Magnificent Maguire Does The Double!

It was across the Irish Sea to the beautiful Anglesey Circuit in Wales for the Siltex Safety Fiesta Zetec competitors for rounds 5 & 6 of their 2024 Championship. William Kellett is a former Champion and he has been in the mix again this year. It was he who took the coveted pole position, his DMC Consultancy Kellett Motorsport  car just a tenth faster than team mate, and 2023 Rookie Champion, Jason O’Connell. Class Young Guns David Maguire and Sean McGovern were third and fourth respectively. Peter Barrable, still chasing a very slight misfire in his Airport Driving School car was fifth, just ahead of the milesPLUS car of Andy Kavanagh. Next up was ITCC interloper Paul Twomey, whilst top Rookie was Sam Doyle, showing his usual strong pace.  Mick Kehoe was lower than normal in ninth just ahead of a closely matched group of Rookies comprising of Toby Maguire, Adam O’Mahony, Sean Purcell (doing his first circuit race in the Mondello Team Building car), Mark Daly and Liv Corcoran.

Maguire made no mistakes to come out tops of an extremely close fought race, crossing the line a fraction ahead of Kellett, with McGovern right with them in third. Jason O’Connell had some breathing space three seconds back in fourth, whilst Peter Barrable made up for his lack of pace with some impressive racecraft , holding back constant challenges from Mick Kehoe and Andy Kavanagh for the duration,
Sam Doyle loaned Rookie Cup rival Toby McGuire his spare engine when Toby’s expired in Friday testing. It was a great gesture of sportsmanship, but one he must have almost regretted, so close was the subsequent battle for Rookie Honours! Doyle took the chequered flag, but Maguire was less than two tenths away after a fantastic battle. The scrap for the final place on the Rookie Podium was great to watch as Adam O’Mahony, Mark Daly and Sean Purcell went at it all race long, with Daly being ahead when it counted! Liv Corcoran was next up gaining more Rookie points in her first season racing.

Sixth in race one, for the second meeting in a row, gave Mick Kehoe pole position for race two, with Peter Barrable, still not happy with his car, alongside him on the front row. O’Connell and McGovern were on row two, with Kellett and Maguire fifth and sixth respectively. Kehoe made no mistakes to lead away with McGovern, after a peach of a start, on his bumper, but as soon as they came off the Banking Corner, the extent of Barrable’s issue was clear to see, as he got swamped by his pursuers. McGovern slipstreamed past Kehoe into the lead just after church corner with O’Connell almost following him through. Kehoe fought back into Rocket, drawing alongside McGovern before a locked wheel sent him wide (below).

Maguire was on form all weekend and he used the strong tow on the back straight to perfection as he eased towards the front, relieving McGovern of the lead and going on to take win number two. O’Connell was second with Kellett completing the podium in third, just, from McGovern. Next up were Kavanagh and Kehoe from Twomey and Barrable.
Doyle took his second Rookie win on the weekend, but it wasn’t quite as fraught as the first one, as he crossed the line five seconds ahead of McGuire with O’Mahony claiming another 2024 Rookie podium in third. Just behind him, a delighted Purcell came out tops of a great scrap with Mark Daly.
Maguire’s fastest lap of 1:28.076 smashed the existing class lap record, rounding off the perfect weekend for the LOH Motorsport run driver.

Images from Lambosport/LNPToby McGuire