Race Report - Formula 5

Mondello Park 8-6-8

Daniel Polley and Paul Heavey shared the Formula 5 class spoils at Mondello Park last weekend during two exciting Formula Libre races. Paul Heavey took Mark Reade’s usual mount as the teenager was enjoying a trip to the Isle of Man for the TT races, although he was on hand later in the afternoon to help the team boss fine tune his DH01.
Qualifying was dominated by John Downey in the early part setting a 58.711 on a cold track but Polley save his best for the closing stages when he snatched pole by 0.125 secs. Kevin Gillespie was third quickest with 2 tenths separating the top three. Paul Heavey struggled with an exhaust problem and completed only four laps, some way off the pace.

He began to reel in the Naas man over the following laps – but that was the easy part. Downey used all his experience to line his car up exactly where Polley needed to be and it took many laps before Polley capitalised on Downey’s mistake to sneak by. Meanwhile Paul Heavey got the better of Gillespie but by then Polley and Downey were too far up the road for him to do anything about it.
The race took an interesting twist towards the end when Downey was mistakenly black flagged. He duly returned to the pits with three laps remaining and was informed of the steward’s mistake at which Downey chose to vent his anger fully rather than return to his already ruined race.
Drama continued at the start of the second race when Polley pulled off on the warm up lap with a technical problem. This left Paul Heavey in command of the race as he led away from the lights with Gillespie and Downey in close attendance. Downey easily despatched Gillespie who was struggling badly with an ill handling car. His problems stemmed from a slow puncture that left a totally deflated tyre at the end of the race.

Downey set off in pursuit of the team boss in a rematch of the last round, two weeks previous. Once again Heavey used every bit of his extensive experience to keep Downey at bay so much so that frustration set in and Downey launched a suicidal manoeuvre down the outside into Dunlop corner. A combination of dirty track and Heavey’s unwillingness to accommodate a car out there left Downey without tarmac and bouncing violently off circuit, smashing his front wings and gathering grass in his radiators.
Unbeknown to Downey, that excursion also broke the rear anti roll bar which led to him understeering off the road at the second part of the Esses, as if the car hadn’t already suffered enough. Despite these wild few laps, Kevin Gillespie’s car was so bad that he was unable to take advantage. Heavey cruised to the flag with Downey’s battle scarred car limping home with Gillespie in tow with a severely deflated rear tyre.