The last two rounds of the 2009 Fiat Abarth cup were held in Mondello International track at the leinster trophy motor races. Possibly the most famous race of the year. Both these races will be shown on On The Limit Sports (satanta sports, sky sports and motors tv). Qualifying as per all year was once again where Barry-John struggled. He struggled to get that quick lap in and qualified 14^th out of the 18 entries for both races. The good news was that he was chosen to have the onboard camera for the television which would guarantee good entertainment as the Raheny native is well known for being a bit fiery in the car especially when challenged with a low position with him hafting to charge threw the field.

As per all year Barry-John managed a great start to climb 4 positions on lap 1. He then droped 2 and back up three to 9^th with two laps to go. He then lost power unusually to drop back to 12^th. The car then started running faultlessly and he managed to climb back up to 10^th before the checkered flag.

Race two was for the famous Dunlop trophy. Well this race turned out to be possibly the best race of the year to watch from the grandstands. Once again Barry-John's disappointing qualifying pace was to be his down turn as he left himself with an up-hill battle but as Bary-John is not one to shy away from a good battle he started 14^th but was quickly making up places. With an 8 car train battling for 4^th place lap after lap the positions were changing drastically. Barry-John was as high as 6^Th when Derick Graham an ex Abarth Champion tried to put him in the wall. The race went on and the battles were fierce threw out the field. Barry-John eventually finished in 9^th place. He was troubled on the last 3 laps by an overheating engine with his water temperature reading 115 degrees. But as this was the last race of the year and the battle was so good Barry-John claims he was stopping for no-one.

After a long hard season Barry-John will have to go and decide what his plans for 2010 are. He really enjoyed his first year in Abarths however there was many disappointments along the way with a few highs. With the times that are in it it will be hard to find a good budget for 2010 but time is on our side and we will start making plans for next year in the next few Weeks.

A massive thank you must go to all our 2009 sponsors, our supporters and BT RACING.

2009 sponsors: TOM KANE 24HR RECOVERY , THRIFTY CAR RENTAL, MCHENRY CAR SALES LTD, JH AUTOBODY AND FUNCTIONAL TRAINING IRELAND.