Waterford Raceway were up against it in a couple of respects leading up to Round 10 of their Driver of the Year Championship on 15 October. The first potential problem was the threatened arrival of Hurricane Ophelia. As the weekend approached it appeared that the impact of the worst storm to hit Ireland since 1961 was moving from the west and north to the whole of the south coast, but looking on the bright side, Ophelia would only hit land on Monday morning, so everyone could enjoy a day’s racing before worrying about it. With dull, damp and drizzly weather coming ahead of the storm, the biggest concern was the threat of fog descending on the track, which is about the only thing that can put a full stop to racing at the Pike, but fortunately the mist stayed over the hills.

The second problem was slightly more frustrating. Although the whole Irish racing community had been delighted by the re-opening of the Tipperary Raceway the previous week, the new management at Rosegreen needed to make up for the two month closure by scheduling additional dates, and moving others, which meant that they’d now clash with the Pike’s last two race days, which had been carefully planned to avoid clashes with Rosegreen’s original fixture list. Irish Hot Rod racing very much needs both these venues in neighbouring counties to thrive. Although they’re very different tracks and to an extent cater for different levels of racing (international ORCi classes at Rosegreen and club racing at the Pike) there’s still a big overlap in their support. Looking at the results from this week’s clashing meetings we reckon that both tracks were around a dozen to fifteen cars short as a result of the clash (across the Production/Class 1, Junior, Premier Rod/Stocks and Open Hot Rod classes) with maybe a bigger effect on the spectator banks (as many Pike racers like to support Rosegreen as spectators).

The combined effect was the smallest turnout for a while, with 45 cars and 46 drivers signed on, but despite the damp and tricky track conditions, there was a full day of very competitive racing with no major incidents – although in view of the conditions, the safety-first approach meant a number of red flags after relatively harmless spins and breakdowns.

The three JUNIOR classes were well supported as usual. In the ROOKIES, the first two heats, with drawn/reversed grids, were won by Darragh Healy and Ian Kelleher, both just holding on to their race-long leads. The third round, with a handicap start, saw Liam Kiersey in front, taking a good win over Darragh Healy, Tadgh Foley, Brian Scannell, Ian Kelleher, Ross Ryan and Toby McGuire. Completing the field after a very promising debut was the latest addition to one of the Pike’s leading racing families, Conor Fitzgerald. Darragh Healy was top points scorer for the day’s trophies, with Liam Kiersey second and Brian Scannell and Tadgh Foley joint third.

JUNIOR CLASS 1b saw plenty of close action with Cathal McGivern and Evin Harding taking the two heats. The final needed two restarts before a tangle between Luke O’Donovan’s Starlet and the Micras of Ben Dunlea and Aiden Heney brought out the reds, just after Cathal McGivern had made it through from the back to take the lead from Ben Furlong. Other contenders were Joey Dilworth and Pike newcomer Cian Clancy. Cathal McGivern won overall from Ben Furlong and Aiden Heney.

The Modified JUNIOR CLASS 1 unusually featured runaway wins in the two heats with Cian Deasy and Jack Hickey taking the honours. The final race saw Alex Loftus also taking a convincing win, chased by Mark O’Connor’s Starlet which held off Jack Hickey, Jack Pollard (again sharing Anita’s Starlet), Cian Deasy and points leader Ronan Foley uncharacteristically bringing up the rear, just proving how evenly matched this group are. Overall winner was Jack Hickey from Mark O’Connor and Cian Deasy.

The LADIES laid on some of the day’s best entertainment. The three Wexford girls, Jamie and Katie Egan and Chantelle Wallace, headed the first race while Anita Pollard and Anita Lonergan stayed in front in race two after Jamie and Katie’s close racing got a bit too close! In the final Anita Lonergan, having recovered from chucking a front wheel into the woods during the first race, held off the advances of Chantelle and Jamie for a good win. The trophies all went to Wexford with Katie first, Chantelle second and Jamie third.

The STOCKS class suffered more than the others from the Rosegreen clash but still proved very competitive. Joe Fitz won the first round in the Almera while the two Mazdas of Paul and Brian Weston held off the pack in a very close second heat. Brian Weston’s day, after an incident packed practice and first race, continued to improve as he passed Alan Houlihan’s Lantra to head the final, holding off Jamie Condon’s Carisma to win, with Joe Fitz, Paul Weston and Alan Houlihan close behind after Marty O’Riordan had problems with the Focus. Jamie took the overall win from Brian and Joe.

The senior groups were split into two, with Class 1, 2 and 3 and Class 4, 5 and 6 racing together, just contesting two rounds of class racing to ensure that everyone was ready for the big cup race at the end of the day.

CLASS 1 saw Michael Baldwin take maximum points ahead of newcomer Raymond Barry and Jamie Condon.

In CLASS 2 Stephen Healy’s Fiat-powered Starlet was the only contender while in CLASS 3 the battle continued between Alan D’Arcy’s Starlet-Suzuki and Ronan Waters’ Starlet-Honda, with Alan coming out on top.

Peadar Wall’s 1600 8-valve 206 was the only CLASS 4 entry, but CLASS 5 was contested by a trio of Honda-powered Starlets. Birthday boy Andy O’Brien shared the honours with Andy Foley while the third of the Wexford drivers, Craig Kinsella, had problems with his newly finished car (we don’t think we’ve ever seen Craig race the same car twice!). In CLASS 6 Donal Linehan’s 206-Honda won both races outright, chased by Brian Whelan’s Nissan-powered 205 and Martin Fitz’s Colt.

The main event of the day was the 20-lapper for the DICK MACKEY CUP.  All the runners from Classes 1 to 6 were eligible and 12 cars made the grid, with nearly two laps difference in the start handicap between the leading Class 1s and Donal Linehan at the back. Raymond Barry set off well to lead for three laps, before Jamie Condon took over, but Alan D’Arcy was making very fast and undramatic progress in the slippery conditions and made it past the battling Class 1s of Jamie and Michael Baldwin while they were trying to find a way by some theoretically quicker cars at the back of the field. After 16 laps there was obviously no way Alan was going to be caught as the red flags came out when Brian Whelan coasted to a halt. Alan was a proud winner of the trophy with Jamie Condon in second from Michael Baldwin, Ronan Waters, Stephen Healy, Donal Linehan, Peadar Wall, Andy Foley, Andy O’Brien, Raymond Barry and Martin Fitz.

A good race to round off a well-run meeting, leaving everyone looking forward to the 2017 championship decider on November 12.