2005 Ulster Cup Race Reports
Ulster Cup R5 - 09/07/05
Drama, controversy, superb drives, fraught battles, accidents,
close finishes, TV cameras: the fifth round of the Ulster Cup had it all. The
event, which is the last opportunity for drivers to race competitively before
the biggest event on the NI karting calendar, the Irish Kart GP, event featured
the appearance of a world renowned racing driver. Richard Lyons, Japanese GT and
Formula Nippon champion made more than a simple appearance, as he took time out
from his busy schedule to race in the Rotax Max class. The event saw some of the
best weather for quite some time which produced near-lap record pace and with it
sensationally close racing through all the classes.
The cadet race was
once again a family battle between Carl and Adam Stirling. A one-two in the
second heat was followed by a one-two in the final, although Stefan Lyttle made
sure it was not always secure for the two brothers. After fifteen laps of close,
hard fought but fair racing, Carl Stirling came home the winner, only seven
hundredths of a second ahead of brother Adam. Lyttle pressed the two hard all
the way but in the end had to settle for third, albeit less than a second behind
the winner. With only two rounds to go, and the three only separated by five
points at the top of the points standings, the competition between the three
could not be closer.
Following on from
Wayne Boyd’s domination of the previous two events in the Minimax class,
William Herron finished first on the road in all three races, only to lose one
of the wins through a novice mistake. In the second heat Herron passed under a
yellow flag and so was docked four places, which deprived him of
maximum points score. The final had to be restarted after Rikki Gordon,
starting from the back after two bad heats, moved across into Callum McQuitty
and left the latter driver in the gravel with an apparent injury. In the
restarted race Gordon flew through the field to take second, although he was
unable to catch Herron who took the win by two seconds. Boyd took third and so
maintains his championship lead.
Any exciting action
in TKM Extreme was short lived as Ryan Magennis overcame a bit of hassle in the
opening laps of the heats to take the win in both races. Stephen Rutherdale took
second in both races and so lined up alongside Magennis on the front row for the
final. Rutherdale made a slow getaway and by the time he made his way past James
Turkington and Clifford Wylie at the end of lap one, Magennis was already long
gone. Magennis took the win by four seconds from Rutherdale, with Wylie taking
another third to add to the two he took in the heats. Magennis is now the
runaway leader in the championship, having only missed out on twelve points so
far in the series.
As usual Pro-Karts
featured the closest racing of the day, due to the fact that the twin
Honda-powered karts are already pretty much equal. In heat one, five karts from
second to fifth were covered by less than half a second, and in heat two Garry
Armstrong held off Sean Doherty by only one hundredth of a second to take the
win. Strangely, the Pro-Kart races never seem to attract big crowds
but those who turned out to watch the final were treated to another
fantastic race. In the opening laps the top several karts could not be separated
but by half distance it turned into a two kart race between Sean Doherty,
Armstrong and Tim Kerr for the win. At the flag Doherty reversed the heat two
tables as he crossed the line only six hundredths ahead of Armstrong, with Kerr
only two tenths further back in third. However, Armstrong was subsequently
excluded for being underweight and so Kerr was promoted to second place. The
disqualification saw Armstrong drop to second overall in the standings and
promoted Kerr to top of the leaderboard.
On the subject of
races that never draw large crowds, World Formula produced what has to be its
dullest race yet. Whereas Pro-Karts draw an unjustifiably small crowd, the
newest class to race in
Northern Ireland
got more than it deserved. The absence
of Nigel Stewart, Derek Wilson’s archrival in the championship, was probably
to blame for the fact that
Wilson
won all three races comfortably. In
the final all the karts where pretty evenly strung out until the incredible
excitement of an overtaking manoeuvre hit the few spectators with a couple of
laps to go. Michael Cox, having held second for the whole of the race was reeled
in and passed by Jeffrey Scott with only three laps to go. After that it was
business as usual as
Wilson
took the win, but Cox’s third place
sees him move into the lead of the championship.
The Junior Max final
was by far the most eventful of the day. The action began as Nathan Coulter,
running in the mid-field, lost a wheel and ploughed into the tyre barrier at the
fastest corner on the circuit. A stony silence hit the track as the medical crew
surrounded the young driver, who was unable to extract himself from the kart.
After what seemed like ages Coulter was taken into the ambulance and not long
after was seen to be walking unaided. Miraculously Coulter emerged from his
second major crash this season with nothing more than bruising, but was unable
to take part in the restart.
In the restart,
Johnny Clyde from second made the better start and passed polesitter Raymond
Lusty into the first corner. However Lusty would not let him get far and quickly
overtook
Clyde
along with Samantha Thom who did
likewise.
