Autosport – 01 August 2019

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David McCullough won

both FF1600 races

76 AUTOSPORT.COM 1 AUGUST 2019

CLUB AUTOSPORT NATIONAL REPORTS

by Gent, who had passed George Turiccki

for second into Turn 1 on the 10th lap of

24. Three laps later Gent took the lead,
    with Turiccki making it through for
    second soon after.
    Gent’s race was not quite yet won,
    because he was delayed by backmarkers at
    Turn 3, which allowed Turiccki to pounce
    at the beginning of the following lap.
    Gent soon retaliated, with Turiccki
    dropping to a distant third, behind Petters,
    after an off at Turn 1 on the penultimate lap.
    There was further frustration for Petters
    in his quest for a maiden win in race two, in
    which he pulled out a lead of almost 8s by
    half-distance before clipping the grass at

Turn 1 and going off, ruling the 21-year-

old out of the race.

Turiccki took the helm and seemed

to have survived pressure from Smith

before again throwing it away at Turn 1,

handing the championship leader –

who was sixth in race one – a last gasp

victory over Reece Jones and Mark

Willis. After a few moments along

the way, Gent came fourth.

The Super Silhouette Championship

contenders ended up with just one race

after coordinator Sonny Howard ruled the

conditions too treacherous just before

the start of the scheduled second contest.

Earlier, Malcolm Blackman had been

McCullough takes a brace as tragedy strikes

Wet weather

halts Pickup

Truck meeting

KIRKISTOWN

500MRCI

27 JULY

In a race meeting that was completely

overshadowed by Paul Conn’s tragic

accident in the second Roadsports contest,

David McCullough extended his lead over

Alan Davidson in the Northern Ireland

Formula Ford 1600 Championship after

back-to-back victories.

Both David and Ivor McCullough, in their

almost identical Van Diemens, were locked

in battle in the first race with Davidson’s

Mondiale and the Van Diemen of Will

Herron. The quartet circulated in ever-

changing order for 16 nail-biting laps,

before a deflating front tyre sent Herron

into Ivor McCullough and out of the

results at the final corner, leaving him

with the scant consolation of fastest lap.

Davidson grabbed second place ahead

of the recovering Ivor.

Davidson and the brothers were locked

in combat again in race two, but this time

without Herron, whose crew were unable

to effect repairs in time. Initially it was

Ivor who made the running, but David

took over towards the end, the pair

stretching away from Davidson to cross

the line almost a full second ahead.

Conn was a popular winner in the first

Roadsports encounter, his Crossle 47S

almost matching the pace of Radical pilots

Ivor Greenwood and Jim Larkham and

gleefully taking over the top spot when

the bike-powered opposition faltered.

Mark Crawford’s Rover-powered Caterham

defeated the Crossle 37S of John Benson

for third, while the concurrent Stryker

race went to Greg Kelly by a nose from

Stephen Ross and Andrew D’Alton.

A repeat of the opening Roadsports result

looked to be on the cards in the afternoon,

but the race was halted prematurely when

Conn crashed heavily on the front straight

while lapping a slower car. Tragically, his

injuries proved fatal and the event was

abandoned at that point.

Earlier, Gerard O’Connell’s SHP Ford

Escort-Millington ran away and hid from

the rest of the tin-tops in their one and

only race, finishing some 48 seconds

ahead of Charlie Linnane, whose SHP

Supercar headed the similar machines

of Paul Parr and Gary Corcoran. Donal

O’Neill topped the NI Saloon runners

in his SEAT Cupra with top BMW Cup

contender Jonny Smith next in line.

Karl O’Brien headed Jack Byrne and Chris

MALLORY PARK

BARC

28 JULY

Dale Gent and Michael Smith

both scored their second victories

of the Pickup Truck Racing

Championship season as the

category made a long-awaited

return to the Mallory Mile oval.

Gent had been frustrated by his

qualifying pace, although it would have

given him a marginally better position

than the eighth the random draw

assigned him on the race one grid.

Set-up changes, to deal with the

peculiarities of a circuit in the midst

of a month’s worth of rain in 36 hours,

seemed to do the trick, however.

Daniel Petters – second in his

first ever meeting last year, also in

the wet, and hunting for a victory

since – stormed to the front of the

field from row three inside two laps,

but no sooner had he pulled out a

2.5-second lead than a long-standing

problem returned.

“It started missing down the straights,

so I was down on power and they just

reeled me in,” he said. ‘They’ were headed

Pickup Trucks

made return to

Mallory Park oval

for the first time

since 2005