Phoenix Park Races 2009

Ken & Dave report back in a blog on the weekend

Keno

We arrived in the park on Friday afternoon taking two trips to drop the four vees up. Morgan was in his own car while i borrowed Dan's car Dave Heavey was in the spare car and Paul was driving Ray Moore's new vee. By six o clock we were through scrutiny and set up for the weekend and we could chill out for the evening.

Up at 7.30 on to get ready for qualifying which would be 3 laps behind the safety car and then 10 minutes to get 2 fast laps. The fastest lap would be grid position for race 1 and the 2nd fastest being your grid position for race 2. On the last pace car lap the field slowed and Paul hit the back of another car breaking his rear suspension which wasn't a great start. I managed to catch and pass a few cars and even though the engine didn't feel right i felt i'd done reasonable times. When I came back in I found out I was 2nd on the grid for both races behind Stapo so that was good, Morgan was 12th and the 2 Heavey's at the back of the grid, Paul because of his suspension failure and Dave because of a slipping clutch. Saturday was full of delays so our 1st race was postponed til Sunday morning meaning we had no work to do on Saturday night.

Sunday morning was another early start and a morning warm up was on for anyone who needed it. Morgan felt he needed more laps to learn the circuit and Dave and Paul went out to make sure their cars were ok, I was happy enough to sit it out. No problems this run and all cars came back in one piece and all drivers happy. For the race I was determined to nail Stapo off the line. When the flag dropped I got off the line ok but dropped to 5th on the run to the 1st corner but got back to 2nd around the outside of turn 1 settling in behind Garry Newsome. Robbie Allen Was then putting me under serious pressure and we swapped places a couple of times but he eventually got ahead and pulled a gap. My engine problem wasn't helping and a couple of small mistakes meant I'd dropped to 9th mid race in a very close battle. Then coming out of Furry Glen Mark Horan hit the back of Stapo and went straight up in the air. An opportunist move saw me gain 3 places because of the incident and I worked my way back up to 4th when the flag came out.
Unfortunately I was the only KERS Leastone to finish the race, Paul going out early on with gear selection problems, Dave hit Stapo late in the race and damaged his steering and Morgan retired on the last lap with clutch problems. Not a great race for the team but well done to Garry Newsome..

There was a lot of work to be done on the cars in the 2 hours before the next race for the Emmerson Fittipaldi cup. Dave fixed his steering while Paul sorted out his gear problems, chief mechanic Chris set about changing Morgans clutch and i worked on oil pressure problems on my own car. We managed to get all the cars ready with minutes to spare and were all back on the grid for the big race. I lined up 2nd with Morgan 12th and Paul and Dave coming from the back. When the flag dropped I managed to jump Stapo but again Garry flew into the lead from the 2nd row. I settled into 2nd and was pushing hard to catch Garry when i clipped the exit of the chicane and was lucky not to damage the car. Robbie Allen was again on my case and my engine was getting slower every lap! Robbie got past me and I was loosing ground to him when the safety car came out due to an incident involving Kershaw,Stapo and David Parkes.
On the restart Garry and Robbie pulled a gap on me but more importantly i had a big gap to the car behind. I knew i couldn't win the race because my engine was getting worse so all i could do was push like crazy to keep Springy and Stapo behind me who I could see getting closer and closer in my mirrors. Meanwhile up front Garry and Robbie were going at it hammer and thongs swapping the lead between them when suddenly on the last lap Garry's car slowed coming out of the last corner and I was up to 2nd. Behind me Stapo had passed Springy and was right on my tail and trying everything to find away around me. However I was able to hold him off for the last couple of corners and crossed the line just ahead of him and Springy.
Congrats to Robbie Allen on a great win.

2nd was a good result considering my engine problems, Dave also having a great run to 5th from the back of the grid and Morgan having his best ever finish of 7th. Paul's bad luck continued with another dnf. All in all it was a great weekend with a good turn out of spectators. KERS motorsport would like to thank the organisers for the huge effort they put in to making the event happen.

Dave

With the new paddock layout, it was up early doors to make it to the Park before the roads were closed. Leaving Kildare at 7am with mammy and sister in tow was no mean feat and I was also sidetracked with some last minute phone calls from Pops to collect some spares from the workshop! With scrutiny out of the way on Friday and the KERS Leastone ready to rock, I could kick back and enjoy Uncle John’s legendary breakfast as we psyched up for qualifying scheduled at 1045. It being the Park, I was flat out branding newly painted cars from the Total Formula 5’s, to the Spire sportscar and the seemingly never ending task of sticking Stena Lines and Dunlops to our nosecones!

