The final race weekend was always going to be an exciting one and with three contenders still in play for this year’s title it certainly lived up to everyone's expectations. Brian Hearty came into this weekend with a six point lead over Sheane, with Hogg hot on their heels and ready to clean up should the other two having a coming together. This was shaping up to be the closest title battle in the series in years, but we will get to that later on, there was plenty more to talk about before the final race. The weekend started with testing on the Friday, not a lot of the Formula Sheane drivers could make it down to try dial their cars in but the ones that did certainly got down to business. Sheane, O’Connor and Hogg were the main pace setters of the day swapping fastest laps every session on the long international track of Mondello Park. Hogg would be the biggest loser though with an unfortunate big shunt backwards into the wall on the exit of the parabolica which re arranged the rear of his car considerably. Hogg was safe and sound and set about repairing the damage straight away. There was literally nothing between Sheane and O’Connor all day in terms of pace. Multiple Formula Vee Championship winner had graduated to the more powerful Formula Sheane class this weekend and showed great pace in testing, unfortunately his engine let go in his own car but the Godfather of Irish Motorsport David Sheane was on the ball with a spare car for the champion. Coílin Clinton had a few issues that he managed to iron out of his car for his battle to win the Fun Cup Championship. With that, the day was over and the drivers set about some final preparations for qualifying the next morning.
Qualifying:
The atmosphere was electric around the pit lane as all the beautifully prepared Wicklow machines rolled out on to the track. All the crews took their positions on the pit wall for the final qualifying session of the year. The battle for pole was hotly contested as the front men knew it was going to be the most important pole of the year. David Parks managed to fire in a blistering lap time on his first flying lap only for a driveshaft failure immediately after to remove him from progressing any further, it was still good enough to put him 8th on the grid for the race. O’Connor was the man on a mission, he was the first to break into the 1m47s with Sheane so close behind only the timing gear could separate them, .027 of second the gap between them. Hearty was next to break into the 1m47s just .123 behind Sheane. Robbie Allen pulled his car into 4th to lock out the first two rows of the grid. Paul McLoughlin and Richard Kearney battled into for the next row with Keith Hogg pushing his nearly repaired car to 7th. Breen White and the Formula Vee Champion Adam McAuley completed the top 10. A fantastic grid of 16 cars all returned to the garages to assess and plan for the race.
Race 1:
To say the drivers were excited for the start would be an understatement; all of them looking to get it hooked up off the line with no mistakes and make it to the first corner before anyone else. The cars all trying to find the grip on the slippy Mondello international circuit. A fantastic grid of 16 cars took their positions and awaited the lights to go on. The 5 second board was lifted, the revs raised and lights went out. O’Connor getting it all together off the line to edge away from the chasing Sheane, Hearty and Allen squabbling over 3rd with a very fast starting Paul McLoughlin close behind. Parks and Kearney the biggest movers, keeping their noses clean and driving around the pack. O’Connor was away up the road as the others fought it out between themselves to see who would be the one to lead them in their chase of the man in 1st place. Kearney took to the head of the pack with Robbie Allen, Parks, Hearty, Sheane and Hynes all forming up behind him. Parks fancied himself as the leader so quickly dispatched Allen who subsequently retired with an electrical issue and just as fast as he had taken Allen, Parks overtook Kearney and set about hunting down O’Connor and reducing his impressive gap. Hynes dropped off the back of that chasing pack and retired himself to the pit lane which released Hearty and Sheane to form up on the back of Kearney’s gearbox. The train of cars fought tooth and nail for the next few laps with them only able to take miniscule time away from O’Connor. The battle in the midfield for the Fun Cup championship raged on just as furiously as the men at the front, Adam McAuley having to make a quick pit stop to remove some bodywork that had come away in his battle’s, the Newsome Racing boys removing it quicker than Vettel’s pit lane crew. The “Become a Racing Driver” winner Shane McLaughlin showed incredible form to place himself first in class with Coílin Clinton taking second, second was all Clinton needed to secure the title for himself and was crowned the 2014 Formula Sheane Fun Cup champion. At the head of the race the battles raged on and were only decided in the last 2 corners of the track. Sheane made the move on Hearty for 4th on the penultimate corner only to see Parks entering the pit lane ahead with driveshaft failure just before the last corner. Park’s retirement promoted Kearney to a season best finish in second with Sheane taking the final podium finish ahead of Hearty to close the all-important gap by 2 points in the championship. O’Connor taking the win for the first time this year and becoming the 6th different winner in the ultra-competitive Formula Sheane Championship.
Race 2:
This was the big one, the one we would all remember. The championship decider is always a huge one but this one had a feel of something special about it. It was never going to be an easy feat for Sheane to catch Hearty or Hearty to hold off Sheane for that matter but we had all the ingredients for something incredible. O’Connor, the former championship winner with nothing to lose and fresh off a win from the day before and plus starting on pole. Sheane the Championship holder in Pursuit of Hearty from day 1 and with wins under his belt already this year. Hearty, Irelands most successful clubman racer, leading the championship from the start and only a few miles away from taking a 10th career victory in racing, Allen, race winner also, a former championship contender and hungry to finish the year on a high, Hogg, the man who has hung with the boys at the top of the table all year and was so desperately chasing his maiden victory in Formula Sheane, and not to mention the likes of Parks, Kearney, Hynes, McLoughlin and McAuley who were all on the pace and ready to pounce and take a win.
