Modified Ford Series Mondello Park 7th & 8th June 2025
SLICK WORK FROM HUTCHINSON AND DAVIES AS MODIFIED FORDS HIT MONDELLO PARK
The Modified Ford Series visited the Republic of Ireland for the first time over the weekend of the 7th and 8th of June for their annual ‘away’ weekend, with three races held at Mondello Park in County Kildare. The entry was shorter in quantity than normal on the Emerald Isle but there would be no lack of quality among the fourteen competitors.
Dave Cockell entered the series for the first time in 2025 in Ireland after taking ten overall victories last year, the mighty Class SA Escort Cosworth naturally started among the pre-event favourites and the four-wheel-drive weapon may disappear up the road if the weather turns wet. Andy Robinson’s massive 7-litre Falcon AU is spectacular even when it’s sat still and the Australian monster is surprisingly wieldy in the rain, witness the Shell-liveried V8 Supercar‘s impressive victory at a sodden Donington Park earlier this year while competing in another category. Graham Wait suffered a trying day on his first 2025 appearance at Oulton Park after engine and gearbox trouble struck his all-wheel-drive Sapphire Cosworth so the experienced Scot would be hoping that some of the luck of the Irish would rub off on him at Mondello. The searingly quick Sapphire Cosworth of Jason Davies from Class A will take some beating on the Welshman’s return to the series after missing Mallory Park, the turbocar has taken three overall wins from pole position up to now in 2025 and Davies was keen to add to his tally in Ireland. Colin Claxton would be happy to see the chequered flag after clutch problems whilst racing in another series in Leicestershire prevented the YB-motivated Mk1 Escort from starting the Modified Ford races on Sunday. Jim Hutchinson made his maiden appearance in the series for 2025 and the Northern Irishman’s circuit knowledge made him arguably the favourite for overall honours with his Class SB RSR, which is now equipped with a 3.2-litre Volvo 740-based unit in place of the Millington Diamond motor that powered him to a pair victories at Oulton Park in 2024. James Owen got a second meeting in his father’s RSR after getting quicker throughout the Mallory Park weekend and was rewarded with a runner-up finish in the final outing. The newly turned seventeen-year-old recently won the Classic Hot Rod National Championship between the Mallory Park and Mondello Park weekends. The Class B+ contest would be tough to call over the weekend. The multi-talented Josh Payton has drifted his Escort van at the venue in the past but this was his first time racing on the Irish circuit. Payton took a pair of class wins at Mallory Park before losing a certain first overall win in the finale and the Mk2 Cortina pilot rallied his 2-litre Mk2 Escort at Smearharpe airfield the previous weekend, taking a class win and second overall, so should be on point at Mondello. Series instigator Paul Nevill has been at the sharp end of the class all year and the Irish trip should be no different for the Mk2 RS2000 racer. The trio of front-wheel-drive entries should be headed by Alex Boam‘s now race-winning Fiesta Turbo. The Ecoboost-powered machine has twice taken the class pole in 2025 before Boam steered it to his maiden overall victory with a through-the-field charge at Oulton Park and the agile hatchback should be well suited to the technical Mondello Park layout. The sister car of David Guthrie was a late addition to the entry and is closely matched with Boam for speed, his investment in new tyres for his last meeting at Oulton Park went unrewarded after a domino-effect collision early in the opener put his Fiesta out for the day but he did loan parts to two other drivers to keep their day going. Robert Lewis hoped to have weaned his turbocharged Focus from its diet of driveshafts after trouble at each of the first three meetings this year and was one of the beneficiaries of Guthrie’s generosity in Cheshire. Stephen Primett has been the driver to beat in Class C this season with his rapid BDA Escort and has taken five wins in the division so far. The second of the pair of entries in the split belonged to Dave Barrett, who has twice tasted victory in the class this year after Primett faltered but the 2024 series winner lapped within a second of the Mk1 Escort’s times at Mallory Park in his Fiesta a few weeks ago.
The Modified Ford Series visited the Republic of Ireland for the first time over the weekend of the 7th and 8th of June for their annual ‘away’ weekend, with three races held at Mondello Park in County Kildare. The entry was shorter in quantity than normal on the Emerald Isle but there would be no lack of quality among the fourteen competitors.