Clyde
was clearly on form, setting faster
laps than his opposition and so before long had moved back through into the
lead, a position he would hold to the finish. Thom and Lusty battled for second
and eventually finished in that order in second and third positions. For
Clyde
it was a well deserved victory, but
clearly someone did not agree as he soon received notice that he would be
protested for a jump start. Although the protestor may by correct, in my opinion
it represents an incredible lack of sportsmanship. Even if
Clyde
had jumped the start, he did not win
the race because of it, but rather had to fight his way through to the front.
The fact that he set the fastest lap of the race confirms that he was the best
driver on the day, but clearly not everyone could not accept that simple fact.
If the protest is upheld, Samantha Thom will be promoted to first, with Lusty
then taking second.
Stephen Adams
narrowly held off championship leader Jason Taylor to take the win in the second
Rotax 177 heat by only 0.071secs. However the final would be nowhere near as
close as
Taylor
took the lead on the first lap and as
the others battled behind him he was able to pull out a massive lead. By the
time the chequered flag fell
Taylor
had an advantage of almost seven
seconds over Ciaron McKee in second, who led home a three kart scrap for second.
Michael Leonard finished only a tenth behind McKee, and in turn held of
Adams
by a small margin to take third. The
win sees Taylor move well ahead of McKee in the points standings, who in turn is
now forty points ahead of Leonard in third.
The presence of
Richard Lyons in the Rotax Max final drew a large crowd to watch what is so
often the best race of the day.
Lyons
set some quick lap times in the heats,
but did not challenge for the wins, which were shared by Chris Irwin and
championship leader Gary Blair. Whilst most watched
Lyons
make his way through the field from
eighth on the grid, Gary Turkington moved into the lead and ran in first with a
gap of around a second back to Blair in second. By half distance Lyons was in
pursuit of his teammates Neville Bell and his own brother, Isaac, running in
third and fourth respectively. Although Richard closed the gap, he was unable to
get past before the chequered flag and so had to settle for fifth- not bad after
four years away from competitive kart racing on the Nutts Corner circuit.
Turkingon took the win, but after a bad fourth round is still down in fifth in
the overall points standings. Blair finished in second and so extended his lead
at the top of the table over Irwin in second.
Report:
Stephen Rutherdale
Ulster Cup R6 (also NI Champs R5) - 10/09/05
September. For some it means back to school,
for others it’s just another month in the year long toil to earn a living.
It’s a month that marks the beginning of the major football championships, but
as far as Motorsport is concerned it is almost the end of a busy year. Indeed
September is perhaps the most crucial of the F1 calendar as it sets the stage
for the all important last few races (or as in 2005 may see the championship
decided).
As far karting is concerned, it is by far the most
important month of the year. This year the NIKA championship has its last two
rounds in September and so we will see the champions crowned before the month is
out. The Ulster Cup can be decided in September at the penultimate round,
particularly with the current system of best six rounds out of seven to count.
The Uform Elite Kart Racing Team supported round on September 10th
saw the penultimate round of both championships and in several cases decided the
destination of the sought after championship titles. In the remaining undecided
classes the event set up dramatic showdowns in the Ulster Cup (last round to be
held in October at Nutts Corner) and in the NI championships (whose last round
will be held at Bishopscourt on 24th September).
Cadet drivers Carl and Adam Stirling entered
the event locked in the battle for the Ulster Cup title, with only 5 points
separating the two brothers. Sandwiched between them was Stefan Lyttle, but due
to other commitments he was forced to miss the round and so left himself with
only a very outside chance of lifting the title at the last round. The
commentary box offered a fantastic view of the two cracking races that were the
heats. Adam won the first heat by the narrowest of margins from Carl, and looked
set to repeat the result in the second race. However with only a few laps to go,
having led from the start he was baulked by a backmarker and lost the lead and
ultimately the win which was taken by Carl, once again by less than a tenth of a
second. Third in that race was Megan McCrea, the young female driver setting a
time faster the winners and demonstrating more of the fine form she has shown
recently. In the final Adam Stirling took the lead from the start and with five
laps to go had a comfortable gap over the rest of the four kart scrap for second
headed by brother Carl. However history was to repeat itself as once again Adam
came upon a backmarker, went to the wrong side and lost all his advantage. Carl
took over the lead and managed to pull out a small gap over the rest over the
final few laps to ensure he was in front when the chequered flag fell. Michael
Gordon came in a close second, ahead of Kyle Price in third, who secured him the
NIKA championship for the second year in succession. Twenty-three points now
separate Carl and Adam, in that order, at the top of the Ulster Cup points
standings going into the last round.
