Quarryman Craig in Euro screw title bid

QUARRY plant fitter Craig Boulton is off to sunny Spain to compete for the coveted title of Europe's best screwer.

Father-of-three Craig, 34, from Buxton, will put his screwing skills to the test in Valencia during the MotoGP finals.

If he is the quickest to fix five screws into a piece of wood using a cordless drill he will take the European crown and win a £10,000 Yamaha RI motorbike.

Craig, who works at Lafarge Aggregates & Concrete UK's Dowlow quarry in Derbyshire, explained:

"The tool making company DeWalt had a stand at the Hillhead show and was running a competition to win a cordless drill.
"Basically you had to screw five screws into a piece of wood as fast as you could. One of my mates had a go and I thought I could beat his score so I took a turn and got quite a good time.
"I didn't think anything of it then a couple of weeks later I had a phone call saying I had come top and had won the drill and they would put me on the UK leaderboard where apparently I was in ninth place."

Craig thought he had reached the pinnacle of his screwing success but a few weeks ago he received another phone call saying he had made it to the UK finals of Screw It and was he free to compete during the Silverstone Superbike meet.

In a tense showdown Craig improved his time from 15 seconds to 11 and earned himself a place in the European finals at the beginning of November.

He will travel with friend Wayne Preece after wife Claire suggested a motorbike championship and powertool competition might not be her favourite holiday experience.

"I have promised to take her back over if it's nice though," said Craig.

As for his hopes of European glory, Craig is nervous but quietly confident.
He said:

"I'm looking forward to it and a bit scared but in a good way. Apparently previous winners have had a time of ten seconds so I'm not that far off.

"I'm just planning on doing the best that I can."