 |
| Richard Kearney in action on his way to winning round six of the Airportcars.ie Formula Sheane championship. Mondello Park, Donore, Naas, Co. Kildare. Photo: Barry Cregg. |
In form Richard Kearney from Leighlinbridge in coutny Carlow, was out to redeme himself after loosing his two wins from the previous meeting in Bishopscourt last time out due to a technical problem. While his car and driving were not in question, his failure to have his engine dyno sheet print out handed in to the stewards in time was. Thus he was found to be in breach of the rules.
 |
| Richard Kearney in action on his way to winning round six of the Airportcars.ie Formula Sheane championship. Mondello Park, Donore, Naas, Co. Kildare. Photo: Barry Cregg. |
With this now sorted out it was time for rounds six and seven of the Airportcars.ie Formula Sheane Championship which saw drivers take to the international track at Mondello Park in county Kildare. The forecast was not promising with rain due and with drivers now running on a new make of tyre it was going to be a challenging race meeting for all.
The new tyres were introduced to reduce costs in the class but would also mean a lot of setup changes and testing by the drivers to get them to suit their cars. Unfortunately the rain came down so much during testing on Friday leaving all drivers guessing a setup for qualifying on Saturday, The one consolation was everyone was in the same boat.
It was Kearney who came out on top qualifying in pole position by 1.5seconds clear of Mark Keeenan. Sadly Chris Dunne and Garrett McKenna did not make the start, so it would be a rematch between Kearney and Keenan again as in the previous round north of the border.
 |
| Brendan Carr leads Richie Adams and Tom Foley during round six of the Airportcars.ie Formula Sheane championship. Mondello Park, Donore, Naas, Co. Kildare. Photo: Barry Cregg. |
It was Carlow man who got the best start and lead the field into turn one with Keenan behind in second and Richie Adams in third. Everyone looked like to be battling hard with their cars and clearly the new tyres were causing their own problems. At least it was dry and the threat of rain in the distance. Kearney set out his stall early and by the end of lap one he was over a second clear in the lead. Keenan was holding his own and dropped Adams behind in third. Behind the top three Tom Foley chased down former Lord Mayor of Dublin Brendan Carr, These two were enjoying close battle giving the onlookers some entertainment.
As the laps went by Kearney built on his early lead with Keenan dropping further back with no answer to his rivals pace. Adams was in the same boat in third and all three were locked in position barring any mistake or mechanical breakdowns. Behind though Carr got on the power to early coming out of the final corner and spun, letting Foley off the hook and dropping down the field. In the end Kearney took the win comfortably by 5.2 seconds from Keenan and Adams.
 |
| Mark Keenan leads Richard Kearney during round seven of the Airportcars.ie Formula Sheane championship. Mondello Park, Donore, Naas, Co. Kildare. Photo: Barry Cregg. |
For race two they lined up on the grid in the same order and many predicted race two to be a copy of race one. All except Mark Keenan who made a couple of changes to his car between races and made a superb start to jump ahead of Kearney and lead the field into turn one. Adams again slotted into third. The first two however were in a different league and pulled a gap on the rest. The long lap of the international layout provides more overtaking opportunities but also can catch drivers out in the technical sections.
Kearney lost seemed to have lost his extra pace he had over Keenan in race one and although he was right on his tail he clearly was driving hard to stay with the county Meath publican. It was another step up in pace for Keenan who is the closest at the moment to giving Kearney a run for his money this year, However Kearney came close to entering the gravel trap at turn four after outbraking himself in an effort to close in on the leader. Time was running out for him and he needed to make a move soon with only a lap to go.
 |
| Richard Kearney in action on his way to winning round seven of the Airportcars.ie Formula Sheane championship. Mondello Park, Donore, Naas, Co. Kildare. Photo: Barry Cregg. |
A lap later he was on the gearbox of Keenan and made his move into turn seven drawing alongside him. This time it was Keenan who made the mistake by outbraking himself. Unlike Kearney he didn't save it and ran wide and into the gravel briefly but enough to drop him back too far to Kearney but still he was safe from Adams in third. Kearney used his experience but he knew he hard to work for it and that he also got a bit lucky too.
 |
| Richie Adams in action on his way to his second podium finish during round seven of the Airportcars.ie Formula Sheane championship. Mondello Park, Donore, Naas, Co. Kildare. Photo: Barry Cregg. |
"I'm glad to get the two wins here today after loosing the two wins at from Bishopscourt due to my own stupidity by not getting the engine dyno print done. Rules are rule though but the two wins today has got me back in the hunt again for the championship. The new tyres were hard to get used to but I'm sure we will all get them sorted out as time goes by. Race one was ok I got a good start and built on it and managaed the gap. Race two though was hard work. I made a bad start and made a few mistakes but Mark was driving very well so all I could do was keep up the pressure and it paid off as Mark went off and let me through. I can't wait for the nextround to come in four weeks time."
Mondello is the venue again for the next round of the championship on the smaller national layout on the 16th and 17th of July.
Results:
Race 1
1st Richard Kearney
2nd Mark Keenan
3rd Richie Adams
4th Tom Foley
5th Mike Dermody
6th Brendan Carr
Race 2
1st Richard Kearney
2nd Mark Keenan
3rd Richie Adams
4th Tom Foley
5th Mike Dermody
6th Brendan Carr
No comments:
Post a Comment