Formula Libre is, as the name suggests, a motor racing category free of technical regulations. The current Irish version organised and promoted by Formula Libre Ireland is open to both proprietary single seater and open topped sports racing cars split into 2 classes. F1 Libre, which this year will see GP2, F3000 and turbocharged motorcycle engined cars of unlimited capacity race with the under 2 litre mainly F 3, F Renault and Radical sports cars in the F2 Libre class. Both classes will race together in one race and will have equal status in the championship.

“This is our second year to run the All Ireland format” commented Formula Libre Ireland’s coordinator Ed McInerney. “There was a natural synergy between the 2 Libre groups on the island highlighted by the strong grids and excellent racing we had become used to racing together in Kirkistown. Formally combining like we did last year made perfect sense, and with new partners Magic Bullet® we spread the appeal of the “Magic Formula”!

This year’s championship will consist of 12 races held over 6 events at 2 venues beginning with April 10 in Mondello Park followed by May 28 Kirkistown, June 25 Kirkistown, July 24 Mondello Park, August 27 Kirkistown, and September 17/18 Mondello Park.

Stanley Watson of Magic Bullet® fuel treatment said “Magic Bullet® in association with Breezemount Motorsport is happy to continue our involvement with such a prestigious category. Magic Bullet® the performance restoring fuel treatment with formulations for both cars and motorcycles has been developed for the love of performance, speed and advanced engineering and where better to abuse it than on the track!”

Breezemount Motorsport is proud to partner Magic Bullet® as sponsors to this year’s All Ireland Formula Libre Championship with 12 races held over 6 events at 2 venues. See the video by reading more.

See more about the Championship here

“i tried magic bullet in my 07 vectra diesel after talking to the guys at the motorbike show in belfast about the problems with the cat on my car clogging up due to poor grade fuel,stanley advised me that one or two treatments would sort it out,true to his word it worked i cant believe the difference this has made to my car i was about to change the car as i thought it had got sluggish but i have changed them thoughts as the cars performance is back to the same as it was new,this is not like the other products that claim to save fuel and add performance this cleans your system and DOES WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN .im now going to try it on an old motorbike to see will it give the same results. many thanks stanley you were true to your word”

Declan Mcaleer

A promising entry of 14 was depleted as a result of various maladies before qualifying, Paul Dagg’s miserable season in particular continuing with problems during Friday testing indicating he may not have cured his Leinster Trophy woes.  Dan Daly set the pace in qualifying, staying sufficiently ahead to take pole for both races with Ivor Greenwood piping Eugene Heary to join Daly on the front row.  It was similarly close between Philip Shields and Peter Dwyer for the next 2 places while Jack Frost completed row 3 in the rapid little Dallara Hayabusa.  With John Downey’s withdrawal it meant just 4 starters in the over 2 litre class, and consequently the reduced points for a win in that class put paid to John Daly’s outside chance of championship success.

An electrical problem struck the Heary Reynard at the start of the first race, and with Philip Shields rotating the Tatuus Honda off the line, the marshals had a busy time clearing the grid before the field came round at the end of lap 1.  Ivor Greenwood gamely hung on to the Daly Reynard initially while Eamon Matheson having blitzed his way up to third on the opening lap had to retire the Mission on lap 5, a seized water pump playing havoc with the ‘busa motor.  A late race safety car to deal with the burning remnants of another ‘busa motor in Jack Frost’s Dallara bunched the field for a last lap dash, but Daly prevailed in the end from Greenwood, Peter Dwyer and Jim Larkham, with Geoffrey Moffett and Philip Shields rounding out the finishers.

Race 2 was red flagged on the first lap after a clash at Colonial between Peter Dwyer and Ivor Greenwood which put the latter out on the spot.  Dwyer hobbled back to the pits to retire as well, but sterling work by the Daly crew on the pit road got the damage repaired and car and driver were despatched back out to the grid for the restart.  Eugene Heary meanwhile had exorcised the gremlins from his car and kept Daly honest throughout the race while Dwyer hung on as best as he could and Jim Larkham nursed the Radical home 2 laps adrift.

