Foxford’s James McGreal returned to winning form at Harrington’s Quarry in the third round of the Mayo and District Motorsport Club loose surface autocross. It was the penultimate round of the 2009 championship, when McGreal last won. Since then he has been pipped to the post by Eamon Mimnagh twice and Mark Donnelly once but there was nothing that Mimnagh could do to reel in the Mayo man. McGreal took the event by a convincing two second margin to his nearest rival. That rival was Damian O'Hagan from Omagh in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6. O’Hagan set consistent second fastest times all day, netting him second place overall. Next up was Andrew Mackarel in his older Mitsubishi Evo 5 gaining the last place on the podium by a scant 0.6 of a second from Mimnagh.
Sligo’s James Lannon brought his immaculate Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 home in fifth after setting the fastest time on the second run but he was left in the dark on the third run, posting a time over 10 seconds slower than James McGreal winning time. James Lannon has shown great pace over the last few events, a podium finish surely must not be far away for the Boyle man. Stephen Dixon was the first two-wheel drive home in an incredible sixth place overall, It was Dixon’s first time in Harrington’s Quarry but he showed his sheer talent as he set a scintillating time on his last run, just 0.7 of a second behind the four-wheel drive machine of James Lannon. Right on Dixon’s heels was Conor Kelly from Tyrone in his Nissan Sunny, finishing just 0.6 of a second behind.
The second Mayo and District club man home was Pat Higgins from Granard, debuting his Subaru Impreza to a fine 13th place overall. Matthew Murphy from Shrule finished in 15th place and he was ahead of a host of Mayo drivers: Derek Bolton finished in 21st position, Alan Moran from Foxford had an incredible run in his class one Astra and finished in 22nd place, Adrian Fahy from Ballinrobe was 23rd, and Sean McHugh from Bekan had a torrid day being plagued by mechanical trouble in his Subaru, and finishing 24th. Mayo and District’s Motorsport Club young driver 2009, Justin Ryan, was next in 25th place.
