Race report - Irish Vee

Mondello 09-06-07

Tough Weekend

The team suffered a tough weekend at Mondello Park last weekend as Ken Elliott debuted the new Dunlop livery on his JH004. He could not give the new colours the winning start they deserved as he was hampered by a serious lack of pace that left both him and the team confused all weekend.

cOnce again qualifying was extremely tight and Elliott could only wring a time good enough for the fourth row out of his struggling Leastone. An improvement of a mere 8 hundredths of a second would have seen him promoted to sixth, such was the intensity of the session. Like the last round, Elliott would have an opportunity to improve his grid slot for the main event in the qualifying race, which he lined up 4th for.

During the break, the team worked feverously to rectify a brake problem that the Clondalkin man had suffered and just about got it finished in time for Elliott to take his grid slot. He made yet another lightening getaway and quickly elevated himself to 3rd. He set off in chase of the leaders but just did not have the pace to reel them in. As the race wore on, his situation worsened and he fell into the clutches of the chasing pack. Elliott worked hard to maintain his position but his efforts were in vain and he slipped down the order in the closing stages. He would end up 5th and have to settle for a fourth row grid slot in the final.
In an attempt to find the problem, Paul Heavey focused on the power plant of the JH004, making minor adjustments during the break. Elliott got a decent start but lost out round the outside of turn 1 on the opening lap. From the early stages of the race it was evident that he was still struggling. He set about a damage limitation exercise and was holding onto a solid 7th place when first the safety car deployed followed by the red flag for an incident at turn 1.
The subsequent race would be 8 laps and Elliott was handed a lucky break when the top 2 runners tangled, promoting him to 6th. He looked set for a handful of points when in the final laps of the race, the brake problem from earlier returned causing him to make an unscheduled stop in the gravel at turn 4 and dropping him down to 18th. With only 2 laps remaining, Elliott had no opportunity for a comeback and had to settle for a dismal 17th place.
“The car is handling great but I think the engine is a little off song. We have to work hard before the next round in order to find and solve the problem. We have a fair idea of what it is but we couldn’t do much with it today. It’s a frustrating way to end the weekend” remarked Elliott after a tough days racing.

The Vee’s return to action on July 1st when they are back at Mondello and there is no doubt that the team will be looking to bounce back from this disappointing result.