CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERS SHINE AT KIRKISTOWN - IRISH FORMULA VEE ROUND 8 REVIEW

By Evan Dalton

Gavin Buckley through the John Crossle Chicane | Courtesy of Jimmy Graham

Bright mornings can be rare at Kirkistown, but the paddock was blessed with sunny conditions, even if a bit chilly at times. It was perfect conditions for the Irish Formula Vee circus to land upon Newtownards. 

Gavin Buckley arrived on Friday afternoon as the Selco.ie National Championship leader, but had not had the smoothest run at the earlier Kirkistown round in April. An engine cut out while running in the podium places, demoted him to fifth. The expected forecast certainly suited the reigning champion, who took his first ever Formula Vee win here back in 2020. 

First up on Saturday morning was qualifying. An early start meant cooler conditions and a nice breeze pushing the cars through Debtors Dip’ all the way down to ‘Colonial One.’ Buckley was the pace setter from the offset, cementing himself at the top of the order early on, and there he would remain. 

2024 TyreDoctor.ie B Championship winner Kieran Hannan would line up alongside Buckley on the front row. Hannan and all at Tim Murray Racing had made some improvements from Friday’s testing, catching the eye of the paddock and certainly raised the sunglasses of Buckley and mechanic Adam Macauley. 

With qualifying complete, it was time for the B/C race. A unique event to Kirkistown which sees all competitors in both the B series and Precisionworks Engineering Rookie Championship get the track to themselves. Roscommon’s Eamonn Thornton took pole position, with his title rival Conor Melia alongside him for SM Racing. 

Melia got the launch, and took the race lead into the first braking zone. It was short lived however, as Thornton’s Leastone fired back past after the ‘John Crossle Chicane.’ 

Melia has been leading the SM Racing charge in 2025, but their other driver, number 41 Niall O’Mara was starving for a strong result. He challenged both Melia and Thornton early on, and even took the race lead during this strong opening phase. 

Unfortunately for O’Mara, his rotten luck at Kirkistown returned. After making contact, his nose cone was clipped and got stuck underneath the car. An imminent return to the pitlane, to stop what could have been a fire, was necessary. O’Mara was able to get back on track, thanks to one of the Kirkistown Fiesta drivers, Grace McCallion, who ran into the service lane to remove the stuck part. 

Niall O’Mara missing some body work | Courtesy of Jimmy Graham

It was not a trouble free race elsewhere, as Aaron Murray, Ger Byrne and Stephen Roche all had their fair share of disappointments. A plethora of wounded Vee’s were placed across the track, eventually bringing out the red flag. 

Melia and Thornton would once again share the front row for the restart. The former, not too fond of the delay, as the Dubliner had been suffering from suspected food poisoning all morning. His determination, that has been displayed across every round this year, and pure love for his craft, kept him going through the morning and he was one good restart away from it all paying off. 

Eamonn Thornton and Conor Melia lead the field | Courtesy of Jimmy Graham

For Melia, it did pay off. A perfect launch off the line allowed him to pull the gap. Thornton remained in second, but a poorer getaway found him squabbling with Fergal Begley and Lee Flynn. 

The final bit of misfortune was unfortunately handed to the young Kilkenny native. If Flynn had no bad luck in his quest for rookie championship glory, he wouldn’t have any luck at all. A clutch issue saw him pull aside with a couple laps to go. 

It however would be a remarkable perfect eight out of eight for Conor Melia in B Championship classification as he fist pumped his way across the line, to the delight of partner Dori, all of team SM Racing, and potentially even Michelle Morrin who was tuning into the Facebook livestream sneakily during a wedding ceremony. 

All attention now turned to the day's main race. The sun was well and truly out now, as eager photographers packed onto hay bales down at Colonial, and spectators filled the pitwall. 

Buckley got away fantastically and held the lead through the first lap. Hannan was not far away however, and tucked right in behind the championship leader. 

Towards the back, two time race winner Colm Blackburn had the hard task of cutting through the field after a disappointing qualifying. A late arrival on Friday evening, the championship competitor was up to 9th on the opening lap. 

A recreation of Noah’s Ark was prevalent during the first stage of the laps as they battled two by two. Buckley vs Hannan, Thornton vs Melia, O’Mara vs Begley. Buckley was coming under severe pressure from Hannan when he was saved by a red flag, brought out due to an incident for Jonathan Mannix. 

It was a second crash of the day for Mannix, who did not have the day he dreamed of. After running wide through ‘Fishermans,’ his car fell into a dip in the run off caused due to a strip of cement, and the luminous yellow Shaene chassis was sent hurtling upwards. Thankfully, Mannix was ok after the crash. 

Johnathan Mannix parked up after a spin | Courtesy of Jimmy Graham 

The restart was very similar to the earlier B/C race, with the race leader getting a flyer off the line. Buckley pulled a gap, and would eventually come home to win his 4th race of the year, and first at Kirkistown this season. Hannan scored his third podium of the year, with Thornton beating his B series rival Melia home to third, his first time on the rostrum since the opening weekend in Mondello Park. 

For Blackburn, the day ended in retirement, alongside Flynn who would not take the chequer once again. O’Mara would finish only a handful of seconds behind his teammate and round off a good weekend, and despite disappointment in the earlier race, Aaron Murray took his best result of the season in 7th. 

With three rounds remaining, Buckley leads Melia by 11 points in the Selco.ie National Championship. Two rounds at Mondello and one at Kirkistown, no doubt a classic battle in store. 

Selco.ie National Championship

1st - Gavin Buckley

2nd - Kieran Hannan

3rd - Eamonn Thornton

Tyredoctor.ie B Championship

1st - Conor Melia

2nd - Eamonn Thornton

3rd - Fergal Begley

PrecisionWorks Engineering Rookie Championship

1st - Brian Cowan

2nd - Sean Slevin