In near perfect weather conditions, Hilltown driver, Tony Greenan, dominated the two B.O.S.S. Ireland races at the June Kirkistown meeting for cars and Superkarts on Saturday 22nd. Tony is the current B.O.S.S. Ireland Champion and is leading the Championship standings again in 2024. B.O.S.S. stands for Big Open Single Seater. These cars are the fastest that grace Kirkistown during any season.
In the first race for them, Tony got a great start in his 2.0 Dallara F317 and took the lead. However, Portadown driver, Noel Robinson, made an even better start from seventh in his 3.0 Dallara Nissan and was in second place at the end of the first lap! Dunshaughlin driver, Martin Daly, got a terrible start in his 3.5 Dallara Renault, dropping from third place to seventh. Robinson hounded Greenan for the entire race, setting the fastest lap on the eighth tour, at an average speed of 104.197 M.P.H. but Greenan stayed in control to take the win. Daly produced a great recovery to take third place.
In their second outing, later in the afternoon, a multi car incident brought out the red flags on lap four. Noel Robinson, Michael Connolly, from Bagenalstown, and Stanley Watson, from Lisburn, were eliminated due to car damage. At the restart, Greenan took off into a lead he would not lose. This time Martin Daly rose to second and third place went to Daniel Faherty, in a 2.0 Dallara F311.
The Superkarts were also back for this meeting. In terms of speed, the 250cc class are next quickest to the B.O.S.S. cars. They had three races and in the first one, Craigavon driver, Brian Jones, had a relatively healthy lead until the eighth lap, when his machine cried “enough”! This allowed Comber driver, Alan Crossen, to take the win. Liam Fox, from Moira, who had been keeping Crossen close company, was looking like taking third place until his machine mimicked Jones’ machine and died on the last lap! Ballygowan’s Aaron Newell took the final podium place. In the 125cc class, after an early battle with Scott Greenaway, from Gilford, Lisburn’s Jonathan Bell took the win. Philip Mills, from Dollingstown, was second and Eoin Ryan, from Cashel, was third.
In their second race, due to the temperamental nature of the 250cc machines, and an unfortunate spin for Alan Crossen, only two drivers finished! To be fair to Brian Jones, he had already passed three other drivers to reach second place before the attrition began. On lap four, he took the lead from Liam Fox. Crossen was close behind but a spin exiting Fisherman’s bend resulted in a heavy hit into the barrier and his retirement. That left Jones with the win and Fox taking second place. The 125cc machines were much more reliable. The result was a repeat of race one with Bell winning from Mills in second and Ryan third.
The third Superkart race closed off the day. This time Brian Jones led from start to finish. Liam Fox was in contention, as was Alan Crossen. On lap six, Crossen retired, promoting Aaron Newell to third. That was the finishing order. In the 125cc class Jonathan Bell had a mega battle with Philip Mills, Eoin Ryan and Scott Greenaway. In the end, he took a third win. Ryan was second this time and Greenaway completed the podium.
The first Formula Ford 1600 race was red flagged on lap two, after a major incident at the John Crosslé Chicane that removed Ballymena’s David McCullough and Kill’s Morgan Quinn. At the restart, Celebridge driver, Jason Smyth, took a lead he would not lose. He was around a second per lap faster than Ballymount driver, Stephen O’Connor, who secured second place. Philip Harris, from Saintfield, took third place.
Both McCullough and Quinn managed to have their cars repaired for the second FF1600 race. Once again, Smyth took the lead but he was very closely shadowed by Quinn, O’Connor and McCullough. On lap nine his engine went sick and he retired. Quinn led to the finish and McCullough passed O’Connor to secure second place.
One second covered the first seven cars in the qualifying for the Seat Supercopas. David Maguire Jnr., from Dublin, dropped from pole to fourth on the first lap of their first race. Stephen Wright, from Monaghan, jumped into the lead and Hilltown driver, Paul Parr, went from fifth to second place. Brian Berry, from Dublin, gained one place to third. From lap two to the end, all of the cars maintained their positions in a very fast procession.
