Dooley impresses on debut in new mini at Mondello
AFTER a long winter break, the spring has seen the return of the Irish Rallycross Championship with rounds five and six of the series taking part in Mondello Park last weekend.
Rallycross continues to grow in Ireland, particularly in the junior classes with a grid of sixteen cars lining up at the weekend.
Eoin Dooley from Tallaght was one of them as he debuted his new mini.A recipient of the Mondello Park Junior Mini Challenge Scholarship Dooley aimed to impress and succeeded in doing so.
Dooley topped the results in three of his heats over the weekend and achieved a third place in the final on Saturday.
The young racer would achieve his first final win the day after with an excellent performance.
John McCluskey, in action during the Supercar racePhotos by Barry Cregg
All weekend Dooley pushed series champion Logan Hoey to his limits and for the first time this series the talented Louth man did not have it all his own way.
Dooley spoke on his performance.
“It’s been a fantastic weekend. We finally got the mini finished but didn’t know where we would be in terms of pace. I got to grips with the car very quick and swapped lap records with Logan Hoey all weekend. I used the early joker in the first run of the final and it worked so I did it again in the re-run and it proved the right thing to do as it gave me the advantage to hold the lead to the line and take my first win.”
In the IRX Modified category the Coyne brothers battled it out but were unable to get the win with Sam Bovill coming out on top.
Willie was just surviving through the day with his Opel Corsa damaged and stated that he was “doing enough to make the final and get as many points for the championship as he can.”
Derek Tohill, Peugeot 208, in action during the Supercar race at round six of the partsforcars IRX Rallycross Championship in Mondello Park
His brother Michael was racing in the Citroen DS3 and while he was not able to defeat Bovill looked far more competitive this time out, clearly getting used to the new car.
In the IRX Supercar class, Terenure native and current series leader Derek Tohill looked set to continue where he left off in November before an engine change caused him to miss the second heat.
He managed to make it back in time for the final though would be unable to get the win on Saturday being slightly edged by John McCluskey.
Tohill again found himself ruled out of Sunday’s race with his new fitted engine suffering a broken timing belt in heat 3 which saw him sidelined for the day also.
Tohill did manage to win a different Superfinal race on Saturday ensuring that he did not leave the weekend totally empty handed.
The last two rounds of the IRX Irish Rallycross Championship will be on May 23rd and May 24th.
This is also going to be a round of the British Rallycross Championship and a different layout will be used for this event providing another action packed weekend of rallycross.
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