The Siltex Safety Fiesta Zetec Championship has consistently been the strongest race class in the country for the last five years. The 80bhp cars are cheap to buy and easy to maintain. Thanks to an extremely good technical team, the cars are pretty evenly matched and are regularly subject to intense eligibility scrutiny checks. The class has attracted a lot of newcomers to Motorport and the Rookie Cup, for drivers in their first two years, is well supported and incredibly competitive too.
in early June, Mondello Park’s second TengTools ICCR meeting of the year took place, and another influx of newcomers meant that the class reached maximum circuit capacity, with 34 cars making an impressive sight, as they headed down the pitlane to qualify. Reigning Champion Sean McGovern is competing in the UK Civic Cup in 2026 (and starting to go really well!) but is so fond of the little 1250cc tin tops, he is also defending his hard won title on this side of the Irish Sea. It was no surprise then, to see his JOLT backed car topping the timesheets when the chequered flag waved to signal the end of the session. It was close though as Sam “Samcam” Doyle, having sorted his down on power engine at round one, would join him on the front row, with a time just .035 shy of pole position. 
Andy Kavanagh and the Murray Motorsport car of Ian Fishbourne were both within a tenth of pole and they would start the opening race on the second row. Row three would be Christian Brennan who ran McGovern close at the opening round, and the Dawson Direct car of Alan Dawson, followed by Keith Dawson and Mick Kehoe. A much improved Mick McArdle and top Rookie Jack Duke rounded out the top ten. Gareth Phayres was second Rookie, from Mondello Park Scholarship winner Philip Moloney, with LolaRose Turley fourth, from Dylan Jones, Paddy Fitzgerald, Barry Murphy, Will Humphries, Elizabeth Downey, Jack Beggy, Tom O’Callaghan, Allesandro Gentile and Andrew Croosbie. Rob Ryan had been right up the sharp end of the Rookies on his first race weekend but, having failed to submit his tyre log to scrutiny, was banished to the back, as was fellow Rookie Reuben O’Neill.
When the lights went out, the impressive grid made their way under the Alfa Romeo bridge and down into Castrol for the first time. McGovern, unsurprisingly, made a perfect start and it was his JOLT machine that led the pack around for the opening lap. At Southside though, there was a schmozzle, as LolaRose Turley found herself turned around, leaving a big gap already in the pack. Unfortunately for the improving Turley, she was out on the spot and when Phayres parked in the Turn Three gravel, the safety car was despatched. With debris on the track at Southside , the officials decided to throw out the red flags and the grid came to a halt on the main straight.
Once the track was clear, the pack headed off for a Safety Car restart. When the Alfa Romeo Junior Safety car turned off the lights and speeded up at Turn Three, McGovern continued to weave around to get heat in his tyres and then picked his moment perfectly on the way to the Esses, crossing the line with a few lengths to spare over Doyle.
Back in the pack, some of the less experienced drivers were caught out though and there were big gaps in the pack as they crossed the line to restart. Kavanagh was third with Fishbourne breathing down his neck, and next up was Christian Brennan who immediately came under attack from Alan Dawson, Mick Kehoe and Keith Dawson. By Turn three, Kehoe had forged his way to the head of this group, with Mick McArdle and Rookie leader Jack Duke (below) in there too.
With a little bit of rain arriving, McGovern immediately made a break, with Kavanagh and Fishbourne easing up towards the rear of the second placed Tara Racing machine of Doyle. In their wake, Kehoe, keen to chase down the leaders, over committed slightly at Southside, with the resultant grassy moment undoing all his good work and dropping him three places behind Keith Dawson, Duke and McArdle. Just behind this group, Alex McCann was having a great run, from Philip Moloney, Lorcan McGivney and Finn Gillespie, whose tailgate had swung open, just to add to his straightline speed woes!
Kehoe meanwhile, had eased the Donegan Motor Services car past Duke and McArdle in a bid to get to the sharp end. Kavanagh, having set fastest lap, had pulled slightly away from Fishbourne and was almost with Doyle, with McGovern no longer pulling away, setting us up for a grandstand finish. Duke was leading the hotly contested Rookies from the Mondello Scholarship pair of Moloney and Fitzgerald, Jack Beggy, whose livery was very eyecatching (below), Will Humphreys and Barry Murphy.
