MAYO & DISTRICT MOTORSPORT CLUB NEWS

Posted: February 15, 2000 6:30 PM

Round 4 of the Ears Motorsport Ireland National Navigation Trial Championship held in Sligo earlier this month saw the Mayo representation make a big impression in what has been described as one of the toughest navigation tests for many years. Bekan’s Sean McHugh successfully chauffeured navigator Liam Higgins to 2nd in the Escort Class and 4th overall in his Peugeot 205 GTi.. John and Killian Duffy from Crossmolina come home 2nd in the Novice class and 14th overall in their Toyota Corolla 1.6. This leaves the father and son combination in 6th and 4th position respectively in the McCarrick’s Garages West Coast Navigation Championship run concurrently with the National Series. Killian still leads the Novice category.

Another newcomer to the sport this year is Westport’s Claire Walsh with Joseph Shinnors behind the wheel. The Mayo/Limerick pairing had a Top 10 finish in their Honda Civic 1.3 out of the 20 Novice crews competing.

The next round of the West Coast Championship is on next weekend 19th/20th February in Longford.

Mayo & District Motorsport Club are extremely pleased that their initiative to nurture the talents of young rally drivers has been recognized by Motorsport Ireland, the sports governing body. The recently launched Billy Coleman Award named after Irish rallying’s favourite son, provides a financial backing and trade support towards the progress of young and talented drivers to international level.

The £20,000 award is being funded by Motorsport Ireland and each of the Clubs currently organising a round of the Dunlop National Rally Championship. Included in the award will be a free competition licence, free entry fees and free road insurance for a year.

Sean McHugh, Vice-Chairman, Mayo & District Motorsport Club expressed the delight of his fellow clubmen that the project has come to fruition exactly a year after it was conceived. "Yes, our main concern was that there was no young talent emerging from the Irish scene with enough backing to move up to international level and beyond. Conscious of this, we put forward a Young Rally Drivers Scheme to Motorsport Ireland, the bones of which feature in the newly established Billy Coleman Award."