Thompson records maiden victory at Spamount Hillclimb

OMAGH Motor Club’s hillclimb sponsored by Sayers Engineering Ltd took place again after a hiatus of three years due to the pandemic.

The event was again held at Spamount which was also the fourth round of the Millers Oils Northern Ireland Hillclimb Championship.

The competitors were challenged to a tight and twisting 0.8 mile course during perfect weather conditions which proved more favourable towards the single seater and racing car classes with Co Antrim driver Graham Thompson taking his maiden victory at Spamount in his Radical SR8 racing car.

As current Championship leader with wins at the Croft and Drumhorc venues earlier this year, he set the leading time of 40.98 seconds on the first run and improved it by over half a second on the final run of the day to clinch the event by four tenths of a second from Steven Robb from Nutts Corner in his Jedi racing car.

Local competitor John Donnelly in his Pilbeam was second overall on the second run but a mechanical problem resulted in him slipping down the leaderboard to eventually finish fourth overall while event sponsor Gareth Sayers impressively set the second fastest time in his Ford Fiesta R5 on his third run only to be pipped into third place overall by eight hundredths of a second by Steven Robb on the final run.

The dry conditions also resulted in a new total of ten class records been recorded.

The notable performances from local drivers were from Gareth Sayers in Class 12 and Gerry McGarrity in Class 16A respectively.

At the prizegiving, clerk of the course Ronnie McAleer thanked the support of the Spamount community, sponsor, the cooperation of local householders and land owners and also all the officials and marshals that turned out to ensure a successful and enjoyable event was held.

Overall Results :
1. Graham Thompson, Radical SR8, 40.42 secs; 2. Steven Robb, Jedi Mk4, 40.82 secs; 3. Gareth Sayers, Ford Fiesta R5, 40.87 secs; 4. John Donnelly, Pilbeam MP62, 41.00 secs; 5. Oliver Cormican, Mitsubishi Evo, 42.44 sec; 6. Ian Lancashire, Subuaru Impreza, 42.70 secs; 7. Patrick Roche, RSR Escort Mk1, 42.98 secs; 8. Barry Morris, Ford Fiesta, 43.01 secs; 9. Jack Boal, GTR Hayabusa, 44.03 secs; 10. Seamus Morris, Darrian GTR, 44.04 secs.
Further class results for Spamont Hillclimb can be obtained from webpage www.anicc.org.uk