30 Years On, Cullen is Still Winning Titles at Mondello Park

Michael Cullen made his race debut 40 years ago at Mondello Park. Driving Pat Murphy’s Fiesta Supersport in the 1300cc Production Saloon race,  he finished an impressive fourth, right on the bumper of his Dad Des’ Kadett SR. Fast forward another ten years to 1993. Racing was in rude good health in Mondello and Michael, now with FF1600 and UK MG Metro Cup experience, decided to tackle a number of classes. Long story short, the Rathmines Motor Dealer ended the season with not one, but four titles to his name. He was the Dunlop Uno Cup Champion, the Castrol 205 GTI Champion, the Dunlop Saloon Car Champion and also won the overall Sexton Trophy! More titles were to follow, including the European Ferrari Challenge in 2005 and again in 2007. He hung up the helmet for a few years but in recent times, he is very much back on the scene and, yes, he is still winning.

Michael competes in Historic races in the UK at the wheel of a Cooper S and a Lotus Cortina Mk1 and he was gutted to learn that the opening ICCR meeting of 2023 clashed with Goodwood. Having done all the preparation and tested well, this put Michael on the back foot on his attempt to recreate his feat of 30 years before and win multiple championships at Mondello.

In his absence, Darragh McMullen took two strong ST wins at the ICCR opener in April, and assumed the early title lead. When Cullen returned for the June ICCR meeting, he hit a rich vein of form which saw him completely dominate proceedings, taking pole, two wins, and a pair of fastest laps. He repeated this feat at the July meeting and it seemed his Beacon Hospital/LOH Motorsport machine was untouchable.  With two dropped rounds in the championship, he was still very much in with a chance of taking the title but, as he kept saying, it’s a cruel sport and it’s not over until it’s over. This outlook no doubt enforced by the memories of a lost ST Championship at the final round a few years back, courtesy of a failed wheel bearing.

He was right not to be complacent though, as it wasn’t all sailing from then on. The trip across the Irish Sea to the picturesque Anglesey Circuit only yielded 21 points from two races, not ideal when he had no rounds to drop and the maximum available was 45, a total haul he had taken from each of the previous two meetings. Kian O’Brien, having taken a win in race two, had assumed the title lead at this stage, whilst also wrapping up the Kirkistown R50 MINI series at the same time! Another Young Gun, Max Turley, had endured a tough season up to this but at the next meeting, the Leinster Trophy at Mondello, he was to be the man on form. Cullen grabbed pole position, and the three points that came with it, but in the opening race, Turely eased away to take the win. Shane McBride took a popular win in a shortened race two, with Cullen crossing the line fourth.

All this meant that the title was anything but a foregone conclusion as the final ICCR meeting of the 2023 season approached.  The on form Turley took the all important pole, but Cullen and his LOH Motorsport team had done the maths and knew that wins were not necessarily required- just top five finishes in both races, regardless of the outcome.  Turley did all he could to try and steal the title, winning the first race as he pleased and battling through from sixth to take an impressive second win later that afternoon. He also took the extra point for fastest lap in both. Cullen joined him on the podium in race one, taking third despite a problem with his ABS, which meant the rear brakes kept locking, almost sending him into the kitty litter on more than one occasion.

Race two, then, was critical and was going to decide the outcome of the 2023 Coffee 2 Go Fiesta ST Championship. Not for the first time in his Fiesta ST history, Cullen was to hit trouble at the last round. The brake issue, which appeared to be sorted, reappeared early on and he had no option but to cruise around at the back. A finish would be enough, just, to pip Turley to the title. As Turley crossed the line to take the flag, the pitwall occupants were furiously adding up points on their phones as they waited to see where the Beacon Hospital car would finish. The answer was twelveth, a lap down! The five points were pretty much all he needed to take the title, but you couldn’t write a script to make it any closer.

When the points were all totted up and dropped scores taken into account, Michael Cullen had added the Fiesta ST Championship to his long list of titles. Max Turley was second, just a mere four points behind, with Kian O’Brien in third. Oh, and he managed to win the Bill Griffin Motors Stryker title too- not bad for someone that made their debut at the same circuit 40 years ago!

Images from Marc Quinlivan Photography