Wayne Boyd has been truly dominant all
season long in Minimax in the Ulster Cup but still needed one more strong round
to put the championship out of reach of his nearest rival for the title, Rikki
Gordon. However he hasn’t quite had it all his own way in the NIKA
championship, where William Herron has pressed him hard every step of the way.
Herron’s challenge looked as though it might be dented before the racing got
under way as he sustained damage to his kart in the practice, which was,
however, repaired in time for the first heat. That first heat was one of the
best races of the day, with five karts battling for the victory right to the end
of the race. Intelligent driving saw Boyd narrowly in front at the finish, a
result he was to repeat in the second heat but by a more significant margin over
his competitors. Boyd went on to take his third maximum points score in the
series – an incredible achievement considering the competitiveness of the
class. It was more than enough to put the title out of Gordon’s reach, with
the latter driver taking fourth in the final after a race long scrap with Chris
Smiley. Herron wound up second in the final to keep his hopes of lifting the
number one plate very much alive. Craig Stirling backed up his brothers’
achievements by taking a solid third place after battling for the duration of
the race with the eventual runner-up.
The Pro-Kart Ulster Cup standings before the
event reflected the close racing that the class featured this season. Tim Kerr
held the lead by just over twenty points from Garry and William Armstrong, who
also filled the top two places in the NIKA standings. William Armstrong held off
the challenge of Gordon O’Brien for the duration of heat one, but finished
well down the field in the second heat. Tommy Fegan won the second heat after a
three way scrap with Kerr and Barry Cregg. Kerr took pole for the final, but it
was William Armstrong who took over the lead early one, pulling out a gap of
about two seconds over the first five laps. However Garry Armstrong was on fine
form and closed the leader down so that he was right on his bumper at half
distance. Two laps later he was through into the lead. Although William stayed
close to the leader for a short time, he quickly began to drop back with about
five laps remaining. With only two laps to go he was swallowed up by the crap
for second, and eventually finished in fourth place. Kerr finished second behind
Garry Armstrong, which was enough for him to maintain the lead in the Ulster Cup
going into the last round.
The Junior Max championship leaders were
both to suffer a tough day. Richard McAlorum, who before the round held the lead
in the NIKA championship failed to start the first heat on time and was
eventually placed a lap down. The second heat held more of the same as once
again McAlorum’s kart failed to fire first time, and when whilst trying to
regain his grid slot he overtook karts after the marshal’s post at the top of
the circuit. Such a manoeuvre is forbidden, so he received more bad news in the
form of a three place penalty. In the final McAlorum finished ninth, and with
rival Samantha Thom taking third place he was to lose the lead in the
championship. Johnny Clyde, leader of the Ulster Cup title race, finished well
down the order in heat one, and despite showing he had the form by taking second
in heat two, he was to finish the final in sixth place. It’s far from a bad
result, but when his chief rival, Raymond Lusty won one heat and the final
convincingly it was not the best of days for
Clyde
who also lost the lead in the championship. Lusty profited early on as leader
Josh Gault spun at the chicane on the second lap, and never looked back as he
went on to take the win by over a second from James Laverty, with Thom taking
the final podium position.
Jason Taylor has been the man to beat all
year in Rotax 177, at least as far as the Ulster Cup is concerned. The news that
Ciaron McKee was excluded from the results of the round three meeting removed
any remaining opposition and any pressure as it handed
Taylor
the championship title on a plate. However
Taylor
is obviously not a man to relax as he promptly went out and won all three races
anyway. McKee pressured him all the way; to the extent that
Taylor
’s largest winning margin of the three races was four tenths of a second.
Three second places for McKee keeps him well in the hunt for second overall, a
position currently occupied by Michael Leonard who wound up fourth in the final.
The NIKA championship has been primarily contested by three drivers who have
just moved out of black plates. Nigel Logan held the lead coming into the event,
and eighth place on the day saw him maintain it. Gary Ross closed the gap to the
leader slightly with sixth place in the final.
TKM Extreme has seen much of a revival over
the year, with entries constantly up in double figures. This may not sound much,
but before the start of 2005, the last time the class boasted a grid larger than
ten karts was round two of the Ulster Cup way back in March 2003. The low costs
yet still high speeds have attracted many drivers fed up with the Rotax classes,
which have not produced the economical racing we were all promised back in 2000.
