Awards for Birr Motor Club members
A night of dinner and dancing was had in Gort on Saturday last when the Autocross Championships Award night took place in the Lady Gergory Hotel.
The Awards is a combination of the National Loose Surface, Munster, National Grass surface Championships, and also the Mondello Autocross RX championship.
Starting with the Tallybrook Civil Engineering Loose Surface Autocross Championship,
this consisted of eight rounds with the best six to count of Loose Surface events which took place around the country from March until November last.
James O’Keefe was 3rd overall in his Semog Buggy.
In the overall 4WD Saloons: Mike O’Connor Snr 1st; Austin Shinnors 3rd.
In the 2WD Section Pat Horan finished 3rd.
Class 1: Sebastian Sepoza 1st; Tristan Horan 2nd.
Class 4: Padraig Forde 1st; Decland Burke 2nd.
Class 6: Conor Leenan 2nd; Lee Hogan 3rd.
Class 10: Ronan Shanahan 1st; James Last 3rd.
Class 13: This was the Junior Class which was dominated by all our Junior members bar one. Mikey O’Connor 1st; William Cavanagh jnr 2nd; Jack Cavanagh 4th; Conor Fogarty 5th.
Moving on to the Shannon Trophys National Grass Surface Autocross Championship which consisted of six rounds from May until the end of August.
Our members dominated the overalls here with both Specials and Saloons.
Specials: Barry Whyte 1st; William Cavanagh 2nd; Liam Whyte 3rd.
Saloons: Pat Horan 1st; Robin Donovan 2nd; Sebastian Sepoza 3rd.
Mark Keegan was Junior Buggy Champion.
The junior Saloon was also all club member dominated with Mikey O’Connor 1st, William Cavanagh Jnr 2nd, John Cavanagh Jnr 3rd.
It was great to see the junior Cavanagh’s carrying on the legacy of their families with such strong performances all year. Conor Leenane won Class 6 and Daniel Clarke won Class 12.
In the Munster Autocross Championship, Mickey O’Connor Snr also took the first overall in the 4WDSaloon award, while Pat Horan took the overall 2WD Saloon award.
Class 1: Sebastian Sepoza 1st.
Class 4: Padraig Forde 2nd; Declan Burke 3rd.
Class 6: Conor Leenane 2nd; Alan Drew 3rd.
Class 13: Mikey O’Connor jnr 1st; William Cavanagh jnr 3rd.
Finally, the M&L Home Improvements Mondello Autocross Rallycross awards went to Class 5: James O’Keefe 1st; Ronan Shanahan 2nd.
Class 6: Mark Kirwin 1st.
Class 8: Conor Leenane 1st.
Davey Percy and Stephen Caraway also collected Clerk of the Course awards for the two Autocross evens they ran in August and November.
It was a fantastic night of celebration for the Autocross Championships and a great showcase of the Birr club’s achievements. Between all of our members there was a total of 42 awards won. It’s impressive to see how many members were recognized across various categories, especially with such strong performances in the Junior classes. It’s clear that the club is deeply rooted in Autocross and continuing to thrive.
The next event on the motorsport calendar is the Galway International rally which takes place next weekend. Best of luck to Tom Holton Jnr and our Club Chairperson Susan Smyth who is navigating for Louise Bourke in a Peugeot 206. Darren Delaney is also Stage Commander on stage Ss10&13 on Sunday. Best of luck to all our members.