In the closing laps though, it was Doyle who had the pace, easing away from Kavanagh and Fishbourne. On the final lap, he was right with McGovern and all but got alongside the leader as they crossed the line, having set fastest lap on his final tour!
So at the flag then, it was McGovern, just, from a delighted Sam Doyle. Kavanagh completed the podium with Fishbourne in fourth, with Keith Dawson and Mick Kehoe rounding out the top six.
A much improved Mick McArdle was seventh, with Alex McCann and Lorcan McGivney also recording impressive top ten finishes. Duke, well inside the top ten, took Rookie honours once again, from Moloney and Fitzgerald, the two Scholarship winners justifying their selection in the annual Mondello Park backed initiative.(Below)
With the top six reversed for Race Two, Mick Kehoe sat on pole position and it wouldn’t have been unreasonable to suggest this could be his day. Alongside him sat Keith Dawson, his A1 Tiles car many times a winner before at Mondello Park before his sabbatical. Row two comprised of Fishbourne and Kavanagh, with Doyle and McGovern on row three. Then it was McArdle, Duke, McCann, McGivney, Moloney, Alan Dawson, Gillespie, Fitzgerald and MINI Junior Graduate Martin Finnegan.
Kehoe led away, fending off the advances of Dawson into Castrol with Fish third and McGovern, who had got the better of Doyle off the line, slicing down the inside of Kavanagh for fourth on the opening lap! Doyle tired to displace Kavanagh into Southside at the end of the lap, but the milesPLUS car sat around the outside to take it back as they came onto the Birrane Straight for the first time. In their wake, McArdle and Alan Dawson were door to door, McGovern was in racey form and into Castrol he got alongside, and slightly ahead, of Fishbourne on the brakes, then rounded the corner side by side – with Fishbourne giving racing room – and was able to forge ahead at Campion corner. As if this wasn’t enough, he then immediately sliced by Dawson for second into Turn Three. By the Esses, he was on the rear bumper of leader Kehoe, who much have wondered how the Soft Recruit car had made so much progress inside a lap when he glanced in his mirror. Kehoe was calm and composed out front, whist the next move came from Keith Dawson, braking incredibly late, he got down the outside of Fishbourne and level with McGovern into Castrol. He was wrong footed through Campion though, losing speed as he went around door to door to McGovern and found himself badly boxed out at Turn Three with Fishbourne taking the place back and Andy Kavanagh almost following him through,. Fishbourne somehow sat around the outside of McGovern at Southside and the pair drag raced down the straight with second place at stake. He did it again at Castrol and McGovern reciprocated the racing room in on the exit, allowing the Murray Motorsport car to ease ahead through Campion. Proper motor racing! 
The battle for second was far from done though and had been joined by Keith Daswon, Kavanagh, Doyle, Duke, Alan Dawson and Mick McArdle. A superbly timed lunge from McGovern caught Fishbourne, who was sizing up Kehoe at the time, unawares, and the duo had swapped places three time in two laps! McGovern tired a similar move on the leader a lap later but Fishbourne, reading it perfectly, effected the Mondello switchback and was up the inside on the exit to take second back once again! A lap later and Fishbourne appeared to have had a better exit from Southside, as he drove by Kehoe on the Birrane Straight to take the lead away. From here, he simply eased away to cross the line over two seconds to the good. Kehoe was second, from McGovern, Keith Dawson, Andy Kavanagh, Sam Doyle, Jack Duke, Alan Dawson and Gareth Phayres.
Duke took Rookie honours once again, from Phayres and Fitzgerald. Robert Ryan climbed to fourth in Rookies, all but matching Duke’s pace on his first day racing, from Barry Murphy, Jack Beggy and Dylan Jones, who happily had effected repairs after Race One to allow him to make Race Two!
The Siltex Safety Zetec championship returns to Mondello Park, this time on the International Circuit, on July 5th.
Images from Marc Quinlivan Photography
Categories