Prodrift Irish Series Round 4

Dublin’s Eric O’Sullivan further stamped his authority on the 2007 Prodrift Irish Series with his third victory from four events at the fourth round of the championship in Rosegreen, Co. Tipperary. This event had been scheduled to take place at the purpose-built Punchestown track, but the combined effect of weeks of rain and the Oxegen music festival meant the car parks at the Co. Kildare venue were unusable. The championship organisers thus made the decision to move the round to Tipperary.

One of the big draws of this round was the return of 2006 champion Darren McNamara to Irish competition. Unfortunately, the Corkman failed to qualify for the top 16 as the standard 20v engine in his car did not offer the same power levels as the SR20 he’s accustomed to. Dean Kearney, Declan Munnelly and David Quigley were other familiar faces absent from the twin battle stages after one of the closest qualifying sessions yet seen.

Making a very welcome first appearance in the Top 16 was Ulster driver Fergal McGovern in his awesome BMW-engined Opel Manta. After the winning the semi-pro event on Saturday, he now faced an on-form Martin Ffrench. The latter pulled out a decent gap in their first run, giving himself a comfortable 7-3 advantage going into the second battle. But after harrying McGovern all the way around the track, Ffrench came perilously close to throwing it all away at the transition to the inner circuit. In what must rank as the save of the season so far, he pulled his 180SX back from an impossible angle and finished the run, doing just enough to force a rematch. However, McGovern was then cruelly robbed of the chance to proceed any further as his car developed engine trouble, dumping oil on the track. Ffrench sportingly came to the assistance of his competitor, but there was nothing could be done and McGovern’s day was over.

Semi-pro competitor Seamus Sweeney was another new face in the top 16 but he faced the stiffest of competition in young James Deane, who looked to be on fire in qualifying. Sweeney did well to run Deane close during their first run, but it all went wrong for him when he spun at the final corner. His confidence knocked, he ran quite wide through the corners next time around and Deane had an easy passage to the top eight. The last of the top 16 debutantes was Christy Carpenter in his Skyline-engined S14A. He too faced tough opposition in the form of Nutts Corner podium finisher Johnny Power. In the end, Carpenter was totally outclassed by the Wexford man, spinning in their first run and falling well behind in the second.

The next battle was an all-Team Hankook affair between Shane Healy and Alan Lenihan. Healy’s S15 was making loads of smoke, but still looked slightly the worse for wear after an encounter with the wall at the previous round. Lenihan pulled out a good gap in the first run and was practically glued to his teammates’ car in the second, making the judges’ decision an easy one. 2006 runner-up Damien Mulvey was back after missing the previous two rounds with engine problems. Driving a very smart borrowed 180SX, he beat Conor Lenihan to finally secure his first top eight appearance of the year.

The other top 16 victors were Eric O’Sullivan, who passed out Stephen Shine in their second run, Jonathan Murphy, who saw off the challenge of Mike Deane, and Dennis Healy who overcame Glen Maher after a rematch.

In the first top eight battle, Alan Lenihan showed he had lost none of the form shown in Nutts Corner with a strong victory over Jonathan Murphy. Eric O’Sullivan had a tough encounter with Rosegreen specialist James Deane in the next battle – the first time these two drivers had gone head-to-head. They were level on five points apiece after the first run and only Eric’s slightly greater angle second time around saw him advance by the narrowest of margins – half a point. Damien Mulvey also had a close battle with Dennis Healy, who handed victory to his opponent when he straightened dramatically at the transition point.

Martin Ffrench and Johnny Power then repeated their epic Nutts Corner encounter. Ffrench followed Power very aggressively in the first run before the transition point that had so nearly cost him his earlier battle against Fergal McGovern finally got the better of him. The spin handed Johnny Power a 10-0 advantage, but he still pushed hard in the second battle, coming close to passing Ffrench in the last corner. Ffrench made his exit in a massive cloud of tyre smoke and Power proceeded to the final four.

Both semi-finals were decided by spins. Alan Lenihan’s promising run came to an end when he binned it at the now-infamous transition point while chasing Eric O’Sullivan. He salvaged some honour with a solid run second time around but O’Sullivan was not about to make a similar mistake and once more found himself in a Prodrift final. Better angle from Johnny Power through turn one of the oval saw him carry a 6-4 advantage into the second run against Damien Mulvey. Things were looking good in the second run as he kept close to Mulvey all the way around, but disaster struck at the final corner and he spun out – it would be Mulvey vs. O’Sullivan in the final.

After two incredibly close runs, they seemed inseperable, but the eagle-eyed judges reckoned O’Sullivan had done just enough to take the win. There would be no rematch. Afterwards, Mulvey was nonetheless happy to have gotten a good result at last and very grateful to Robbie Thompson for lending him the car. His own Skyline-engined S13 should be out at the next round in Mondello. A delighted O’Sullivan stopped short of saying the title was in the bag: “I’d never say that – it’s motorsport,� he said. But there was a warning for his competitors: “I am full of confidence though - I know the car inside-out now.� With only two rounds to go, it looks like the chances of anyone stopping the Dubliner are very slim indeed.

RESULTS:

1st Eric O’Sullivan / Toyota Corolla AE86

2nd Damien Mulvey / Nissan 180SX

3rd Johnny Power / Nissan 180SX

Full photo album here.