 |
| Dave Reynolds leads Kevin McGrath and Roger Welaratne during the Bill Griffin Motors Irish Stryker race at Mondello Park. |
Mondello Park hosted the opening rounds of the 2026 Bill Griffin Motors Irish Stryker Championship at the weekend. Last season came right down to the wire with Kevin McGrath taking the title at a dramatic last race decider. This season's opening round was as equally exciting with McGrath once again in the thick of it. His rival this time was Baltinglass man Dave Reynolds. Sadly the grid has lost some of the regular drivers due to retirement but nonetheless the series will grow again in the coming rounds again with new drivers due to make their debuts next time out.
The weather was fine but there were slight showers around which damped the track in places but that only added a challenge for the drivers as the took to qualifying. It was Reynolds who took first blood and an extra point for taking pole position. Qualifying was tight with the first three covered by less than a second. Reynolds lined up on pole with McGrath beside him. Richie Byrne and Roger Welaratne lined up on row two.
As the lights went out it was the men from row two who got the better starts as Byrne and Welaratne lead the field into turn one. McGrath was third and Reynolds fourth and both were quickly trying to find a way by the men ahead to gap the other. After a hectic opening lap Reynolds had made his way to the front and his car sounded better than last year and it was visably quicker in a straight line too. He had Byrne between him and McGrath for the next couple of laps, giving him a chance to build up a lead. Byrne was in top form however and was not letting McGrath past without a fight. McGrath didn't want to drop time though and once past he began to chase down Reynolds.
 |
| Richie Byrne leads Des Meehan during the Bill Griffin Motors Irish Stryker race at Mondello Park. |
Over the next laps the leader had been caught and the front two had a comfortable gap to the battle for third between Welaratne and Byrne. It was a game of cat and mouse as both had better pace than the other in different sectors of the track. As the race drew nearer to the end Reynolds upped his pace and had enough of a gap to take the win by 0.3 of a second. Welaratne cam home in third ahead of Des Meehan who was back out after his big off at the final round last year. After purchasing the ex Jonathan Taylor car which finished runner up in the championship last year. He showed no loss of talent finishing in fourth and promised to be " higher up next time out once he has the car setup the way he likes it and more testing done."
For race two the grid was reversed and again Byrne and Welaratne lead the field into turn one. This time though Reynolds was a bit too eager and a while trying to pass McGrath in turn two he spun and dropped right down to last. Surely McGrath who now had got into the lead would run away with this one. Byrne and Welaratne once again battled it out with Meehan in the mix too, for the first half of the race. Reynolds now with his car pointing in the right direction set about catching whoever he could. His pace was a lot faster and he began to close in on the field quickly. Luckily for him time was on his side. He picked them off one by one and without getting held up he could possibly catch the leader. He set the fastest lap of the race with a 1.01.1 lap which was six tenths quicker than McGrath in the lead.
 |
| Dave Reynolds leads Kevin McGrath during the Bill Griffin Motors Irish Stryker race at Mondello Park. |
 |
| Roger Welaratne during the Bill Griffin Motors Irish Stryker race at Mondello Park. |
As the laps began to run out he was just on his tail. Welaratne was now comfortable in third ahead of Byrne but the first two positions still were not set in stone. With a lap to go Reynolds made his move into turn one and took the lead in a brilliant drive but the man from Naas was not going to lie down. Last year proved he could fight to the end and by turn three he made his move down the inside of Reynolds to retake the lead. Once he used the defending line on the final corners the win was his. He did and it was and it was fitting both men came away with a win.
 |
| Des Meehan during the Bill Griffin Motors Irish Stryker race at Mondello Park. |
 |
| Aaron Evans during the Bill Griffin Motors Irish Stryker race at Mondello Park. |
Speaking afterwards McGrath was both happy and relived to have won. " Me and Dave a great battle all weekend with Dave getting an extra point for pole and fastest lap to my one fastest lap so it will be all to play for as we go up north next time out. We had two great race and that last one he got me into turn one but I made a move into turn three and thankfully was able to hold it to the line to take the win. Hopefully it will be like that all season long."
Reynolds was as happy to but annoyed with himself after coming all the way back to take the lead and loose it again" The car was flying, we did a lot of work over the winter, a lot of research, time in the gym so I'm delighted how it went today. We are now down to the 1.01's which we weren't at last year so that is a big step forward. Looking forward to Bishopscourt now and see if we can get a win there too and push the class on social media and build it up and get more cars out.
 |
| Kevin McGrath, centre, with his son Jack aged 2, and Dave Reynolds, left, and Roger Welaratne after Bill Griffin Motors Irish Stryker race at Mondello Park. |
 |
| Dave Reynolds, centre, with Kevin McGrath, left, and Roger Welaratne after Bill Griffin Motors Irish Stryker race at Mondello Park. |
No comments:
Post a Comment