Monthly Club meeting takes place on Wednesday evening at 9pm in Ballinrobe Community School.
Please attend.
Shrule’s Jason Murphy took the Class 9 win at Galway Motorclub’s Autocross (grass surface) held at Loughrea on Sunday last. The 18 year old South Mayo man was quickest throughout the day in his 1.4 Honda Civic
Donegal’s Declan and Brian Boyle in their Fiesta WRC won the Trim based ALMC Rally, the fifth round of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship on Sunday last.
Taking the lead on the second stage they went on to finish the event almost a minute clear of the Ford Fiesta WRC of Tipperary’s Roy White.
Crossmolina’s Lorcan Moore was navigating for Kildare’s Darren Barret in the junior section of the event. An off road excursion during the last stage in their Honda Civic resulted in them unable to make the finish line.
Westport’s Stephen McGing navigated Wexford’s Andrew Leacy to 34th overall & 3rd in class 11r at last weekends Waterford based Raven’s Rock Rally. The event was won by Alan Ring & Adrian Deasy in their Fiesta R5
Donegal’s Manus Kelly and Donall Barrett went into the final stage of the 2016 Donegal International Rally almost 10 seconds adrift of Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin however an unbelievable run through Fanad Head saw Kelly complete the stage 9.8 seconds faster than the Corkman and by doing so claim the win by 0:00.5, It doesn’t get much closer than that.
It was the fifth round of the Clonakilty Blackpudding Irish Tarmac Championship and it will certainly be remembered as one of the classic events. With no less than six leaders over the course of the rally and the winning margin of just 0.5 seconds meant that it was the most exciting and unpredictable event in years. While Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin eventually had to settle for second they scored maximum points in the championship.
Aaron MacHale & Paul McGee were the top Mayo crew finishing the weekend in 7th place (4th in Class 5) Over from Australia Pauric Duffy & Kevin Glynn put in a fantastic drive to finish in 11th (5th in Class 5)
Darragh Mullen navigated Donegal man, Gary Cooney to 54th & 5th in Class 15, a great recovery after trouble on the first day seen them bottom of the leader board after day 1.
Andrew Grennan’s event finished early on day 1 after an off road excursion put an end to his weekend on the notes for Vivian Hamill.
In the Junior section of the event Justin Ryan & Noel Murphy each put in solid drives in their Honda Civic’s to continue to occupy the top two spots in the overall Junior Championships with two rounds remaining.
Cork’s Kevin Horgan scored maximum points to close the gap to second placed Murphy to just two points.
Its still all to play for once dropped scores are taken into account, but Ryan is still in a good position having a couple of maximum scores this season to date and can still afford to drop a round.
On 00 duty at the Circuit of Munster stages in their Subaru Impreza were Sean McHugh & Kathleen Kennedy.
The event was won by Welsh driver Steve Wood and his Limerick co-driver Keith Moriarty who led from start to finish in their Subaru Impreza WRC.
Jason Murphy dominated the Junior section of the Carrick on Suir Autocross (grass) held on 5th June at Tybroughney, Co Kilkenny. In a strong field of juniors, some on their first outing competing as part of the Carrick On Suir Youth Sports Project, Jason took command and brought his civic home in first place. Well done.
Points after 2 now updated:
Frank-Harrington-Challenge-Points
Former National Forestry Champion Pat O’Connell showed his class to claim victory on Mayo & District Motorsport Club’s Loose Surface Autocross on Sunday. Driving a Mitsubishi Evo, he had to do it the hard way, coming from behind on the final run to beat Monaghan’s Derek Mackeral who set fastest times on the opening two runs.
A strong entry of 51 competitors had gathered at Harrington’s Quarry near Ireland West Airport for the second of four autocross events to be held this year. Clerk of the Course Paul Kennedy and his team had once again laid on a superb course, with each competitor getting three runs of two laps over the demanding route.
Young Derek Mackeral, who had taken the family Evo to Mayo after over a year of it lying idle, outlined his intentions from the start, setting a time three seconds faster than anybody on the opening run. He continued his domination on the second run, stopping the clocks ten seconds quicker than his previous and held a two second advantage over second placed, former Mayo Autocross champion Martin Tynan.
