THE new Formula Ford Zetec Championship gets under way at Kirkistown tomorrow, followed by rounds at Mondello Park on April 13th, May 5th, May 18th and June 1st, and then at Pembrey in Wales on July, 19th. The Mondello meeting on July 27th is followed by two more rounds at Kirkistown on August 9th and 30th.
The two final rounds, the prestige races of the year, will be the Formula Ford Festival on September 7th and the televised Leinster Trophy meeting on September 20th-21st, both at Mondello Park. There will be no championship races at Phoenix Park on August 16/17th, but a full grid can be expected.
The Zetec class is sponsored by Ford of Ireland to the tune of £15,000. The package for the 22 registered drivers also includes a free Ford Zetec engine in standard trim, which is then modified to the regulations by one of the specialist engine-tuning firms.
The Irish Championship is part of the inaugural Slick 50 Formula Ford World Series, the highlight of which will be the Slick 50 Formula Ford World Finals (the festival) at Brands Hatch on October 18/19th.
The opening round of the championships will see a quality grid headed by Ford of Ireland Championship winner Alan Ring of Castleisland, Co Kerry, and including Dublin drivers Mark McKenna, Noel Dunne and Shaun Magill, Mark O'Connor (Naas) and Formula Vee star Philip Kehoe from Co Wexford. The Northern challenge will be spearheaded by Chris Paul, George McAlpin and Jeff Wright.
The DHL Formula Opel Championship also gets into gear, the line up featuring Donal Loughrey, Ken Grandon, Adrian Pollock and Jonathan Fildes, the latter a member of the famous Fildes Family.
Ed O'Connor convincingly won the recent opening round of the Dunlop Touring Car Championship in his Renault Clio, to the dismay of Opel Astra drivers Michael Cullen and Gordon Kellett who had no answer to the pace of the winning Clio.
Ciaran Greenan also upset the form book by finishing third in the ex-Joanthan Fildes Peugeot 309, a car that usually shows to best advantage on the faster Kirkistown circuit rather than at Mondello Park.
Twice Formula Opel Champion Michael Edgar races an Astra tomorrow and will no doubt want to win in front of his home crowd. And with reigning champion Cullen determined to get back in the winning groove, the ingredients are there for a pretty potent encounter.
The premier motorcycle trial of the year is the Leinster Motor Club's Patland Cup Trial, which will be held tomorrow in the Kilmacanogue-Sugar Loaf area of Co Wicklow. First held in 1921, the Patland is Ireland's oldest trial. It was won five times by, Stanley Woods and the record of eight wins in the 1970s and `80s is held by Derek Burton.
