Killarney Autocross Weekend - 4-5 Aug 01

Posted: August 6, 2001 4:37 PM

Brian Turner from Tipperary driving an Opel Engined special was the overall winner of the 2001 Killarney and District Motor Club Autocross weekend. Turner, the overall winner on the Saturday event finished in second place on the Sunday to the Suzuki engined special of Willie Kavanagh from Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary.

With the weather staying dry for both days, competitors and spectators alike enjoyed 2 days of fast action. The large venue at Kennedy farm enabled Clerk of the Course David Slattery and his team set up a different style of track each day. The field was also able to cater for the Mobile homes and tents that many teams brought.

It was Brian Turner who made the best of the long track on Saturday, just beating the Special of Gordon Percy by .09 of a second! With the track getting slower nobody was able the beat this time on the second and third runs of the track.

The track for Sunday was a slightly shorter but faster layout, and it was Wille Kavanagh who had only entered for the Sunday's event who set the pace on his first run with a time of 1:08.18, with Turner half a second behind. These times could not be beaten and so it was Kavanagh's day.

James Lehane in a Civic won Class one for up to 1400cc cars on the first day, with Wille Fitzgearld who had finished third in the class on Saturday taking the honours on Sunday. In class 2(a) for it was the front wheel drive Datsun Cherry of Jimmy Devane who took the honours on both days. Bryan Kenny from Birr Co. Offaly took second on Saturday with local man Tom O'Sullivan in his unique Honda V-TEC engined IMP taking second on the Sunday. David Leslie's Corolla was unable to start on Saturday morning with electrical problems, but he returned on Sunday with the car in full working order to take third in the class.

On Saturday in class 2(b) it was the Escort Mk of Offaly man Joe O'Byrne who took the honours. However he could only manage third on Sunday. Mike O'Donoghue who had been second on Saturday went one better on the Sunday to take the honours. Ger Brennan in his unique rear wheel drive Fiesta dominated class 3 from the Opel Astra of Rockchapel's JJ Carroll on both days. The four wheel-drive class belonged to only one man all weekend - the Subaru of John Hickey. Despite a broken gearbox Gerry Burke from Cork finished 2nd on Saturday but was unable to enter the Sunday event.

Such was the competition in the 2 special classes, a different top 3 was the result each day. In class 5 for the motorbike-engined cars, Richard Percy took the honours on Saturday, with Garth Turner taking class 6. On Sunday Billy Kavanagh took the honours in class 5 with Brian Turner's second overall time good enough for 1st in class 6.

Denise McClearn from Neagh driving a Suzuki Special took the lady's award each day, with James Lucey the top Junior.

• Full Results from Saturday
• Full Results from Sunday