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| Kieran Hannan, Leastone on his way to winning the Tyredoctor.ie Formula Vee Race. |
Kirkistown Racing Circuit in county Down played host for round eight of the Selco.ie Formula Vee Championship. The torrential rain that came down in testing the day before thankfully cleared off and finally the summer sunshine made an appearance for the drivers come race day. The Tyredoctor.ie and Ability IT championship runners had their own race as well as joining the main national runners later in the day. So first up was the race for the 'B' and Rookies which saw Robert Flemming took pole position from team-mate Kieran Hannan to lock out the front row of the grid. As always at Kirkistown the long straights can cancel out a good qualifying position by the use of the draft along the straights but the higher up you are the less chance of getting caught up in someone else's mistake. That said it doesn't always work.
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| Niall O'Mara leads the field on the opening lap of the tyredoctor,ie Formula Vee Race. |
Flemming got a great start off the line and lead the field into turn one. Conor Meila from the second row got a great start also and got into second by turn one as Hannan's car bogged down off the line. However Niall O'Mara in his Leastone went one better and lead the field out of turn three and looked quick ahead of Paul Lewis who also made a good move at turn two to pass Fleemming who ended up locking the front end at turn three and taking to the grass and dropping all the way down to second from last. A disaster for the Kildare man and undone all his hard work in qualifying.
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| Kieran Hannan, Leastone, leads Paul Lewis, Leastone, during the tyredoctor.ie Formula Vee race. |
Lewis held the lead for the next couple of laps but Hannan got past at the hairpin. Charlie Hart was now up to third to make it a Leastone top three. Hannan began to put his stamp on the race by lap four edging a second over Lewis to open a gap up front. Robert Flemming was done and set fastest time on his way back up through the field picking them off one by one. Sadly O'Mara ran into mechanical problems as a rocker broke ending his fine drive. By midway Hannan led by over two seconds as Lewis began to defend heavily from Hart behind him. An excellent drive by the young Wicklow man in his first year of racing. Sadly fellow county man Ger Byrne spun at the hairpin allowing Flemming through and he was closing in on those in front.
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| Conor Melia crashes his Sheane out of the tyrdocotr.ie Formula Vee race. |
Nearing the closing stages Hanan was safe in the lead but Hart had other ideas for second spot and passed Lewis into turn two. Behind him though Conor Meila and Robert Flemming had a coming together which saw Melia spinning off track but his car dug into the ground, flipping him into the air where rolled the car twice before landing on his four wheels. Thankfully the Dubliner was ok and walked away unhurt, sadly his car wasn't so lucky but will be repaired by the SMR racing team before the next round in Mondello. this brought out the safety car and then red flags. The win was never in doubt and Hannon took the win from Hart and Lewis.
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| Paul Lewis, Leastone, leads Charlie Hart, Leastone, during the tyredoctor.ie Formula Vee race. |
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| Robert Flemming, Sheane, leads Conor Melia, Sheane, during the tyredoctor.ie Formula Vee race. |
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| Charlie Hart, Leastone, leads Paul Lewis, Leastone, during the tyredoctor.ie Formula Vee race. |
Speaking after the race Hannan was again happy to take another win and help his championship chances. " I didn't make the best of starts but after a couple of laps I got into a rythmn and got passed Paul and Niall and took the lead and built on it each lap and was comfortable. Then the red flags came out and the race was declared a result. Its a good points haul for the championship now ahead of the next race in Mondello in September.
Results:
Tyredoctor.ie 'B' Championship
1st Kieran Hannan
2nd Charlie Hart
3rd Paul Lewis
Ability IT Rookie Championship
1st Charlie Hart
2nd Simon Rudd
3rd Lee Flynn
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