With the first round of the 2012 Connaught Competition Engines Irish Hillclimb and Sprint Championship kicking off in Wexford and big interest being shown this year, the season looked good for a close fight and it has not disappointed so far!

On the first Saturday in Wexford, some people were still shaking the dust of their cars. As the competition started it was clear that Simon McKinley, in his Lant, was not going to have it all his own way. Sylvie Mullins in his Gould was bringing the fight to him and Sunday would be no different with Mullins coming out on top both days. After the first 2 rounds in Wexford, leading the pack was Sylvie Mullins, 2nd was Simon McKinley, 3rd was a hard charging John Byrne in his Jedi, 4th was the returning Paul O Connell in his Pilbeam, 5th was Joe Courtney in his OMS, 6th was Rory Stephens in his turbo Radical tied with Neil Anderson in his lovely Ward. 8th was the one and only John Mahon in his DJ, 9th was Eanna Carroll in his turbo Civic, 10th was Dermot Nolan in his Reynard.

Round 3 and 4 were a joint effort between Clare Motorclub running the famous Corkscrew hill on Saturday and Galway Motorclub running the infamous Ballyallaban on Sunday, both in Mullins’ back yard. But Mullins was to hit trouble early with a broken gearbox on Saturday, leaving McKinley to take the win. McKinley was to repeat his win again on Sunday. The top ten and class results after Round 4 are: Simon McKinley in his Lant taking the lead with Sylvie Mullins a close 2nd and Paul O Connell moving up into 3rd, 4th is John Byrne in his Jedi, 5th is Joe Courtney after a good run in Round 3, 6th is Rory Stevens 7th is John Mahon 8th is Eanna Carroll showing already to be one of the quickest saloon 9th is Neil Anderson in his Ward with Dermot Nolan in 10th.

Class1 sponsored by the Daly Family:
Leading the way is Elaine O Reilly in her Mini
2nd is Trish Daly in her Mini
3rd is Neill Bradbury

Class 2 sponsored by the Galway Motor Club:
Declan Cundelan is all on his own at the minute but will give anybody a good run for their money that comes into the class.

Class 3a sponsored by Quinn Motorsport:
1st is Ian Quinn in his Mini Busa with 4 wins from 4
2nd  is John Whitley starting his championship on round 3 and 4

Class 3b sponsored by Donegal Motor Club:
1st is Rory Stephens in his Radical
2nd is Eanna Carroll in his Turbo Civic
3rd is Denis Hogan in his BMW.

Class 4 sponsored by The Motor Enthusiasts Club:
1st is Barry Smith in his MK1 escort
2nd is Mick O Shea
3rd is Bernard Foley

Class 5 sponsored by The Wexford Motor Club:
Tied for the top at the minute are Cillian Connole and Enda Kennedy
3rd is Eugene French.

Class 6 sponsored by Carnew Tyre Centre:
1st is John C Byrne in his Jedi
2nd is John Mahon
3rd is Deirdre Delaney

Class 7 sponsored by Crecora Mills:
1st is Simon McKinley in his Lant
2nd is Sylvie Mullins in his Gould GR37
3rd is the returning Paul O Connell who is still trying to sort out his Pilbeam.

Class 8 sponsored by Carlow Car Club:
1st is Shay Delaney
2nd is Patrick Haughey
3rd is Georgie Bell.

Article by: Brendan Harpur