Anyway, Ryan Magennis has been unstoppable all year, and only needed a handful
of points to clinch the Ulster Cup title. In the NIKA championship Stephen
Rutherdale held the advantage going into the round by fifty points over Clifford
Wylie and James Turkington. Magennis won the first heat, and with it the Ulster
Cup title, but the revelation of the race was Robbie Robinson, taking third from
the back of the grid, in his only his second outing in the class. Although
Robinson has much experience in other classes, the TKM karts take a while to get
used to, so it was significant when Robinson won the second heat to secure pole
for the final. Magennis made a quick getaway to take the lead early on, and
looked unassailable for much of the race, although Robinson maintained a gap of
around two seconds to the leader. Stephen Rutherdale moved up to third, and
positions appeared to be largely settled. However, with only two corners to go,
Magennis’ chain snapped and the win was lost. Robinson came through to take a
spectacular win, with Rutherdale’s second place him to clinch the NIKA
championship title.
World Formula has not been known to produce
spectacular, edge of the seat racing. With seven entries for the event things
did not look promising, but the one race I happened to see, heat two, was quite
entertaining. Nigel Stewart and Derek Wilson enjoyed their usual private battle
for the win in heat one, with
Wilson
narrowly in front at the chequered flag. In heat two an incident at the start
removed Stewart from the reckoning, leaving Ulster Cup leader Michael Cox to
lead for several laps. Wilson then moved in front and looked set to take another
win, but Cox and Michael Maguire were not about to let him get away. The three
were inseparable until Maguire clipped the tyres at the chicane, causing his
kart to spin into the path of Cox. This all allowed
Wilson
to clear off to take the win, while Cox recovered to take second. The final was
more to the norm, with
Wilson
heading Stewart to take the win by just over a second. Cox came under pressure
from Jeffrey Scott towards the end of the race, but held onto take the final
podium position.
Wilson
’s win sees him move into the lead of the Ulster Cup, with Cox dropping to
second overall. However on dropped scores, which will decide the final order,
Stewart is in second overall, only twelve points behind
Wilson
.
Rotax Max is always one of the most
unpredictable races and therefore is one of the most eagerly anticipated of the
day. The first heat was won by Isaac Lyons, who lay in third in the Ulster Cup
points standings going into the round, whilst championship leader Gary Blair
took sixth, having started from the back of the grid. The event was also crucial
for the NIKA championship, with only a single point separating Lyons and Gary
Turkington at the top of the table. Heat one gave the advantage to Lyons, but
Turkington countered with a dominant win in heat two, in which Lyons managed
eighth. Therefore the gap was doubled two points in Turkington’s favour.
However being at the top of the points standings in either championship was not
the best place to be once the final got underway. At the first corner Blair was
punted off and rejoined at the tail of the field. Naturally the running was
taken up by the other points leader, Turkington, who proceeded to pull out a
comfortable gap over the rest of the field. At half distance he was about four
seconds clear of rival
Lyons
, but then disaster struck. Turkington saw
Lyons
flash by into the lead as he coasted to a halt at the horseshoe with mechanical
troubles.
Lyons
seemed set to go on to take the win and with it a substantial lead in the NIKA
points, but scything his way though the field after a poor start was Alistair
Jackson. Several laps after Turkington’s retirement
Jackson
slid past
Lyons
at Paddock Bend and was never challenged as he went on to take a great win.
Blair recovered to take tenth, which was just enough for him to maintain his
lead in the Ulster Cup standings by ten points over Lyons, whose second place
sees him move up to second overall. In the NIKA championship, Turkington, had he
finished the race in first, would have had a twenty point lead over Lyons, but
as it is Lyons’ second puts him in the driving seat by almost forty points
going into the last round.
Report: Stephen Rutherdale
Ulster Cup R7 - 08/11/05
After seven months of
hard fought racing the 2005 Ulster Cup Karting Championships came to a close on
the 8th October. In some classes the winners were already decided,
such was the dominance of certain drivers, but in most the championships
remained wide open, going down to the wire at the last race of the season.
Cadets was one such
class that went right down to the wire, with the championship being fought
between the two
Stirling
brothers. Carl had the advantage going
into the day after a near perfect outing at round six, although Adam, who took
the win earlier in the year at round four had a good chance of snatching the
title. However after Carl took a first and a second in the heats, Adam only had
an outside chance of taking the overall win, requiring Carl to hit trouble in
the final. The final proved to be a wet race, and it was neither of the two who
took the race win, but rather NIKA champion Kyle Price who stormed to the front
early on and took a dominant victory. Charlie Eastwood produced a fantastic
drive to take his best result to date, overtaking Carl Stirling on the last lap
on his way to second. Third was enough to give the title to Carl by forty points
from brother Adam in second overall.
