There were a number of Mayo competitors in action last Sunday in the Connacht Mototclub Loose Surface Autocross, achieving some impressive results.
Bekan’s Sean McHugh in his Subaru Impreza had a great run and eventually finished in 5th overall and 3rd in class 9. McHugh put in three impressive and consistent times and he finished just over ten seconds off the winner of the event, Alan Lawson in a Honda Civic
Shrule’s Noel Murphy, double driving Jason Murphy’s Honda Civic finished in 7th place overall and obliterated all the other Junior entries, an impressive result in a car that is a lot more under powered that his own.
Next Mayo competitor home was James McGreal, finishing just outside the top10 in 12th place. The Foxford man enjoyed his day finishing 4th in class 9.
Shrule’s Jason Murphy made history being the first U-16 to compete in a loose surface autocross, this new rule change will no doubt have fruitful results in time to come. 15 year old Jason who has being competing on grass for the last two years described his first day on gravel as the best day he has had since he started.
Leading from start to finish, Donegal cousins Declan and Brian Boyle were the clear winners of the Rose Hotel Circuit of Kerry Rally based in Tralee, the second round of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship. In second place were Roy White and James O’Brien in another Ford Fiesta, with Peadar Hurson and Damien Connolly third in their Impreza.
Flying the Mayo flag was Trisha Greavy who finished fifth, navigating for Shane McCarthy in the juniors. Unlucky not to finish was Jared Gill who was navigating for Ray Cunningham, gearbox trouble in the first loop cut short their day.
Club meeting on April 6th at 9pm in Hotel Ballina
New members always welcome.
Paddy McVeigh and Gary McElhinney in a Subaru Impreza led into the final stage of the Midlands Stages Rally but ultimately had to be content with second spot. Scotland’s David Bogie and Kevin Rae in their Skoda Fabia produced a stunning final stage to win the event by just over 4 seconds. Chris Armstrong and Chris Melly in a Ford Escort MK2 were third a further 43 seconds behind.
Top Mayo club finisher was Andrew Grennan, the Monaghan native, now residing in Aghamore navigated Tyrone’s Vivian Hamill to 5th overall and top spot in class 14. In 6th place overall and topping class 5 were the P1 Rally Rentals crew of Pauric Duffy and Kevin Glynn, the pair making the trip from OZ to get back behind the wheel of their Fiesta R5 for their first outing of 2016.
Ciaran Kennedy and Paddy O’Hora put in a great drive in their Evo 9 to finish in 24th place and third in Class 4.
Unlucky not to finish were James McGreal and Chris Mitchell who suffered mechanical trouble in their Evo 6 and Crossmolina’s Lorcan Moore who was navigating Longford’s John McGuire in a Escort MK2 who also succumbed to mechanical trouble on the first loop.
Sean McHugh had his super sounding BMW on 00 duties with Kathleen Kennedy alongside.
