Super racing in Killurin
Robert Dwane dominates
IDEAL conditions greeted the competitors for the most recent rounds of the Naylor Engineering Irish Hillclimb championship, based in Killurin, Co. Wexford.
The championship had seen Clare man Robert Dwane aboard his OMS dominate the championship, and Wexford was to prove no exception.
On his first run, Dwane stopped the clocks at 44.23 seconds, a full five seconds clear of his rivals. On runs two and three, he improved on both occasions to set the bench mark for Saturday’s racing at 43.70.
Rory Stephens in his Radical SR8 was Dwane’s chief rival, and at the end of the day, he took the runner-up placing with a time of 47.00 seconds dead. Completing the top three was the Global GT of Gary Cunningham, just being pipped by Stephens with a time of 47.64.
Top local, and indeed top saloon was Brian Kirwan who took a fine fourth overall. Brian had been battling with the Escort of Peter McKinley and the Starlet of Jim Doherty, but a fantastic final run saw the bright orange Peugeot 205 take the honours.
Peter McKinley was next saloon, taking fifth in his Connaught Race Engines Escort, just 0.17 of a second behind Kirwan with Jim Doherty’s new Starlet a fine sixth, just another 0.07 of a second back. Now that’s close racing! Tomas O’ Rourke was seventh and first rally car in his Mitsubishi Evo 9, Darragh Faye eighth in the very rapid Swift, John Mahon ninth in the DJ and Brendan Keane rounded out the top ten in his Westfield.
Despite heavy overnight rain, the roads were dry and like Saturday, conditions were ideal for Sunday’s competition. Just like Saturday, there was no stopping the OMS of Robert Dwane, and the young man once again showed his rivals a clean pair of heels, stopping the clocks with a fastest run of 42.88 to take victory once again.
It was Gary Cunningham who pressed Dwane the most, the Global GT taking second on Sunday. Completing the top three and first saloon car on Sunday was Jim Doherty, the Waterford man avenging the previous days result to take the honours in another fantastic three-way battle. Peter McKinley had to settle for second saloon and fourth overall on this occasion, being pipped by Doherty by 0.25 of a second.
Brian Kirwan had another great run on Sunday, the pace was hot and heavy as the Adamstown man took fifth overall, less than four tenths of a second behind the escort of McKinley. Darragh Faye was next up, the lightning Swift once again claiming class honours and a fine sixth overall, with John Mahon another class winner in the DJ and taking seventh. First rally car home and eight overall was a very creditable result for James Bradley in the Honda Civic, with the BMW M3 of Martin Flanagan and the Honda Civic of Tommy Foley rounding out Sunday’s top ten.
The event proved a great success after over thirty years away from the area. It was highly praised by competitors, organisers, spectators and local residents, and it will be hoped that Hillclimb racing will return to Killurin in the coming years.