Get enteries in for July 20th. See monello website.

Damianhttp://www.mondello.ie/?id=120

Anglesey Race Report

The Havoline Stryker Sportscar Challenge crossed the Irish Sea to visit the Anglesey Circuit set against the scenic Seascape. The Stryker’s were guests of the Classic Sportscar Club and provided two of the most entertaining races of the weekend.

Race 1

For race one the Stryker’s shared the grid with some faster equipment in a Sports Car versus Saloon car challenge. Fernandez had his 6^th pole in a row followed by the late arriving Colin Deering who was planning to visit Anglesey alone this coming weekend due to what he called an error on his wife’s Fridge based Calendar. All very confusing!

As is the norm for the Stryker’s the race was again a tremendous spectacle. Fernandez started ok but was beaten by Blattmann and Deering. Roddy passed Fernandez going into Rocket however he missed gear on the exit whereby Fernandez clipped the back of his car and broke a wishbone thereby ending his challenge on the day. Over the next few laps Roddy picked off Walkins, Blattmann and Deering. Deering was battling with Paul Murphy but the result was Roddy, Blattmann and Deering with Blattman just taking the fastest lap.

Race 2

Practise for race 2 took place in treacherous conditions and to the embarrassment of the Irish the front row of the grid was shared by the Portuguese visitors Fernandez and Blattmann in there first ever wet weather qualifying. They were followed by Watkins, Deering and Roddy.  Paul Murphy failed to make it in time for qualifying and was allowed to start from the back of the grid.

As expected Fernandez made his customary poor start. He continues to deny all rumours that he is looking in the mirror each time the lights go out. Blattmann capitalised on his countryman’s tardiness however he subsequently lost the lead to Andrew Dalton who was back at the front after having been far off the pace on the Saturday after some late night preparation.  The lead group comprised Dalton, Blattmann, Fernandez and Bruton.

Starting from the back of the grid Paul Murphy had his customary slingshot start to end up just off the lead group however coming onto the main straight he lost control, careered across the track into the path of the oncoming Roddy. Unfortunately for Roddy his front wishbone was bent effectively terminating his race while The “Hit Man” Murphy went on to compete again at the front.

Fernandez took the lead in Lap 4. Behind him there was a titanic scrap with out braking, over exuberance, some rubbing and some embarrassment before Colin Deering continuing his great run secured second followed by the Indestructible Murphy and Blattmann securing 4^th after a failure by Dalton to defend at the classic overtaking spot into Rocket on the last lap.

Fernandez regained significant points on Championship leader Roddy who has 90 points to Fernandez 76 points.

1 Valter Fernandez

2. Colin Deering

3. Paul Murphy

4. Joao Blattmann

5. Andrew D’Alton

6. Alan Walkins

Fastest Lap Fernandez 1m 23.609

Havoline Stryker Championship 2008
Championship positions after 7 rounds  -  Anglesey June 28/29th
Place	Name	Points
1	Damian Roddy	92
2	Valter Fernandez	76
3	Joao Blattmann	63
4	Paul Murphy	58
5	Andrew D'Alton	56
6	Colin Deering	48
7	Des Bruton	30
8	Alan Watkins	22
9	Mark Willis	21
10	David Walsh	18
11	Niall Foley	14
12	Greg Kelly	13
13	Roger Welarante	13
14	James Maher	11
15	Simon Beale	11
16	Albert Clasby	9
17	Simon Reddan	7
18	Pat Bergin	2
19	Chris Bergin	1
20	Andrew Karstel	1
21	Geoff Wycherley	1
Next round Mondello July 20th - Double header
www.irishstrykers.com

Congratulations to Johnny and Sinead on the birth of Baby Hannah.

This follows the recent addition to the Foley family. Congratutions to Niall, Sonya and brother Ben on a new addition to the Foley/Fildes dynasty.

Sonya also deserves RESPECT for competing in the Endurance Race just four weeks after the birth.  We fear her return to competitive action!

Schedule for 17^th/18^th May, 40^th Anniversary Race Meeting

·        Thursday:      Testing Only.  3 Sessions for Stryker only in the afternoon: Each Session 20 Mins, starting @ 14:20 / 15:40 / 16:55 at a cost of €130

·        Friday: Nothing for strykers

·        Saturday:      08:00 Long Distance Race sign on,

9:30 Long Distance Race qualifying (20 Mins)

        14:00 Long Distance Race (45 Mins)

·        Sunday:        09:30 Stryker sign on

11:45 Stryker Qualifying (15 Mins)

16:00 Stryker Race (15 Mins)

LD Race Entry’s

The stryker Committee has negotiated a special entry fee for the long distance race of €400 (i.e €200 per person) entries so far are as follows

Paul Murphy & Damian Roddy

Joe Maher & Mick Maher

Pat Bergin & Chris Bergin

Des Bruton & Andrew D’Alton

Valter Fernandes & Kevin McGrath

Simon Beale & Albert Clasby

Joao Blattmann & Seamus Ryan

Niall Foley & Sonya Fildes

Andrew Karstel & Paddy Lynch

Colin Deering & Roger Weleratne

To Be Confirmed:

Peter Auerbach & Alan Auerbach

Greg Kelly & Matt O Brien

Dave Walsh & Jimmy Lyons

The Stryker Drivers Association will be organising two trophies for the first Stryker across the line.

