Round 7 of
the Ulster Drift Championship got underway at Bishopscourt Airfield Circuit on
Sunday 9th November. With the recent weather being rain it was no surprise that
the Downpatrick based event got a touch of the elements also.
The track
conditions were great in the morning practice but when the rain came it was
nothing short of slippery. This meant that the qualifying was undertaken in
totally new conditions and a few high speed off’s kept the crowd entertained,
one such off was Championship leader Damian McBride but thankfully some force
and hammering got his exhaust straightened out in time to qualify.
Chubby
McCord on the other hand was struggling from other issues with his SIL V8 as the thirsty lump starved his
petrol supply dry more than once. Still he managed to be the top qualifier by a
long way and once his supply of high octane race fuel out he had to retire and
forfeit the top 8 battle sadly. Another drive to note was Rob Barnett in his
road legal 180sx, Rob has progressed a long way this season and this was proved
with his two qualifying runs and claiming the second qualifying spot.
Michael
O’Shea in his 2700cc Turbo engine 200sx came all the way from Cork for this event and wowed the
crowds with the noise and sheer aggression of the bright green screamer. Not
only that but he qualified third overall which for the first time at such a
track is no mean feat. Brendan Stone was another new comer to the event who is
certainly not an amateur and took fifth qualifying position but once paired
against McBride it was the precise and fast style of McBride who got the better
of him.
So onto the final, and it’s not the first time
Bradley and McBride have met but yet again here we are, in pitch dark with a
glint of headlamps coming into the first turn, McBride leading with Bradley
right on his door handles, epic sight to see and it was a dead heat so into the
final run and just on the initiation into turn one Bradley had mechanical
failure “My gearbox exploded just as I came into the first corner” said Bradley
“she locked the wheels then exploded completely, I near ended up in the field”.
This then left McBride to complete the run to take an easy victory in the end
RMS > 
Graham Curry 