With things looking like the win was heading to Monaghan, O’Connell pulled out all the stops on his final 5km run to stop the clock at 04:01.09 and move into the lead. Mackeral suffered mechanical trouble on his final run as he tried to wrestle the last ounce out of the stately Mitsubishi and it handed the victory to the Cashel man on his first visit to Mayo Autocross.
Martin Tynan also capitalised on Mackeral’s failure, securing second overall leaving his fellow Monaghan man having to settle for third at the end of the day. Round One winner from May, Michael Tynan finished the event in fourth place, a position he occupied for all three runs. Andy Mackeral was fifth, double driving the aforementioned Evo with Derek. Fermanagh’s Eamon Mimnagh was another who was unable match his pace from Round One, having to settle with sixth overall on this occasion. Conor McCourt from Tyrone was seventh rounding off a top 7 of Mitsubishi Evo’s. Meath’s Paul McCann in his immaculate Escort RS Cosworth was less than two hundredths of a second further back in eighth. Omagh’s David Kerr was top 2 wheel drive in his Peugeot 106 finishing ninth, less than a second ahead of another Omagh man, Mervyn Galbraith in his Vauxhall Nova.
Looking through the various Classes where competition was just as fierce as the overall places. In Class 1, Fermanagh’s Ruairi Maguire in his Vauxhall Corsa took the win ahead of Tyrone’s Darren Connelly in a Nova while Ciaran McCullagh from Maynooth was third also in a Vauxhall Nova.
Class 2 was won by Top 10 finisher Mervyn Galbraith in his Vauxhall Nova, Travis Humphry from Omagh was second just ahead of Westport’s Alan Mcguire, both driving Peugeot 205’s.
Class 3 was dominated by top 2 wheel drive overall finisher David Kerr. Andrew McMahon from Enniskillen, also in a Peugeot 106 was second. Mayo club Chairman, Shrule’s Matthew Murphy was third in his Westtyre Toyota Corolla.
Class 4 honours were claimed by Tyrone’s Hugh McQuaid in his Mk2 Escort. Darragh and Declan Campbell from Tyrone were second and third respectively double driving a Mk2 Escort.
Class 5 saw Martin Tynan take first with Derek Mackarel having to settle for second with Michael Tynan in third.
Intermediate Class 8 for 16-18 year olds was won by Crossmolina’s Lorcan Moore, taking time out from his leaving Cert studies to claim more crystal in his Citroen Saxo. Bekan’s Lorcan Ronan was second in his Nissan Sunny.
Junior Class 9 for 14-16 year olds was won by Shrule’s Jason Murphy who kept his nerve in his Honda Civic after a lapse in concentration seen him slid wide on his first run, the young Shrule man on only his second Mayo Autocross event didn’t let this affect his game plan as he got steadily quicker over his three runs.
Foxford’s Stephen Doherty for the second event in a row put in a splendid drive in his recently acquired Subaru Impreza to claim the Mayo & District Club Award finishing in thirteenth place overall. Cavan’s Jenna McCann in a Mitsubshi Evo claimed the Ladies Award.
Speaking after the event, fastest on the day O’Connell thanked Mayo & District Motorsport Club for hosting such a competitive event, he praised the track and the work of the voluntary marshals while promising to return after regaining the sweet taste of victory and enjoying the Mayo hospitality. Derek Mackarel, despite his third place finish was very happy with his times, knowing that elusive overall Mayo autocross victory is within his grasp.
Two rounds of 2016 down and with two different winners the championships is wide open. Round 3 takes place on July 24th. See www.mayomotorsportclub.com for more details.
Overall Top 10
1st Pat O’Connell Evo 04:01.09
2nd Martin Tynan Evo 04:02.65
3rd Derek Mackeral Evo 04:02.87
4th Michael Tynan Evo 04:04.85
5th Andy Mackeral Evo 04:05.40
6th Eamon Mimnagh Evo 04:08.67
7th Conor McCourt Evo 04:13.63
8th Paul McCann Escort 04:13.99
9th David Kerr Peugeot 106 04:16.77
10th Mervyn Galbraith Vauxhall Nova 04:17.31
Andy Walsh.
FULL RESULTS:
Results June 2016
ACTION GALLERYS:
