2003 Munster Autotesting on the Up!

Posted: March 17, 2003 2:47 PM

Eddie Peterson’s cut-down Mini special was first to fail with a broken gear-lever! of all things, on his first test relegating him from the fight, though with the pressure off he continued to set fastest times over the weekend. JJ Farrell from Navan won by under a second (in 754 seconds; 1/10th of 1% difference!) on Saturday in his Mini special to tighten the position even further, but champion again after a gap of two years Eamonn Byrne of Wicklow held out to win by a smaller sub one-second margin on Sunday, there never being more than two seconds between them all day. To say the last runs were tense is an understatement yet the standard of driving never faltered as Eamonn, another Mini special driver, ran out a worthy championship winner.

Others to catch the eye were Christopher Grimes (Carrickmines) in the yellow Golden Pages Mini Saloon, Liam Cashman (Kanturk) in the light-weight Starlet, and Delgany’s Simon Echlin in the lovely Westfield sports car. Peter Keohane (Cork) in another Westfield started to impress as he got used to the big change to rear-wheel from front-wheel drive. Story of the weekend was Clare’s Mark Coghlan who inflicted some body damage to his rally-car graphic’d Starlet on Saturday. A bit of the perfectionist, rather than drive with the dents showing; Home to Clare, Replacement Parts and a fresh Paint-Job for Sunday! To be fair, it does look well. Congratulations to the two Brendan’s, Farmer and Savage, and the rest of the Kerry Motor Club crew on running an outstanding weekend.

Reflecting the growing importance of Munster in autotesting, while in Kerry the annual competitors meeting took place. More prizes for under 21 newcomers is the most significant outcome following on the trend being set by new Munster Championship sponsor Premier Autoparts, Bandon and Cork, who are to set-up a scholarship arrangement for best 2003 beginners running into the following year.

Following that meeting, a team representing Munster is to travel to Kildare for the TDC International Trophy Autotest on Saturday 23rd March for the first time. Likely line up is Alan Clarke (Bandon) in a Mini Special, Kingdom Autotest Champion Ian White in a Mini Saloon, large saloon representative Mike Cashman (Kanturk) in his tidy Opel Corsa, and Enniskeane’s Don Giles with the immaculate metallic blue family Westfield. Reserves include Mark Coghlan, John Lyons and David Treacy, (all from Clare); nearly a team by themselves! Munster is further represented by Kanturk’s Liam Cashman in a Starlet in the top Irish national squad; a team who are looking to continue a 10-year period of dominance over their mainland UK and Northern Ireland rivals. Autotesting is one form of motor sport at which the Irish, and particularly the Republic, are best in the world.

The following weekend sees the Premier Autoparts, Bandon and Cork, Munster Autotest Championship kick off at Askeaton on Sunday 30th March. With the usual range of contenders, some already mentioned and new car/driver combinations with a hat-full of semi-experts thrown in, rivalries old and new (friendly taken, but serious none the less) are set to run through-out the summer province-wide until we finish back in Kerry and Clare in October.

Coming soon, we have a new promotional event set for the Kerry Stages Rally weekend (April 5th/6th) in downtown Tralee on the Saturday evening, as part of Kerry Motor Club’s exciting development plans for the rally. Come along and have a look; - marshalling and autotesting may be the advantage to get you on the ladder towards those ever elusive rally entries! It may be low cost motorsport but it’s certainly high value for fun. Watch this space for season long up-dates and news. See you somewhere!