Saturday 01 April will be remembered for quite a while to come for 3 reasons. The first reason is that it was round 2 of the SW Adair Tyres Northern Ireland Sprint Championship at Nutts Corner. This event was put together and superbly run by North Ulster Car Club and what a superb job they did.
The second reason it will be remembered is because it’s the day that Ryan McGimpsey took his first ever outright event win in his little class 14 Jedi Mk1 with a superb drive, and the third reason to remember it is because it’s the day that Sprint Co-Ordinator David Evans fooled the entire paddock and 90% of the championship followers with his April fools stunt which backfired on him as no one now believes a word he says!! (Including the contents of this report)
The atmosphere round the damp paddock on Saturday morning was one of the best atmospheres this paddock has seen in a long time as everyone was itching to get a run out at Nutts corner. 70 entries graced the paddock on Saturday morning and little did they know how good a day they were about to have. As usual North Ulster put on a superb event with all cars getting 2 practice runs and 3 timed runs fitted in between starting at 10am and the last car starting their last run at 1500hrs. So, 5 runs in 5 hours, and this included a couple of offs and stoppages! Honestly what a super day!!
In the morning the wet conditions favoured the 4wd competitors and after his previous superb event at Kirkistown the event previously, Ryan Murray was tipped to be the man to beat. Ryan proved his tippers correct although sadly he had an issue in practice which side-lined him for the timed runs.
In the interval between practice and timed runs all the competitors were looking sky wards to try to make the decision as to whether to stick to wets or dry tyres. I personally saw Ryan McGimpsey bolting his slicks on as the rain began to spit, and I did wonder if Ryan knew something which the rest of us didn’t? Afterall, it has been proven previously that the championship weather reporter has no notion about the weather!! Ethan Faulkner was deciding what to do for the best however his hand was being forced by his father Kenny who was all too comfortable sitting in his trailer with a cup of tea in one hand and a sandwich in the other. Others were also trying to decide what to do for the best and walking round the paddock it was a mixed bunch of slicks, wets and those with no choice on the matter.
Once everyone started their first timed runs the conditions started to improve and the times started to tumble. Ryan’s tyre gamble worked as he set the initial pace ahead of Ethan and Jack Boal who returned in his GTR Hayabusa was third. Interestingly this was to remain the top 3 running order all day. As each run went on each of the top 3 went faster and Ethan took a little bit more out of Ryan each run whilst Jack nibbled a bit more from Ethan each run as well leaving it tight at the top. I watched the second timed runs, and the pace was superb amongst those I witnessed through the top half of the circuit.
At the end of the day Ryan took his first ever Fastest time of the Day and event overall win with a superb drive. Ryan is now the third McGimpsey to win an event outright as both his father Robert and Brother Ricky are multiple winners. This is a fabulous achievement and there can’t be too many other championships which have a father and 2 sons who have all been outright winners?
As I alluded to above the atmosphere and craic round the paddock was superb and it was great to get talking to all the competitors again and to hear how everyone helped each other out. I spoke to 1 driver who couldn’t thank his fellow competitor and biggest rival enough for lending him the tyres he was running on – yes that’s right, one competitor lent another his tyres for not only this event but the previous one as well so that he had a full set of good wets to run on!! There was another competitor who told me that his biggest class rival was having issues with his car and couldn’t continue for the day, so he had offered him his car to get points and continue the day. You don’t see sportsmanship like this in too many other sports!
It was great to see so many new faces and returning faces as well round the paddock. This is further proof of the success and popularity of our championship. It was especially good to see Ian Howard and Seumas Hobbs return in their Maguire Mini`s as these little cars really are a spectacle to watch. We also saw Jack Boal returning along with Adrian Kielt, Gardiner McIlwaine Alwyn Buchanan John Golden John Murphy Mervyn Johnston, Richard Beattie and Arnie Wishart, who rolled up in an automatic Chevrolet Corvette on road tyres and wondered if he was mad or not. IT was also good to see Jason Harkness and Shane Murray both making their championship debuts as well. Jason in a Mazda MX5 and Shane Murray in a beautiful Escort Mk2 in which he dominated class 11. Hopefully the sprint seed has been well and truly sewn with these 2 newcomers.
In terms of the categories the unofficial title of fastest mini in the west went to Karl Johnston once again. Karl took the win ahead of Gerry McGarrity who narrowly pipped John Golden in this epic battle. Gerry had a secret weapon with him this week as he brought Dermot O`Hagan with him for the day. We didn’t see exactly what happened, but Dermot was observed driving the mini into the scrutiny bay followed quite quickly by Gerry McGarrity who was running after him telling him to get out of his car before he blew it up as well!! It’s a good job these fellas are friends!! Gary Milligan however once again played the long game card, and he got his championship marshalling out of the way so that once the wet events are over he can have a clean sweep all season and take the maximum number of wins in this category without having to miss a round to marshal. Is that good thinking or him being crafty? Only time will tell.
The modified category was very hotly contested today with Dan Campbell taking category honours in his Starlet as well as 5th overall. Stephen Colbert expertly guided the family sunbeam to second in category and 9th overall ahead of third placed Marc Johnston who gave us all a lesson in driving an Escort Mk2 to third modified car Marc is not championship registered so points for third modified car went to Marc’s father Raymond in the family Escort who finished fourth in modified. Sadly Ryan Murray`s earlier issue prevented him having a good run today as it would have been interesting to see how the previous events modified category winner would’ve faired today.
In the specialist category Jack Boal was the winner on the day as well as being third overall but by virtue of registering too late for the event Scott Mcmullan took category top marks in his Reis Aero. Scott has a bit of a taste for top category points after last year and finished ahead of Andy Hawthorne and David Hawthorne in that order. Andy once again proving to be the fastest Hawthorne if only by a mere 1.81 secs. Poor Steven was fourth in the category after having a bad day.
Roadgoing category honours once again went to the on-form Crawford Ewing Snr in his Meganne. Crawford finished a fabulous 18th overall in his Megane with Paul Forsythe second in the category in his Peugeot 106 ahead of Crawford Ewing Snr who was third, leaving poor Paul as the meat in a Ewing sandwich or the Peugeot In a Meganne bap?? Il let you decide which one suits best.
In the Heaslip Ladies Challenge Trophy it was a tightly fought affair and sadly only 2 of our ladies were out to play. Amy Hawthorne once again took the title both on corrected and real times in her little clio finishing ahead of Emma Campbell. I saw both Amy and Emma on their second runs and both these girls were going hard. Amy has gathered a lot more confidence in the handling and the brakes of the little clio and is now beginning to push the envelope. Emma has also stepped up a bit and is now pushing harder than ever before in her little 106. It looks like this could be another closely fought battle this year, and with Kathy due to return at the next event it will all tighten up. Interestingly there has already been 1 newcomer in Jenny Pollock already this season and there are 2 other ladies at least who have registered but just not yet appeared, so I predict another healthy year for the Heaslip Ladies Challenge.
The next and third round of the 2023 SW Adair Tyres Northern Ireland Sprint Championship takes place at Kirkistown on 06 May hosted by Larne Motor club.
At present there are still entries available for anyone who wishes to compete. Entries can be found on www.rallyscore.net
