BOSS IRELAND GETS LEINSTER TROPHY

Photos: Michael Chester, Gary Hawkins, Jakob Ebrey Trophy awarded to the series for the first time

The BOSS Ireland category will be awarded the historic Leinster Trophy for the first time this season.

For the past two years the Trophy has been for Formula Ford 1600 but last season the event had a low entry with just 10 cars taking part, causing the Leinster Motor Club to look at other categories.

BOSS is open to any singleseaters and, with no limitations, it attracts the fastest cars in Ireland and has now been awarded the Mondello Park event on September 18.

“The Leinster Trophy is awarded based on the classes who apply for it,” said the LMC’S Trevor Gray. “The last two years it has been Formula Ford and they wanted to try and build it up into an event like the Martin Donnelly Trophy or Walter Hayes Trophy. The Trophy was awarded to Fford for the foreseeable future but when only 10 cars turned up last year it was the end of that.

“We had applications from Formula Sheane and BOSS this year and it was a tough one [to decide]. With Formula Sheane you’re guaranteed close racing as there’s just one car while BOSS can have anything. With the BOSS application they were talking about getting a Jordan F1 car to do demo laps and about promoting the event in newspapers. They would also promote motorsport in general and put on more of a show. Although BOSS races can be processional they are nice, noisy cars. We took a risk to go with them, as they will promote the sport and try to build up the event, rather than say it has to be a great race.”

Class coordinator Dave Smyth added: “We are delighted that the LMC have decided to award the Leinster Trophy to our class for the first time. We have the fastest cars in the country and have some exciting plans for the race. We have had some interest from overseas drivers.”

The Trophy has a long list of winners, including Formula 1 champions Ayrton Senna, Mika Hakkinen and Mike Hawthorn.