Mondello Park played host to the last sprint of the year, the last blast before the cars are stripped down to be prepared for the 2013 season.
As drivers arrived to the circuit, the rain began to fall. As practice started, the track was very wet, but fortunately showed signs of drying up during the first timed run.
Our new hillclimb and sprint champion, Sylvie Mullins, was in fine form but he had trouble getting the power down in the wet conditions. Meanwhile, Simon McKinley reveled in the conditions, as did Paul O Connell who had not been out in a while due the birth of his baby daughter Kate. Congratulations to Paul and Ciara. Michael Roche was quickest out of the box on the first run in his Dallara 391, but with the weather conditions changing rapidly, it was all up for grabs.
On the second run the track had dried out and McKinley was to draw first blood by going quickest from Mullins by nearly a second. Dermot Nolan was in a fine third position, showing he is getting to grips with his new car as long as there are no bales around.
Run three saw Sylvie Mullins set the pace by going 3 seconds quicker than McKinley. Dermot Nolan finished 3rd in his Reynard p319, 4th went to Joe Courtney in his Hornet, Paul O Connell grabed 5th in his Pilbeam, 6th went to Peter Dwyer in his Dallara F399-01, 7th was Michael Roche in his Dallara 319, 8th went to Adrian McCallion in his Normandale, 9th was Keith Hogg in his Shane and 10th was Richard Davis in his OMS.
Class 1 went to William Power in a mini, 2nd was PJ Doyle in his Peugeot 205 and 3rd was Garry Egan.
Class 2 went to Kieran Curran in his Vauxhall Corsa, 2nd was Eddie Peterson in a 106 and 3rd was Declan Nolan in a 106 gti.
With only two finishers in class 3a Simon Quinn took 1st in his Honda Civic and 2nd was Vincent Deery in his Vouxhall Nova.
Class 3b 1st went to Danny Calnan in his Ford Focus, 2nd was Denis Hogan Jnr in his BMW M3 and 3rd was Pat O Connell in his Evo.
One finisher in Class 4 taking the award was Pat Clarke in his Triumph TR7.
Class 6 was taken by Joe Courtney in his Hornet, 2nd was Adrian McCallion his in Normandale and taking 3rd was Richard Davis in his OMS.
Class 7 with Mullins McKinley and Nolan pulled out of the class for the overall awards 1st in class was Paul O Connell in his Pilbeam, 2nd was Peter Dwyer in his Dallara F399-01 and 3rd was Michael Roche in his Dallara 319.
Class 8 went to Anthony Keating in his Ford Escort.
Class 9A went to Niall Brennan in hid Honda Civic, 2nd was John Kelly in a 106 GTI and 3rd was Edward Kelly in his 106 GTI.
Class 9 1st went to Patrick Delaney in a Sunbeam, 2nd was Seamus Hearey in a Honda Civic and 3rd went to Peter O Brien in a 205.
Class 10 had one finisher Michael Brutton in his Escort.
Class 10a 1st was Ian Gunning in his Escort, 2nd was Jack Deegan in a 205 and 3rd was Russell Dagg in his Escort.
Article By: Brendan Harpur