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Wexford’s Ballymurn Hot Rod Club has been enjoying good turnouts
and excellent racing so far in the club’s third full season, so
their first major cup meeting of the year seemed a good
opportunity for us to pay our annual visit to Ireland’s newest
race track.
The
unique long Ballymurn track, with its up and downhill layout,
banked corners and soft run-off areas, was in its usual perfect
condition to greet drivers coming from far and wide. These days
there are just four independent dirt Hot Rod clubs in Ireland,
one in Wexford, one in East Cork and two further north in
Kildare, so although these clubs all exist primarily to provide
local racing, a few drivers are starting to explore the other
tracks. A few weeks earlier we’d seen the Wexford racers very
strongly represented at Ballyshannon, and this time drivers
travelled to Wexford from both East Cork and the second Kildare
track at Carbury. We’re sure all these drivers will tell you
what a warm welcome they received in Wexford, just as any
visitor to Ballymurn can expect.
Ballymurn’s variant on the normal Irish class structure, with
Classes 1, 2 and 3 all split into “standard” and “modified”
groups gives a bit of extra flexibility in mixing classes on the
day. The first race is run from an Autograss style straight line
start at the bottom of the hill, and then the following rounds
are handicapped on drivers’ best results so far – which very
successfully mixed up the order and produced plenty of close
racing.
CLASS
1S
ran on its own, with East Cork visitor Jack Hickey winning the
first race after an initial challenge from Owen Doolan’s boxy
Micra. The second round saw James O’Toole’s 16 valve-engined K10
Micra leading the way as Jack Hickey battled through to second.
Third time out the visiting drivers were again to the fore, but
this time Jack Hickey was narrowly beaten by Kildare driver
Jason O’Neill, representing Carbury well with a 16 valve Micra
engine in a Peugeot 106 shell. Also well in contention was
regular Wexford racer John Fernihough’s K11 Micra.
Alex
Cooney’s well-prepared 8 valve K10 Micra was the only entry in
CLASS 1M and he raced with CLASS 2S, which
featured Mick Boland in a Toyota-powered Starlet and Kyle Stamp,
with a bigger engine now in the Daihatsu that he used so
successfully as a Junior. In the first two rounds the Class 2s,
headed by Mick, couldn’t stay with Alex, but on a watered track
in the third round Kyle held off Mick for the overall win.
CLASS
2M
featured a varied trio of cars; Daryl O’Connor’s Fiat
Cinquecento, Benji Cullen’s Mitsubishi-powered Corsa, and Jimmy
Boland armed with the ex-Aidan Murphy NASA Class 4 Fiat Uno, now
with a 1300 engine. They were joined by Mick Lambert is a
Nissan-powered K10 Micra that was the only car in CLASS 3A.
In the first heat the action got a bit too close between Mick
and Benji, while Jimmy Boland shot off into the distance, but
second time out they settled down with Jimmy not quite catching
Mick Lambert for the overall win. Darryl’s Fiat went well but
expired in the second round. The third race saw Jimmy again in
front of the battle between Benji and Mick.
The
busiest class of the day was CLASS 3M, with eleven of the
quick 1400 FWD cars, ten of them Honda-powered, needing split
heats. The first group was headed in the first race by Joe
Cowman’s Micra K11, chased by Andy Foley in one of his older
Starlets, Bob Breen in a newly built Starlet, Boo Mahon’s Micra
K11, Michael O’Neill, who was the odd one out with Toyota power
in his Starlet, and Jamie Egan’s Starlet. The second run for
this group saw Jamie leading most of the way, surviving a coming
together with Bob Breen, but eventually Joe Cowman came through
to win again from Jamie and Andy Foley, while Boo Mahon pulled
out. In the third round they were all chasing Bob Breen, but the
rapid Joe Cowman, having a rare outing in his son’s car, came
through to win yet again, with a last lap sort out seeing Andy
Foley, Michael O’Neill and Bob crossing the line three abreast.
The
second group was led first time out by Anthony Moran’s Micra,
chased by Ciaran Fortune’s Starlet, Barry Stone’s K10 Micra and
Alan Benson’s Starlet, with Pat Nolan retiring his new Starlet.
Their next race soon became just a two car battle, but it was
one of the best races of the day with Ciaran Fortune and Anthony
Moran side by side virtually all the way, Ciaran just holding
Anthony off at the finish. Third time out Anthony took the lead
but was sent off course with a puncture, letting Ciaran lead
again, chased by Andy Foley’s car (maybe Boo Mahon driving?)
with Barry Stone retiring.
Unfortunately there were no entries in Class 4 or 5 this time,
but CLASS 6 featured three Honda Vtecs plus Craig
Fenlon’s lovely sounding Mivec-V6-powered Colt (a regular in
Class 6 Autograss this year). The first race was a battle
between Craig and Wes Martin’s Honda-powered Colt, with Wes just
winning, while John Doyle’s Starlet took third from David
Martin’s slowing Starlet. The second race saw Craig drop back with
a puncture as Wes Martin won again. David Martin was still
struggling and John Doyle lost drive at the end. Craig took a
good lead in the third race but another puncture intervened
before the front corner collapsed altogether, ending his day
with a ride on the forklift as Wes took another win. Racing with
them was the one entry in CLASS 7 (Specials). Mikey
Benson returned with his Vtec powered ex-NASA Class 9 chassis
and made spectacular progress before loading up after two races.