Lots of waiting was involved before qualifying as the deer played havoc on track. With the paddock layout, it was very difficult for us to grasp what exactly was going on track but otherwise the paddock was superb. After a lengthy delay, qualifying was underway. However, even before I reached Mountjoy I knew I was in trouble. In order to accommodate my 6’5” frame, we had to adjust the pedals and like a dumbass, I forgot to compensate the clutch adjustment at the gearbox end which meant I had a slipping clutch before I even reached the racetrack. Careful not to overheat the clutch, I cruised around to get the 3 required timed laps and returned to the paddock. 18th on the grid wasn’t great but I was confident enough because I knew the park is one of the easier tracks to pass around.

Any thoughts of feeling sorry for myself disappeared when Dad’s Vee arrived back on the wrecker after rearranging its rear suspension at Mountjoy as the timed session was about to begin. So it was time to tool up and get that fixed seen as I had my car fixed in all of 6 mins! One trailing arm, axle boot and suspension push rod later and he was good to go. In the meantime he managed to qualify his Formula 5 8th overall in Formula Libre and put the Spire on the front row for Saloon Libre.
Busy times.

After all that drama we were left to stand around and wait for race one but with the timetable getting seriously delayed I was beginning to have my doubts. Sure enough when we eventually made it to the dummy grid we were told the race had to be postponed and run early in the morning. I was fuming. It was a quick change out of my gear and then to make a beeline for a wedding reception in Laois. All this rearranging meant I had to be at the track in preparation for a race at 1130 as opposed to 1500 but hey, these things happen.

Sunday morning wasn’t as painful as I thought and I arrived at the Park in plenty time for the morning warm up. I had no real problems and was feeling good in preparation for the race apart from a girly blister on my gear change hand! I made a good start from 18th and was well inside the top ten by the end of first lap. It was pretty hectic but try as I might, I couldn’t really make much of an impression. I was struggling a bit on the long park straights and was falling away from the 2-6th battle when I arrived into Turn 1 and tagged the back wheel of John Stapleton breaking the steering and leaving me parked in a nice viewing spot. I was pretty pissed with myself as I thought I’d badly misjudged all the boys braking in front of me but Stapo informed that there was a schmozzle in the middle of the corner and everyone was stood hard on the anchors. I’ll put that one down to experience...

The marshals informed me that we’d have to wait to get the car back so I got to watch the saloon libre. Dad managed to stall not once but twice and drop to last but he scythed his way through the field and was homing in on the leaders when he ditched it at Mountjoy, ruining the front end of the lovely sportscar. And they wonder where I get it from....

We got the car back to the paddock and after some new steering blocks were put in place we were ready for business again. My start wasn’t quite as impressive as the first one because everyone seemed aware of the hard shoulder trick that worked so well and I think I came out of Turn 1 last! A pass with 2 wheels on the grass rectified this and just as I was chastising myself for such a risky move, I look up and here’s Dad passing 2-3 cars in the same way!

It was all a bit chaotic from there on in but this is the price you pay for qualifying so far down. Exiting Dublin Crystal on lap 2 I managed to ram Dad as he lost gears but luckily I got away with minimal damage. The chaos continued when Steve Kershaw got into bother exiting the chicane causing a concertina effect which saw David Parkes exit stage left into a huge earth mound and me getting all manner of crossed up avoiding someone who decided to jam on the brakes! Luckily the safety car was deployed, which gave me a chance to clean out my jocks in preparation for the final 7 mins.

I was tucked up behind Stapo in 8th for the restart but I could only just about hold onto him and the lead train. I had some seriously enjoyable laps driving flat out (getting a little intimate with the chicane more than once...) and was gifted 6th place when Mark Horan and Lloyd Murphy got friendly at Dublin Crystal. That became 5th when Garry Newsome ground to a halt with flames belching from his exhaust. I pushed as hard as I dared to stay in touch with the cars ahead but brought it home 5th, somewhat disappointing but not bad when I think of where I started!

So that was my third park over, hopefully we will see it again next year. Many thanks to everyone who made it happen, from the organisers, to the stewards, to the marshals and the paddock staff. Also a major thanks to my sponsors Stena Line, Dunlop, Total Finol and Johnber without whom the weekend wouldn’t have been possible. And a special thanks to Ken Elliott for trusting me with his car for the weekend. I brought it home in one piece....kind of!