Dave Cockell entered the series for the first time in 2025 in Ireland after taking ten overall victories last year, the mighty Class SA Escort Cosworth naturally started among the pre-event favourites and the four-wheel-drive weapon may disappear up the road if the weather turns wet. Andy Robinson’s massive 7-litre Falcon AU is spectacular even when it’s sat still and the Australian monster is surprisingly wieldy in the rain, witness the Shell-liveried V8 Supercar‘s impressive victory at a sodden Donington Park earlier this year while competing in another category. Graham Wait suffered a trying day on his first 2025 appearance at Oulton Park after engine and gearbox trouble struck his all-wheel-drive Sapphire Cosworth so the experienced Scot would be hoping that some of the luck of the Irish would rub off on him at Mondello. The searingly quick Sapphire Cosworth of Jason Davies from Class A will take some beating on the Welshman’s return to the series after missing Mallory Park, the turbocar has taken three overall wins from pole position up to now in 2025 and Davies was keen to add to his tally in Ireland. Colin Claxton would be happy to see the chequered flag after clutch problems whilst racing in another series in Leicestershire prevented the YB-motivated Mk1 Escort from starting the Modified Ford races on Sunday. Jim Hutchinson made his maiden appearance in the series for 2025 and the Northern Irishman’s circuit knowledge made him arguably the favourite for overall honours with his Class SB RSR, which is now equipped with a 3.2-litre Volvo 740-based unit in place of the Millington Diamond motor that powered him to a pair victories at Oulton Park in 2024. James Owen got a second meeting in his father’s RSR after getting quicker throughout the Mallory Park weekend and was rewarded with a runner-up finish in the final outing. The newly turned seventeen-year-old recently won the Classic Hot Rod National Championship between the Mallory Park and Mondello Park weekends. The Class B+ contest would be tough to call over the weekend. The multi-talented Josh Payton has drifted his Escort van at the venue in the past but this was his first time racing on the Irish circuit. Payton took a pair of class wins at Mallory Park before losing a certain first overall win in the finale and the Mk2 Cortina pilot rallied his 2-litre Mk2 Escort at Smearharpe airfield the previous weekend, taking a class win and second overall, so should be on point at Mondello. Series instigator Paul Nevill has been at the sharp end of the class all year and the Irish trip should be no different for the Mk2 RS2000 racer. The trio of front-wheel-drive entries should be headed by Alex Boam‘s now race-winning Fiesta Turbo. The Ecoboost-powered machine has twice taken the class pole in 2025 before Boam steered it to his maiden overall victory with a through-the-field charge at Oulton Park and the agile hatchback should be well suited to the technical Mondello Park layout. The sister car of David Guthrie was a late addition to the entry and is closely matched with Boam for speed, his investment in new tyres for his last meeting at Oulton Park went unrewarded after a domino-effect collision early in the opener put his Fiesta out for the day but he did loan parts to two other drivers to keep their day going. Robert Lewis hoped to have weaned his turbocharged Focus from its diet of driveshafts after trouble at each of the first three meetings this year and was one of the beneficiaries of Guthrie’s generosity in Cheshire. Stephen Primett has been the driver to beat in Class C this season with his rapid BDA Escort and has taken five wins in the division so far. The second of the pair of entries in the split belonged to Dave Barrett, who has twice tasted victory in the class this year after Primett faltered but the 2024 series winner lapped within a second of the Mk1 Escort’s times at Mallory Park in his Fiesta a few weeks ago.
