County Monaghan Motor Club

McNulty secures Dunlop National Title

Tim McNulty and co driver Paul Kiely took top honours on last weekends Clare stages rally. They finished 53s ahead of Niall Maguire/Barry Goodman in a similar Impreza and critically McNulty’s closest rivals Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally were 3rd in their Subaru over 2m back. McNulty’s win clinches the Dunlop National Rally Championship for the first time, even with 2 rounds still remaining. Tricky conditions greeted competitors, as the drying roads were still wet and greasy in sheltered areas, thus accounting for a lot of the 36 non-finishers in the main field.

            Despite the distance eleven Monaghan crews made the journey south with very mixed fortunes. As mentioned Niall Maguire had a steady run and kept the pressure on McNulty throughout the day. Maguire/Goodman briefly held the lead after stage 4 but encountered brake trouble through stage 6 forcing him to use the handbrake on a number of occasions just to get slowed up. Nonetheless 2^nd over-all a good result for the Balinode man. Sam Moffett and James O Reilly were next up with another group N win and 6^th over-all. They had a good run all day with no troubles to report. Shane Maguire and Conor Foley had to settle for 2^nd in group N in Clare. They got off to a poor start losing a minute on stage 1 & 2 with tyre trouble as Shane used this event to experiment with new tyres. Shane is currently joint first in the West Coast Rally Championship with 1 round remaining after this event. 

            Gerard McQuaid and Gareth Quinlan had a good run through the Banner county to finish 5^th in class 11. Seamus Connolly once again teamed up with Sean Agnew in the Citroen C2R2 and had a steady run to 2nd in class 6. Josh Moffett with Donegal’s Ciaran Geaney on the notes were on a serious pace through the early stages and were leading group N and 5^th over-all. Unfortunately all their hard work became undone over a series of jumps as the car got out of sorts and they spun off the road on stage 5.  Hopefully we will see this crew out again soon. John McQuaid/ Seamus O Connor was another crew off to a flying start and were 12^th over-all after the first 2 stages. Unfortunately the greasy conditions caught them out on ss3 and they slid off the road and into retirement, thankfully no real harm done. Aaron McQuaid and Aidan Coyle’s mixed season continued when their rally came to an end on stage 2 with engine failure. Ryan Loughran with James Mc Carville on the notes were up to 4^th in class 11 until a slight off put an end to their day on ss4.

            In the junior rally Cork’s Cal McCarthy and Eamonn Dullea took the over-all win. Johno & Padraig Doogan had to settle for 2^nd over-all as a puncture on the penultimate stage cruelly cost them the rally win. David Moffett and Patrick Brides were 3^rd over-all after the first stage but mechanical gremlins set in and forced their retirement on ss2. JP McAree was once again in the hot seat with Ashbourne’s Jack Newman but they too fell foul of the conditions and became beached on a wall. No real damage done but they were unable to get back on the road. This coupled with intercom problems mean’t a day to forget for this quick crew.

 

Clare Motor Club Stages Rally Top 10

1 Tim McNulty/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 71m 38s

2 Niall Maguire/Barry Goodman (Impreza WRC) 72m 31s

3 Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 74m 05s

4 Wesley Patterson/Martin McGarrity (Escort) 74m 27s

5 Mike Quinn/Grainne McEnery (Escort) 74m 47s

6 Sam Moffett/James O’Reilly (Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 74m 58s

7 Frank Kelly/Liam Brennan (Escort) 75m 15s

8 Anthony O’Halloran/Charlie McEnery (Manta 400) 76m 00s

9 Declan Gallagher/Ryan Moore (Starlet) 76m 03s

10 Shane Maguire/Conor Foley (Impreza Gp N) 76m 49s.

 

Monaghan Motor Club Night Navigation Trial

Winter must surely be upon us as Saturday week next 1^st October see’s Monaghan Motor club open the night navigation season. Coc for the event is Francis Keenan, ably assisted by Darren Babbington and their eager team. The event will be based around the Corduff area of South Monaghan and anybody available to marshall on the night please come along. More information in next weeks edition.

Night Navigation Classes

 

Everybody attending this years night navigation classes are asked to take note that the final class will be held on this Friday night, 23^rd September at 8pm in Sean MacDermotts centre, Threemilehouse. No class tonight (Thursday 29). The final class will incorporate a re-cap of all topics covered, analysis of the trial run and also take in a quick summary of stages rallying from a navigators perspective. Anybody who missed out on these classes or would like an overview of stages rallying are welcome to attend also.