Donegal’s Kelly dominates at a wet Mondello Park- Selco.ie Formula Vee Championship

 

Owen Kellu with his trophy after winning the Selco.ie Formula Vee race. Photo: Barry Cregg.

Buncranna’s Owen Kelly took his maiden national Formula Vee victory at Mondello Park in county Kildare at the weekend. In very tricky conditions due to heavy rainfall earlier in the day, Kelly in his Bugbitz backed Sheane showed a clean pair of heals to the rest of the field. Using the international layout for round 10 of the Selco.ie Formula Vee championship, Kelly qualified a massive 1.459 seconds ahead of current champion Anthony Cross who had a chance to wrap up the title again at this round. Sadly, Jordan Kelly was a non-starter and ending his chances of bringing the championship to a final round decider, but nevertheless he was on hand to help his brother by acting as his mechanic for the weekend.

Owen Kelly, left, Sheane, leads Jack Bynre, right, Sheane, on his way to winning the Selco.ie Formula Vee race. Photo: Barry Cregg.

A great grid of twenty cars lined up in the drying but still wet conditions. As the lights went out Kelly got a brilliant start and lead the field into turn one. Cross had no answer and dropped to third behind Jack Byrne. As they field made their way round turns one and two you could see how hard they were all fighting for grip, each car’s rear end stepping out as the drivers put the power down even with the greatest of ease. By the exit of turn three Kelly built a gap of half a second, his car looking like it was on rails. Maybe the recent visit to the Knockalla hillclimb in similar conditions two weeks before did him the world of good in terms of finding a setup for this race.

Jack Byrne, left, Sheane, leads Anthony Cross, right, Sheane, during the Formula Vee race. Photo: Barry Cregg

Whatever the reason it was working as he could not be matched and controlled the race with ease. Behind him the battle for second and third was only heating up as Byrne and Cross battled it out and giving the wet spectators something to watch in what was an unusual spread-out Formula vee race. The weather and the long circuit didn’t help to keep the field as close together as they normally are when on the smaller national track. That said behind the top three Gavin Buckley, Donal Downey and Tim Murray had their own battle, all three swapping places early on before settling into what would end up being their finishing positions.

Tim Murray, Leastone, leads Gavin Buckley, Sheane, during the Formula Vee race. Photo: Barry Cregg

Both Byrne and Cross are known for being Mondello Park experts knew how to win and defend around the Kildare track. Several attempts by Cross to get past were thwarted by Byrne but with two laps to go the current champion got past. In doing so he gained more points and barring a mistake or mechanical failure both of which are a very rare occurrence, he was on course to retain his title. Not only that it would be the Dubliners fifth title in a row, a fantastic achievement in a series that is so competitive.

Anthony Cross, Sheane, leads Jack Byrne, Sheane, during the Formula Vee race. Photo: Barry Cregg

Owen Kelly, Sheane, on his way to winning the Selco.ie Formula Vee race. Photo: Barry Cregg.

In the end Kelly was also the man of the day by taking his maiden win by ten seconds! On his day he is as quick as any of the front men but a lack of consistency throughout the year has cost him for the overall title. In saying that he is still in contention for the VW Spares ‘B’ Championship and after this win he has brought it down to the final round in Kirkistown on September 24^th between himself and Donal Downey.

In the LOH Motorsport Rookie championship Kieran Hannon drove superbly to take another win in his Leastone to take the championship to the final round decider.   

Kieran Hannan, Leastone in action on his way to winning the LOH Motorsport Rookie class. Photo: Barry Cregg.

Speaking afterwards he gave a typical laid-back response that only a Donegal man could deliver,

 “I just concentrated on the start and got a good one and made into the first turn in the lead and decided to go for it on the first couple of laps to build a lead up if I could. The lads behind me started to battle with each other which helped me too. I did the hillclimb at Knockalla in these types of conditions a couple of weeks ago which I think helped me too. Hopefully I can do the same in Kirkistown in a few weeks and try and win the VW Spares Championship.