Qualifying: A baker’s dozen cars started the meeting after Dave Barrett’s Fiesta from Class C withdrew after a couple of issues were raised at scrutineering. The fifteen minutes of qualifying on the anti-clockwise 1.144-mile National layout took place under overcast skies but importantly stayed dry. The red flag flew just before halfway after David Guthrie found the first corner gravel trap in his Class B+ Fiesta. Jason Davies had topped the times by 0.230 seconds from the flame-spitting RSR of initial pacesetter Jim Hutchinson at the time of the stoppage. Welshman Davies improved his provisional pole time by a hefty 0.851 seconds in the eight-minute mini-session that followed but Northern Irishman Hutchinson lit the blue touch paper in the closing minutes to claim the number one starting position. The Class SB RSR outpaced the Sapphire Cosworth from Class A by a healthy 0.853 seconds after setting a mighty 55.659-second lap, its second lap in the 55-second bracket. Davies’ lap in the ‘56s’ after the break was more than enough to claim the other front row slot. The Class SA-heading Escort Cosworth of Dave Cockell leapt up to third after the resumption on a 57.412 seconds to head the leading Class B+ Mk2 Cortina of Josh Payton on the second row, who was the last driver to break the one-minute barrier. Young James Owen didn’t quite break the sixty-second mark as he went fifth quickest to start from the inside of the third row in his father’s Class SB RSR, with Alex Boam’s Fiesta qualifying second in Class B+ and sixth overall but he had to superglue a cv boot after the session when a split was discovered. Series head Paul Nevill lined up seventh in his RS2000, less than half a second from B+ classmate Boam, and the huge AU Falcon of Andy Robinson from Class SA lined up alongside after the North East resident found the Australian brute a handful on the tight confines of Mondello. David Guthrie stayed inside the top ten after his incident in ninth, having been sat in fourth when he slid off to bring out the red flag, ahead of Robert Lewis’ similarly powered Focus from Class B+. Colin Claxton went round in the eleventh-fastest time aboard his turbocharged Mk1 Escort from Class A, whilst the only remaining Class C runner Stephen Primett was twelfth out of the thirteen cars with his Escort. The total traction Sapphire Cosworth of Graham Wait brought up the rear of the field, with the Scot unhappy with his gearing.
Qualifying result: click here
Qualifying result: click here
Race One: The first of three races scheduled for the Modified Ford Series over the weekend took place on Saturday afternoon. A shower of rain that fell an hour before the opening race left damp patches on the extremities of the circuit but a dry line was emerging fast. Almost the whole field bar the polesitting Mk1 Escort RSR of Jim Hutchinson opted for their treaded wet tyres, with the exception of Graham Wait at the rear of the grid. Hutchinson led away from pole at the rolling start but Jason Davies pushed the RSR hard throughout the opening lap whilst its slick tyres warmed up, with Dave Cockell and Josh Payton hanging on well too, After Hutchinson got a little tail happy out of the last corner, Davies drew alongside past the pits going onto lap two and the Sapphire briefly got its nose in front but the RSR reclaimed the lead under braking for Turn One. The Welshman made a move for the lead again at the left-hander behind the paddock but Hutchinson hadn’t seen Davies in his blind spot and the pair collided. Both of them spun and Cockell passed between them into the lead from Payton. The delayed duo rejoined down in fifth behind Nevill and Boam in Hutchinson's case and in twelfth for Davies. After spinning at the first corner on lap one and tagging Stephen Primett's Class C Escort Mk1, Graham Wait spun again at the same place on lap two. Four-wheel-drive enabled the Scot to escape the gravel trap but not before the Safety Car had been summoned. The field trailed around behind the official’s car for a single lap before the race resumed with eleven minutes remaining. Hutchinson got back up to third on the restart lap before passing Payton for second into the first corner next time around and took the lead from a surprised Cockell at Turn Three midway round lap six. Hutchinson scorched away to win by 33.776 seconds from the Class SA-winning Escort Cosworth after reading the conditions perfectly. Payton took third and the Class B+ spoils, 8.498 seconds ahead of the recovering Davies Sapphire that was victorious in Class A. The front row man had made up five places on the restart lap to be seventh but it took another two laps before Andy Robinson's Falcon fell prey to the Cosworth for sixth. The Fiesta of Alex Boam was claimed on the next lap to move into fifth before grabbing fourth from Paul Nevill into the first corner with eight laps to go. Series front man Nevill duly took the flag in fifth spot to claim third in Class B+. Robinson had locked up at the start and clipped Boam in the pack, with the Fiesta knocked sideways but Boam continued with a loss of a spot to Nevill's RS2000. The Nevill and Boam tussle for fourth after the restart was split when Boam's Fiesta ran off at the top end of the circuit on lap nine but Boam came back to pass Robinson into the first corner for the penultimate time. However, a sheared bracket on the left-front bottom arm sent the Fiesta into retirement starting the last lap to leave the 7-litre V8 machine of Robinson to finish sixth overall and second in Class SA. David Guthrie trailed Colin Claxton initially before passing the turbocharged Mk1 Escort on lap five for seventh place and left the Class A car to become involved in a lively scrap with Robert Lewis and Primett. The Focus of Lewis used some creative lines to finally get ahead of Claxton to claim eighth place on the last lap after his earlier attempts were thwarted by the Mk1 Escort’s extra power, with Primett chasing them home to win Class C in tenth behind the Class A runner-up. Wait's Sapphire was the final classified finisher in eleventh and the Scot took third in Class SA. James Owen retired his Class SB RSR Duratec with a sticking throttle soon after the restart, after slipping behind Nevill, Boam and Robinson on the opening lap.
