CORK MOTOR CLUB

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An exceptional time on the fifth and final run gave Gerard Lucey the overall victory on Cork Motor Club's Christmas Autocross on Sunday (Dec 27, 2009)
A time of 1min 48.92secs, an improvement of over 4 seconds by the Ballyvourney driver in his Toyota Special from his previous best time, saw him snatch the victory from Joe Cullen whose JB Special had looked unbeatable up to then, having taking the overall lead on the second run. Third place overall went to Jimmy Lucey driving his Rover V8 Special.
Ballylickey's Daniel Cronin (yes, Keith's younger brother) was leading the Jerry Murphy Tyres Munster Autocross Championship going into the CMC event and did enough by finishing fifth overall to secure the Munster title.
But the drive of the event came from the young Bandon driver David Beamish who finished just two hundreds of a second behind Cronin to take sixth overall in his Corsa and also take the Junior award.
Gerard Lucey had taken an early lead when he set fastest time on Run 1, with Colin Byrne  second and Mark Murphy having an excellent run to third place. At this point Joe Cullen was down in 25th spot after a slight miscalculation by him.
After the second run it was Joe Cullen who had taken the fastest time, with Gerard Lucey now second and Colin Byrne was in third place.
The third run saw Joe Cullen better his previous time with Gerard Lucey still second, but Jimmy Lucey had now moved up to take the thier place.
With the event running like clockwork and on time, a fourth run saw no change in the overall placings and no improvement in the leaders' times.
A fifth run was offered to competitors and while some thought there was no advantage to be gained, Gerard Lucey proved them all wrong, setting fastest time of the day on this run. In fact it was on this run also that David Beamish set his best time.
In the classes Colm Grant took a Class 5 win with Daniel Cronin second and Colin Byrne third. In Class 4 first was James Lehane and second was Mark Murphy, the gap just .2 of a second.
Best in Class 3 was David Long with owen Cleary second, and Trevor Harding third after managing to complete just one run. In Class 2, better known as the Murphy class, Owen took the win from father Jerry in what we believe was a first works drive for Jerry. Class 1 saw Victor Beamish take a win with Conor Brakley second and Denis Nagle in third spot. The best CMC award went to Richard Davis, while young Billy Davis took the Best Novice award. And as mentioned above, David Beamish put in an excellent performance to earily take the best Junioir award.
The event took place at Michael Cronin's Quarry, at Ightermurragh, Ladysbridge, Co. Cork, and despite the very icy conditions, had an entry of 31 competitors. As well as being the final round of the the Jerry Murphy Tyres Munster Autocross Championship  it was also the opening round of Cork Motor Club's 2010 championship for drivers.

Jerry Murphy showing that he's a hands on Munster Autocross sponsor.
Pic by Eoin O'Sullivan www.photosport1.com
Also some more pics by Denis O'Flynn on http://pix.ie/kenwood/album/364946

Our annual Christmas Autocross will have a new venue, a new Clerk of the Course and a new status in our club championship this year.
The event will take place on Sunday, December 27 2009 and the venue will be Michael Cronin's Quarry, at Ightermurragh, Ladysbridge, Co. Cork. The quarry will be signposted from the N25, the main Cork to Youghal road.
The 2009 event will also be different in that it will be the opening round of Cork Motor Club's 2010 championship for drivers and it will also be the final round of the Jerry Murphy Tyres Munster Autocross Championship
This year the COC will be Johnny Ryan who has recruited Donal  Healy as Deputy COC and Niamh Ryan as Secretary of the meeting. With Michael Linehan as Scrutineer,  Finian Toomey as CMC Safety and  Richard Percy as CMC Steward, a well experienced team have come together.
Check-in and documentation and mechanical scrutiny will take place at the venue between 9 and 10am. The event will consist of three timed runs, with a competitor's best time to count for results. Depending on the time available, extra runs may be provided.
There are five classes in the event catering for  cars up to 1400cc,  1401 to 1650cc, 1651 to 2150, 2151 and over plus all 4X4 plus a class for Specials. It is also intended to have a Novice, Ladies and Best CMC award on the day.  Entry fee is €80 and fully completed entry forms should be sent to Niamh Ryan,  44 Parklands Drive, Commons Road, Cork. Phone 086 2472392. Closing date is Monday December 21. Maximum number of starters will be 45 and up to three drivers will be allowed per car. A full entry fee will be refunded if the event is postponed or cancelled.

