‘Martin Donnelly Trophy thriller’
It probably should have happened earlier. With four very determined past winners contesting the Martin Donnelly Trophy lead for lap after lap, something had to give.
And eventually it did, the only real surprise being that it took 14 torrid laps of Kirkistown’s 1.5 miles before the quartet became a trio – an occurrence marked by the fluttering of red flags and a decision by the clerk of the course to declare a result.
The protagonists, Ivor Mccullough (winner in 2006 and 2012), his brother David (2018), Alan Davidson (2014) and Noel Robinson (2009 and 2011) had provided a nail-biting final race of the day which could, and probably should, have been won by any of them.
For lap after lap they circulated in a slithering, squabbling pack with no quarter asked or given. Three white cars – the two Mccullough ’01 Van Diemens and Davidson’s venerable ’89 Mondiale – locked in combat with Robinson’s black and orange Van Diemen, visiting every millimetre of Kirkistown’s Tarmac. When they arrived at the Hairpin for the 15th time the battle showed no signs of abating. Surely it couldn’t last? It didn’t.
A clash of wheels with David Mccullough on the exit launched Robinson skywards and into a roll that left the hitherto immaculate Van Diemen looking very used indeed.
Happily, Robinson emerged unscathed after his spectacular departure. With the result taken back a lap, David Mccullough was classified 0.09 seconds ahead of his brother with Davidson a further 0.5s in arrears.
An equally nail-biting scrap for what became fourth between the Rays of David Parks and Ian Campbell and the Van Diemens of Scott Finlay and Will Herron also went the full distance with Parks, in his first Formula Ford race for several years, taking the spot from Finlay after Herron and Campbell both copped penalties for track limits infringements.
All of the above almost overshadowed a sterling run from Stefan Donnelly who charged hard in Paul Mcmorran’s Crossle 32F – painted up for the occasion in dad Martin’s old livery from three decades ago – to claim a top 10 finish.
Not bad for a 42-year-old car among a lot of much more modern machinery.
Earlier in the day, David Mccullough had clinched the Northern Ireland FF1600 title with a brace of third place finishes in the two final rounds. Title rival Davidson twice finished second behind Ivor Mccullough.
The Irish Formula Vee brigade made their final Kirkistown appearance of the year, with reigning champion Anthony Cross taking the honours in both the last championship round and, later in the day, the Emerson Fittipaldi Trophy. Philip Sheane was runner-up both times, while Dan Polley took the final podium spot from Jack Byrne in race one by a margin of one-thousandth of a second, while Byrne just beat Jimmy Furlong to third in the Trophy race.
Paul O’brien made it two out of three in the Legends encounters – becoming the most successful driver in the class in terms of race wins along the way. Greg Richardson upset the apple cart in race three though to beat O’brien across the line by 0.4s.
There was some pretty frantic action among the Roadsports field too, where Mark Crawford’s Rover-powered Caterham fought hard with the Radicals of Ivor Greenwood and Jim Larkham.
Crawford might have won the first encounter but for a late-race tangle while passing a backmarker, which left him and Greenwood on the grass at Colonial while Larkham sneaked past to win. History almost repeated itself in race two, but this time it was Crawford and Larkham who struck trouble allowing Greenwood to win, taking the title as well. Mark Francis and Trevor Allen took a win apiece in the one-litre Class B ‘Sevens’ battles.
Robert Kennedy was a double winner in his Mazda MX-5, while the Fiesta contests went to Paul Stewart from Megan Campbell in the opener, and Mark Stewart from Paul in the second.
As the only runner in the GT class, Gerard O’connell’s Millington-powered SHP Escort ran away with both the tintop encounters. Top ‘normal’ saloon was Ciaran Denvir’s Honda Civic, ahead of Peter Baxter’s SEAT Leon. Greer Wray’s BMW completed the race one podium, while Luke Baxter’s Volkswagen Golf took third in the second encounter.