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Historic Racing Championship
Mondello Park 12th September
By Gary Fox
Stephen Doyle delivered the performance the crowd had expected when he romped to victory in the Lola at Mondello Park.
Doyle was in unstoppable form in the Lola, romping home to top spot ahead of
Alan Kessie in the Gryphon who edged out David Kelly for second with Jackie Cochrane fighting his way through the entire field to snatch fourth spot.
Doyle has undoubtedly been one of the most consistent and entertaining drivers on the grid and he gave the reasons behind his success, he said ‘The season has gone reasonably well, cant complain, somewhat consistent throughout, one or two mechanical defects mainly at Anglesey with a broken throttle cable but points wise we haven’t fallen into the distance – but all in all a very good season and the car has been very reliable.’
Doyle was debuting the new Lola T212 at Mondello Park and elaborated on the story of the car, he said ‘ she’s a 1972, 1790cc Ford Cosworth engine, the same car won the Silverstone classic in 2008 – it has a little bit of history – ultimately we will probably race it abroad.
Once I get comfortable with it on home territory I think we will try bring it further. At the end of this season we have an option to run on the new circuit on the Algarve – probably another testing weekend before we do that.
Asked about his plans once the hectic racing season comes to a close, Doyle answered with a grin, ‘Put the feet up and stay away from cars. Then over the winter we will do a bit of work on all the cars and decide what we will do for next season. Decide what car we are going to campaign’
Turning his mind towards next season he said ‘Early thoughts, probably to do as much of the Irish season as we can do, maybe with the Elan and events where we can compete in the UK of farther afield with the Lola.
The class has done fantastically well, the Historics have gone from strength to strength – the grid this weekend is proof of that. There’s a great club atmosphere that has been built, guys are out there enjoying their racing.’
Jackie Cochrane started from the very back of the grid after encountering difficulty in qualifying when he had to utilise his spare car after suffering sump damage on his main car after skidding on oil.
Cochrane outlined how his season has progressed, he said ‘Its not easy but enjoyable – The class is getting steadily quicker, so we have to now rethink over the winter time and see what we are going to do, everyone is going quicker – I just hope its not the end of the Sunbeam Tiger days.’
When asked about the new arrivals on the grid he said ‘Beautiful cars, yes, but much quicker, more like sports racing cars than the Sunbeam and it’s hard to compete with them.
When asked if he would consider a change from the Tiger, he said’ Not at the minute, we will see if we can squeeze a bit more out of this’.
The highlight of the season for Cochrane so far has undoubtedly been his trips abroad, he said’ We have raced a lot in England, we are off to Brands Hatch next weekend, we were in Donington a few weeks ago – its much faster over there and the red car is much better suited to it.’
Next season Cochrane is hoping for more of the same high standard of racing and the continued promotion of Historic racing.
Eamonn Harte in the Mini produced an amazing drive to earn a hard fought fifth spot ahead of Bernard Foley in sixth.
Superb weather conditions meant it was a very quick qualifying session with Stephen Doyle in the Lola and David Kelly in the distinctive Crossle making up the front row of the grid with Alan Kessie and Ed Cassidy on the second row.
Leo Nulty continued his recent good form with fifth spot just ahead of Clive Brandon in the Lotus.
It was a bumper field of 22 Historic racing cars for the final Championship round of the season, held under scorching September sunshine on the International circuit at the Kildare venue.
The grid stretching all the way down the long Mondello starting straight included a collection of brightly coloured Minis.
A terrible start from Ed Cassidy saw him slingshot backwards down the grid and he continued to struggle in the early stages of the race.
Cassidy had secured the Championship even before the final race of the season and put the decisive factor down to consistency, he said ‘The car hasn’t missed a beat all year – I haven’t had to look at it.’
Cassidy’s highlight of the year was his victory in Welsh soil, securing a memorable triumph at Anglesey but looking toward next season he hinted he may not take such an active role, he said ‘Next year I am not going to get involved too much in the Championship – although you never know, it might all change next year.’
Ed Cassidy is among the legends of Historic racing and with John McGrane was one of the founding members of the Historic class 25 years ago.
Alan Kessie made an early play for second spot, slipping past David Kelly who had briefly held top spot after edging ahead of Stephen Doyle in the opening corners.
Stephen Doyle soon built up a commanding lead, opening up an eleven second lead after just three laps.
Jackie Cochrane fought his way up for fourth spot after just four laps following his start from the pit lane.
Further back in the field, Orla Cassidy was involved in a battle with Nino Forte.
Cassidy is among a number of women drivers who compete in the Historic class and has been driving her MG Midget for the last three seasons, she outlined how her season went, she said ‘In general it was a great season - In the Phoenix Park I got a great run, we had two races on the Sunday and I had two brilliant races, especially the second one, I was pretty much in front of most of the Midgets.
Leo Nulty was unfortunately forced to retire after just five laps, disappearing into the pits; Nulty had been involved in a great battle with Vinny O’Reilly as they clashed for track position.
It finished with Doyle coming home well ahead of Alan Kessie in the Gryphon and David Kelly in third.
Kelly has been drawing a lot of attention in recent weeks with the acquisition of his new car.
Despite encountering some teething problems including braking issues with his Crossle 9S, Kelly is thrilled with the performance so far, he said ‘The car has been fantastic, does exactly what you want it to do, it’s a great car.’
Looking towards next season, the Greystones man has his eyes on a possible move abroad, ‘If am not here then I will be in the UK – There’s the Masters series over there and it’s a little bit more competitive – but if I can I will do both (The Irish and UK series).
The high point of the season has been the Park, winning the first race, was great, couldn’t ask for better. I would like to do a bit of double driving with Stephen (Doyle) in a couple of decent races, hour and a half, two hour races, that would be the plan.’
The endurance races take place as part of the Masters series and are hosted across the UK also making visits to Spa and Belgium.
Speaking about the Lola T212 driven by Stephen Doyle, he said ‘We have nicknamed it the Tasmanian Devil, its growls at you as it goes by.’
Kelly has provisional plans to end the season in the under the much sunnier skies of the Algarve.
When quizzed about his plans for the off season he said ‘We might do some end of season testing but that’s about it, otherwise put the feet up’.
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