Last weekend saw the penultimate round of the Dunlop National Rally Championship stages in the County Clare town of Ennis. With 96 starters in the main field and weather conditions very much wet and slippery it was sure to be a testing event. Cork’s Brian O Mahoney and John Higgin’s took the overall win in their Subaru Impreza. They were pushed all the way by the ever-trying Monaghan men Niall Maguire and Enda Sherry who settled for 2nd, 19seconds behind O’Mahoney. 3rd over-all went to Kerry men Kevin Kelleher and Gerard Conway. This 2nd over-all for Maguire and Sherry means that this years National title will go down to the wire on the Donegal Harvest with O’Mahoney, Maguire and Kerry man Thomas Fitzmaurice all still in the running for overall honours.
As ever their were quite a number of local crews who made the trip to Clare as Kevin Barrett teamed up with Conor Foley for the first time to finish just outside the top three in 4th overall having overcome some minor issue’s early on to take the class win. It was a good day at the office for the Triton Showers/Maguire International team as Shane Maguire and Martin McGarrity took the third Subaru home to 8th over-all, despite some clutch trouble over the first loop of stages. Shane and Martin were second group N behind Colm Murphy, also in a Subaru.
In the two wheel drive category it was Frank Kelly and Liam Brennan who once again blitzed the opposition with an incredible run to 5th overall with Cavan’s Jonathan Pringle and Martin Byrne 7th overall and first in class 13 in their escort. Class 11 provided one of the battles of the day as Ryan Loughran and James McCarville were on the pace and eventually finished 12th overall and 2nd class 11 just behind Neil Pierce and Enda O’Leary in a civic. Once again Seamus Connolly and Gary McCrudden were entertaining the crowds with their aggressive driving style but a spin on the final loop of stages meant they had to settle for 3rd class 11 and 13th overall. Adrian Foley and Adrian Flynn were reacquainted once again in the Nova and were rewarded with 23rd overall a fine 2nd in the highly competitive class 10 behind Cavan’s Paddy Kieran and Darren O’Brien who were 20th overall.
Michael Carbin had James O’Reilly on the notes in Clare but an altercation with a bale left the 205 with a burst radiator and forced them into retirement. Late entrants Josh Moffett and John Rowan were also forced into retirement with mechanical trouble.
Wexford Dick Bailey Stages Rally
Well done to the Moffett Engineering Rally team on their recent good runs on the Wexford Dick Bailey two day Rally. Their long haul South was rewarded as Maurice Moffett and Jason Mc Kenna took their class 14 starlet home to 5th overall and a class win to boot. Next up were Richard Moffett and Martin Connolly who incredibly finished on the exact same time as father Maurice on 2:00.40 after two days rallying as they finished 6th overall and class 13 winners. Incidentally just three seconds separated the top three in this highly competitive class 13. David Moffett and Eamon Hayes took the 3rd Starlet home to a class 11a win also. A good weekend at the office for the Moffett Engineering Starlets. Fintan and Sean Sherry also made it to Wexford in their class 10 escort but unfortunately their weekend was short lived as they were forced into retirement as early as stage 3.
The Rally was won by James Stafford in a Darrian T90 GTR with Damian Cole 2nd in a Subaru and John Dalton 3rd, also in a Darrian.
County Monaghan Motor Club 