Daniel McKenna and co-driver Arthur Kierans hit their goal of taking a fourth victory in a row in the Rally 2 category of the BRC at the Trackrod rally of Yorkshire after a fantastic battle with their closest championship rivals. The Pickering based event used the classic Yorkshire stages such as Dalby, Langdale and Staindale made famous by the RAC rally having been used for many years by some of the world’s best drivers. Their result on this event means Daniel and Arthur have really put themselves in pole position to become the R2 champions with one round remaining.
Daniel and Arthur were in confident mood approaching the start of the event as it began with two night stages and with lots of experience under darkness, confidence was high in the Scanbitz camp. The Monaghan men hit the ground running on the opening night stage and set the pace ending the first leg of the event with a 15 second lead, extracting almost a second a mile from his closest rival, Steve Rokland. On Saturday morning the crews were greeted to fantastic weather and perfect rally conditions. Daniel again kept up his high pace on the first stage of the morning but this time was a second of the pace, but still held a 15 second lead. On the second stage of the morning, a six mile test through Gale Rigg, Daniel felt quite happy with his pace crossing the finishing line of the stage, but the stage times told a different story. Jon Armstrong who lay second had slashed 8 seconds of Daniel’s lead and Steve Rokland had taken 9 to remain third.
After a short service the classic 15 miles of Langdale lay ahead and it could possibly decide the outcome of the event despite there being a repeat of the two Friday night stages after it. Daniel decided maximum attack was the only option to try and build on his 6 second lead. Everything was going to plan until about half way through the stage where they had an overshoot losing around five or six seconds. Nevertheless they kept the pace up towards the end of the stage hoping he had done enough to hold on to the lead. Daniel surrendered only one second to Armstrong but Rokland really made a move in this stage leaping into 2nd place and cutting Daniel’s lead to a mere 0.1 of a second.
Another a short service before the final two stages, Daniel and Arthur had no intentions of losing the lead they had worked so hard for on the Friday night. Daniel again went out on maximum attack with no mistakes and really stamped their authority on the battle taking eight seconds out of Rokland and six seconds out of Armstrong on the first of the two last stages. The same approach for the final stage saw Daniel going fastest again to win the event by 11.9 seconds. An added bonus for Daniel and Arthur was that their closest rival for the R2 title Rokland, was beaten to second place by Armstrong on the final stage by 0.1 of a second.
This now gives Daniel and Arthur a 10 point lead over Rokland after dropping their worst score of the season. As a result, if Rokland were to win the final round, Rallye Sunseeker, Daniel and Arthur could afford to finish fifth and still win the championship by one point, which is an even better position than Daniel could have hoped for before the Yorkshire rally.
Monaghan Navigation Trial
Monaghan Motor Club kick off the new night navigation season this Saturday night, 5th October. CoC’s for the event Jonathan McGovern and Damian Treanor have the hard work done with a demanding 75mile route on the cards. HQ for the event is Carrickroe Community Centre with route card 1 out at 6.30 and first car away 9.01pm. As always marshals are very much in demand. If you are available please contact Jonathan or Damian as soon as possible and be in the community centre, Carrickroe no later than 7.30pm. Reg’s and entry forms are available on the club website. Full report next week.
Bushwacker Forestry Rally
Congratulations to Monaghan crew Josh Moffett and Jason McKenna on their excellent success in the 2013 Valvoline Irish Forest Rally Championship. Jason secured 3rd overall co-driver in the Championship while Josh took an impressive win in the hard fought Gp N category. This Championship win came after finishing 10th O/A on the recent Bushwacker Rally in Omagh last Saturday. Josh has also been nominated for the Billy Coleman award after a string of superb performances in 2013.
The event was won by Derek Mc Garrity and James McKee in a subaru. Enda Mc Nulty and Monaghan’s Paul Sheridan were 5th overall and won class 9, also in a subaru. Frank Kelly had a mere second to spare over Shane Mc Girr for the two wheel drive honours, finishing 6th and 7th respectively after a day long battle in the forests of Fermanagh and Tyrone. Sam Moffatt and James O’Reilly had to settle for 4th in class and 12th overall on this occasion as they gained valuable experience on the loose surface in the Subaru. Michael Conlon and Ciaran McPhillips had a great run to 16th overall and 3rd in class. Maurice Moffatt made the switch to gravel in his starlet and along with Martin Connolly had a very enjoyable day by all accounts to finish 27th overall and 2nd in class 7.
County Monaghan Motor Club 