Kershaw wins in Park

Phoenix Park 12 / 13-8-6

Rather than run with the Formula Libre in the Phoenix Park the Formula 5 organisers came up with a plan to generate the much needed revenue to stage their own race at the prestigious event. A handful of competitors from the UK formula vee championship made the trip over to join the Formula 5’s and the odd Formula ford 1600 on the grid for two races.

Ken Elliott and John Downey made their official formula 5 debuts and surprised everyone by locking out the front row with championship regular Stephen Kershaw behind. 1600 runner Donal Griffan proved a close match for the 5’s when he lined up fourth. David Heavey was sidelined on the opening lap of qualifying when a spark plug blew out leaving him with no option but to miss Saturday’s race.

Downey was the first casualty of the race after some contact at the first corner damaged his front suspension while Elliott raced into an early lead. He had Griffan and Kershaw for company who were trying their hardest to find a way pass the Clondalkin man. When Kershaw slotted into second he tagged the back of Elliott sending his nose cone skywards. This did not seem to affect him in any way as he took the lead by the mid-way point.

He was soon joined by the 1600 of Donal Griffan when Elliott suffered a spectacular blow-out, a resultant of the earlier contact with Kershaw. After a dire qualifying session, Paul Heavey was making serious progress from the back of the grid and was set to join the lead group when he suffered an unusual problem. His front left had acquired a massive blister which in turn caused a huge vibration. He had no option but to retire the car on safety grounds.

Kershaw was maintaining his lead but could not manage to shake Griffan. Entering the chicane in the late stages of the race, he mistimed a downshift which pitched the car into the barriers heavily damaging the car. Between the Formula 5’s causing all manner of damage to each other and Donal Griffan’s late retirement it was one of the UK visitors who triumphed. Bill Burnett steered his Storm safely home to take the chequered flag after an action packed race.

Sunday’s event was a much more sedate affair. Downey threw away his pole position by selecting the wrong gear and bogging down at the start. Kershaw wasted no time in shooting into the lead followed again by Griffan who in turn had Elliott in tow.

Kershaw maturely controlled the gap back to Griffan and never looked challenged for the whole race. Elliott began to struggle with brakes in the middle part of the race which allowed Downey to slip pass. David Heavey was taking a cautious approach from the back of the grid after a stall but was still making some progress through the field. He was closing on the struggling Elliott in the final stages but ran out of laps to finish sixth. Paul Heavey compounded his miserable weekend when he retired with a clutch problem while Kershaw cruised home for an emphatic win ahead of Griffan and Downey.

Championship leader Kevin Gillespie spent the weekend chasing electrical problems which caused his car to coast to a halt in both races, a problem he must solved before the next championship round at Mondello in two weeks (Aug 27th).