Monoposto Rounds 12 & 13 - Anglesey Coastal - 16/17th September
The Leastone team ended the 2023 season on a high, filling the podium slots for the final Monoposto race of the year at Anglesey last weekend. Using the coastal circuit layout, the team were greeted with mixed conditions for qualifying on Saturday morning. It looked to be borderline, so all 3 Leastone 1000s were equipped with slicks, in the hope that the track would come to them late in the 15 minute session. David Heavey managed to sneak in a time on the last lap, when the track was at its driest, to snatch pole for the MonoMoto 1000 class, with teammates Codey Keogh and Morgan McCourt 3rd and 5th respectively.
That was to be the peak of Heavey’s day however, as he made a good getaway to head the M1000 field and slot into 2nd overall. But he decided to ask far too much of his cold tyres at the 5th gear Church corner, sailing off the road and into a number of high speed spins. Codey had maintained his starting spot among all this drama and had Morgan at arm’s length for the opening phase of the race. Following a mid-race safety car, he would settle into a lonely 3rd, seemingly not having the dry pace of the leaders.
Unfortunately, it would all amount to nothing as a late race failure resulted in him pulling off track at The Banking. The only slight consolation for the team was that Morgan was there to pick up the pieces and claim the final podium slot while Heavey trundled home in 5th, devoid of his front wing following an embarrassing safety car mishap.
The Welsh weather arrived in force overnight, with a heavy rain only just stopping an hour before Race 2. The track was drying, but it was still far too wet for slicks when the cars were called to assembly so full wets were the order of the day.
Keogh made a rocket like start, jumping from 5th to 1st overall in just two corners while Heavey also had a good launch, slotting into 3rd place overall and 2nd of the M1000 runners. Morgan took a steadier approach to the start but fought his way up to 3rd in M1000 during the early laps.
Codey settled into a steady rhythm up front, keeping the gap to 2nd place runner consistent for the duration of the race. Heavey tried to give chase but, not having the ultimate pace of Keogh (and with the previous days calamity fresh in his mind), he focused monitoring his mirrors and keeping it on the black stuff.
Morgan had the busiest race of the 3, enjoying a spirited battle with one of the 2 litre class front runners and he would finish 5th overall, but claim his second M1000 podium of the weekend.
Codey ended his debut single seater season as he began it, with a win. And this time he had the added bonus of being followed home by his teammates, to record Leastones first Monoposto 1-2-3.
'That was the longest 15 minutes I've had to live through in a while! Great for Codey to round out the year with a win, he's had some bad luck recently that stopped him from adding to his tally' said delighted team boss Paul Heavey
The team now look forward to a relaxing off season, as the drivers weigh up their options for next year – with one more potential outing at the end of season Mondello non-championship races on October 15th on the horizon.