There
were three entries in the LADIES, including East Cork’s
Catherine Walsh on her first visit to Ballymurn. Catherine’s
Class 1 Micra just lost out in the first race to the Class 2 car
of experienced local racer Amanda Lambert, with young Katie
Nolan’s Micra in third. Katie was rapidly gaining in confidence
as she led the second race, no doubt urged on by Jamie Egan in
the passenger seat, until she spectacularly rolled out of the
lead. She was back in the very battered Micra for the next race,
won unchallenged by Catherine after Amanda had problems at the
start.
The
JUNIORS raced in “experienced” and “beginners” groups, with
a further split needed as eight drivers signed on for the
experienced group. The two four car grids produced very close
fought racing, with David Browne (this week in a K10 Micra)
beating Conor Murphy and Niall Doolan in the first race. Next
time out Jack Cooney held them all off for the lead and in their
third race David Browne again just beat Conor Murphy, with Niall
Doolan getting spun into a marker tyre on the last corner. The
second group started with the Starlet of Barry Brady, who’s been
racing both on dirt at Carbury and tarmac at Coolronan, battling
with local boy Jake Stamp’s new Micra, but East Cork’s Shane
O’Shea nipped past both of them to take the win. The next race
saw Shane again demonstrate his racecraft as he one by one
picked off the battling Barry and Jake, and then the race leader
David Hamilton, who then got spun out while defending second. It
was the same again in the third race; David leading the way
while Shane judged every gap right to work his way to the front
on the last lap.
The
JUNIOR BEGINNERS raced with the day’s biggest single grid of
seven cars and brought out the day’s first red flag when Thomas
Sinnott’s Yaris collected a marker tyre while leading the first
heat. After the restart he chased back to second behind Ryan
Goldsmith’s Micra. The second race was won by Shane Roe’s Fiat
Uno, chased by new boy Josh Power, looking very promising in his
boxy Micra, and Jack Nolan’s Micra. The third race saw Thomas
Sinnott back in front and this time leading all the way, with
Alex Deveraux’s Micra next up ahead of Ryan Goldsmith, Josh
Power, Shane Roe and the now mis-shapen Micra of Jack Nolan
(quickly hammered into shape after Katie’s roll). Jack Kennedy
spun out of contention after consistent results in the first few
races.
That
just left the main races of the day, for the Betty and Jim
Murphy Memorial Cups.
The
LADIES’ CUP race was led for a couple of laps by Katie
Nolan, before Catherine Walsh took over, holding off Amanda
Lambert. They got a bit too close at one stage, with Catherine
turned sideways and Amanda taking to the infield, but Amanda
closed up again and saved her move for the last corner, grabbing
the inside line to take the cup from Catherine and Katie.
The
JUNIOR CUP race started from a closed up 8-car grid with the
top qualifiers at the front. David Browne took off into a good
lead, but Shane O’Shea reeled him in and completed the ten laps
to take the cup back to East Cork, with David chasing in second.
Barry Brady came out in front of a good scrap for third, ahead
of Jake Stamp, Jack Cooney, David Hamilton, Conor Murphy and
Niall Doolan.
The
BEGINNERS’ CUP race followed and, after consistent scoring
during the day earned him a front row start, Jack Kennedy led
all the way, holding off an early challenge from Thomas Sinnott
before the close racing for second let Jack pull out a few
yards’ lead. Alex Deveraux snatched second on the last lap with
Thomas Sinnott third from Josh Power, Ryan Goldsmith, Shane Roe
and Jack Nolan.
Ten of
the thirteen qualifiers survived the day to line up for the
MEN’S CUP race. Jason O’Neill and Jack Hickey raced for the
lead before Alex Cooney came through, chased by Jimmy Boland.
After a couple of laps of side by side racing, though, Jimmy was
off into the sand trap, leaving Alex with a good lead which he
maintained for the rest of the ten laps to take the cup. Ciaran
Fortune came through to second, chased by Joe Cowman, with the
finishers completed by Mick Lambert, Jack Hickey and Jason
O’Neill. Mick Boland, Wes Martin and Benji Cullen all retired.
Finishing the day was an ALLCOMERS race for the
non-qualifiers. Damian Murphy joined in for his first race in 20
years in his son’s Junior car, while Patrick Lambert appeared in
a Toyota-powered Micra that had sat in the unloading area all
day, apparently with its battery wired the wrong way round!
Anthony Moran took the win chased by Wes Martin’s car (maybe not
with Wes driving?), Damien Murphy and Jamie Egan.
That
just left post race checks on the cup winners’ cars before they
were all declared legal and the impressive selection of cups was
handed out to complete another excellent day of racing at
Ballymurn. Thanks to all at the club for their help and
hospitality through the day – a most enjoyable place to go
racing!
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