Tyrone contingent help NI secure Ken Wharton Trophy

NORTHERN Ireland retained the Ken Wharton Trophy in Worcestershire, England on Saturday following a professional performance from their A team, which included Tyrone drivers, Mark King and Steven Ferguson, as well as Andrew Blair and Robin Lyons.

Ferguson, who won the Northern Ireland Championship for an eighth time this season, was the man to beat on Saturday and he claimed top individual honours by 10.1 seconds from Willie Keaning. Blair was seventh overall, Lyons was ninth overall and first in class, and King 10th.

The Northern Ireland B team also included a raft of Tyrone drivers with Dungannon’s Gary Cambpell and Coagh’s Trevor Ferguson in action alongside James Wilson and Andrew Earney, who belied their status of inexperienced underdogs to finish a superb fourth overall. behind runners-up England A and third placed Republic of Ireland.

“The weekend went very well indeed,” beamed King who was second in the Nova class on Saturday.

“Everyone seemed to be pretty happy with the results we got. It was really good and for the guys who finished fourth you had James Wilson, Gary Campbell, Andrew, all first time on the team and to finish fourth is pretty good going.

“They were against guys who have all driven on teams before and it’s hard to explain to them how important that experience is until they are there because it’s a different approach to when you’re competing on your own.

“As for the A team, Stevie did a Stevie and won the thing! I did what I had to do and Andrew Blair did himself proud. He drove extremely well and was a great asset.”

And while the on test action went as well as could have hoped for the Northern Irish contingent who extended the country’s record of being the most successful in the history of the Ken Wharton Memorial Autotests, the journey to and particularly from England couldn’t have been much worse for Lyons, Newmills man King, Stewartstown’s Ferguson and wife Michelle.

Before getting to England, their plans were thrown into chaos as Castlederg’s Jonni McDaid, who was to be their Mini Saloon driver, tested positive for Covid and was therefore ruled out of action.

They immediately set about drafting in Lyons after Earney decided that was the best option with him remaining in the B team. That meant they had to get Norman Ferguson’s car for the journey as Lyons has been using it all season, but it needed prepped with new tyres, new ball joints and it needed cleaned before departure.

“There was a lot of things that needed done but we got it there, we got it packed and we got it loaded!,” beamed King.

That led to a late night before a very early start on Friday morning and while not overly dramatic, it served as a warning for what lay ahead on their journey home on Sunday.

Just five miles from Holyhead, their van went into limp mode, leading to a very slow arrival at the port, which is where the fun really began as the journey across the Irish Sea was choppy to say the least!

“Before we got out of Holyhead it started to roll and nod and bounce, you could see sky, then land, then sky,” King explained.

“I’d had something to eat and it got worse with glasses breaking in the bar and stuff falling off the shelves in the bar, so I took an anti-sickness tablet with the plan to fall a sleep.

“But it wasn’t happening because one minute you had zero gravity and the next second you were squeezed into the floor, it was just a disaster and you could hear people around you being sick.

“It was all the things you don’t want in a confined space!”

Upon arrival in Dublin, the Republic of Ireland team helped reset the van’s ‘brain’ so they could journey home swiftly but at Newry limp mode returned, leading to them arriving in Tyrone nearer to Monday than Sunday!

“It took us a long time but eventually we got there,” laughed King who was back at work at 5am on Monday.

King will be back in action in two weeks time when he represents Motorsport UK at the FIA Motorsport Games in France.