Derry drivers Gavin Kilkey and Grace McCallion making progress

Gavin Kilkey finished in second amidst some tough competition.

placeholder image — Gavin Kilkey finished in second amidst some tough competition.

The next race meeting at Kirkistown, on Saturday, August 30, will feature the usual domestic championships along with Superkarts, Junior Minis and the super-fast BOSS cars

Derry drivers Gavin Kilkey and Grace McCallion had a great day at the bumper Championship car race meeting at Kirkistown Circuit last Saturday.

Fifteen races were programmed, many with very large grids. As could be expected, there was quite a number of race stoppages and restarts, following on track incidents, when two or more drivers wanted the same piece of track!

The first Kirkistown based championship race was a combined grid of Roadsports, GTs and Libre Saloons. Newtownabbey driver, Jim Larkham, took off at the rolling start and was never headed again. Unfortunately, the car of his closest rival, Mike Ward, from Youghal, faltered and he retired almost immediately.

Meanwhile the Libre Saloons of Lurgan driver, Peter Baxter, Derry driver, Gavin Kilkey, and Castlewellan driver, Patrick Corbett, all in Seat Supercopas, were fighting their own battle, with Banbridge veteran, Arnie Black, adding to the mix in his Crosslé 37S Roadsports machine.

Behind them, Paul Parr, from Newry, was dominating the GTs, mostly because Matthew McCord, from Cookstown, and Alexander Preston, from Loughgall, were holding each other up! Unfortunately, on lap six, Black was tapped into retirement by one of the Seats. On lap nine, Baxter assumed the lead in the Libre Saloons. He held it to the end, with Kilkey second and Corbett third. Parr took the GT win with second place eventually going to McCord, leaving Preston third.

Grace McCallion performed very well at the weekend

In final race of the day was a non-championship affair for any Fiesta Zetec. Fourteen cars took part and grid slots were drawn by ballot. Grace McCallion, from Derry, got a cracker start and roared into the lead while Neville Anderson, Aidan Mulready, Alan Dawson and Sean McGovern were all harrying each other behind her.

By lap four McGovern had shaken loose his attackers and set off after McCallion. On lap six he caught and passed her. One lap later both Dawson and Mulready did the same. On the last lap, Anderson demoted her to fifth place, which was still a great result! McGovern took the win. Dawson was second and Mulready came home third.

The next race meeting at Kirkistown, on Saturday, August 30, will feature the usual domestic championships along with Superkarts, Junior Minis and the super-fast BOSS cars.