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WATERFORD RACEWAY ROUND 5

The Pike 18 May 2025

Round 5 of the Waterford Raceway championship (remembering of course that there was no round 2, and rounds 3 and 4 were a double-header, so this was the third weekend’s racing) also featured the first of this year’s titled cup events, for the Tom Murray Memorial Shield, a trophy with a lot of history and prestige attached to it.

The warm, sunny weather couldn’t have been better, although one problem was that this weekend virtually every motorsport venue in Ireland was in action, which, together with one or two regulars taking holidays, resulted in another small turnout, with 31 cars arriving. That cut the usual programme down to five races in each round, but allowed a bit of extra time to sort out the main cup race, and, as usual at the Pike, close and spectacular racing was the order of the day, with thanks to the day’s main sponsor, Jim Scannell Motor Factors.

The PRODUCTION JUNIORS’ numbers haven’t recovered yet from the exceptional proportion of last year’s field who moved on to senior classes, and racing opened with just a four-car grid. Eoin Robinson led the first heat all the way, chased by Ben Fitzgerald, Luke O’Connell, the only one of last year’s Rookies class to move up so far, and Danny Harney, still having a few car problems on his second Pike outing. Second time out Ben Fitzgerald headed the field, chased by Eoin, with Luke and Danny not far behind. Ben took another win in the final, chased hard by Eoin, with Luke third and Danny getting quicker with each race, leading the first couple of laps in this one. Overall, Ben was the day’s winner, from Eoin and Luke.

The JUNIOR ROOKIES had a bigger field with eight cars providing competitive racing, to show that the Junior numbers should get a boost next year, at least. The first race saw Sean D’Arcy take his third win in three meetings by holding on all the way in front of Cayden Leahy, with Anna Fitzgerald coning through from the back to take third from Keelan Gleason, while Tom Robinson, James Leahy, Ruby McCarthy and Katelyn O’Connell battled for the other places. Tom Robinson passed Ruby McCarthy for the lead in heat two, and then Tom led all the way to the flag, while Anna Fitzgerald again came through well to take second from Ruby.

Keelan Gleason took a good lead in the final, but the red flags came out after Ruby McCarthy and Tom Robinson tangled, with Ruby unable to take the restart. Keelan fought for the lead with Katelyn O’Connell, but as soon as Keelan was in front, Anna Fitzgerald came along and took it from him. Anna then held off Tom Robinson for the win. Sean D’Arcy took third on the last lap, from Keelan, James and Cayden Leahy and Katelyn. Anna won overall, from Tom and Sean.

CLASS 1 had a seven car grid; with the exceptions of Killian and Callum Swayne, all were graduates of last year’s Juniors. With a few tweaks to his car, Paddy Fitzgerald was going really well to lead the first heat, only losing out with two laps to go as Killian Swayne caught him, after Killian had emerged from a hectic battle for second. In a last lap sort out Callum Swayne took second, from the immaculate new car of Jack Roche and Aoibhe Fitzgerald, with Paddy getting shuffled down to fifth from Conor Hoey, who held second for half the race. Adam Rooney pulled off in the closing stages. In the second race it was Conor Hoey who got away at the front and built up a big lead as everyone else squabbled over second. Once they’d sorted themselves out, Callum Swayne and Jack Roche closed on Conor, but couldn’t quite catch him as Killian, Aoibhe, Cillian and Paddy stayed locked together.

The final was led for five laps by Cillian Rooney, but Conor Hoey got out in front again to take another good win, with Jack Roche this time just beating Callum Swayne for second. It all got a bit too close behind, with Cillian Rooney spinning on the last corner; Killian Swayne and Aoibhe finished side by side, but unfortunately with a penalty for Killian and a black flag for Aoibhe, while Cillian Rooney was put back in the result, ahead of Paddy Fitz. Overall, Callum Swayne won by one point over Conor Hoey, with Jack Roche third.

