Birr & District Motor Club winners at Autocross Awards

Birr & District Motor Club members gathered at The Lady Gregory Hotel, Gort, for the 2023 Autocross Night of Champions where club members were presented with awards for their achievements over the four Autocross Championships.

Members had travelled the length and breadth of the country to gain valuable points for the Shannon Trophies National Grass Autocross Championship, the CKH Environmental National Loose Surface Autocross Championship, the Barrett International Transport & CJH Plant Hire Munster Autocross Championship, and the Fire Containment Ltd. Mondello Autocross RX Championship.

President of Motorsport Ireland, Aiden Harper welcomed everyone and noted it was fantastic to see the enthusiasm by so many for the sport and the encouragement given for youth into the sport. He also asked all present to give a standing ovation to commemorate the four Motorsport Ireland licence holders who had passed away in the course of competing this past year following which he then passed the evenings proceedings to the Autocross Commission Chairperson, Brian Keegan and Munster Autocross Committee Chairperson, Eoin Longworth.

The awards began with the presentation of the Clerks of the Course awards for each round of the Championships. Presented to Birr & District Motor Club COC’s; David Percy for Clerking the Grass Autocross and Pat Gubbins for Clerking the Loose Surface Autocross.

Birr & District Motor Club member results for the Shannon Trophies National Grass Autocross Championship were:

Class 1: 1st - Robin Donovan, 2nd - Zara Moynan

Class 6: 1st - William Cavanagh, 2nd - Aidan Whyte, 4th - Conor Leenane, 5th - Trevor Hogan

Class 12: 1st - Liam Whyte

For the CKH Environmental National Loose Surface Autocross Championship

Class 1: Sebastian Szopa

Class 4: Padraig Forde

Class 7: Joe Cavanagh

Best Novice: James Last

The awards presentations to Birr & District Motor Club members success continued for the Barrett International Transport & CJN Plant Hire Munster Autocross Championship.

Class 1: Sebastian Szopa

Class 4: 1st - Declan Burke, 2nd - Padraig Forde

Class 5: 1st - Austin Shinnors

For the Fire Containment Ltd. Mondello Autocross RX Championship

Class 6: 2nd - Brendan Whyte

Class 7: 4th - Peter Whyte

Brian Keegan and Eoin Longworth acknowledged the late Rosemary Smith for her stalwart support of Autocross and would have had a place set aside again for her at the prizegiving, she was sadly missed.

The night ended with the Overall awards for each of the Championships. Birr & District Motor Club were again well represented in each Championship.

Shannon Trophies National Grass Autocross Championship

Specials: 2nd - John Cavanagh, 3rd - James Dalton

The inaugural winner of the Whitby Moynan Perpetual Trophy for Junior Buggy was Mark Keegan

CKH Environmental National Loose Surface Autocross Championship

4WD Saloons: 1st - Austin Shinnors, 3rd - Pat Horan

2WD Saloons: 2nd - Declan Burke

Fire Containment Ltd. Mondello Autocross RX Championship

Specials: 1st - Mark Kirwan

Thanks to the Autocross Commission, the Championship Registrars (Siobhan Duggan – Grass, Brian Keegan – Mondello Autocross RX, Eoin Longworth – Loose and Patrick O’Leary – Munster), the sponsors and the Host Clubs for their hard work promoting and running Autocross and to John Delaney for capturing all the action on camera.

Birr & District Motor Club members gave great support to these Championships and special thanks to the hosts of their own Autocross events; Paddy Kelly (Loose Surface) and Kenneth Grant (Grass Surface) as without them, these events would not have been possible.

The first Birr & District Motor Club event of 2024 will be the Birr Stages Rally on 21st April.

For further information: Birr & District Motor Club Social Media pages (Facebook, Instagram, and X) and Motorsport Ireland (www.motorsportireland.com)