Super seven as Kellett senior eclipses son to take the laurels

Kells motorsport enthusiast Alastair Kellett stormed to his seventh title when he clinched the 2020 Palletstorage.ie Fiesta Zetec Championship at Mondello Park last weekend.

The victory was all the sweeter for Kellett senior as he won the title ahead of his son, William, who was the 2019 Fiesta Zetec champion, but had to settle for the runner-up position on this occasion.

When it became clear that Covid 19 would make it very difficult for the Kellett Motorsport team to compete in the UK as planned, they decided to launch a two-pronged attack on the 2020 Fiesta Zetec Championship.

It was a case of experience winning out over youth in a thrilling championship.

Both drivers were on the pace, but Alastair clinched the championship on Saturday making it a super seven for the senior member of the family.

William (son) was Alastair's closest challenger and he can be proud of finishing second to his highly accomplished father.

William also set a new lap record at the September meeting.

"Three days before the championship started, we weren't even doing this, we were supposed to race in the UK," commented Kellett senior.

"We pulled the cars out of the shed just before the first round and somehow ended up winning the championship.

"We had great racing all year and lots of good guys racing, so it was very enjoyable," he added.

William has made an impact over the last number of years and in 2018 was selected as the Young Racing Driver of the Month for May by Sport Ireland and Motorsport Ireland.

He started his motorsport career in Junior Rallycross at the age of 14, driving a Nissan Micra to a string of podium finishes in late 2014 and also in 2015.

This propelled him to third place in the Junior Championship for the 2014/15 season.

For 2016, his father Alastair, converted the Micra into racing specification and William immediately had a successful season in the Future Classics class.

The following year he changed to the Fiesta Zetec Class, where he had a great season, taking three wins against fierce opposition as well as several pole positions and fastest laps.

However, last weekend he had to settle for second place, but he plans to rectify that anomaly at the earliest possible opportunity.