It was game, set and match then to the elder Daly in the Magic Bullet stakes, Dan lifting the outright and large class titles while Stephen contended himself with 2 litre honours.  Runners up to Dan were John Daly (no relation) and Ken Fildes, and to Stephen were Peter Dwyer and Jim Larkham.   Stephen’s contentment turned to joyous disbelief almost as it emerged that between reduced points and dropped scores in the Leinster Leader Trophy he had managed to scoop that title outright by the narrowest of margins!  A remarkable achievement for young Stephen in his first season of Formula Libre.

Huge thanks to our sponsors Magic Bullet for their involvement with us this year; we hope that it has been of some benefit to them in raising awareness of their new product, and we look forward to our championship awar

Sensational opening laps in the tricky conditions saw Paul Heavey make full use of his advantage in the greasy conditions by  moving up to fourth while Jonathan Fildes having started from the pit road made his way up to ninth by the end of lap 2 before spinning at the esses.  Mullins set the early pace but Daly had made the better tyre choice and shadowed the sliding Gould until making his move on lap 2.  The pair circulated fairly closely, Mullins looking like he could challenge at times, but struggled to get the power down out of the corners allowing Daly to pull away gradually towards the end.  Stephen Daly had a lonely race in third while Paul Heavey, Robert Butler and an on form Peter Dwyer had a good scrap for second in 2 litre.  Ken Fildes had a disappointing run with wet tyres that were past their best, he slipping back as the race went on but he still finished third in class from Eamon Matheson, the turbocharged Mission always a handful in wet conditions.

Mick Roche, John Downey and Cormac O’Brien finished behind the recovering Jonathan Fildes, the latter 2 having their moments in the tricky conditions also.  David Cassidy and Dean Laffey had steady races both drivers moving up places during the race, while John Daly, having qualified well, spun on the opening lap and struggled to make progress thereafter.  Dermot Nolan and Jack Frost had difficult races as well, Jack coping with a malfunctioning throttle while Libre’s first female driver Deirdre Delaney gained valuable experience bringing her FVJ to the finish.  Martin Daly, long time karter and brother of Dan’s made his Mondello car racing debut in Bob Copeland’s F Renault and acquitted himself well, while Pat Casey had to retire from midfield when his GM engine’s ECU gave trouble.

Sunday’s weather was better, but the drama started on the warm up lap when puffs of smoke suggested all was not well with the Gould.  Mullins took up his pole position however with Daly alongside and at the green light the pair of them blasted off as one.  Mullins held his advantage through turns 1 and 2 but with the car now smoking heavily Daly drew alongside on the run to turn 3 and moved ahead.  Mullins brought the Gould to a halt on lap 3 fearing major damage should he have continued, a loose oil union turning out to be the problem.  This moved Paul Dagg into second from Ken Fildes, Ken having a much better run on slicks, but Stephen Daly kept him honest throughout, another impeccable performance from the youngster in the relatively underpowered Renault.  Dagg’s misfortune continued however, a flat battery causing a misfire which led to his retirement on lap 6.  John Downey has been steadily improving as he gets mileage in the Reynard, and had moved up from tenth to fourth when a sticking throttle coming to turn 2 on the penultimate lap necessitated an escape down the old circuit to prevent an off.

The officials, curiously in the circumstances, subsequently disqualified him for taking a shortcut.  Peter Dwyer had another good run to second in 2 litre from the consistent Robert Butler with John Daly taking third spot on the over 2 litre podium.  Paul Heavey won a close call with Martin Daly for Magic Bullet driver of the weekend for 2 excellent drives in the little 1 litre F 5, though there were many noteworthy performances over the weekend, especially from the many Formula Renault drivers that have swelled the ranks.