Race One result: click here
Race One result: click here
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Race Two: The second outing for the Modified Ford Series took place late on Sunday morning under leaden skies but there was no tyre choice gamble to be made on the fully dry circuit. The Race One finishing order was used to arrange the starting grid so victor Jim Hutchinson's RSR annexed pole position from Dave Cockell's Class SA Escort Cosworth. Josh Payton started from the inside of the second row with the Class B+ Cortina and Jason Davies' rapid Sapphire Cosworth was well-placed in fourth. Paul Nevill’s Class B+ RS2000 in fifth was due to be dwarfed by Andy Robinson’s 7-litre Falcon AU on the third row but couple of the big V8's trumpets were found to be disconnected so the Shell-liveried Class SA machine wouldn't be present on the grid. David Guthrie, Robert Lewis, Colin Claxton and Stephen Primett made up the top ten starters, ahead of Graham Wait and James Owen in the final slot of the eleven-car field. Alex Boam elected to withdraw from the weekend's action in order to make a full repair to the Fiesta's suspension back in the workshop instead of attempting a makeshift job at the circuit. Polesitter Jim Hutchinson sped clear in the early stages as Josh Payton and Jason Davies both jumped Dave Cockell into the first corner, after the Escort Cosworth was slow away. The Cortina was on the inside of the Sapphire for second place at Turn One but lost out in the drag race towards Turn Three to the turbocharged Cosworth machines. Leader Hutchinson quickly opened a lead of around four seconds but Davies pegged the gap and was almost back with the fire-breathing RSR when a sprinkling of rain arrived in the dying minutes. The race for victory came to a head on the last lap when Hutchinson arrived too hot at the first corner and collected Payton's about-to-be-lapped Cortina, with both looping into spins. The two of them continued despite rolling backwards into the gravel but the RSR lost the win to a grateful Davies, the RSR sutained a damaged nearside-front wing and the Cortina a dented offside-rear quarter. Hutchinson recovered in time to beat Class SA victor Dave Cockell home for second by 4.919 seconds and the Northern Irishman still triumphed in Class SB. James Owen drove well to claim fourth from the back of the grid after arriving at the circuit with mere moments to spare before the race got underway. The teenager had passed Graham Wait and Stephen Primett by the first bend and sped past Robert Lewis heading on to lap two before rounding up Paul Nevill in the opening sequence of corners of the second tour. The Class SB RSR then drove the long way around Colin Claxton's Class A car into sixth at the final corner of lap two before taking fifth from David Guthrie and homing in on Payton to take away fourth place just before the Cortina’s collision with the race leader. The West Countryman's Millington-powered saloon was still able to claim the Class B+ victory in fifth overall despite the contretemps. Guthrie had started well and drove around the outside of Nevill at the first corner to sit in an early fifth before Owen went through on lap five but the Fiesta still rounded out the top six in second of the Class B+ runners. Robert Lewis got around the outside of Saturday combatant Claxton in the closing corners of lap six to take seventh place but 500+ Cosworth horses carried Claxton back through past the pits. When the pair encountered Graham Wait’s Sapphire a lap and a half later, Lewis threaded the eye of the needle between the other two cars to finally grab the place as second-placed Davies came up to lap them and the Focus secured third in Class B+. Primett scored another Class C victory as the only starter in eighth. Third row starter Paul Nevill fell behind Guthrie and Claxton on lap one before skating through the gravel trap out the back on the lap three after an experiment to leave on the wet settings from Saturday didn’t work, the RS2000 had just passed Claxton for seventh through the first complex of the lap when it flew off but came back to finish ninth of the ten finishers. Wait found the gravel at the first corner again on lap two but was able to dig himself free before any intervention from the officials was required and was the last to cross the line of the classified finishers. Claxton's Escort Turbo was the sole car that failed to reach the flag after a drop gear broke in the gearbox, which spelt home time for the Castrol-liveried Mk1 from Class A.
