irishcar.com

25 June 2002: Alan Dwyer (Glanmire) and Charlie Donnelly (Naas) took wins apiece in rounds four and five of the Ford of Ireland Formula Ford Championship at Mondello Park last weekend, when the British Zetec series runners joined in the fun and games with the Irish regulars.

It was the first time the British series had crossed the Irish Sea and the prospect generated great interest, but awful weather conditions played havoc all weekend necessitating a string of safety car incidents in both races.

Pitted against the young British chargers, the Irish contingent did not produce the expected results on the home International Circuit, Donnelly achieving the highest position in ninth place at the end of Sunday's 14-lap race.

Despite 12 Irish Formula Ford drivers on the grid for the weekend's double-header, none of them managed to secure times in the top ten during qualifying.

In Saturday's round four, Donnelly led the Irish race in 14th place on the road just ahead of Dwyer with George McAlpin (Portrush) and John Gunning (Dublin) mingling with the lower British runners. The safety car came out for the first time on the sixth lap to help remove stricken cars, but already Dwyer had the advantage over Donnelly.

The order within the Irish ranks remained fairly static after the safety car returned to the pits and at the end of 14 laps, it was Dwyer, Donnelly, McAlpin, Paul Dagg (Drogheda), Mark O'Connor (Naas) and Gunning. On the road, Jan Heylen won the British counter in the Duckhams works Van Diemen.

Although scheduled for 15 laps, Sunday's race was also cut short as the weather conditions deteriorated and the event was declared a wet race. Time was allocated to change to wet tyres but several opted to take a chance and stay on slick tyres.

Dwyer again had the best start, this time ahead of O'Connor and Donnelly as McAlpin tangled with Craig Murray. The safety car was out again as cars continued to leave the track in various places. As racing resumed, Dwyer was up to 10th place from Peter Duke, having a one-off outing in the British series with JLR. Donnelly was next up as Dagg slotted in behind him.

On the seventh lap, the safety car was deployed again for three laps, Joey Greenan (Bettystown) being sidelined when racing resumed for an incident with Suk Sandher. Donnelly took Dwyer for the Irish lead when the safety car took to the circuit for the third time, another three laps passing before it went in. Donnelly still led the Irish runners with O'Connor ahead of Dwyer, Dagg and Gunning but then the red flags came out and a result was declared.

As Dwyer and Gunning failed to finish, the order was Donnelly, O'Connor, Dagg and Mike Clyne (Galway) completing the Irish racers, while Christian England mastered the conditions to win the British part.

Dagg leads the Ford of Ireland Championship after five rounds with 59 points, just five ahead of Donnelly (54) and 11 clear of Dwyer (48) as the series returns to Mondello next Sunday (June 30) for round six.