Wayne Boyd was truly
dominant all season in Minimax, and his third maximum points score of the season
at round seven saw him wrap up the title with a race to spare. Boyd took the
opportunity to move up into Junior Max and gain experience in the class ahead of
next season, doing so in fantastic style by taking second in the final. Rikki
Gordon was the driver on form throughout the day in Minimax, although Chris
Smiley set the fastest laps in the heats and looked set to do well in the final.
Gordon took the lead early on and pulled away to take the win by three seconds
at the finish. Smiley went off the track with a few laps to go whilst in second,
allowing Scott McGarrity through to take the best result of his career with a
superb second place.
Only twelve points
separated Johnny Clyde and Raymond Lusty at the top of the Junior Max standings
going into the day, and before the final it was even closer with only a handful
of points separating the pair.
Clyde
took pole but lost his lead early on
to Lusty, who must have had his kart set-up perfectly and was to prove
unstoppable in the race. He held the lead from start to finish, responding to
some pressure from Wayne Boyd partway through the race, going on to take the win
and the title.
Clyde
was not much slower than Lusty but was
unlucky to become caught in a battle which saw him drop back to sixth at the
finish, which still gave him the runner-up spot in the championship.
The destination of
the TKM Extreme title was never really in doubt, and it was no surprise that
Ryan Magennis had it wrapped up with an event to spare. The final race of the
season was affected by a downpour which saw most drivers fall off the road.
Although Magennis briefly went off the track he repassed Stephen Rutherdale and
went on to take another win. Rutherdale took a comfortable second ahead of
Clifford Wylie who spun and still rejoined to take third.
Rotax 177 was another
class whose champion was already decided, Jason Taylor having taken enough
points over the season to clinch the title before the last race. Michael Leonard
was dominant on the day and took three wins out of three to overtake Ciaron
McKee in the points standings and secure second overall behind
Taylor
.
After bad scores at
the first two rounds of the season, Pro-Kart driver Tim Kerr found terrific from
in the second half of the season to claw back the points deficit to his rivals.
Garry Armstrong’s disqualification from the final at round five helped Kerr
into the lead and he had a narrow advantage over Armstrong going into the last
round. Kerr was well placed to extend his advantage in heat one, but a spin put
paid to that, and a win by Armstrong in heat two put the pressure on Kerr in the
final. Tommy Feagn took a comfortable win in the final, ahead of the frantic
battle for second going on behind. Armstrong moved to the head of the group in
second, whilst Kerr was down sixth position halfway through the race and looked
set to hand the title over to Armstrong. Kerr saw what had to be done and pulled
his way up the order to eventually finish third, just behind Armstrong, which
was enough for Kerr to take the title by the small margin of eight points.
Fegan’s win saw him displace William Armstrong and move up to third in the
overall points standings.
World Formula was
predictably fought between Nigel Stewart and Derek Wilson, the two only
separated by just over ten points going into the event. Stewart won the first
heat to close the gap slightly, but
Wilson
won the second to give himself a
comfortable margin going into the final. Stewart needed to win the race and hope
Wilson
hit trouble if he was to take the
title. The two battled tooth and nail throughout the race under the watchful eye
of Liam Curran in third. Going into the last lap
Wilson
was in the lead and he held on to take
the win from Stewart and Curran. The win gave
Wilson
the title by twenty-four points from
Stewart with the consistent Michael Cox taking third overall.
Rotax Max was
predictably the most eagerly anticipated race of the day. Gary Blair held a
slender lead ahead of the first race of the day, but any advantage was lost when
he was involved in an incident and finished well down the order in sixteenth.
Chris Irwin and Isaac Lyons finished second and third respectively in the same
race, closing the gap to only a handful of points between the three drivers.
Blair was forced to start well down the field for the final, so realistically
the battle for the title looked to be between Irwin and Lyons, the latter
starting from pole position. Irwin made a great start and took the lead early
on, whilst
Lyons
slotted into second. Positions
remained much the same and going into the last lap Irwin had only a kart length
of a lead over
Lyons
. Going up the hill a backmarker got in
the way of the leader and for a moment it appeared that Lyons would sweep
through to take the title, but he was denied this opportunity by a yellow flag.
Keith Biggerstaff who had driven a great race up until that point saw the room
to squeeze past Lyons at the next corner, demoting him to third. Irwin rounded
the last few corners to take the chequered flag and with it a very well deserved
championship title. Lyons, who won the NIKA championship two weeks previously
took the runner-up post overall, with Gary Blair taking fifth in the final to
finish up third overall.
Report: Stephen Rutherdale
