Boards KERSH wins Round 9 of Formula Vee in Kirkistown

av8rirl

Kershaw M-Sport racer Stephen Kershaw (Kersh to boards.ie fans) raced his way to his third win of the season and extended his championship lead at round 9 of the Irish Formula Vee championships in Kirky at the weekend.

The No.81 Kershaw M-Sport Leastone started 4th on the grid after a qualifying session that was hampered by oil laid down on the track early in the session.

Kershaw passed David O Brien off the line and then made two places on the back straight to take the lead by the end of the first lap. The lead changed hands several times a lap until Kershaw pulled a gap on Allen when they hit backmarkers. In the end, Kershaw ran just quick enough to manage his lead to the flag.

The victory saw Kershaw take the Kirkistown Formula Vee championship and further extend his lead in the National championship. It all goes down to the wire at the double header in Mondello in 2 weeks time with Kershaw out for more race wins and championship glory.

As you will all be aware, the Vee's will race for the Leinster Trophy at the same meeting, so Kershaw will hopefully be battling at the front for victory of the race that his idol Ayrton Senna won way back in 1982.

Heres hoping some of you can come along and watch the races. Also, the Formula Vee association are putting up a large marquee for the weekend where people are welcome to come along for free tea and coffee... perhaps more refreshments! There will also be a BBQ on the Sat evening from about 6pm. All are welcome!

mrmac

That's great news, thanks for the update.

Any TV coverage of this anywhere?

muckwarrior

Kersh is lightening, right?

av8rirl

muckwarrior wrote: »

Kersh is lightening, right?

No. Kersh is a racing driver... name Stephen Kershaw... and username Kersh on boards.ie

av8rirl

And he is lightening on track... just not as a username!

Kersh

Anseo! :pac:

You'll find I probably dont talk much about racing anymore on here ... I just do it

Its more exciting that way.

av8rirl

He gets his publicist/engineer/dogsbody to do the talking for him!!

muckwarrior

Ficus wrote: »

No, kersh is http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/member.php?u=25796

Ah, not sure why but I thought LIGHTENING's username used to be Kersh.

av8rirl

Now now Roy... you know I don't have a problem with you... if I had a problem with you I wouldn't have been trying to get you more testing time in the car in Anglesey when the owner wasn't even going to be racing!!

I have just pointed out that my good friend owns and races cars... no more no less! You are reading too much into it!

Beekay

Might as well post up the race report from the vee website

Kirkistown, 29 August 2009
Kershaw Extends Lead with Win

Brain Kelly took pole position for the last visit of the year to Kirkistown from Robbie Allen, Dave O Brien, Stephen Kershaw, Ray Moore, and Dan Polley and it was the Champion who led away off the line. Kershaw and Polley both made a place each on the getaway passing O Brien and Moore respectively. Kershaw then passed both Kelly and Allen on the back straight to grab the lead. Adam Mcauley from further back also made several places with a good start. Lloyd Murphy went off at Debtors and was the only casualty of the opening lap although he rejoined.

Kershaw led the race from a tight group of Kelly, Allen, O Brien, Moore, Polley and Mcauley however this was reduced when Kelly dropped back and then clashed with Moore at Colonial. Mcauley had to take avoiding action and the trio all lost places. Polley the opportunist made three places. The incident allowed the three leaders to pull a gap and crucially break the tow to the chasers on the back straight. Javier Pernas had qualified well and was racing with Jimmy Furlong, and Ger Byrne. Moore caught and passed them a couple of laps later. There was a tight battle at the rear of the field; two rookies Damien Murphy and Paddy Cahill were batteling with the two ladies Jessica Casserly and Paula Moore.

The three leaders were swapping positions between themselves and it looked as though a classic race was unfolding until O Brien blew out a plug on lap eight leaving just Kershaw and Allen to fight for the win. Rain started to fall at this point and the track became very slippery. The pair caught the battle at the rear of the field in the Chicane and fortune didn't shine on Allen. Kershaw cleared them in time but Allen was hampered and lost time. Mcauley had caught Polley at this stage and the pair traded positions for a couple of laps before Mcauley got a break and pulled a gap. Kelly and Moore were now not too far behind Polley. Pernas spun at the Hairpin and collected Furlong on the way around. The car of Furlong jammed in third gear halting his progress. Morgan McCourt had been going well in a battle with Roy Hanlon but outbraked himself at Colonial and collected Hanlon on the way off. Both were out of the race.

The car of Kershaw started to leakoil during the race, which seemed to get progressively worse as time on. Allen had a coating of it on his visor and mixed with the rain made visibility poor, his challenge faltered. Mcauley was now comfortable in third but Polley was coming under pressure from Kelly and he was passed with a couple of laps to go. Moore replaced Kelly as the chaser but seemed to lack Kellys pace and he remained behind Polley until the end.

Allen closed the gap to the leader near the end when he could see better but it was too late to make a serious move. Kershaw held on for his third win of the season and extended his Champioship lead. Allen in second place is still a title contender. Mcauley extended his B Championship lead with a class win and third place overall. Pernas took top Novice points, seventh place overall and had the fastest race lap in a good day for the Cork based Spaniard. Kelly and Polley are now tied for second but 18 points behind Kershaw as the VEE's head for a title deciding double-header at Mondello Park in two weeks.

The following day there will be the small matter of the Leinster Trophy

Results
Final (14 Laps)

1. Stephen Kershaw
2. Robbie Allen
3. Adam Mcauley
4. Brian Kelly
5. Dan Polley
6. Ray Moore

Pole: Brian Kelly
Lap: Javier Pernas 1-07.136
Class Winners:
Adam Mcauley
Javier Pernas

http://formulavee.ie/news/news9013.php

There will probably be a video up from Cregor over the next few days

Kersh

The video is here - Im in the orange car. Ficus is in the yellow car. He has a camera, I didnt have one unfortunately.

http://www.formulavee.ie/video.php

Grim.

cregor for BBC F1 tbh