Only a second at Latton autocross

Mervyn Wedlock is hard to beat around the twisty length of Latton, as Trevor Lancashire discovered at the Co. Cavan Motor Club Paul Gallagher Fund Autocross on Sunday. Only 0.85 of a second separated the pair's Escort MkIIs at the end of a day that demonstrated club motorsport at its best. The club is still counting the money raised for the Paul Gallagher Fund, between gate receipts and the raffle of Alex Coleman's photo of Sébastien Loeb on Rally Ireland in January (which John Norris, James Cassidy's regular navigator, won), and the atmosphere was fantastic. Mervyn set his two best times on the first two runs, well clear of all his rivals, which was just as well as his tyres wore out later on: "I was a bit lucky," said the Cootehill driver. "It was good, I really enjoyed it; it was a brilliant event. It was lovely to win it for the charity, and the atmosphere was great. "The tyres went off towards the end, for the last run, but I didn't want to put on new ones. I had my work done on the first two runs and I was happy enough with my times." Asked what it takes to be quick around the mile-long track, Mervyn said concentration and being as neat and tidy as possible. "It's always tricky though, you come into corners so fast, it's a good challenge." His two best times for the three-lap runs were 3:03.93 and 3:03.02, but would it be possible to break the three-minute barrier? "Probably, with a set of new tyres... I might try it next time I'm out, but you have to be out more often." Trevor Lancashire and Russell Woods completed the podium, separated by 3.3s, and Maurice Moffett and Michael Conlon filled out the top five (less than six seconds covered first to fifth). The class winners were: Tommy Donlon (class 1); Ciaran McPhillips (class 2); Ollie McCormack (class 3); Joseph Smith (class 4); Mervyn Wedlock (class 5) and David Moffett (juniors).