Seamus Donnelly from Donegal beat all challengers to claim victory on Mayo & District Motorsport Club’s Loose Surface Autocross on Sunday. Driving a buggy, he had to do it the hard way, coming from behind on the final run to beat local favourite Derek Deane.
A strong entry of 54 competitors, which included 23 buggies, had gathered at Harrington’s Quarry near Swinford for the first of four autocross events to be held this year. Clerk of the Course Stephen McGing and his team had laid on a superb course, with each competitor getting three runs of two laps over the demanding route. Heavy rain accompanied gusty winds throughout the day but this didn’t slow down the action on the track.
Deane outlined his intentions from the start, setting a time four seconds faster than anybody on the opening run. But the tables turned on the second run when Kildare man Padraic McHale moved into the lead by five seconds also in a buggy.
With things looking like the win was heading across the Shannon, Deane pulled out all the stops on his final run to stop the clock at 4:03.17 and move into the lead. It was not enough though. Seamus Donnelly put in a dazzling final run in his red buggy and stopped the clock exactly ten seconds quicker than his previous best and record victory with a time of 4:02.93. McHale’s time from the second run was enough to put him in third place overall.
Away from the leading protagonists, competition was just as fierce in the various classes. Omagh pair Ruairi Maguire and Darren Connolly took first and second in Class One ahead of Cavan’s Seamus Cook. Class two was dominated by Derek Mackarel from Monaghan who was also the top two wheel driver finisher in fifteenth place in his 1600cc Vauxhall Nova, Omagh’s Mervyn Galbraith was second while Westport’s Alan McGuire brought his Peugeot 205 home third.
Nobody could match Alan Moran in Class 3, but Rodney Donalson from Enniskillenen and Mayo club chairman Matthew Murphy kept the Foxford man on his toes throughout the day to claim the runner-up positions in the category.
Class four proved successful for three more Omagh men as Niall McCullagh took the win ahead of Ashley Rutledge and John Taggart.
Class five was a battle of locals as James McGreal and Padraic Roche went head to head, both driving McGreal’s 4wheel drive Subaru. Experience prevailed as McGreal took the honours.
In class seven, the class for the Buggies, with Seamus Donnelly taking the overall win, Derek Deane took first in class ahead of Padraic McHale and Padraig Egan claimed third.
Class eight was won by 17 year old Patrick McEveney from Castlebar in his Toyota Corolla while his sister Shauna won the Ladies award. The Mayo Club award went to Adrian Deane.
Round two takes place on June 7th, Check out www.mayomotorsportclub.com for full details.
Download Quarry Results May 2015
Mayo & District Motorsport Club L.S.Autocross 10th May 2015 | ||||||||||||
Entry List | ||||||||||||
No: | Name | Address | Car | Class | ||||||||
101 | Ruairi Maguire | Tyrone | Vauxhall Corsa | 1 | ||||||||
102 | Darren Connolly | Tyrone | Vauxhall Nova | 1 | ||||||||
103 | Joe Shinnors | Limerick | Vauxhall Nova | 1 | ||||||||
104 | Seamus Cook | Cavan | Ford Escort | 1 | ||||||||
201 | Alan McGuire | Westport | Peugeot 205 | 2 | ||||||||
202 | Peter McManamon | Achill | Peugeot 205 | 2 | ||||||||
203 | Seamus Coffey | Ballyhaunis | Peugeot 205 | 2 | ||||||||
204 | Stephen Doherty | Foxford | Opel Kadett | 2 | ||||||||
205 | Shauna McEveney | Castlebar | Toyota Corolla | 2 | ||||||||
206 | Patrick McEveney | Castlebar | Toyota Corolla | 2 | ||||||||
207 | David Healy | Sligo | Nissan Primera | 2 | ||||||||
208 | Derek Mackarel | Clones | Vauxhall Nova | 2 | ||||||||
209 | Mervyn Galbraith | Omagh | Vauxhall Nova | 2 | ||||||||
210 | Simon Hemphill | Castlederg | Vauxhall Nova | 2 | ||||||||
301 | Chris Snow | Oldcastle | Citroen Saxo | 3 | ||||||||
302 | Matthew Murphy | Shrule | Toyota Corolla | 3 | ||||||||
303 | Liam Healy | Achill | Honda Civic | 3 | ||||||||
304 | Joe Healy | Achill | Honda Civic | 3 | ||||||||
305 | Alan Moran | Foxford | Puegeot 206 | 3 | ||||||||
306 | Rodney Donaldson | Enniskillen | Ford Escort | 3 | ||||||||
307 | John Burke | Galway | Peugeot 206 | 3 | ||||||||
308 | Trevor O Connell | Ballina | Subaru Impreza | 3 | ||||||||
309 | Brian McDonnell | Claremorris | Toyota Corolla | 3 | ||||||||
310 | Derek Bolton | Ballaghaderreen | Subaru Impreza | 3 | ||||||||
401 | Shane Rafferty | Tyrone | Ford Escort | 4 | ||||||||
402 | Declan Rafferty | Tyrone | Ford Escort | 4 | ||||||||
403 | Peter Curran | Omagh | Ford Escort | 4 | ||||||||
404 | Niall McCullagh | Omagh | Ford Escort | 4 | ||||||||
405 | Tony McKenna | Fintona | MK2 Escort | 4 | ||||||||
406 | Ashley Rutledge | Omagh | Honda Civic | 4 | ||||||||
407 | John Taggart | Omagh | MK2 Escort | 4 | ||||||||
501 | James McGreal | Foxford | Subaru Impreza | 5 | ||||||||
