s Valiant and Martin Saunders’ Mk 3 Cortina. Gerald Griffiths completely dominated the stock car racing to win all three races, with Bruce Annan chasing him hard all the way. Although Terry Hall tried hard to spin out Hugo Hobby, he had to twice be content with second placing with Hobby winning two of the street stock races. Results: A-grade saloons. — Race 1: T. Blanchard 1, N. Stowell 2, N. Soper 3; time, 4:14.63. Race 2: Blanchard 1, Soper 2, Stowell 3. Race 3: Stowell 1, S. Nugent 2, Blanchard 3. Race 4: Nugent 1, B. McSaveney 2, T. Waters 3; time, 3:16.57. Race 5: K. Kerr 1, Stowell 2, Nugent 3; time, 2:25.08.

B-grade saloons. — Race 1: B. McSaveney 1, I. Barr 2, L. Pluck 3; time, 4:17.42. Race 2: A. Stevenson 1, F. Arneson 2, M. Kerr 3; time, 3:47.13. M. Saunders 1, T. Waters 2, M. Gould 3; time, 3:35.03. Stocks.— Race 1: G. Griffiths 1, B. Annan 2, C. Cameron 3; time, 2:33.39. Race 2: Griffiths 1, Annan 2, W. Galbraith 3; time, 2:43.67. Race 3: Griffiths 1, Cameron 2, Galbraith 3; time, 2.56.98. Street stocks.— Race 1: H. Hobby 1, T. Hall 2, B. Oliver 3. Race 2: Oliver 1, M. McSaveney 2, Hall 3. Race 3: Hobby 1, Hall 2, McSaveney 3.