County Monaghan Motor Club

 The Ravens Rock Rally promoted by Carrick on Suir Motor Club was held on Sunday last, based in the scenic Marble City of Kilkenny. This was a counting round of the Dunlop National championship and with current leader Tim McNulty opting to sit this one out all was to play for among the top seeds. Local man Craig Breen made a rare appearance on Irish tarmac following some good recent results across the water and inEurope. He was the man to beat and his number 1 seed was justified as he led this event convincingly from start to finish to record a 1 minute 45 second victory

in his Fiesta S2000. Limerick’s Colm Murphy in a group N Subaru was 2^nd with Monaghan’s Sam Moffett and James O’Reilly having an excellent day at the office to take 3^rd overall in their EVO 9, this being Sam’s best result to date.

            Regular National contenders Robert Barrable, Niall Maguire, Kevin Barrett, Liam Mc Carthy and Wesley Patterson all opted out of this event for one reason or another but the battle was still intense at the front as Breen took the early advantage

from Colm Murphy who had a puncture on the first loop followed by Welsh driver Sebastian Ling in 3^rd at first service, but the latter crashed out on SS4 to allow Sam into 3rd. Ed O Callaghan had held the two wheel drive honours up until the 3^rd stage when he crashed out as did Paul Mulcahy in his Starlet while lying 9^th overall. Unfortunately Shane Maguire and Paul Kelly did not make it to first service as their front differential packed in on SS3 while lying in 9^th overall and poised to take some good points in the National series. Monaghan’s John McQuaid and Kerryman Seamus O’Connor were revelling in the conditions and progressed from 13^th o/a on the first stage to lie 8^th overall after stage 6. Further down the field Gerard McQuaid and Gareth Quinlan were putting in some good class times and consistently moved up the leader board from 39^th to 27^th through the nine stages. Conor Foley and Damian McKenna were putting the immaculate Mark I Escort through her paces but hit trouble on the penultimate stage where they dropped 4 minutes to their rivals and no stage time for the last stage suggests they were forced to retire after SS8. Meath’s Jack Newman in a class 11 Civic with  JP McAree navigating were only 5 seconds off 2^nd in class after the first loop of 3 stages but a broken front drive on SS4 forced them into early retirement.

            Back at the front the top 3 remained the same to the finish with Breen taking the win, Murphy 2^nd with Sam and James in 3^rd overall. Incidently, Breen took fastest stage time on 8 of the 9 stages with Sam Moffett fastest on SS8 by 2 seconds. This result moves Sam and James into 2^nd overall in the National championship. Washington James took the two wheel drive honours in his now infamous Darrian T90 with Frank Kelly 2^nd and 6^th overall. John McQuaid and Seamus O’Connor continued their tremendous run to eventually take a deserved 8^th overall, 2^nd in class 14 and 3^rd two wheel drive car home. They also claimed the honour of “Dunlop Drive of the Day award” for their efforts.

            Once again the Junior category of the event had a capacity entry of 21 starters and it was the familiar Starlet from the Moffett stable of David Moffett and Patrick Brides who led the way taking a start to finish victory, 9 seconds ahead of Cork’s Cal McCarthy with Christopher Snow 3rd. It’s worth noting here that these juniors were on a great pace with David and Patrick only 19 seconds of the pace of Rally winner Craig Breen on the final stage which would merit them 13^th overall in the main field! Well done to all concerned.

Barrable and Connolly compete inBelgium

Robert Barrable, winner of the Motorsport Ireland Billy Coleman award supported by the Irish Sports Council, in his Skoda Fabia S2000 with Monaghan co-driver Damien Connolly drove an excellent rally to finish 10th overall on the weekend’s GEKO Ypres Rally in Belgium. This was Robert’s first time competing on the Ypresevent which is seen as very much a specialist tarmac rally in the championship calendar. It was also the young Dubliner’s first time competing in a round of the Intercontinental Rally Championship (IRC). Robert and Damian set an early indication of their intention for the weekend and were lying 7^th overall after the first 2 stages but Robert undid all his good work on SS3 where he slid wide and caught the grass verge and slipped into a drain pitching the car in the air. This resulted in Robert losing about a minute and he slipped to 24th overall. Undeterred by the mistake the lads set about making amends and constantly climbed the leader board through the remaining 14 stages. Their goal was to finish in the top ten and they duly obliged to take 10^th and scored a championship point for their efforts.