The cars all lined up in a near identical grid to the day before and as the revs grew the nerves and hopes of everyone watching did too. The lights went out and again O’Connor edged away from Sheane, a slight touch of wheels as Sheane tried to close the door on the guys behind combined with a missed gear dropped him into the middle of the waiting pack for the first turn. Hearty and Hogg ahead as they turned in and with all the action going on Sheane hit Hearty spinning his championship rival right around having the two cars nose to nose in the middle of the first corner, not exactly somewhere you want to be in the middle of the first lap. With that Linnane dropped the anchors along with Parks so not to cause a pile up, Sweeney in the MicksGarage.com car was flung up into the air as all the cars tried to take avoiding action from the guys in the middle of the track. 3 or 4 cars became Autocross cars as they scuttled across the grass to get going again.
Sheane re-joined as Hearty performed a 3-point turn to get facing the right way again. But what had this meant for the championship? By the time the cars had all come around and back into the view of the pit lane Sheane arrived nose less in 9th place and Hearty in 13th. This meant at this point in time Sheane would finish ahead of Hearty and reclaim the championship, but this is motorsport and more so this is Formula Sheane, there is a reason these guys are at the top of the table and battling for a championship, and that reason is that they can race! Lap after lap went by and as O’Connor looked like he was out for a Sunday drive at the front with no one near him all the eyes were on the 2 championship protagonists as they watched them try carve their way up the field. Hearty would move up 1 spot, Sheane would move up one spot. At the end of each lap, the man calculating the points, Andrew Murphy, was running back and forth from the garages to see who was in the lead with it changing lap after lap, Hearty ahead by 1 point, Sheane ahead by 2 points, they were level, Hearty by 1 point, it was incredible to say the least. The pit lane was alive as everybody watched to see who would come out on top. But back to the front for a moment, we can’t forget that these guys were racing for the Holmpatrick Trophy supplied by the Leinster Motor Club and O’Connor was looking like he was going to walk away with it. Queue Allen to hunt him down, he had battled with Hogg and Kearney for most of the race and was now on a ridiculous charge with only a lap or 2 to go, setting the fastest lap of the race in the process. But Allen had spent too much time battling in the pack to catch O’Connor and had to settle for second which meant O’Connor taking lights to flag victory, Hogg taking the final podium position. Paul McLoughlin's impressive run continued and finished in 4th place. All eyes focused on the next car that would cross the line, Sheane brought it home in 5th but would that be enough to reclaim the title or had Hearty made enough of an impact in midfield? Across the line next came Adam McAuley to take 6th a great drive from him followed closely by Parks and a monumental drive from the back of the grid. At this point no one knew who was next everybody’s eyes firmly on the top corner to see who would be, the unmistakable red Vodafone sponsored car of Hearty came around and charged for the line. Would that be enough? Queue the run to the garage for the last time to tot up the points. A quick calculation checked and rechecked the point’s sheet was ripped off the wall and sprinted up to Parc Ferme. Hearty had it by 2 points to be crowned the 2014 Micksgarage.com Formula Sheane Champion and take his 10th career victory. The top three were O’Connor, Allen and Hogg and as they were interviewed the news was broke to the championship contenders. O’Connor’s efforts were made ever so much sweeter by being award the winner of the Holmpatrick Trophy, the first of 3 names that will be etched onto that trophy from the Sheanes as over the next 3 years as the Formula Sheane Championship will race for that trophy every year until 2016.
And that was the end of a sensational season of racing for the Formula Sheane guys. The whole Leinster Trophy Weekend was an incredible one for the series and we have to give a lot of thanks to everyone involved with the Series. The Drivers are delighted to have put on such a good show for all the fans of the series and cannot wait to do it all again next year for you all. The Formula Sheane Committee (David Sheane, John Linnane, Robbie Parks, Keith Hogg and Sarah Bee) has worked relentlessly to ensure that the series provides the closest and most competitive racing in Ireland and what a good job they have done. The Family’s and pit crews that travel to every race with the teams and help get those cars out there every time we race. A huge thank you has to be paid to the man who has put more into Irish Motorsport over the years than anyone else, and that’s the Godfather of Irish Motorsport, Mr David Sheane, the man responsible for creating the 2 biggest single seater racing grids in the country. Without your knowledge and expertise none of this would be possible. We would like to take this opportunity to wish you a huge Happy Birthday again and we hope you enjoyed the racing as much as we did at the weekend. Roll on the Formula Sheane Awards night in November.
Formula Sheane providing Ireland’s best Single Seater racing year in year out!
Image credits: James Foley
