Large turn-out for Latton quarry event

Motorsport

Credit must go to Gerard Hyland and his team of volunteers who ran a very successful Latton Quarry recently, the final counting round of this year’s Cootehill Precision Engineering Autocross Championship. With a well supported entry of 36 participants and superb weather and driving conditions, racing was very competitive and all the award winners were made work extremely hard for their just rewards.

In the rally car section, it truly was an epic battle for overall honours between visiting Honda Civic pilot Brian Brady, who has immense pace on the stages and rallies, and local Latton specialist Joe Smith. A slower than usual start for Joe saw the Honda have the upper hand on the Escort.

Over the next two runs the lead swayed back and forth. However, as in all races, it is never over until it is over and experience won out this time as the oul’ master Joe Smith claimed the outright rally car win over the young pretender Brian Brady, with just 2.1 seconds separating the pair at the finish, which made for truly wonderful spectating for the large crowd.

Third overall and winner of Class 4 went to Jack Maguire in his 1600cc Honda Civic. Ferlin Taylor was a welcome returnee in his Peugeot 205 RWD, taking a very respectable fourth overall and winning Class 6. Alan Lawson and Kevin Coogan had a good tussle between themselves as their battle of the Civics resulted in the Lawson version beating his opposition by 3.3 seconds to take fifth, with Coogan sixth overall.

Another regular attendee, Shane Marron in a Ford Escort Mk2, took seventh overall and first in Class 3. Ian Galligan, also in a Civic, finished eighth overall. Ninth was a well deserved result for Brendan O’Reilly who, with limited seat time in his 1600cc Escort, had a fine run. Rounding out the top 10 was Barney Greenan in his similar specification Escort.

Andrew Wedlock won Class 5 in his rapid Peugeot 205, while in the junior category Jack Cooke had an excellent run in his Escort. Kyle Cullen in his Civic had been leading until his retirement with an engine ECU issue. The immaculate Chevette of local pairing Eamon and Brian Rudden took second and third respectively.

Another double drive duo, Pat Shields and John Kelly, in their well decorated Escort Mk1 which has years upon years of success, took first and second respectively in Class 1. Spirit of the Meeting went to Jack Mannion who unfortunately broke a driveshaft on the first run, having driven all the way from Mayo to attend the event. We appreciate your efforts and sporting good form during your trip.

In the buggy category, Thomas Wedlock, the Casmat driver, was on fire and set fastest times on each of the five runs and, of the counting three, was the eventual winner by an astounding six seconds over newcomers Evan Curran in his La Base model, who was second overall and first in Class 7b. In third, also a first timer, Jack Newman in his Mygale machine took first in Class 7a. William Armstrong, who has been dominant all season in his own 700cc machine, sampled his dad Davy’s 600cc MV and took second in Class 7a, beating his fast parent by a handy 22 second margin.

In the remaining Class 7b, Darach Duffin took second in his Casmat, eight seconds ahead of a spirited drive by John McCabe in his Semog. In Class 8c, the sole recipient of an award was Owen Roe Skelly, who took the win.

In championship terms, unofficially, Joe Smith is our rally car winner. We have to calculate all points after the last round and will have a full round-up of the season. Bill Armstrong is also unofficially the buggy championship winner, again depending on today’s results.

The success of the championship is all down to the high level of support from Cootehill Precision Engineering. Gerry McIntyre and his entire family are the pillar of motorsport within the county and, along with each of the clerks of the course, ensured the four counting rounds were all run successfully, culminating in some great battles over the winter. For this the club are grateful to them and to Cootehill Precision Engineering as, together, they keep grassroots motorsport alive.

The club would also like to thank all the competitors, marshals, officials, timekeepers and all supporters of our events.

See this week's print edition for full coverage.