CLASSES 2 and 3 raced together, with three evenly matched Micras in Class 2 and five variously powered Starlets in Class 3. Pat Nolan brought daughter Katie Egan’s older Starlet along (Katie herself being away on holiday) and led the first heat before being caught by Sean Foley’s two Starlet-Hondas – this time Sean’s older car had David Browne at the wheel as David’s own Micra had blown up once too often. It was David who came through to win from Sean Cass, in an unfamiliar white Starlet and Pat Nolan, with Sean Foley just beating Darragh Healy’s Fiat-powered version. The Class 2 battle caught this group, Davan Leahy beating Liam Kiersey after Conor Fitzgerald dropped out.

The second race was stopped and rerun after a spin for Pat Nolan, although Pat soon pulled out of the rerun. Sean Foley came through to lead, but was under pressure from David Browne and Sean Cass, with David just having his nose ahead when the red flags came out again. This time it was the three Class 2 Micras that had all tangled, with Liam Kiersey performing a quick roll before landing back on his wheels. The result was called with Sean Foley just ahead of David Browne and Sean Cass over the line, while Liam was awarded the Class 2 win over Davan and Conor.

They all made the final, although Liam pulled out early on. Sean Cass soon passed Pat Nolan for the Class 3 lead and Sean then pulled well clear to take the win as the battle for second ended with David Browne in front of Darragh Healy, Sean Foley and Pat Nolan. Joining this bunch was Conor Fitz, who held off Davan Leahy all the way to win Class 2. Overall, Class 2 went to Davan from Liam and Conor and Class 3 was won, in the borrowed car, by David Browne from Sean Cass and Sean Foley.

The last class racing was CLASS 4 with four entries, including Raymond D’Arcy, this time in his RWD spaceframe Fiesta, with 1600 Opel power. The first race saw Andy Foley come through very quickly to win in his Starlet-Honda, with Raymond a close second ahead of the Starlet-Hondas of Craig Kinsella and Mike Sigerson. The second race saw Raymond sandwiched between the two red Starlets, with Craig winning from Raymond and Andy. This battle continued in the final, after Mike Sigerson led the first few laps. Andy held on in front but slowed up slightly coming off the last corner, which gave Craig the chance to edge ahead of Raymond for second. Andy won overall from Craig and Raymond.

Before the main Cup race there was an extra race for Class 1; with the old Class 1B having taken the place of Class 1 this year, the Cup races have been defined as being for Class 2 to 6 cars – i.e. anything on racing rubber. The road-tyred Class 1s, together with the Stocks and potentially some of the ladies, will have their own cup race, although this time it was just for Class 1. This made up for the bad luck Cillian Rooney had suffered earlier in the day as, with a decent handicap at the start, he led all the way to pick up the trophy. Aoibhe Fitzgerald held second with first Conor Hoey and then Killian Swayne trying to get past on the outside, but the one who finally managed it was Jack Roche, taking second from Callum Swayne, Aoibhe and Conor, while Killian pulled off after getting assisted into the scenery.

The TOM MURRAY MEMORIAL TROPHY race brought out ten of the potential twelve cars for the 20-lap race, with the start handicapped round a full lap. After two false starts, Liam Kiersey led the first two laps before pulling off, leaving Davan Leahy and Conor Fitzgerald racing side-by-side for the lead. Sean Foley closed in to challenge, but just as he did so, Raymond D’Arcy’s Fiesta came flying past. Raymond had got all technical after the class racing and made a tweak to the setup that seemed to have transformed the car. Once in front Raymond pulled out a big lead and reeled off the rest of the twenty laps to take the flag, and get his name on a trophy that puts him in excellent company! Further back Sean Foley, Darragh Healy and Conor Fitz all pulled off while Craig Kinsella just managed not to hit anything when he dramatically overshot the pit gate bend. David Browne had another very good race to beat Andy Foley and Davan Leahy for second, with Sean Cass the only other finisher.

An early finish allowed plenty of time to enjoy the rest of the day’s sunshine, while looking forward to Waterford Raceway’s next event, another double-header on 28/29 June.