The Magic Bullet championship goes to the final 2 rounds in Kirkistown with Daly father and son in commanding positions in both classes, but the battle for outright honours is still very much open …

After taking pole position from former National Superstock 600cc Champion Jamie Hamilton by 0.104s, Ryan found himself locked in a superb battle with fellow Kawasaki rider Lennon in the first 9-lap encounter and there was little to choose between the two Kawasaki riders. Positions changed hands with frequent regularity around the 1.82-mile circuit but Ryan was in front when it mattered most and he took the chequered flag and his first victory of the day by just 0.112s. The second race started in similar fashion but, this time, once Ryan hit the front he stayed there and he pulled away on each and every lap to eventually take the win, again from Lennon, by a commanding 6.049s. The two wins meant that Ryan finished third overall in the Irish Short Circuit Championship despite having only contested 4 of the 9 rounds, also winning all 8 of the races he finished.

Speaking later, a delighted Ryan said: “It’s great to come here and wrap up the season with another two wins and it’s been another terrific year for me. Obviously I’m more of a road racer than a short circuit racer but I can ride on the circuits too and showed that today in the two races. Marty pushed me really hard in the first race and I was really impressed with how he performed especially as I know he’s operating on an extremely tight budget. It was nip and tuck all the way but I managed to get by him and take the win, albeit just! The second race was a lot more straightforward and once I hit the front I just concentrated really hard and gradually pulled away. Like I say, it’s been a superb season for me and I’d like to thank everyone who’s supported me throughout the year particularly all my sponsors, team members and fans.”

Picture by Alan Armstrong Photography

Phil Wain
Freelance PR

Ryan signalled his intentions from the off and he comfortably took a win in his Superbike heat on Saturday, also lapping within a whisker of Guy Martin’s outright lap record. Next up was the opening 125cc/450cc race and Ryan had a race long battle with Ian Lougher, the Welshman eventually coming out on top on his 125cc Honda by just 0.25s. He didn’t have to wait long for his first race win though and he dominated the first Superbike race to win by over 4 seconds and it was here where he claimed the outright lap record with a stunning lap of 1m44.932s. Win number 2 came shortly afterwards with a 7-second victory on his ER6 650cc Kawasaki win in the first leg of the Minitwins.

Sunday dawned wet and windy, which meant his outright lap record would remain intact, but there was still plenty of racing to be done, his first race of the day being the second leg of the Minitwins. Speeds were considerably down on the previous day and Ryan was sitting comfortably in second behind Dean Harrison when the red flag came out so he had to settle for second on this occasion although he was able to claim the overall victory on aggregate time, picking up the Phil Mellor Trophy for the first time in his illustrious career.

There was no rest for Ryan and he was back on the grid for the second leg of the Superbikes and he was more dominant in the wet than he had been in the dry, his eventual winning margin being 10.6s, the victory on this occasion giving him the Darran Lindsay Trophy and his 22nd at Scarborough this year! With his ZX-10R Superstock machine working perfectly, Ryan was favourite for the feature Gold Cup race but a sluggish start saw him back in third at the end of the opening lap and despite his best efforts, this was where he finished and he had to give best to Lougher and race winner Ian Hutchinson. Ryan then completed his weekend with another second place to Lougher in the second leg of the 125cc/450cc race.

Speaking later, a pleased Ryan said: “I’m over the moon to have claimed the outright lap record this weekend and I must admit I was quite pleased when I saw the rain on Sunday as I knew no-one would be able to take it back off me! I was near record pace in my heat, which quite surprised me, but I just rode as hard and as steady as I could in the race so to get the record and become the first man to dip below the 1m45s barrier is really pleasing and a great way to end the season.”

“Winning both the Darran Lindsay and Phil Mellor trophies was equally pleasing as they were both great riders who gave a lot to the sport and whilst it would have been nice to have taken the Gold Cup too, I just didn’t get a good enough start. It’s always difficult here to make back time if you don’t get the start and even more so when it’s wet but I can’t complain, the two Ian’s rode really well. It’s been another fantastic year for myself and the team and I just want to thank all my sponsors and supporters who have been 100% behind me all year long. We’ve had a lot of success and enjoyed some great races and if it wasn’t for them none of it would have been possible. I’m looking forward to the winter break now and will be back to do it all again next year!”

Picture – Ryan holds aloft the magnificent Darran Lindsay trophy (Stephen Davison – Pacemaker Press International)

Phil Wain

Freelance PR