National Court: 1 August 2006
Having listened to evidence at its hearing on Tuesday 1 August,
the National Court has taken the following action:
2006-08 - C Lewis - Appeal
The Court overturned a race stewards' decision to exclude
driver Chris Lewis from first position in a 750 Motor Club
Formula 4 race at Cadwell Park on 25 June.
Rival driver Damon Bland had protested against the eligibility
of Lewis's car. Bland then appealed to the Stewards against
the Clerk of the Course's decision to take no action. The
Stewards had excluded Lewis from the results.
However, it was found by the Court that during the initial
protest by Bland no additional technical examination of the
vehicle - mandatory in the regulations - was carried out.
The Court reinstated Lewis in the results and returned his
appeal fee.
2006-12 - P Dempsey - Assault
The Court ordered UK Formula Ford (Duratec) driver Peter
Dempsey to serve the remainder of a 30-day suspension from
UK competition, imposed on him for assaulting a rival driver,
Nick Tandy.
The Court heard that Dempsey struck Tandy in the face with
a trophy he had just collected at a prize giving ceremony
at Brands Hatch on 23 July. This followed several on-track
incidents, including a collision at Brands Hatch.
Irishman Dempsey, aged 20, claimed that he had not sought
confrontation and that Tandy had uttered a racial remark at
him as he walked past. This led to him pushing the trophy
at Tandy and by accident this had caught Tandy in the face.
The matter had been referred to the Court to discuss any
additional penalty. It was confirmed that Dempsey's suspension
is for National and not International Events.
However, the Court stated that Dempsey had, in effect, still
"used his trophy as a weapon" and that an assault
on a fellow driver cannot be tolerated.
It ordered him to serve the remainder of his suspension that
ends on 22 August, meaning he will miss the next two rounds
of the Formula Ford championship, and to pay £500 costs.
Dempsey also received an additional three-month suspension
- suspended pending his future behaviour, although this would
not be effected by any driving offences.
2006-09 - HBR Motorsport GMbH - Appeal
The Court reinstated driver Richard Antinucci to third place
in the results of the first of two Euroseries Formula 3 rounds
at Brands Hatch on 1-2 July.
Antinucci had raced under appeal after being excluded from
the qualifying session when scrutineering checks found both
he and his car to be under the minimum weight of 550kgs as
specified in the championship's regulations. Combined, he
and his car had weighed 549.4kgs.
In addition, the scrutineers had been unable to extract the
required 1kg of fuel from his car's fuel tank. They could
only extract 915 grams.
However, HBR successfully appealed, claiming the driver weighing
scales did not have a calibration certificate and figures
given did not match the team's own calculations. HBR also
successfully argued that the surface on which the car was
put for fuel extraction was uneven, meaning this process had
been compromised. It said it had later been able to extract
a further 110 grams of fuel.
2006-06 - C Stirling - Appeal
The Court upheld the exclusion of driver Carl Stirling from
a Mini Max kart race at an Ulster Kart Club meeting at Nutts
Corner on 10 June.
Stirling was excluded for running an ineligible silencer
on his kart's Rotax engine, which had interior wadding, not
as supplied by Rotax and additional material had been added
contravening the regulation.
Stirling appealed but the Court rejected this. He was ordered
to pay £200 costs and the appeal fee was forfeit.
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