502 | Padraic Roche | Killala | Subaru Impreza | 5 | ||||||||
700 | Derek Deane | Williamstown | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
701 | Adrian Deane | Williamstown | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
702 | Ronan Mackle | Down | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
703 | Mervyn Deane | Williamstown | JB Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
704 | Seamus Donnelly | Donegal | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
705 | Paul Garry | Letterkenny | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
706 | James Cassidy | Derry | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
707 | Danny O Donnell | Donegal | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
708 | Mac Walsh | Donegal | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
711 | Cathal Scullion | Buggy | 7 | |||||||||
713 | Tom Daley | Killarney | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
714 | Padraig Egan | Clare | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
715 | Peter Brennan | Tipperary | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
716 | Ian Barrett | Maynooth | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
718 | Conor McCrossan | Drumquin | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
719 | Michael McCrossan | Drumquin | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
720 | Alan Magee | Fermanagh | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
766 | Joe McHale | Kildare | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
7666 | Padraic McHale | Kildare | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
730 | Colin Currid | Sligo | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
731 | Rory Carroll | Sligo | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
732 | Sean Casey | Monaghan | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
733 | Sean Coleman | Monaghan | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
734 | Brian O Donnell | Tubbercurry | Buggy | 7 | ||||||||
801 | Patrick McEveny | Castlebar | Toyota Corolla | 8 | ||||||||
802 | Oisin Coffey | Ballyhaunis | Peugeot 205 | 8 | ||||||||
REVISED NATIONAL AUTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP DATES 2015.
PK DOORS & WINDOWS NATIONAL AUTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
22nd March Birr
19th April Carrick on Suir
17th May GSMC* *New Round & Event
5th July Galway
19th July Clare
9th August Midland
13th September Westmeath
27th September Tipperary
11th October Imokilly
5 STAR CATERING NATIONAL LOOSE SURFACE CHAMPIONSHIP
24th May Clare
14th June Munster* *New Round
28th June Midland
12th July Skibbereen
26th July Mayo* *Altered Date
16th August Wexford* *New Round & Altered Date
30th August Carlow
4th October Galway* *New Round
14th November Birr
Donagh Kelly and Conor Foley in a Focus WRC took victory in the Cartell.ie International Rally of the Lakes when they had 50 seconds to spare over the Impreza WRC of Robert Barrable and Damien Connolly after two days and 16 stages around Killarney and the Beara Peninsula.
Kelly led from start to finish in very difficult conditions and this victory sees him move back to the top of the Clonakilty Blackpudding Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.
Barrable was impressive on his first run in an Impreza WRC and set several fastest stage times over the weekend while Alan Ring, Joe McGonigle and Aaron Machale completed the top-five overall in the International category.
Roy White powered his MG ZR to victory in the National section almost two minutes ahead of second placed Fergus O’Meara in a Ford Escort MK2.
The Historic section was won by Denis Moynihan in his MK1 Escort while Rob Duggan had a commanding victory in the Junior section in his Fiesta.
Aforementioned MacHale who had Ballina’s Paul McGee on the notes, were the top Mayo Club finishers, fifth overall and claiming the honours in the Group N category in their Mitsubshi Evo 9.
Pauric Duffy who had Monaghan’s Enda Sherry in the co-driver seat finished an impressive tenth overall and claimed second in class in the P1Rally Rentals Fiesta R5.
Westport’s David Carney and Ray Fitzpatrick took advantage of Rally 2 and returned on Day two to claim the Class three win in their Citroen DS3.
After many events trying, the Westport pairing of David Healy and Stephen McGing drove flawlessly in their Honda Civic to claim a class win at an event. After a run since the start of the year that yielded several second and third place finishes, emotions were high on Sunday evening as the pair finally claimed that elusive result.
Rounding of the locals and ensuring that all Mayo members collected a trophy, Ballina’s Trisha Greavy on her first outing in a navigator’s role, successfully guided Kerry’s Shane McCarthy to a J1 Junior class win.
Monthly meeting this Friday Night May 1st 9pm Gateway Hotel Swinford, All welcome