After a summer siesta, the SW Adair Tyres Northern Ireland Sprint Championship returns to Kirkistown Circuit on 3-4 August for the now annual, two-day event, which also hosts the British Championship with a double-header.
Photograph by Graham Baalham-Curry
This event is the fastest in the whole of the Northern Ireland motorsport calendar and can see cars reaching 170mph when conditions allow!
This superb event, hosted by the 500MRCI will be the 5th Round of the SW Adair Tyres Northern Ireland Sprint Championship and it will also hold rounds 11 and 12 of the SBD Motorsport British Sprint Championship.
Saturday will be a dual round where the crème of the crème from the Northern Ireland Championship will go head-to-head with the Best that the British Championship has to offer, whereas the Sunday sees a non-championship NI sprint, running in conjunction with round 12 of the SBD British Sprint Championship.
As we approach the 5th Round of the SW Adair Tyres Northern Ireland Sprint Championship, Adrian Pollock leads the overall championship with a 3-point lead over second placed Steven Gault with early championship leader, Joe Courtney, 6-points adrift in third.
In terms of the modified championship, Oliver Cormican has continued where he left off from last year and tops the modified Championship from Dermot OHagan in his Honda Civic. Gerard OConnell is a further 2-points behind Dermot and Downpatrick man David Strain is fourth in his 205 GTi.
Andrew Robb has dominated the Road Going section this year in both the Sprint and Hillclimb championships in his BMW //M3. He leads the championship by 8-points from Alfred Robb who drives the same car, with Aaron Vance a further 8-points behind in third.
This weekend also sees a double round of the SBD Motorsport British Sprint Championship which is currently lead by Peter Goulding in his Mygale, Peter is 8-points ahead of Matt Hillam with Graham Blackwell a further 10-points behind, in third. So far there have been 10 counting rounds of this championship which covers the length and breadth of the British Isles.
To date, 12 British Championship regulars have entered this year’s event, including the current championship leader Peter Goulding and reigning, and two-time British Sprint Champion, Heather Calder. Also entered is her father, and four-times British Sprint Champion, Colin Calder, along with two-time series champion, Nick Algar.
Of the 65 entries currently received, there are 29 single-seaters entered including the top three from the SW Adair Tyres Sprint Championship as well as SBD Motorsport British Sprint Championship leader Peter Goulding Along with regular British championship regulars, Heather and Colin Calder, in their family Gould GR55, Nick Algar in his fabulous DJ Firehawk, John Graham in his 3.5 Gould GR55B and Simon Bainbridge in his 4.2 SBR Crono which has to be seen to be believed.
The local entry for the SW Adair Tyres Northern Ireland Sprint Championship sees a stonker of an entry which includes the full top fifteen overall championship contenders, all of the road-going championship contenders and the top five from the Modified Championship too.
With Adrian Pollock (2.0 Dallara GM F301), Steven Gault (2.0 Reynard Ford), Trevor Roberts (Jedi), Joe Courtney (2.0Dallara VWF308) and the inseparable Hawthorne twins in their family 2.0 Reynard FVL all confirmed to date, along with the brace of Radicals driven by Alan Cassells and Lee Kirkwood, the entry is superb.
Also entered is Downpatrick engineer and racer, Eamon Matheson, in his self built 2.0t MM3. This lightning quick turbo charged sports-libre type car has the potential to take outright placings on the day and Eamon can quickly switch engine maps in the pits, between runs, making the most of conditions on the day.
Action is due to commence on Saturday at 09:30 with first practice, with first timed runs due to commence around 11:45. There are to be two practice and two timed runs for all competitors.
The fastest twelve SBD Motorsport British Championship contenders will then have two timed run-offs to decide their championship results, whereas the Northern Ireland contenders will have a third championship run.
Action on the Sunday is due to commence at 12:00 and admission is free.
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