Also note that race 1 & 2 from the Stryker 2008 season will be televised again on Setanta @ 18:30 Tonight, Friday 2^nd May @ 14:30 and Sunday 4^th May @ 10:00,

 Well Worth Watching!!!

A few points of note for next outing on May 18^th Mondello park.

1. Drive Shaft Protection Hoops are mandatory and you will not be allowed to compete in the next race if you do not have them installed. Ryan's garage supply these at Euro 52.00 ea and if you need them please let him know in advance as they must be pre ordered.

2. Race Suits/Underwear. Make sure you gear meets the current standard. Again Old suit / No underwear . No Race. (Details of specs are in your Green Book)

3. Fire extinguisher pins. Make sure you have removed the pin from your bottle prior to :Testing /Qualifying/Racing.This is a important safety issue and you will end up dealing with the COC if you use the track with the pin in.

4.ECU's have been remapped by the MBE agent here.

Do not mess with them or reprogram them.( They are PIN protected )

Any cars not there last weekend must see class scrutineer Neil Wilson to have their units remapped prior to competing in future races.

5. Because we achieved a Grid of over 20 for the last race, Mondello Park agreed a reduced fee for Strykers for all drivers that entered. This will be deducted from your next race entry fee. Look out for it.

6. Please get your entries in on time for next meeting, which will be Mondello's 40th Anniversary May 17/18 which is also a televised round of our championship (on the international circuit). it is only one race and we have not yet clarified whether we will need to be there on both days. We will let you know soon.

7. Last weekends races should be broadcast on Setanta on April 29th at either 8.30pm or 9.30pm . Mick Bracken from On the Limit will confirm this closer to the date and we will pass it on.

8. Angelsey in Diary for June 28 and  29^th. Two races and two qualifying sessions. No Friday practice but we have agreed some familiarisation laps on the Saturday morning.

9. Championship points submitted to Motorsport Ireland Website.( 10 of 12 rounds to count)

I hope you all had a great weekend racing and that you are are looking forward to the next one. See you there.

On behalf of the Stryker committee.

Final Instructions on Mondello Website(Note date is April 6th)

Sign on         8am

Qualifying   9.30am

Race 1     11.45am

Race 2    3pm

http://www.mondello.ie/?id=120

We have provisionally booked a FULL DAYsession at Mondello for preseason testing on Friday March 7th.

We need 20 cars at Euro 400 each.

Can you please send cheque to Des with Cheque Payable to Stryker Drivers Association. Address etc in email that was issued.

IF we don't have sufficient numbers by Feb 8th. We will cancel.

A number of registrations still outstanding. We will publish list of registered Drivers next week.

Stryker Drivers Association

We hope that your planning for the coming season is progressing well and to that purpose the committee recently had a planning meeting for the year. We felt it necessary to highlight the following items which are relevant for the forthcoming season. It is interesting to highlight that we could have 27 cars on the grid for some races and potentially more.

Most importantly reserve Saturday Feb^th for Karting in Kylemore at 2pm followed by Food, Presentations 2006 Championship et al in Scruffy Murphy’s at 8.30pm

1. Dates

We already provided these but for the avoidance of doubt we reiterate here again

April 6             Mondello x 2

May 17/18       Mondello x 1(International track)

June 8              Mondello x 2

July 5/6            Angelsey x 2

July 20             Mondello x 2

August 9/10     Phoenix Park (non championship)

August 30        Kirkistown

Sept 13/14       Mondello (Leinster Trophy)

All rounds are double headers

2. Class Registration

We believe that we have 27 people who will register for the championship so please send in the form.

3. Website

We are in the process of upgrading our Website www.irishstrykers.com which we believe is the pre-eminent website of any class currently. Please forward any photos which you want added to the site and we will soon be looking for Driver profiles to update the site

4 Full Spares Package

We will soon issue you with full details of the Spares Package that we have arranged to be provided at each of the Races by former Stryker Driver Seamus Ryan. Seamus has taken on the role of sole agent for Raw Engineering in Ireland. He has agreed to bring to each race a full spares package. We would encourage you to support him as this will prevent a situation where you may be obliged to “beg, borrow or steel” from others in the unfortunate situation that you have had a "prang" or a mechanical breakdown that may have in the past prevented you getting out on the grid.

5. TV Coverage

We are currently involved in negotiations which we expect will conclude with a package to televise 6 races. In addition the Phoenix Park races will also be televised bringing the number to eight races. There is a cost involved but we expect to get this covered by external sponsorship.

6. Sponsorship

We are in the unusual situation where we have a number of different parties keen to get involved in sponsoring the class. We are also in negotiation with the current series sponsor who are we believe  keen to continue there association with the class.

7. Saturday Feb 16^th Karting Presentation and 2008 Launch

We have booked Karting at 2pm in Kylemore .This will be €45 per head.