The second race for these cars had a bit more action. Eddie Peterson, from Dun Laoghaire, took the lead but he was being hounded by David Maguire Jnr., who had come from fifth place. Max Turley, from Dublin, was soon defending third place from Parr, who was coming from seventh. On lap five Maguire Jnr. took the lead. Five laps later, Parr got past Turley and the podium places were established.
The fourth race on the programme was a combined affair for Roadsports, Libre Saloons and GTs. Mike Ward, from Youghal, dominated the Roadsports class in his Radical PRO 6. Holywood’s John Benson took his Crosslé 37S to second place and Welling’s Steve Morris, who was making a very welcome return after a year on the sidelines, took third place in his Crosslé 42S. In the Libre Saloons, Derry driver, Gavin Kilkey, took the win in his Seat Supercopa from Clonmellon’s Pete Murray, in his BMW 330i. The GT class was populated entirely by Wildcats, three of whom were from the same family! Letisha Conn, from Armagh, in her first ever race, took the win from John Cardoo, from Naas. Letisha’s father, Stephen, took third place.
The same set of drivers, plus Arnie Black, from Banbridge, lined up for the eleventh race in the afternoon. Arnie had not been able to do a decent lap in his Crosslé 37S in qualifying, due to a defective rotor. Thus, he was starting from the rear of the grid. When the lights went out, once again, Mike Ward shot off into the lead but Arnie was on a mission! By the end of lap one he had gone from nineth to fourth. On lap two he passed Steve Morris for third and two laps later he passed John Benson to take second place, setting the fastest lap of the race on lap four. Unfortunately, on lap eight the rotor ate itself again and he retired. Benson finished second and Morris third. Gavin Kilkey took a second win in the Saloons from Pete Murray. In the Wildcats, this time John Cardoo led from start to finish, beating Letisha Conn into second place, ahead of her brother, Bobby, in third.
In the first combined race for Kirkistown Mini Coopers and Kirkistown Fiestas, Tandragee’s Peter Bennett, led from start to finish. Darren Gilmore, from Lisnaskea, and Mark Stewart, from Belfast, had a race long battle, swapping places regularly. This allowed Bennett to get clear. On the final lap, Gilmore passed Stewart once again to secure second place. In the Kirkistown Fiestas, Derek Graham, from Portadown, passed Neville Anderson, from Banbridge, on the first lap, to take the lead. While these two would hold station to the end, a mighty battle for third place was going on between Newtownabbey’s Conor Mulholland, Helenburg’s Stephen Walker and Strangford’s Megan Campbell. After much passing throughout the race, Walker secured the place.
The second outing for these cars was a much closer affair at the front. While, on paper, it shows that Bennett led throughout, at the end, less than one second covered Darren Gilmore in second place and Mark Stewart in third. Derek Graham and Neville Anderson repeated their race one placings in the Fiestas, while Conor Mulholland secured third place.
Dundonald’s Craig Ewing took a dominant win in the first of two Modi-5-Cup races for Mazda MX5s. Rob Kennedy, from Cullaville, had a mishap on the first lap, dropping to eighth place. Meanwhile Francis Allen, from Moira, and Damian Moran, from Newry, were having great fun together over second place. On lap seven Kennedy ambushed Allen and one lap later, he did the same to Moran, to secure second place. On the final tour, Allen got past Moran for third place.
The Modi-5-Cup operate a reversed grid for their second race. Adding to this interest was Ballywalter’s David Cousins, who had taken over Rob Kennedy’s car. He was starting right at the back. At the end of lap one, Jim Kennedy, from Cullaville, had taken the lead, which he would hold for another two laps before Craig Ewing took it over. Cousins was storming through the field and he passed both Moran and Kennedy to take second place on the same lap. These two would hold station to the end but Allen and Moran had resumed their usual battle. This time it was Moran who made a move stick on the final lap to secure third place.
The seventeen-race schedule finished at 5:40pm.
The next race for cars at Kirkistown is on Saturday 27th July and visiting classes include Formula Vees, Globals and Strykers and Future Classics.
Words: DONAL O’NEILL/500 MRCI Photos: JIMMY GRAHAM [Images must not be used in any way without prior written consent of the photographer]
