Club members enjoy Kirkistown Sprint
The club members that entered the Kirkistown Sprint weekend generally had a good time. The event was rounds 9 and 10 of the Irish Hillclimb and Sprint championship, also in attendance was the UK sprint championship and the Northern Irish championship. The large entry surprised the organisors with over 90 drivers leading to only two timed runs each day instead of the usual three.
Eanna Carroll was there with his turbocharged Civic He took third of the Irish class 3B competitors on Saturday and fourth on Sunday. 30th of 92 competitors on Saturday and 31st of 78 on Sunday.
Gerard O’Connor took fourth in Irish class 5 on Saturday and third on Sunday. 66th overall Saturday and 56th overall on Sunday. Gerard finished only 0.21s behind Eugene French form Wexford on Saturday. Gerard has posted a quicker time than Eugene in practice on Sunday but made mistakes on both of his timed runs to finish 2.44s behind Eugene.
Trish Daly was in great form coming to the event on Saturday having spent Friday testing at the Kirkistown track. Sadly on Saturday the engine on her Mini expired on the practice run. Trish then double drove a Cinquecento but found the lower power of the car frustation and set poor times. On Sunday she double drove Brendon Dawson’s 1.3 Civic but the limited running (Brendan had to leave after the first timed run) meant that Trish did not come up to speed in the car.
Senan O’Connor spent the two days with a smile on his face after enjoyable competive drives in a Cinquecento. He fourth in Irish class 1 on Saturday and improved to third on Sunday. (Photo above)
Hillclimb and Sprint regulars Paul O’Connell and Denis Hogan Jr. were not entered.
The top Irish drivers found the event interesting to be sharing a track with the top UK sprint competitors. Sylvie Mullins from Ballyvaughan finished 2nd overall on Saturday and third on Sunday.