After the long winter break the change of season to spring saw the return of the PartsForCars IRX Irish Rallycross Championship to Mondello Park for rounds 5 and 6 of the series. Rallycross continues to grow especially in the junior classes with a brilliant grid of sixteen cars lining up on the grid at the weekend and with at least two more to join them in the near future it bodes well for the future of the sport.
The announcement of Mondello Park hosting a round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship on the 19th of July has also boosted the grid in Supercars with Gary Donoghue and John McCluskey arriving to the event with a pair of Honda Civic's. Michael Leonard was back out for some time in a VW Polo. The IRX Modified class was boosted by English visitor Jason Bleasdale in his Vauxhall VX220 as well as the strong Northen Irish contingent.
In the IRX Juniors Eoin Dooley from Tallaght debued his new mini having outpaced his old ford fiesta in the last few rounds it was time for a change and improve his results. This he did immediately with topping the results in three of his heats over the weekend. He scored a third place in the final on Saturday but his first final win came on Sunday with a brilliant drive. All weekend he pushed champion Logan Hoey and series leader to his limits for the first time this year the talented county Louth man didn't have it all his own way. He took the win in the final on Saturday from Hugo Loonam with Dooley in third. Dooley now more familiar with his new car set about taking his first win of the series.
Once again it was between him Hoey and Hugo Loonam. Throughout the heats they all battled hard but fair and all lined up on the front row of the grid for the final. Loonam got the best start and lead the field and held Hoey off but a mistake at the final corner meant Hoey got a better run down the straight and took the lead. Dooley took the joker lap early and made up time on those ahead while they battled. Then the red flags came out and it was a re run where once again Dooley took an early joker lap which he again used to his advantage. He held the lead over Hoey on the final lap to take his maiden win.
" It's been a fantastic weekend. We finally got the mini finished but didn't know where we would be in terms of pace. I got to grips with the car very quick and swapped lap records with Logan Hoey all weekend. I used the early joker in the first run of the final and it worked so I did it again in the re-run and it proved the right thing to do as it gave me the advantage to hold the lead to the line and take my first win."
Hoey was happy with his weekend too, " The weekend went well taking the win on Saturday and a second on Sunday. I had trouble on the grid ahead of the re-ran final as the car cut out and wouldn't start for a few minutes. It did eventually but I didn't make a good start and dropped to second and then third but got back to second in the end. It's more points for the final championship rounds in May."
In the IRX Modified Jason Bleasdale made the trio over the Irish Sea worthwhile as he took the win on Saturday comfortably from Peter McGarry. That said McGarry was battling hard with championship rivals Sam Bovill and Willie Coyne. Bleasdale using this event for the next round of the British series that visits Mondello in May broke clear early and wasn't headed by the time the chequered flag came out.
In Sunday's final however it was mayhem at the first corner where McGarry and Bleasdale collided causing a lot of damage. Bleasdale kept the shoe in and managed to keep going but McGarry's car was too badly damaged. Afterwards the stewards excluded Bleasdale from the result for dangerous driving. Despite this Sam Bovill drove superbly to stay clear of the Coyne brothers.
Willie nursing his Opel Corsa all day had said he was "doing enough to make the final and get as many points for the championship as he can" Michael was clearly getting to grips with his Citroen DS3 now which he got for this year. The hard work in between events was paying off and the car looked visibly much more competitive this time out.
In the IRX Supercar class it was a case of last man standing by the end of Sunday. Everyone seemed to have trouble of some sort over the weekend. Poor Gary Donoghue didn't make the start as his new Honda Civic had mechanical problems in testing that were unable to be fixed for the races over the weekend.
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Current series leader Derek Tohill looked to be continuing from where he left off in November until an engine change caused him to miss the second heat but was back for the final. Michael Leonard was getting used to his rented VW Polo and put in some quick times ahead of Tommy Graham and Barry Morris. However it was McCluskey in his new Japanese Supercar ran by the Murray Motorsport team that was happiest of all. Taking to his new car like a duck to water he drove brilliantly to edge out Tohill for the win in Saturday's final.
Sunday looked like more of the same until the mechanical gremlins came out in force. William Carey's Ford Fiesta devoloped differential problems forcing his retirement and a broken timing belt in Derek Tohill's newly fitted engine in heat 3 saw him sidelined for the day also. Still the final still had plenty to choose from to pick a winner. Leonard was looking more competitive each time out but a front left puncture forced his retirement on lap one.
McCluskey already in the lead just put in the times and pulled clear of Graham and Morris who were having a good battle themselves. McCluskey having to adapt from driving his Ford Fiesta for so long was putting in some very near record lap pace during the day and the switch to the new machine paid off with a brilliant drive to the chequered flag for the second time of the weekend.
Speaking afterwards the man from Stepaside in Dublin was glad to have made the change " I'm absolutely delighted at winning the two finals this weekend. The car is amazing and we were using it as a shakedown really and we were making little tweaks as we went along but to win to competitive finals like that is brilliant. It suits Mondello as it's a fast track and it seems to suit fast tracks and I'm looking for to going to Lydden Hill in the UK with it shortly. Its much more stable and has more power than the fiesta I had before. We could have turned the power up on it but we didn't to make sure we got through the weekend but the traction is the big thing with this car. Once you keep the wheel straight and not drive it sideways which I like to do, you gain much more time out of it. I am looking forward to having it for the British round in May and the European round in July and hopefully we can get a result then too."
Derek Tohill did have to celebrate something over the weekend by winning the Superfinal on Saturday and put one hand of retaining his IRX Championship crown again. Tommy Graham also had a cause to celebrate after winning the Superfinal on Sunday.
The last two rounds of the IRX Irish Rallycross Champship will be on May 23rd and 24th. This is also a round of the British Rallycross championship and a different layout will be used for this event which will make things interesting and provide another action packed weekend of rallycross.
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