For a variety of unforeseen reasons, the Car and Superkart race meeting at Kirkistown on Saturday 31st May, covered only ten races. However, those ten provided some of the best racing seen at the circuit in recent times.
The Legends do not use qualifying times to set grid positions. The situation, more or less, is that a draw for position in their first race takes place. Then those positions are reversed for the second race. Next is where it gets complicated. Points are awarded for finishing positions in both races, with high points going to the winners, a lesser and reducing amount for the remaining positions. The driver with the least points, i.e. the one with the poorest finishes, tales pole position for the final race, the next lowest beside him or her and so on.
In race 1, Lee Malone, from Dunboyne, took the lead from pole position but was quickly passed by sixteen year old Nico Franke, from Berlin. Malone reasserted himself on lap 3 and remained in the lead until the final lap when Scott Jackson, from Kilkenny, who had started ninth, took the lead and crossed the finish line less than two hundredths of a second ahead of Malone. Willie Lawrence took the final podium place.
In the second outing for the Legends, Jackson started from second position and took a lead he would not lose on lap 1. Declan Burke, from Cashel, dropped from first to third as Gordon Brown, from Dublin, came past. Seamus Ryan, from Enniscorthy, fought his way through the field to take second place at the end, while Michael Barrable, from Dublin, rose to third place on the road at the finish but was penalised 5 seconds, allowing Burke on to the podium.
In the third and final Legends race, Brown took a commanding lead from the first lap while Malone and Franke fought their ways through the chasing pack. At the end, Brown won by almost 4 seconds, while Malone was less than half a second ahead of Franke.
The first of two Formula Ford 1600 races was an exciting affair. Ronan Doherty, from Dunloy, shot into the lead while Dave Parks, from Ballina made a lightening start from third on the grid to pass Ballymena driver, David McCullough. By lap 3 McCullough was back past Parks and setting off after Doherty. On lap 8 he took the lead but Doherty was always close behind and preparing a move. As they crossed the line on the penultimate lap, Doherty nosed in front but then experienced a gearbox issue, allowing McCullough to get back in the lead to the finish. Doherty nursed his car home in second place and Parks took third. Ricky Simpson, from Apple Valley, California, took a lonely fourth.
The second outing for FF1600 was a nail biter. Once again it was Doherty and McCullough fighting for the lead. Places swapped constantly but at the finish line it was McCullough who took a second win, just 0.1 seconds ahead of Doherty. A similarly fraught battle for third place was going on behind, between Parks and Simpson. The positions swapped many times but 0.3 seconds was the advantage Parks had the end.
As predicted, the current “in form driver”, Aaron Newell, from Ballygowan, dominated an eighteen Superkart field, winning all three races. It wasn’t quite a walk in the park, as Brian Jones, from Craigavon, chased him home for second place in both the first and third races. Liam Fox, from Moira and current holder of the NI plate, was third in Race 1, second in Race 2 and fifth in the final outing. Richard Dewart, from Waringstown took the final podium place in the third race. In the 125 cc class, the wins were taken by Stephen Drury, from Grangebellew, Scott Greenaway, from Armagh and Gavin Dewart, from Waringstown.
In the first of two races for Kirkistown Fiestas, New York driver, Aidan Mulready, lead from the end of lap one, building a final gap of 2.3 seconds over Banbridge driver, Neville Anderson. There was a great battle for third place between Grace McCallion, from Derry, and Conor Mulholland, from Newtownabbey, which was finally resolved in Mulholland’s favour. Mulready took an even more convincing win in the second race, beating Anderson by just over ten seconds. After slight contact with Mulholland at Debtor’s Dip, McCallion took third place.
The next race meeting at Kirkistown in on Saturday 28th June, 2025.