Cork Motor Club finished off the 2008 year with a very succesful rallysprint held on Saturday, December 27,  at Waterford Raceway at the Pike, Dungarvan. Clerk of the  course Paul Casey managed to squeeze five runs in for the 38 competitors who took part in what was described as ideal weather conditions.
Billy Coogan from Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny, won the event. Coogan driving a BMW M3 took the lead on the very last Run after a day long battle with Nicholas Cahill, who was driving the ex-John Somers Opel Corsa. Third place overall went to  John Hackett, who completed another giant killing performance in his historic Mini.
Jason Ryan looked to be on his way to finishing his year with another win on this event after he was fastest on the first Run in his VTEC engined Starlet.
But Jason took a maximum on his second run after breaking a driveshaft and this ended his chance of victory. He did manage to repair the car and returned for the remaining runs, taking three fastest runs plus Fastest Run of the Day.
One of the big surprises of the day was the performance of William Fogarty in his Immaculate 1974 Autobianchi Abarth A-112, taking a fastest time and finishing fourthth overall and a class win,
Other class winners were Denis O'Brien, Vauxhall Nova; David Dunne, Peugeot 306; William Walsh, Toyota Corolla; Bill Fitzgerald, Talbot Avenger; Brian Corbett, Porsche 911 and Denis Dineen, Ford Escort Mk2. Best Cork Motor Club member went to Jim Ahern, Honda Civic.
The Entertainer of the day was Owen Murphy, who shared an Ex-Kieran O'Callaghan Toyota Corolla SR with his Father Jerry.

Overall finishers: 1 Billy Coogan, BMW M3; 2 Nicholas Cahill, Opel Corsa; 3 John Hackett, Mini.

Leaders After:
Run 1: Jason Ryan (Toyota Starlet VTEC); Runs 2 to 4: Nicholas Cahill (Opel Corsa); Run 5: Billy Coogan (BMW M3)

Fastest Each Run:
Run 1 - Jason Ryan (Toyota Starlet VTEC); Run 2 - Billy Coogan (BMW M3); Run 3 - William Fogarty (Autobianchi Abarth A-112); Run 4 - Jason Ryan (Toyota Starlet VTEC); Run 5 - Jason Ryan (Toyota Starlet VTEC)

Fastest Run of the Day: Jason Ryan (Toyota Starlet VTEC).

Click here for full results

COC :  Paul Casey
Mobile: 086 8050710

Click HERE to Download Regulations

It's all systems go for our final event of the year 2008, the annual Cork Motor Club Christmas Rallysprint. Entries have been steadily rolling in.
Current top seeds are CMC members Jason Ryan (former winner) in his potent Honda powered Toyota Starlet and Owen Murphy in his Toyota Corolla. John Hackett in his trusty mini is set to return, many of you will remember John led last years event for a spell and provided fabulous entertainment with his committed driving style.
The event is to be well supported by other CMC club members also with Victor Beamish, Alan O'Riordan and Trevor O'Callaghan all lining up for what should be a great day's motorsport in Dungarvan.
The COC Paul Casey has advised that some entries are still available, if you are interested in competing and have not already sent an entry please contact Paul on 086 8050710.
Cork Motor club members who need to marshal get their last opportunity for this year. Marshals' meeting time is 9am at the venue. Please give Paul a call on  086 68050710 if you can help. You can also hand in your Marshal's Card for the club draw.
Following on from the success of this event in 2006 and 2007 we are back again at the Waterford Hot Rod Club's  track at "The Pike" Dungarvan, Co. Waterford. The venue will be signposted from Dungarvan to Waterford road.
The event takes place on Saturday December 27th so it's an ideal opportunity to sweat out that turkey and blow the cobwebs (wheels) off the rally car. Double driving is allowed with a maximum of three drivers per car. Navigators are also allowed provided they hold a valid competition license (but it is not a round of the club navigators' championship). The event will be the final round of the 2008 Cork Motor Club Drivers' Championship.
Documentation and Mechanical Scrutiny is from 08:30 to 10:15 sharp. First timed run 11:00 with a total of three timed runs. Maximum number of starters is 85. The event will consist of 3 timed runs, with the best total time to count. If time allows on the day, the number of runs may be  increased.
COC Paul Casey commented: "The course is very smooth with a sealed tarmac/concrete surface which has proved very popular with competitors and spectators during the previous 2 years. The track has proved to be a lucky one for the 2wd brigade as both previous winners were at the wheels of 2wd machines, Jason Ryan taking the honours in 2006 with James Doherty following in the same position in 2007. We wait patiently to see if that trend can be reversed this year".
The COC has already received a huge number of enquires about this event and is expecting to have a full entry.
So in order to avoid disappointment please get your completed entry forms in as soon as possible. Closing date for enties is Tuesday, December 23, at 8pm. The event includes classes for both rally and rallycross cars and the entry fee is €100.
Further details can be found in the supplementary regulations or by contacting  Paul at 086 8050710
Regulations are available to download now and competitors are urged to post entries promptly as enquiries have already being received about this event.