Enniskillen Motor Club’s Darran Flanagan, Event Manager, hailed this year’s inaugural Fermanagh Festival of Speed incorporating the Montgomery Motorsport Erne Trophy Sprint as a runaway success.

While Omagh man Adrian Pollock set a blistering pace in his extremely rapid Dallara F301 on the track to claim the overall title and set a new record by 0.024 seconds, local man Ross McLean lifted the Car of the Show title in the inaugural Show and Shine category of the day, with his gleaming 3 Series BMW.

A total of some 94 cars from all over this island started the Sprint section. Other Show and Shine prizes handed out included the Best Truck, the Best Modified Car and the Best Bike went to James Devlin for his very well turned out Ducati 999.

On the track Pollock was the man to beat all day long, fastest in practice and then when it counted; his Fastest Time of the Day leaving him with a gap of over six seconds from second placed Steven Gault in his Reynard 903 with the spectacular Gerard O’Connell in his twin Hayabusa-engined Radical SR8 a mere 1.09 seconds adrift in third. This win for Pollock means he now stands a great chance of clinching the SW Adair NI Sprint Championship with only one more round at Kirkistown remaining.

In the Road-Going Series Production Cars up to 1700cc: Class 1 the win went to Garry McClurg in a Citroen AX while the winner in Class 2: Road-Going over 1700cc was Chris Rogan in his immaculate and colourful Renault Megane RS 250.

Class 3: Road-Going Series Production Cars 4WD was won by Paul Montgomery in a Subaru Sti Type R with Enniskillen’s Chris McCarthy taking third in Class in a Subaru Impreza. Class 6A Modified Series Production Cars 8valve and 2WD was claimed by a veteran of St Angelo, Omagh’s Gary Milligan, in his 1400 Mini with another Sprint veteran Seskinore’s Roy Coulter second in his Peugeot 205 GTI. Enniskillen man Barry Murphy brought hid Sunbeam into fifth in this class.

In Class 6B: Modified Series Production Cars Multivalve 2WD EMC’s Eldoras Elgerius brought his standard Ford Focus home in seventh place while Dermot O’Hagan took the class win in his very rapid Honda Civic. Class 7 Modified Specialist Production Cars 2WD was a perfect example of the wide variety of stunning vehicles competing at this year’s Sprint. The Class win was taken by Clive Latimer in his Sylva Riot while second was Steven Hawthorne in a Locost Megablade.

In Class 8A Colin Kane from Springfield rolled his Toyota Yaris in spectacular fashion on his first Timed Run and thus did not have a recorded time and the win went to the Maguire Mini of Ian Howard. In the Class 8B battle David Aiken in his Vauxhall Nova was pushed hard by Garry Campbell in his beautiful Starlet so that Aiken came within 1.05 seconds of the Class Record to seal the win with Campbell a mere 0.20 seconds behind.

In Class 9 Sports Libre Cars 2WD the sensation was Gerard O’Connell. Fresh from claiming the 2018 NI Hillclimb Championship, Gerard certainly lit up the runways at St Angelo with his ear-piercing Radical SR8. The twin Hayabusa engined Radical emitted a shattering shriek as all eight cylinders wailed at over 10,000 rpm and O’Connell fought to maintain control as the Radical squirmed under power on the dry tarmac. Spectators rushed to the first bend on the course to catch a glimpse of the Radical as it rapidly disappeared over the horizon. Clabby’s Ronnie Coulter brought home his more conventional Vauxhall Astra fourth in this Class. Class 10 Sports Libre Rally Cars up to 1650cc2WD was won by Castlederg’s Alan Cassells in his beautifully turned out Peugeot 106 S160. This terrific machine featured recently in PaceNotes Rally magazine. In Class 11 Sports Libre Rally Cars over 1650cc2WD Kesh man George Elliott brought his very pretty MkI Escort home seventh in this very competitive class. The Vauxhall engine in the Escort suffering from limiter problems all day with veteran George having to shift early at around 6500/7000 rpm instead of 8500/9000 rpm. Kevin McQuaid from Florence, having sold his MkII Escort now has a lovely Vauxhall Chevette with a 2-litre ‘redtop’ engine and he managed to bring it home in 11th place. The winner here was Daniel Campbell in another gleaming red Starlet. Class 12 All Other $WD Sports Libre Cars was won by Ivan McCullough in his deceptively rapid Nissan GTR. John Donnelly’s challenge in the Derek Jobb rallycross Escort Cosworth failed to materialise as Donnelly didn’t manage to make a clean Timed Run.

In Class 14 Racing Cars up to 2000cc 8valve or up to 1400 multivalve Beragh’s Lewis Wilson claimed the Class win in his Reynard 873 with the only female driver, Catherine Donnelly taking her Delta T91 home fourth in this Class. But the day was all about Adrian Pollock as the Omagh driver maintained calm as both Gault and O’Connell were breathing down his neck all day. He remained calm and precise to claim a well-deserved victory in Class 15 for All Other Racing Cars and the Overall Fastest Time of the day plus he set a new FTD record at 135.46 seconds.

In Class 16A another St Angelo veteran, Irvinestown’s Gerry McGarrity, took the Class win by just over 2 seconds from John Golden in a similar Cooper ‘S’ with Enniskillen man Benny Grainger bringing his Road-Rally spec Cooper home fourth in Class.

In Class 16B Non Road-Going Historic Saloons and Sports Cars Stephan Strain took the honours, aptly enough in a Fermanagh registered MkI Escort with Tullyhummon’s Karl Johnston in second in the unusual Austin Midas while Enniskillen man Arthur Ovens took third in Class in his MG Midget. Class 18 Rally Cars up to 1650cc 2WD was won by Ian Duff in his Proton Compact by just 1.2 seconds from Derek Robinson in his Gp A Toyota Corolla with Sammy Scollan third in his Peugeot 106. Finally, Class 19 Rally Cars over 1650 2WD, was dominated by local drivers and saw Ballinamallard’s Raymond Johnston in his Escort RS 1800 edge out Belcoo’s Damian McGauran in his self-built BMW with a Honda S2000 engine by just 0.03 seconds with Raymond’s son Marc a mere 0.43 seconds back in third in his father’s RS 1800. In this highly competitive class fourth place went to Tempo’s Ronan Campbell in another Escort RS 1800 closely followed by Irvinestown’s Fabian McAleer in another RS 1800. Then making its first competitive appearance came what else but the inevitable Escort RS. This time the BDG-engined car belonged to Francis Morris. Then in 7th place came Dermot Brewster in the Astra GSI he shares with EMC’s Brian Darcy. Brian brought the Astra home in one piece and in 9th place with 8th being taken by Thomas McGauran, Damian‘s father sharing the hybrid BMW 320. So a great day’s motorsport with some spectacular cars on and off the track. The oldest Classic Cars included Martin Whitehead from Strangford in his 1932 Riley Monaco and a local 1936 Morris 8 complete with opening windscreen.