Fishbourne and Dawson Share Siltex Zetec Glory at ICCR Finale

Sean McGovern had done enough to have sealed the 2025 title by the first race at the Leinster Trophy ICCR meeting in September, whereby he immediately disappeared from the grids, preferring to try his hand at the SEAT Supercup series instead!

In his absence, an on form Alan Dawson grabbed pole in difficult conditions for LOH Motorsport. His Sheds Direct car would line up on the front row with class returnee Ian Fishbourne alongside. Fishbourne was shaking down one of the Murray Motorsport cars ahead of the annual 6 Hour race in November and showed he wasn’t at all rusty after a two year layoff! Newly crowned Kirkistown NI Zetec Champion Aidan Mulready was next up just ahead of the impressive Evan Walsh, the Rookie beginning to hassle the big boys in the Mondello Park Scholarship car. Mick Kehoe’s immaculate Donegan Motor Services car was fifth with Rookie title leader Mikey Moynihan sixth. Sam Doyle, having starred at the previous meeting, was seventh and hoping to get back towards the sharp end again in his Tara Racing JPS lookalike liveried car. Eighth was Finn Gillespie, who was hoping to move forward after a fraught qualifying session. He was followed by Kelsey Kirby, who was lucky to have made qualifying at all after a steering rack failure the night before, and impressive Rookie Alex McCann, who rounded out the top ten.

Walsh, Moynihan and Gillespie were top three Rookie qualifiers, from McCann, Chloe Kellett, showing great pace,  Freya Burns, just ahead of her debuting Dad David Burns (!),  LolaRose Turley and Elizabeth Downey.

When the lights changed, Dawson made a good launch but was bettered by Fishbourne. Mulready made a better start than both though and having jumped to second, had a run down the outside of Fishbourne into Castrol. When the rear of his car let go, he caught it but ran slightly wide. Further back though, Harry McGovern, eager to climb up from his lowly qualifying position, locked up and slid into the gravel. Initially it looked as if he might rejoin, but the Mondello Operations team had spent hours raking the gravel traps in the run up to the event and when the front dug dug in, that was it.

As they streamed through Campion then for the first time, it was Fishbourne, from Dawson, with Mick Kehoe in third. Then it was Mulready, Walsh and Sam Doyle, already on a charge. Then it was McCann, Moynihan and Gillespie, Kirby, McArdle, Farrelly and Kellett. By the time they came back towards the Esses though, the Alfa Romeo Safety Car had been deployed, while McGovern’s car was dragged from the Castrol Corner kitty litter. So deeply embedded though was the Soft Recruit car, that it needed the Teleporter to extract it and bring it back of the paddock, meaning that the pack did three laps before being released again.

Fishbourne timed the restart to perfection and had a lead of a couple of lengths as the pack crossed the line. Kehoe was on the attack straight away, trying to wrest second from Dawson. Mulready was right there too, from Walsh, Doyle and McCann. An opportunistic lunge into Castrol got Gillespie past Moynihan and him immediately began to close down the Walsh, Doyle McCann train. Having caught them by the end of the lap, another dive into Southside got him past McCann and into seventh. McCann’s car looked a bit taily but he was displaying impressive car control as he continually hung onto it. Up front, Fishbourne had dropped the hammer and already had a strong lead over Dawson. Gillespie tried a run around the outside of Doyle but the Tara Racing man was having none of it and Moynihan subsequently  closed in on both of them. Just behind, Kelsey Kirby had fought past the sideways McCann, but John Farrelly was getting into the groove in the title winning Sean McGovern car and had also joined this group. At the flag then, it was a delighted Fishbourne, from Dawson, Kehoe, Mulready, Walsh, Doyle, Gillespie, Moynihan and Farrelly, with Kirby rounding out the top ten.

All this meant that a delighted Sam Doyle would take a well deserved pole position for Race Two, with Evan Walsh alongside. Mulready and Kehoe shared row two, whilst Dawson and Fishbourne started from row three. Row three would comprise of Dawson and Fishbourne, both of whom would surely be looking to charge through. Right behind them were Gillespie and Moynihan, then John Farrelly and Kesley Kirby, Alex McCann and Christian Brennan. Harry McGovern would start right at the back of the grid, courtesy of his non finish in Race One, and was about to uncork a superb charge up through the grid!

