News

Stevies Sixth Hewison
With 12 of the proposed 14 rounds
of the 2015/2016 Hewison Autotest
Championship now run, Northern
Irelands Stephen Ferguson, driving a Mini
Special, has claimed his sixth consecutive
Championship Title.
The season started well for Lyons who
had wins on the opening two rounds in
Cork last September while Ferguson only
managed fourth overall both days. Paul
Blair and Darren Quille shared the spoils in
the Sportscar class while Andrew Blair and
Liam Crostan both bagged a class win each
in the Large Saloon class.
Carlow Car Club were next to host a double
header weekend where Paul Blair (Stryker)
topped the timesheets on the Saturday
and Stevie Ferguson was the victor on the
Sunday round, best in the Mini class on
both days was Eamonn Byrne. Andrew Blair
scored another class win on the Saturday
in his Nova while David Thompson took
victory on the Sunday. Darren Quille was
again quickest Sportscar on the Sunday
round in his Westfield.
Ferguson continued his good form at the
Galway event in October clinching another
FTD, Byrne and Quille were tops in the
Mini and Sportscar classes again while
Paul Mooney took the honours in the Large
Saloon class.
The 2015/16 season started back in early
September with a “Season-Starter” Open
Day on Frank Lenehan’s farm up in
Kilternan. A new initiative supported by
the MI Trials Committee which allowed
competitors the opportunity to invite
friends and other car enthusiasts along
to demonstrate Sporting Trials as a sport,
which upto now has been a very well kept
secret. Watch out for this Open Day in
2016.
Garda Siochana Motor Club, Leinster
Motor Club and The Motor Enthusiasts
Club run the events, as of this stage in the
season, there have been 12 events since
September, basically 1 event every 2 weeks.
There are 4 more events scheduled this
season finishing-up with a LMC 2-day Trial
in mid-April.
In the first half of the season, there were
two men leading the way in clocking-up
Premier Awards. Jonathan Ralph, a relative
newcomer to the sport was out of the traps
It was Mooney who was quickest at round
six which was run by Weastmeath and
District MC, but not in his usual Nova.
Having spent a couple of years building a
new car he gave it a winning debut. The
Nova engine Mini Special turned a lot of
heads and drew lots of attention when
the times were shown. Eamonn Byrne
was again best of the Minis with David
Thompson taking another win in the Large
Saloon class and Tom Devaney was best of
the Sportscar class.
Mondello Park was the venue for Round 7
which was run by the Trials Drivers Club,
Sam Bowden took victory here with Robin
Lyons topping the Mini class while Timmy
Lynch (Westfield) and David Thompson
took wins in the Sportcar and Large Saloon
classes.
Round 8, in Longford, saw Lyons back at
the top of the time sheets ahead of Ferguson
and Byrne. Lynch and Thompson were best
in their respective classes again.
Rounds 9 & 10 were run by Carrick on
Suir MC in Waterford and Ferguson was
back to his winning ways taking the spoils
on both days to stretch his lead in the
Championship. Lyons and Byrne shared
the Mini class wins over the weekend with
Quille and Lynch both scoring a win in the
Sportscar class. Mark King made a welcome
really quickly, impressively winning the first
2 events driving 2 different cars, first in his
own Wilson-Suzuki and second while test
driving a Kilkenny-Yamaha, by Christmas,
Ralph’s tally of wins was 3. Fergil Gregory
driving his Erskine-Yamaha also achieved
3 wins before Christmas. Gregory has been
keeping everyone on their toes, he has not
finished outside of the top 10 so far this
season.
However, since Christmas the tide has
changed and some different names have
risen to the top. Jonathan Fildes and Brian
Conlon have both made comebacks to
the sport since Christmas and both have
pulled-off 1 Premier award each. The other
Premiers have been won by Paul Needham
(Erskine-Yamaha), Morgan Evans (MOG
Honda), Tony Farrell (Erskine-S&S) and
most recently on February 20th, David
Meeke (BD-Opel) managed to win the LMC
Lincoln & Nolan Cup, his first Premier for
over 20 years in Ballybrew, Enniskerry, his
home event, living only a mile up the road.
36
Auto Tests
Stephen Ferguson, has claimed a sixth
consecutive Hewison Title.
return to autotesting and was rewarded with
a class win on round 9 while Thompson
took the Large Saloon win at round 10.
Ferguson took win number 5 at the
Laois RSC round to increase his margin
over Lyons in the Championship. Lynch
and Thompson were again best in their
respective classes.
Round 12 saw Guy Foster(Mini Spl) take the
win in Monaghan from Ferguson who had
to do an engine-gearbox change during the
day. However with Lyons failing to score
points Fegusons second place was enough to
guarantee him the 2015/2016 Championship.
Chris Grimes took the Mini Class win with
Darren Quille gaining another Sportscar
class win.
Words and Photo: Peespeed.com
Sporting Trials
Unusually, no rear-engined VW’s have
managed an overall Premier yet this season.
Joe and Siobhan McCann, Enda Byrne and
John Bolton all seem to be knocking on
the door with consistent top 10 finishes. It
can’t be long before one of them can set the
record straight - 4 more chances left this
season!!
Jonathan Fildes driving his Erskine Yamaha
to win the GSMC Kehoe Cup.
Photo: Roy Stewart