Race Two result: click here
Race Two result: click here
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Race Three: The final fifteen-minute encounter was held on Sunday afternoon. A shower half an hour before the third and final outing of the weekend had dampened the surface but the tarmac had virtually dried out when the ten starters lined up. Jason Davies snared pole position with his second race triumph ahead of Jim Hutchinson's RSR, with a 1-1 victory score to settle between the pair. Dave Cockell's Escort Cosworth went from the inside of row two with James Owen's RSR alongside. An all-Class B+ third row was headed by Josh Payton's bruised Cortina from David Guthrie's Boamerang Racing Fiesta. Robert Lewis and the Class C Escort of Stephen Primett formed the fourth row, with Paul Nevill and Graham Wait completing the field. Hutchinson got across Davies on the brakes into the first corner to take up the race lead, whilst Owen wriggled past Cockell through the Castrol/Campion complex before the Escort Cosworth's power advantage told towards Turn Three. The top three streaked clear of the pack through the opening stages and the top two were able to ease away from Cockell as Davies kept the pressure on Hutchinson. The Sapphire was still only a little over a second behind Hutchinson after ten minutes but the crowd was denied a grandstand finish when flames erupted under Davies' bonnet at the first corner of lap ten after the fuel rail mounting brackets cracked but the fire was extinguished quickly to spare any serious damage. If Hutchinson thought he could stroke the RSR home to victory in the closing minutes, then an Escort Cosworth-shaped surprise awaited him as Cockell got within 2.346 seconds of the leader before the RSR stemmed the tide to seal his second win of the weekend by 2.561 second from the Class SA victor. James Owen and Josh Payton were at play all race in a tight scrap for what became the final step on the podium with Davies' demise. Owen's RSR held sway to begin with but Payton got ahead at the end of the opening lap into Southside Motor Factors Corner and held the Midlander at bay until the teenager got the place for good in the opening sequence of corners for the seventh time when the Cortina got squirelly on the exit of the hairpin. After Owen made a small break, the Cortina came back at the RSR but the teenager gapped Payton again before the flag to take third place by 2.635 seconds from the Class B+ winner. David Guthrie's Fiesta kept the squabbling RSR and Cortina pair in sight throughout for second in Class B+ and fifth overall. Nevill claimed third in Class B+ with sixth overall, the RS2000 was a handful of seconds down on the Fiesta for much of the distance before being lapped by the race winner on the run to the chequered flag. Robert Lewis had a lonely race to seventh in the absence of Colin Claxton and the Focus was passed by Nevill into the final bend on the opening lap. Stephen Primett completed the set of Class C victories in eighth and was the last car to make it to the finish. Graham Wait suffered a loss of drive that saw him pull off into what became a Sapphire graveyard as the combusting Davies joined him.
Race Three result: click here
Event co-sponsors Dave Cockell and Daz Owen nominated Jason Davies to receive the Scalextric 'Driver of the Day' award for his sterling efforts in chasing the RSR of double victor Jim Hutchinson and was rewarded with an outright win of his own in Race Two.
Race Three result: click here
Event co-sponsors Dave Cockell and Daz Owen nominated Jason Davies to receive the Scalextric 'Driver of the Day' award for his sterling efforts in chasing the RSR of double victor Jim Hutchinson and was rewarded with an outright win of his own in Race Two.
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Another new venue beckons for the Modified Ford Series next, with an inaugural visit to Croft in North Yorkshire on the 12th and 13th of July.