Search Results for 'Autocross'

With the motorsport year drawing to a close, members of Mayo and District Motorsport Club gathered at the Gateway Hotel in Swinford on Friday last to commemorate another successful year, and to present club members with awards for their achievements throughout the season.

James Lannon from Boyle in Co. Roscommon achieved a long-held ambition on Sunday by claiming his maiden victory on Mayo and District Motorsport Club’s final autocross of the year. In doing so he became the fifth winner of the popular loose surface series in as many events, in what has been an enthralling season of motorsport at the challenging 2.7 km circuit at Harrington’s Quarry near Swinford. It was also a successful day for local hero James McGreal whose third place finish was enough to ensure he retained the Frank Harrington trophy for overall autocross champion for the second successive year.

An extraordinarily close finish saw Walter Burke from Williamstown take victory at the Mayo and District Motorsport Club’s loose surface autocross event on Sunday. The Ford Escort driver defeated James McGreal from Foxford by the smallest possible of margins — a mere one hundredth of a second.

Mayo and District Motorsport Club will hold an Introduction To Motorsport evening this Friday, May 14 2010 at the McWilliam Park Hotel in Claremorris commencing at 8pm. It is open to anyone who may be interested in getting involved in motorsport but doesn’t know where or how to start. The evening will include advice and practical tips on topics such as getting the necessary licences and paperwork, what equipment is needed, and preparing a car for competition. Particular focus will be placed on getting started in autocross, this being a particularly cost-effective and accessible form of the sport.

Carrowmore-Lacken native Paul McGee is well on his way to clinching the prestigious 2010 Kick Energy Fiesta SportTrophy (FST) Ireland Championship. It follows another successful event for the co-driver on this week-end’s Killarney International Rally. Navigating for Monaghan’s Stephen Wright, the duo took a dominant series victory in Kerry, their third successive win from the three rounds in the FST championship to date. With five rounds from six counting towards the title, Wright and McGee are now in a very strong championship position ahead of June’s Donegal International Rally. The winners of the FST Championship will get a Ford works supported drive in the 2010 Condroz Rally, the final round of the Belgian Rally Championship.

Fifteen years old Noel Murphy from Shrule Co. Mayo was recently awarded the Keegan Cup. The cup is for drivers aged between 14-16 who take part in the National Autocross Championship. He began 2009 at the wheel of a Honda Civic while his new Nissan Micra was being built. It all took off in March with the first round of the National Autocross Championship in Birr. This was a baptism of fire for the young man as he won his class by a comfortable margin. “Start as you mean to continue”, as they say, and this is what he did, winning the second round at the Cork Autocross and finishing an incredible 15th overall in his 1.4 litre Honda.

Mayo and District Motorsport Club’s first loose surface autocross event of the year got off to a strong start on Sunday, with some close racing and plenty of action throughout the field.

James McGreal did on Sunday what he has been threatening to do for a while — he took overall victory on a round of Mayo and District Motorsport Club’s Loose Surface Autocross. It marks a significant milestone for the popular Foxford man, a long time competitor and Mayo Motorsport Club stalwart, who counts the 2000 Border Rally Championship title among his many achievements. Only last year he had feared that his days of competing might have been over after sustaining a back injury following an accident on the Galway International Rally.

They say in sport getting the first win is the hardest, that once that elusive initial victory has been achieved, subsequent success is easier to come by.