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| Anthony Cross with his faithful Sheane Formula Vee and the Emerson Fittipaldi trophy. Photo: Barry Cregg. |
There is a saying, 'it takes more than one egg to make an omelette', well in motor racing it also takes more than one single ingredient to win a race, let alone a championship. Such variants like car reliability, setup, tyres, driver skill, race incidents and of course a bit of luck all have to line up together to achieve the goal, that is coming home in first place. That said the other and most important element is sheer hard graft put in off the track to have any chance at all on it.
This year Anthony Cross not only retained the Formula Vee championship but also took the Emerson Fittipaldi trophy, capping off his best year in racing to date.
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| Anthony Cross, Sheane, leads Dan Polley, Sheane, during round one of the Selco.ie Formula Vee championship at Kirkistown in March. Photo: Barry Cregg. |
Driving a Sheane chassis car prepared by himself and his father Fred in their AC Autos workshop in Bohernabreena on the outskirts of Tallaght in county Dublin, is always immaculately turn out.
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| Anthony Cross with his faithful Sheane Formula Vee and the Emerson Fittipaldi trophy. Photo: Barry Cregg. |
Many hours and late nights have been put into making sure he has the best chance come race day this year and the proof of this showed in his results. Standing on the top step of the podium seven times in total this year and only off it once, shows the high level of consistency to add to his impressive tally of wins. The vee drivers get around, travelling to Mondello Park in county Kildare, Kirkistown and Bishopscourt in county Down and Anglesey in Wales throughout the year so was it hard to get out for every round?
" It wasn't too bad as the calendar comes out well in advance and I was able to plan around holidays. But there were plenty of late nights catching up on work before and after race weekends, working for myself makes it a little easier."
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| Anthony Cross, Sheane, leads Jack Byrne, Sheane, during round four of the Selco.ie Formula Vee championship at Bishopscourt in May. Photo: Barry Cregg. |
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Now in his fifth year of Formula Vee racing this year while his best, isn't his only championship winning year. In his first year he narrowly missed out on the 'Star of Tomorrow' Championship finishing runner up to Sean Newsome. By 2016 he was crowned 'B' champion, and in his first year in the very competitive 'A' championship a year later, he came 4th. Since then he has been the title holder and doesn't plan on giving it up just yet. Coming from the Midget Car racing scene where he was also a multiple champion, he took to the tar like the proverbial duck to water.
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| Anthony Cross, Sheane, leads Philip Sheane, Sheane, and Jack Byrne, Sheane, during round eleven of the Selco.ie Formula Vee championship at Kirkistown in March. Photo: Barry Cregg. |
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" In my first year I was one of four complete newcomers to track racing and it was great fun and the racing was very close and I learned a lot that year."
So was the championship harder to win this year?
" This year was harder as a lot of drivers from last year became a lot quicker and quicker than I thought they would be so early in the year. So next year will definitely be harder again as Philip Sheane, Tim Murray and Jack Byrne look like title contenders."
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| Anthony Cross with his faithful Sheane Formula Vee and the Emerson Fittipaldi trophy. Photo: Barry Cregg. |
The racing in Formula Vee has been very close this year with probably the two best races coming right at the end of the year where up to six cars battled for the lead. There was also the first race in Bishopscourt in May where Paul Heavey rolled back the years to take the win ahead of Anthony. His main challenger and sparring partner was Dan Polley who he had to fight with in qualifying alone week in week out throughout the year let alone the races.
" Dan was my biggest rival this year and we had so great races this year, Jimmy Furlong also was tough when he was out too."
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| Anthony Cross, Sheane, leads Philip Sheane, Sheane, and Dan Polley, Sheane, during round eleven of the Selco.ie Formula Vee championship at Kirkistown in March. Photo: Barry Cregg. |
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Anthony never seemed to get flustered under pressure when leading a race or if he found himself demoted a couple of places during a race this year. He always found his was back to the front end of the field and never looked out of shape. There was one meeting though which brought him some stress. The trip across the water to our celtic neighbours in Anglesey saw him for once on the back foot. Having never raced there before it was going to be tough meeting for the Dubliner.
" Anglesey was the hardest part of the year as I only ever saw onboard videos of the place, so I had to learn the track and the others had raced there before. I also had to get a setup on the car too and not put too much wear on the motor."
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| Anthony Cross with his faithful Sheane Formula Vee and the Emerson Fittipaldi trophy. Photo: Barry Cregg. |
He proved to be a quick learner by taking a win and a third putting the opposition on the back foot championship wise as he hauled home a nice amount of points where others may have hoped the opposite would have happened. By the time the series visited Mondello Park in July he had one hand on the title again and by the return visit in September he secured his second title in two years.
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| Anthony Cross, left, passes Dan Polley, Sheane, during round seven at Mondello Park in July. Photo: Barry Cregg. |
Having such a good year brings you to the attention of others, championship sponsor and owner of Selco Hygiene Supplies, Diarmuid Hart had much praise for Anthony's efforts this year.
" I have to say Anthony has been great at our brand promotion, at every interview he has his Selco cap on. He is a fantastic driver, a great ambassador for Formula Vee. Probably the coolest driver on the grid under pressure. Sure pressure?? What's that?? For tyres only! Both Anthony and his father Fred are absolute gentlemen, the car is always so well prepared and well turned out. Selco Hygiene Supplies enjoyed sponsoring the national Formula Vee championship, with drivers from all over the country participating and a bit of publicity didn't go astray in promoting our nationwide outlets. Well done and congratulations to Anthony on winning two years in a row and to all the drivers who raced this year."
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| Anthony Cross, Sheane, in action during the Emerson Fittipaldi trophy race. Photo: Barry Cregg |
All that was left was the Emerson Fittipaldi trophy race to finish off the year in style, which he did but he was made to work for it, by Philip Sheane but he secured the double in the end. A great achievement done on a small budget by himself and his dad Fred. So will he go for three in a row? " Ah sure we'll give it a crack anyway! "
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| Anthony Cross with the Emerson Fittipaldi trophy. Photo: Barry Cregg. |