It will be followed by food in Scruffy Murphy’s, Powers Court Lower Mount St Dublin 2 Tel 6615006(€10 per head).

At that evening we will provide a brief update on the Spares package, TV Coverage and any other relevant issues.

We look forward to seeing you all on the Feb^th 16 where we will provide a brief update on the plans for the forthcoming season

The Committee

Andrew, Des and Damian

The Havoline Stryker Championship was the premier national sportscar series in 2007. Full grids were the norm. There was action packed racing in these evenly matched cars. In 2007 there were 12 championship races and as part of the “Irish premier Series” with the Libre and Porsche classes had television coverage on 8 of the races. This year the closely fought championship was retained by Tristin Quinn who was pursued all year by the other race winners Sonya Fildes, Alan Watkins, Mark Willis and Damian Roddy. The class also has a feeder series running 1600 engines with this series won by Walter Fernandez one of the two Portuguese drivers who flew into Ireland for each of the races. As well as been competitive, the series has a lot of camaraderie, support for new drivers  and they provide the best barbecue in the paddock.

The Strykers class will be one of the principal one make classed at the Internation Phoenix Park Motor Races 2007 on August 11 and 12th.

The status of our class at the event is highlighted by our prime slots on both Saturday at 3.30 and Sunday at 2.30.

Please look at www.phoenixparkmotorraces.org for more details and come an see one of the great free specatacles in Dublin.

If you want to get involved come and talk to any of the competitors in the pits and they will be more that happy to help.

SEE YOU THERE.

TIMETABLE_phoenix_park

Dominating the Havoline Stryker Championship races at Mondello Park last weekend Sonya Fildes continued a long and successful family tradition started by her Grandfather, Father and Brother. Sonya placed the family prepared car on pole position before going onto lead home in 1st place from Tristin Quinn and Greg Kelly after an eventful race characterised by a consistent drive by Sonya while those around got involved in all sorts of paint swaping scraps. This was a long awaited first outright win for Sonya in what is a highly competitive Stryker 1800 class. In race two which she started from 2nd place on the grid she finished the race behind Tristin Quinn in a reversal of the race one finishing positions. Family honour was also upheld on the day by brother Jonathan Fildes who won both of the Formula Libre races. The Stryker grid was a strong 22 cars and a further 5 cars are expected out for the next round on May 13^th in what promises to again be the most successful one make clubman series in Ireland. The 1600 class races were won by Mark Nagle and new Portuguese driver Valtar Fernandes.

Many of the 31 competitors at the Karting event organised by the Stryker Drivers Association used the occasion to put down a marker as to their intentions for the forthcoming season. Most worrying for the regular competitors is the emergence of a number of very fast Portuguese drivers on the scene.

All but two of this years planned Stryker competitors made it to the grid last Saturday. As could be expected the competition was robust and forceful with many competitors obliged to barge there way past in order to move further up the placings.

The event was excellently organised by the staff at Kylemore Karting. After the 31 heats the top 4 were headed by Mark Nagle who won all four heats as well as setting the fastest lap at 28.77. He was followed by Chris Bergin, Daniel Mc McCarthy and Alan Auerbach to make up the top 5.  Alan Watkins, Niall Foley, Johnny Lynch and Andrew Dalton managed to squeeze in as the last four of the 24 qualifying quarterfinalists. The quarter finals were each won by Mark Willis, Walter Fernandez, Daniel Mc McCarthy and Paddy Lynch. The subsequent semi finals were won by the fast and consistent Walter Fernandez and the emerging Mark Willis.

The spectators were eagerly anticipating the final showdown with Mark Willis in pole for the 15 lap thriller. He was followed by Walter Fernandez, Mark Nagle, Greg Kelly, Chris Bergin and somehow Andrew Dalton. Mark Nagle who was undoubtedly the fastest man on the day claims to have got punted out of the race early on by “person unknown”. Walter Fernandez dominated the race to finish12 seconds ahead of the field. He was followed by the young Chris Bergin who performed strongly throughout the day. All the action was behind for the minor placing with Mark Willis defending vigorously his 3^rd place that is until the last bend when the experienced and determined Andrew Dalton performed a majestic passing manoeuvre in the final bend when Willis made a basic error to allow Dalton through. Despite the devastated Willis’s protestation the pass was fair and legitimate resulting in him finishing off the podium. Mark Nagle had a scintillating 27.93 lap.

Congratulations to Walter Fernandez and hopefully before too long we will see him at the sharp end of the grid in Stryker’s. Special thanks again to Kylemore Karting who ran the afternoon so successfully.

Club Members

We have booked Karting at 2pm in Kylemore. This will be €45 per head.

It will be followed by food in Scruffy Murphy’s, at 8pm.(Address PowersCourt, Lower Mount St., Dublin 2.Tel 6615006.)

A Buffet will be provided. Partners welcome to Scruffy Murphys only as karting number is limited.

During the evening we will provide a brief update on the Spares package, TV Coverage and any other relevant issues as well as prize giving for the 2006 Championship.

We hope to see you all there.