Motormouth: Vee Festival Preview

So it’s Festival time at Mondello- Formula Vee Festival that is. Once again, the Vee boys have excelled in the preparation and promotion of this event. It will run over two days with a few heats on the Saturday and semis and the all important final on Sunday. Lee Newsome & Ray Moore have done all the winning this year but Kevin O’Hara showed blinding pace at the last meeting, smashing the lap record, and will surely be one to watch in his LOH-modified Leastone. Dan Polley is looking for a return to form and he is joined by Rob Casey, Dave Kelly, Adam McAuley, Ian Campbell with potential to spring a surprise. Fina Oils, MicksGarage.ie and Dunlop have come on board as sponsors and Fina in particular have been very active in social media outlets in recent weeks …..

There will be an F1 simulator in the paddock and the fastest racer, from any class, over the weekend will win the Motorsport.ie trophy. Expect that to be as close fought as the Vee Final!!

Incredibly, Race2Race winner John Greaney looks like he may well be heading for a fairytale title in his first season of racing. Having never competed before, Greaney progressed through an indoor karting event to the final at Mondello Park, where the Race2Race guys stepped back and let the Mondello Instructors do the judging. They obviously know their stuff as they appear to have picked a good ‘un- he currently leads the Touring Class title chase. Keith Rabbitt was his main opposition but his title hopes were dashed by an exclusion in Anglesey as he fought back against an apparently disgruntled Super Touring class driver. It is not all plain sailing for Greaney as the constantly improving trio of Aimee Kershaw, Kevin Moran and Cian Carey will we snapping at his heels as they chase their respective first wins. In the Touring class, series leader Phil Brennan has been going well (he won’t be mailing to complain about THIS article!) against a horde of Hondas but former karter Rob Butler showed plenty of pace and racecraft to take the double win last time the class visited Mondello and he will be hard to beat. Others to watch out for are Gar Hayden, Rob Savage and the quick but erratic Brian Fitzpatrick. Of course if Johnny “Maximus” Whelan decides to enter, that could all change. Depends on the size of the trophy I suppose!!!

This weekend should also see Kevin Sheane and Brian Hearty finally go head to head in Formula Sheane. At the last Mondello they had swapped places twice before Hearty pulled in with an electrical problem, he assures me this will never happen again- every connection on the car has been checked and checked again! Tristan quinn should have the pace to challenge them, as will Anton Savage, if the officials leave him alone for once! Robbie Allen and Sean Hynes have also been going well this year so don’t discount them and former Veester Lloyd Murphy could spring a surprise on his class debut, especially if it rains…. Watch out for the battles down the field too as Jennifer Mullan continues to close the gap to Aidan Byrne and Mick Sammon.

Ginetta Junior Ireland will be back out and we can expect Jake Byrne and James Fleming to continue their battle at the front of this one. Byrne leads the title chase but incredibly, due to age restrictions, cannot compete in the final two rounds so he needs to keep winning. Andrew Clarke, Jack Finlay and Dylan Curley have also been going well of late and Motorsport.ie blogger Sophie Byrne only needs to find a tenth or two to land herself in the middle of their hectic battles!

With Global GT Lights, Historics and FF1600 also joining in the action, this is a weekend not to be missed. Remember all of the profits go to the wonderful Barretstown too- sure what else would you be doing of a weekend?!

For further details on this event, see www.irishveefestival.com

Leo