The front row occupants matched each other as they went under the Alfa Romeo Bridge but it was Doyle who grabbed the lead, having had the inside line into Castrol for the first time. Kehoe had moved and then stopped just before the lights went out but made a good effort second time round, chopping across the bows of Mulready to take third, with Fishbourne  already alongside Mulready on the run to the first corner. McGovern had somehow vaulted his way past six cars before Campion Corner, and he wasn’t done just yet!

Doyle (above) looked composed out front as Walsh came under attack from both Kehoe and Mulready. Dawson was next up from a charging Gillespie, who had got past Fishbourne on the opening lap. Mulready got past Walsh at Castrol on lap two and immediately began to pressure the leader, flashing the lights BTCC style on the way to Turn Three. He made it stick with a nice move into Bridgestone but it soon became evident that his fuel filler cap was leaking, as fuel sprayed out on the exit of right hand corners.

Dawson had followed him through and on the next lap got alongside  on the way up from Turn Three,. Mulready held on though and Dawson had to have a rethink. Having got alongside on the brakes into Castrol, the Sheds Direct car switched back to the inside on the exit and somehow managed to sit it out around the outside to take the lead. He immediately set fastest lap and he began to ease away. Fishbourne was on a charge though and was up to third, then grabbing second fron Mulready with a tidy lunge down the inside into Castrol.  Doyle was still very much in touch wiith Kehoe not too far away. Gillespie, meanwhile, had dropped way down the grid with an intermittent electrical issue. As Mulready responded to the warning flags and headed to the pitlane,  Fishbourne was trying hard to chase down the leader but they were so closely matched that the gap didn’t change much at all. In their wake Kehoe was trying his best to relieve Doyle of third but once again, the Tara Racing man remained unruffled.

Having got the car going again, Gillespie was stranded at the apex of Castrol when it stopped for good and with less than two minutes to run, the red flags came out and a result was declared. Dawson it was there for a fine win, from Fishbourne and an ecstatic Doyle for his first podium. Kehoe crossed the line fourth, only to learn of a ten second jump start penalty, dropping him to 13th.  This elevated John Farrelly to fourth, the ex RT2000 and SEAT Supercup driver making a good fist of it ahead of the Siltex 6 Hour in November.

Next up, incredibly, was Harry McGovern (above) from 25th on the grid! Walsh was next up in sixth, taking yet another Rookie victory on his last race in the Mondello Park Scholarship car,  just,  from Kelsey Kirby, who had a great race. She had Christian Brennan right on her bumper and  Lawless, Moynihan and McCann were right there too, less than a second covering them all at the line!

Walsh was first Rookie home, from a delighted Moynihan, who claimed the 2025 title, with Alex McCann joining them on the podium after a strong weekend. Lola Rose Turley was fourth, cementing the same position in the championship, having come out tops of a hectic battle with Chloe Kellett (above). Social Media guru Freya Burns was sixth, just managing to beat her dad David on his debut, with Will Humphries next up on his second race meeting. In between driving the circuit Teleporter and the Mazda recovery Jeep, John “JR” Rock had taken his annual outing in the Mondello Team Building car and managed to get to the flag without incident in both races to the delight of his many supporters, not least his son Bradain who was watching the live stream coverage from abroad!

That ended out another superb season for the budget tin top series, with grids remaining the biggest of any class at each ICCR meeting in 2025.  The Championship prizegiving will be at the ICCR Night of Champions in Lawlors of Naas, where the top six in both main and Rookie Championships will receive their trophies!

Next up is the Siltex Safety 6 Hour Endurance Race in a couple of weeks. Plenty of exciting entries are already in, including a multiple 2025 BTCC race winner. This year, we will introduce a new class for drivers who have never finished in the top six in the history of the event. There will be trophies for the overall top six (one per driver) and then top three for the new class too! Teams may comprise of three or four drivers and the entry fee for 7 hours of track time is just €800. Entries are open, what are you waiting for?

Images from Cregor Elliott