County Kildare News

Two of Irelands top young racers will be part of the fight for Formula Ford honours at Mondello Park this weekend in what should be one of the races of the day at Sunday's (20th July 2008) Motor Enthusiast Club run event.

Patrick McKenna and Robert Barrable have both been nominated as a driver of the month for their exploits this season and are an important element in the mix of up and coming young drivers and experienced racers which make up the highly competitive Formula Ford grid. The Fords will be making only their second 2008 appearance at Mondello and their first of the year on the national circuit. On their previous appearance, at the Mondello park 40th Anniversary in May, they raced on the International layout with Barrable taking both wins.

The remainder of the Mondello Park programme is a good mix of Saloon, Sportscar and Single Seater action with all classes, including the Formula Fords running twice. the Dunlop Supercars will provide the saloon entertainment with their third appearance at the track in quick succession. having started their season late the popular championship is making up for lost time and arrives at Mondello for its third double header in four weekends having raced at Rockingham in the UK just last weekend. So far there have been three different winners from six races with Rod McGovern, Roynane O'Mahony and Jonathan Fildes sharing the spoils.

Formula Libre will supply the fastest and loudest grid of the weekend and it may also be the largest with the series now needing a qualification race at some events due to the interest in the class. The usual mix of powerful F3000 based machinery and more nimble Formula 3 and Formula Atlantic based cars, which race at the head of the field, will be joined by the fastest of the under 2000cc cars from the qualification race to make up what will be the highlight of the event for many race fans.

Finishing off the twelve race programme will be two races each for Formula Sheane, the Porsche Open Championship and Stryker Sports cars. Racing gets underway at 11:30 with three races scheduled to be run prior to the lunch halt and the remaining nine races taking place in the afternoon.