Mullins going for three in a row

Rounds three and four of the Connaught Competition Engines Irish Hillclimb and Sprint championship 2012 will take place near Ballyvaughan this weekend on two of the most famous hills in the country.
Saturday will test all competitors on the Corkscrew Hill, which consists of challenging hairpins and fast sweeping bends. Local Ballyvaughan man Sylvie Mullins will be attempting to make it three from three on the Corkscrew, having taken victory for the past two years.
Sunday sees a move just over the road to the most challenging and longest hill climb of the year on Ballyallaban. Simon McKinley, who holds the hill record, will face stiff competition from local man Mullins, the returning three-time champion Paul O’Connell and the hard-charging John Byrne in his Jedi.
After Mullins’ double win in Wexford two weeks’ ago, he will be looking to make it three in a row. 
This year’s 12-round championship takes place over six weekends, taking in some of the most scenic parts of Clare, Galway, Wexford, Wicklow and Donegal and the events bring a much-needed boost to the local economy with demand for accommodation, food and entertainment.
For the second year in succession, the Clare Motor Club has teamed up with the Galway Motor Club to co-promote one hillclimb weekend. The Clare club will run the Corkscrew Hill on Saturday under clerk of the course Dermot Kelleher from Clarecastle, while Sunday’s Ballyallaban test will be run by the Galway Motor Club under clerk of the course Joan Vaughan from Ballyvaughan. This will give competitors a great opportunity to compete on two of the best and most challenging hills in the Hillclimb Championship series.
Logue’s Lodge, Ballyvaughan, has again stepped in as the main sponsor of this year’s event.
All the championship contenders are expected to attend, including current Hillclimb champion Simon McKinley driving his Lant RT4.
There should also be a big turnout in the Rally Car Classes, with Clare and Galway Motor Club members fighting for positions in the various classes.
Optional mechanical and documentation scrutiny will take place at the Ballyvaughan Filling Station this Friday evening between 6pm and 8pm. There will also be mechanical and documentation scrutiny in the paddock of both hills between 8am and 10am.
Prizegiving will take place on Saturday and Sunday evenings at Logues Lodge, Ballyvaughan, and will be followed by music and entertainment.
The Corkscrew Hill will be closed to traffic on Saturday between 9am and  6pm and on Sunday Ballyallaban Hill will be closed between the same times and traffic diversions will be in place.
Entry forms are now available from www.claremotorclub.com or www.galwaymotorclub.ie and further details can be obtained from Joan on 086 8902057.

Clare crews to do battle in Belgium

The annual running of the Monteberg Rallysprint, which is based in the Belgian village of Dranouter, will take place this weekend. This village is tucked into the southwestern region of Belgium and is only a couple of kilometres from the French border.
Similar to a multi-stage rally, a rallysprint is a motorsport event that takes place on a closed section of public road where competitors race against the clock over the same distance. This one section of road is used repeatedly.
Each year, the event attracts a number of international competitors from all over Europe and this year is no different.
Three Clare Motorclub crews are heading off on the 3,000km round trip by sea and road. It’s the first venture into competitive motorsport outside of Ireland for all the crews travelling and many months and countless man-hours of hard work have been put in to have the cars in tip-top condition and ready for action.
Michael Fitzgibbon (Ennis) takes his fresh 1,600cc Honda Civic to compete. Michael will have Patrick Baker of Newmarket-on-Fergus navigating for him. This crew have competed together as recently as February of this year in the Galway International Rally, where they took home some silverware.
Patrick Kelly of Cahercalla Estate in Ennis brings out his special Honda Civic to do class battles with Michael Fitzgibbon. Patrick will be co-driven by his cousin Alan Kelly, also from Ennis. This car holds a special place in the hearts of a lot of Clare Motorclub members in that it is the car of the late Dermot Molloy, a former member of the club.
Niall O’Sullivan of Kilrush Road in Ennis unveils his brand new Citroen C2 1,400cc car. O’Sullivan can be found competing in anything from a Mitsubishi EVO 9 to a Toyota Corolla Twin Cam but the little C2s seem to be an O’Sullivan favourite. Niall will be co-driven by Tom Ryan of Kilmorane Heights on the Kilrush Road. Tom is normally found behind the driver’s seat of his Opel Corsa, giving some of Ireland’s Class 9 competitors a good run for their money.