Irish Classic Retro - 20-21 Sep 03

Posted: September 24, 2003 10:01 PM

The challenging route saw several changes of lead, with Ronnie Griffin and Sam Meyer heading the pack for half of Saturday’s route in Wicklow in their Escort, but they slipped back to third place at the finish. The ever consistent husband and wife pairing of Richard and Jo McAllister brought their Volvo Amazon home fourth. Last year’s winners Eamonn Byrne and Gavin Millington started badly on the early regularity sections, and their Mini Cooper S was well down the field overnight, although they recovered to fifth at the end thanks to best performance on Sunday.

Hall and Bosdet led on Saturday night, from Peter Lynch/Rory Dooley, with Griffin and Meyer a close third, but the Cortina pair dropped to sixth by the finish after car problems, while the Mini crew stayed in front to take top place after a couple of near misses in recent years in this event.

TDC IRISH CLASSIC RETRO AT CITYWEST, CO DUBLIN:
1 Geoff Hall/Paul Bosdet (Mini Cooper S) 172.6 marks,
2 Philip Armstrong/Frank Hussey (Volvo PV544) 204.8m,
3 Ronnie Griffin/ Sam Meyer (Escort) 212.5m,
4 Richard McAllister/Jo McAllister (Volvo 122) 217.6m,
5 Eamonn Byrne/Gavin Millington (Mini Cooper S) 225.2m,
6 Peter Lynch/Rory Dooley (Cortina GT) 233.5m,
7 Robert Bolton/Ian McCulloch (Triumph TR4A) 239.2m,
8 Colin Forster/Dave Harvey (Mini Cooper S) 328.4m,
9 Frank Lenehan/Joanna Lenehan (Datsun Cherry) 391.7m,
10 Clive Peterson/Conor Miles (Mini Cooper S) 436.9m.

Class winners: 
Eamonn Byrne/Gavin Millington, 
Richard McAllister/Jo McAllister, 
Frank Lenehan/Joanna Lenehan, 
Geoff Long/Michael Daly(Turner GT), 
Tom Thornton/Chris McNally (Saab 99), 
Andrew O’Donohoe/Damian Roddy (MG Midget) 186.7m.