British Bulldog Barlow on top again!!

Round 9. Wed 22nd Feb 2006 – The Metro Center, Rockford, Illinois. For the third year running the Metro Center in Rockford, Illinois, hosted a round of the AMA / XiiR Ice Racing Series, this time being the penultimate round of the 2006 Series. Going into the Meeting, Anthony “British Bulldog” Barlow required just 3 points to be sure that he won the Series but it didn’t feel too good for him in the days leading up to the meet as he felt the pressure. Having set out at the beginning of the Series to “just enjoy the racing and do my best” it was obvious that having got so close he didn’t want to fall at the final hurdle. As usual at Rockford the enthusiastic crowd soon got into the event and worked out their favourites very early on and although Barlow had his fans in the audience, a large proportion were hoping the current 2nd placed rider, US star Ronny Kemp would cause an upset and keep the Series in the balance right up to the end. It was not to be, however, as in the very first heat of the night, Barlow starting from the favourable inside gate and made no mistakes to take the win from Kemp, James Mann and Scott Courtney. It was obvious there were problems for Courtney following his two crashes at Lexington just 4 nights before; one his body was still sore and he had to revert to a replacement bike when it was discovered that the frame was also bent in addition to needing replacement front forks and wheel. Barlow however was delighted at winning the heat but more so because the 2006 Championship was already his and after the disappointments of 2004 & 2005 when Swedish star Kenny Olsson took the Championship from his grasp on both occasions, he savoured the moment. Heat 2 saw yet another win for another English rider, this time it was Swindon based Gary Phelps, who must be cursing the fact that he dropped so many points earlier on in the Series, as he beat Preston Dorfmeyer, with David “Victor” Meldrum having to retire from the race. Darren Pearson, re-learning the art of riding speedway on ice won heat 3 convincingly from “Gentleman” Jim Terchilla and Chris “Old Guy” Hathaway. Barlow wasn’t going to let his championship win affect his racing and he easily won his second qualifying heat to get pole position in the Main Final, while in the next heat Kemp with a win over Phelps meant they both joined Barlow in the Main. This meant the last chance included James Mann on the front row alongside Darren Pearson, who could only manage a 3rd place behind Barlow and Meldrum in his second ride, and Jim Terchilla. On the back row were Dorfmeyer, Meldrum and Hathaway and of these it was Meldrum who forced his way up the field to grab a Main Final place on that back row with Mann & Pearson. Qualifying Heats: 1. Barlow, Kemp, Mann, Courtney 2. Phelps, Dorfmeyer, Meldrum (r) 3. Pearson, Terchilla, Hathaway 4. Barlow, Meldrum, Pearson 5. Kemp, Phelps, Dorfmeyer, Hathaway 6. Mann, Terchilla, Courtney (r) Last Chance: Mann, Pearson, Meldrum, Dorfmeyer, Terchilla, Hathaway Main: Barlow, Phelps, Mann, Meldrum, Kemp, Pearson (r)