A foggy Laois welcomed competitors to Round 12 of the 2014/2015 Hewison Trophy Autotest Championship. Organised by the Laois Rallysport Club the event took place at the yard of Hyland Transport in Rosenallis, Co. Laois, where three tests would be completed four times each.
With all the formalities of sign on and walking of the tests done it was a case of getting down to business and driving the tests. Quickest out of the blocks was Wicklow man Eamonn Byrne in his Mini Saloon who was 1.1 seconds quicker than Timmy Lynch in a Westfield with Nova driver Mark King slotting into third. Reigning Champion Stephen Ferguson was only fourth quickest on the opening test in his Mini Special. Byrne was again quickest on tests 2 and 3 with Ferguson only 0.5 off on test two while King trailed by 0.8 on test 3. At the end of the first lap of test Byrne was 3.1 seconds up on Ferguson with Alan Coyle (Mini Spl) third, Chris Grimes (Mini) fourth, King fifth and David Thompson (Nova) sixth
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| Eamonn Byrne |
Test 4 saw Byrne top the time sheets yet again but Ferguson was only 0.2 seconds off this time through the test. Mark King was setting impressive times in his Nova and was third quickest. Test 5 saw Ferguson quickest on the test with Alan Coyle second followed by Timmy Lynch and Mark King. Byrne only managed eight quickest time on the test, after one f his shoe laces got caught on the pedals, dropping 4.4 seconds to Ferguson. Disaster was to strike again for Byrne on test 6 when he knocked a pylon and picked up a 5 second penalty. This was minor to the fail encountered by Kings Nova when he broke a drive shaft on the test. Chris Grimes shadowed Ferguson on the test, the pair only separated by 0.1 seconds.
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| Mark King |
After six tests Ferguson held a 6.2 second advantage over Byrne with Chris Grimes third. Best of the Sportscar class was Timmy Lynch in fourth while David Thompson was quickest of the large Saloons in fifth
Interim results after 6 tests
1. Stephen Ferguson 348.2
2. Eamonn Byrne 354.4
3. Chris Grimes 361.2
4. Timmy Lynch 364.3
5. David Thompson 366.4
6. Paddy Power 368.3
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| Paddy Power |
The third running of test 1 saw Byrne fastest again with King second quickest ahead of Ferguson. Lynch and Guy Foster (Mini Spl) tied for forth quickest time on the test. Test 8 saw Lynch trail Ferguson by 1.8 seconds. Coyle was 0.3 further back with King another 0.2 behind. Byrne managed to take 0.2 back from Ferguson on test 9 with Thompson the nearest challenger a further 0.8 seconds behind.The top five positions remained the same after the third lap but Fergusons advantage had stretched out to 7.2 seconds.
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| Chris Grimes |
Mark King stopped the clocks quickest on test 10 setting a time just 0.1 seconds better than Byrne who reduced Ferguson's overall advantage by 1 second. Over the remaining two tests Byrne took back a further 2.7 seconds to leave the deficit at the end of the day at 3.5 seconds. Thompson brought his Nova home in third position and won the Large Saloon class with Chris Grimes in fourth just 0.1 behind. Mark Kings strong drive after his earlier fail saw him end the day in fifth 0.4 ahead of Timmy Lynch and Paddy Power, Lynch getting the sixth position by virtue of being quickest of the two on the opening test.
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| Timmy Lynch |
Results:
1. Stephen Ferguson Mini Spl 691.9
2. Eamonn Byrne Mini 695.4
3. David Thompson Nova 718.3
4. Christy Grimes Mini 718.4
5. Mark King Nova 725.2
6. Timmy Lynch Westfield 725.6
7. Paddy Power Moke 726.6
8. Guy Foster Mini Spl 733.7
9. Darren Quille Westfield 736.8
10. Norman Ferguson Mini 754.4
Class winners; Eamonn Byrne, Paddy Power, Timmy Lynch, David Thompson
Semi Expert: James Mansfield Mini 922.6
Novice: Danny O'Donoghue Escort 1095.4
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| Stephen Ferguson |
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| David Thompson |
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| Danny O'Donoghue |
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| James Mansfield |
More photos on Peespeed Photography
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