Trackskills’ Rookie Of The Year Award

Trackskills was formed in 2000 by Donal O’Neill and Keith Wray. They were, at the time, active racing drivers and still are today.

The idea was to let ordinary people explore the limits of their cars in a safe environment. However, given the love that both men have for their sport, it was no giant step for them to be encouraging anyone who showed potential talent to go racing.

There are numbers, in the mid-teens, of racing drivers, currently active at Kirkistown and Mondello, who were Trackskills customers before going on to get race licences. Keith and Donal share a sense of satisfaction at these figures, since it is new blood that keeps the sport alive.

However, once a new person gets kitted out and licensed to go racing, it can be a long time before they get up to the speed of the established ‘stars’. Consequently, Trackskills decided to give new drivers something to aim for in their first main season of racing.

The Trackskills’ Rookie Of The Year was established in 2006. The prize was the Kirkistown Best Newcomers’ Cup and a cheque from Trackskills for Ł250.

The logic is this; there are many classes in which to start racing and some are bigger or more competitive than others. A driver may star in a small class or may drive the wheels of his/her car, only to finish mid-field in a large class.

Trackskills award points based on the number of other cars a driver finishes in front of during the season at Kirkistown. Thus, someone who finishes mid-field in a Formula Vee race will probably score more points than someone who wins the Libre Saloon race, because of the size of the grids.

In 2006, Daniel Polley won the award from Patrick McCloskey by 67 points to 34. Both drivers came from the Formula Vee ranks.

In 2007 the chase was much closer between Stephen Donnelly and Wayne Boyd. Stephen won by a margin of only 5 points, 94 to 87, gained by entering both the Roadsports and the Libre races to Wayne’s FF1600 outings.

Picture: Donal and Keith presenting Stephen Donnelly with his cheque for winning the 2007 Trackskills Rookie Of The Year Award. Taken by Ian Lynas.

2008 saw a domination by William Herron from the FF1600 ranks on 105 points. Second was Raymond Lusty, also from the FF1600 ranks. He finished on 68 points, only 2 in front of Formula Vee man, Owen Purcel. Owen would have challenged in a stronger fashion had the Vees had more outings at Kirkistown. Mark Crawford, from the Roadsports ranks, quietly crept up to fourth with 63 points.

Picture: Donal & Keith presenting William Herron with a £250 cheque for winning the 2008 Trackskills Rookie Of The Year award. Photo by James Higginson.

Going into the last race of 2009 it was very tight at the top. Jonathan McMullan had a slender lead on 93 points from Allan McBurney on 86 and Cormac O'Neill on 76 points in third place. Scott McGarrity was fourth on 76 points.

Two significant non scores affected the eventual outcome. Cormac O'Neill did not race and remained on 76 points scored over just three meetings. Jonathan Mcmullan failed to finish and couldn't improve on his 93 points. Allan McBurney scored 21 points to lead the field and Scott McGarrity gained 13 to move into third place. Mark Donnelly finished 5th on 58 points, so the first five places came from the Formula Ford ranks.

The first non FF competitor was Ralph Jess from Libre Saloons on 44 points and the top six was rounded out by Formula Vee man, Lloyd Murphy on 35 points.