Fine sunny weather conditions greeted a total of 32 starters for last Sundays annual running of Monaghan Motor Clubs grass surface autocross. Once again young Ballinode man Shane Maguire took charge as CoC and along with his group of helpers laid on a fine course in ideal surroundings overlooking Hollywood lake on the outskirts of Ballinode. From the off it was clear that the motorbike engined buggy’s had a clear advantage with both power and grip in the dry conditions. The format for the day was three runs over the course with two fastest times to count. Gerald Doherty set the benchmark on the first run with a time of 2.12 and maintained his lead throughout the day, taking another fastest time on the 3rd run to win the event by 0.77 of a second from Joe McHale in a buggy special with Paul Barrett 3rd also in a buggy special.
There were some great class battles throughout the day with quarry expert Tommy Donlon in a 106 taking a comfortable 9 second win in class 1 from Philip Grall in 2nd with Paul Barrett 3rd, both in corsa’s. James Huddleston was the sole finisher in class 1a on a time of 5.18. There was a great battle in class 2a with the Carbin Carpentry backed 205 of Michael Carbin taking a 3 second win after the three runs from young mountain lodge lad Darren O Brien in a civic. Cathal Sheridan in his trusty nova was 3rd a further 5 seconds adrift. This result gives Michael Carbin a good points haul towards his club championship bid, having competed in every round thus far.
Class 3a was a one-man show with Anthony Masterson winning in his Honda Integra, as Paul Sheridan was the only other entrant taking 2nd place but had mechanical trouble on his 2nd and 3rd runs. Class 4a was for the single seater motorbike engined buggy’s and the top 3 over-all awards went to the aforementioned Gerald Doherty, Joe McHale and Paul Barrett. Midlands men Sam Johnston and Chris Kelly also made the trip to Ballinode with their buggy special’s but the results sheets suggest they had a troubled afternoon, presumably mechanical after setting top 5 times on the opening run. Amy Faughan had an enjoyable run and her times improved dramatically over the three runs to take the class 5a win in her civic, which is geared towards 16-18 year olds. The youngest but nevertheless closest class of the day was class 5b for 14-16 year olds. Young Carrickmacross lad Gavin McGivney in a mk2 escort took an incredible 0.01 second win from Aidan Lang in a fiesta with Ronan Corr in a nova just over a second adrift after there two best runs.
Class 6 was for club members with unlimited cc. Michael and Martin Tynan in their Evo 5 with Andy Mackarel in his older Evo 4 were in this class with Richard Cassidy completing the four entrants to class 6 in his white astra. Indeed it was Richard who held the early advantage after the first run, as the EVO’s were subjected to a 5% time penalty for their 4-wheel drive status, which would amount to an approximate 7-second penalty per run. However Cassidy hit trouble on the second run with a broken drive shaft to allow Michael Tynan take the class win with Martin 2nd and Richard 3rd. This result also leaves Michael in a strong position in the club championship with the loose surface autocross next on the club calendar on 14th August.
Coc Shane Maguire would like to express his sincere thanks to all marshal’s for their help on the day as well as results team and anybody who helped out in any way on the lead up to the event or on the day itself. The field for the event was kindly offered by the Maguire family and many thanks to them for that. Shane along with all the Monaghan Motor Club committee and members would like to wish Dessie Brady a speedy recovery. A special word of thanks must also go to Ciara Heasty as well as the members of the Redcross ambulance who were present on the day for their prompt response and the professionalism they showed.
County Monaghan Motor Club 