Irish championship at Mondello

George Tracey again dominated at Mondello Park, winning both the Supercar A final and the Superfinal in the third round of the Irish Rallycross Championship. The Supercar class drew five starters, but as Paul Pascoe (Impreza) and the Toyota Celicas of Andrew and Darragh Morris fell by the wayside during the day, only Tracey and John Kelly (Mitsubishi Lancer) made it to the final stages of the event.

As in the first two rounds, Ian O’Connell swept all before him in Supernational, setting fastest times in all three heats and leading the first the first lap of the A final before an incident dropped him to the tail of the order. Willie Coyne had been the closest rival and moved through to take the win, O’Connell placing sixth and scraping into the Superfinal in last place. Kelly again chased Tracey, Coyne running third and best of the two-wheel drives all the way. Dessie Tierney ran in fourth place until lap three when Pearse Browne took the place. Having progressed from the Supernational B final, Don Shannon made his way to sixth place, the bugs now worked out of his Volvo S40 which has been converted to right-hand drive. Young Mark Francis again had a good run, taking seventh ahead of O’Connell who threw in the towel after three laps at the back of the pack.

One of the best battles came in the Stock Hatch 16v final, where Eddie Peterson’s Peugeot 106 led for most of the way, only to lose out on the final lap to Graeme Colfer and Aaron Dalton.

Peterson left his Joker lap until the end, while the other pair had taken the alternative during the first two laps. When Peterson finally chose to take it, he rejoined behind the others to finish third. Noel O’Brien continued his unbeaten run in the 8v Stock Hatch class, Noel Greene also victorious again in the Rally Car class. The Junior Rallycross category was won by Eamon Horan, the third different winner in as many events.

• Superfinal
• 1 George Tracey (Citroen Xsara) 3m 59.07s,
• 2 John Kelly (Lancer Evo 7) 4m 09.70s,
• 3 Willie Coyne (Opel Corsa) 4m 13.25s,
• 4 Pearse Browne (BMW Compact) 4m 15.39s,
• 5 Dessie Tierney (Opel Tigra) 4m 15.78s,
• 6 Don Shannon (Volvo S40) 4m 16.36s.
• Supercar
• 1 George Tracey (Citroen Xsara) 3m 20.02s,
• 2 John Kelly (Lancer Evo 7) 3m 28.00s
• Supernational
• 1 Willie Coyne (Opel Corsa) 3m 32.42s,
• 2 Pearse Browne (BMW Compact) 3m 38.44s,
• 3 Dessie Tierney (Opel Tigra) 3m 39.25s,
• 4 Don Shannon (Volvo S40) 3m 40.05s,
• 5 Mark Francis (Ford Escort) 3m 42.78s,
• 6 Ian O’Connell (Lotus Exige) 3m 58.91s.
• Stock Hatch 16v
• 1 Graeme Colfer (Peugeot 106) 3m 41.80s,
• 2 Aaron Dalton (Peugeot 106) 3m 42.55s,
• 3 Eddie Peterson (Peugeot 106) 3m 44.50s,
• 4 Philip Lawless (Peugeot 206) 3m 55.30s.
• Stock Hatch 8v
• 1 Noel O’Brien (Peugeot 205) 3m 51.12s,
• 2 Damian Farrell (Peugeot 205) 3m 55.11s,
• 3 Fergal Bowes (Peugeot 205) 3m 55.55s,
• 4 Ciaran Murphy (Peugeot 205) 3m 56.73s,
• 5 Patrick Donoghue (Peugeot 205) 3m 57.66s,
• 6 Mark Halligan (Peugeot 205) 3m 58.61s.
• Junior
• 1 Eamon Horan (Nissan Micra) 4m 00.47s,
• 2 Darryl Smyth (Nissan Micra) 4m 03.47s,
• 3 Andrew Clarke (Nissan Micra) 4m 09.55s,
• 4 Brian Mullins (Nissan Micra) 4m 09.93s,
• 5 James Huddleston (Nissan Micra) 4m 16.77s,
• 6 James Fleming (Nissan Micra) 4m 17.73s.
• Rally Car
• 1 Noel Greene (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) 3m 24.78s,
• 2 Jack Deegan (Peugeot 205) 3m 35.38s,
• 3 Thomas O’Rafferty (Opel Corsa) 3m 42.05s,
• 4 Aaron Clarke (Nissan Micra) 3m 54.16s,
• 5 Peter O’Brien (Peugeot 205) 3m 58.89s,
• 6 Andrew Rooney (Nissan Micra) 4 laps.

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