Alan Davidson was the most prolific winner on the evening, here seen with all of his awardsAlan Davidson was the most prolific winner on the evening, here seen with all of his awards
Alan Davidson was the most prolific winner on the evening, here seen with all of his awards

IN PICTURES: 500MRCI holds awards night at Ballymac Hotel

The Five Hundred Motor Racing Club of Ireland presented their awards for both the 2020 and 2021 seasons at the Ballymac Hotel, near Lisburn, on Saturday 8th January 2022.

With attendance numbers being slightly lower than in previous years, in most cases, only trophies belonging to those present were handed over.

Donal O’Neill compered the evening and began by announcing that Ingo Dohnke, father of Fiesta racer Timon, had made the journey from Germany to lend his support to the event.

As such he had been asked and agreed to present the awards.

The 2020 awards were given out first.

Strangford driver, Megan Campbell, was first up and collected her trophy for third in the Fiesta Championship.

Next up were the BMW330i Cup winners. Londonderry driver, Gavin Kilkey took first place.

Lisburn driver, Greer Wray was second and his brother, Keith, from Dundonald was third.

Paul Sheridan, from Randalstown, won the Mod-5-Cup for Mazda MX5s.

In the Roadsports Championship, Moira driver Kieron Smyth took second overall and 1st in Class A.

In Formula Ford 1600, The Randalstown Rocket, Alan Davidson, took second overall and won the Pre-90 class.

Chris Hillis from Drumbo was second in the Pre-90 and Ballymena veteran, Henry Campbell, was third.

The 2021 awards were next and once again, Alan Davidson, was wearing down a trench from his table to the stage, collecting trophy after trophy.

He took second overall in the Formula Ford 1600 and won the Pre-90 Class again.

However, this time it was the “new kid on the block”, Brandon McCaughey, from Ballycastle who took second place in the Pre-90s.

Henry Campbell picked up the third place trophy on behalf of Ryan Campbell.

Paul Sheridan took third in the Modi-5-Cup for Mazda MX5s and Megan Campbell took another third place in the Fiesta Championship.

In the BMW 330i Cup, Greer Wray took second place and this time his brother, Keith, won.

In the Saloon Championship, Isle of Man driver, now resident in Dublin, Dan Keelan, took a popular third place. Second was Keith Wray and first was the compere for the evening, Donal O’Neill, who hails from Nutt’s Corner.

The Marshal Of The Year trophy went to Nigel McCrutcheon.

The award for Rookie of the Year went to Brandon McCaughey.

John Harris, who prepares many of the FF1600 cars, won the Personality of The Year Award.

The audience thought that everything had been awarded but it turned out that Ingo had brought a number of gifts with him.

He gave 2022 calendars to both Donal O’Neill and Richard Young as leading organisers of the 500MRCI and he seemed to have something for everyone connected with the Fiesta class.

He finished by giving a touching speech about how welcome he and Timon had been made to feel by everyone at Kirkistown during 2021.

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