Newbliss brother and sister pairing of Stephen and Suzanne Wright capped off a hugely successful rallying year last weekend at the Cork 20 International Rally with a 7th overall finish and 3rd in class 4, enough to be crowned 2013 Group N Irish Tarmac Champions. In what was one of the toughest battles all year, Stephen and Suzanne had a measured drive amidst stiff competition in their EVO 9 on the millstreet based event to lift the title for 2013. Closest championship rival’s and fellow Monaghan crew Josh Moffett & Jason McKenna, put up a great fight to the Wrights all weekend which seen them finish a superb 8th o/a. This result sees the Combilift team finish 2nd in the group N category for 2013 and coupled with their recent successes in the Irish Forestry Championship and Dunlop National Championship end a superb rallying year for the young Monaghan team also.
The event was won by Daragh O’Riordan and Tony McDaid in a fiesta WRC, ahead of Fermanagh man Gary Jennings and Rory Kennedy in their Subaru Impreza WRC. This result ensured Gary and Rory were crowned 2013 Irish Tarmac Rally Champions. 3rd overall went to Donagh Kelly and Kevin Flanagan, also in a subaru.
Sam Moffett and James O’Reilly had another fantastic International result and claimed 6th o/a and 2nd in class 4 to round off a great year for this winning crew also.
In the National category, Monaghan’s Jim McKenna and Thomas Treanor finished an excellent 4th overall and 1st in class 14 in their MK2 Escort. The pair had a fine run mixing it with the top teams as they held 3rd O/A for part of the event. The national category was won by Roy White in an S2000 rover, ahead of the super quick escorts of Wesley Patterson and Phil Collins.
Connolly/McElhinney Win Monaghan Navigation Opener
Damien Connolly, driven by Donegals Gary McElhinney proved once again they are a hard team to beat in the North Monaghan region after taking another win on last Saturday nights Monaghan Motor Club navigation trial, this the first event of the new season. CoC’s for the first time, Jonathan Mc Govern and Damien Treanor laid on a fantastic and compact event circling the quaint North Monaghan village of Carrickroe with the community centre providing ample facilities for plotting and results.
31 crews left the Carrickroe area to tackle the 75mile route which bordered the villages of Tydavnet and Emyvale before heading northwards through Killybrone and then to the Bragan mountain area before the last few time points at the Wattersons Quarry complex. All in all an enjoyable and demanding route with no room for error, this evident from the many wrong approach and departure penalties on results sheets. Michael and Ciaran Tynan had led the event right up to the final two time points where they dropped 2 penalties in all through Wattersons Quarry, enough to push them back to 3rd overall as the novice pairing of Ashley McAdoo and Laurence Keenan also finished on two penalties to be deemed 2nd overall behind Connolly/McElhinney.
Evin Hughes came out of retirement for this event and teamed up with Shane Maguire to take 2nd in the expert class behind the Tynan’s, proving that he hasn’t forgotten any of his navigation skills which saw him take many overall wins in the past few years. Monaghans Donal McArdle teamed up with Donegal veteran Ciaran Coyle and finished 3rd in expert and 6th overall.
The most unlikely pairing of Andy Mackarel and Arthur Kierans also teamed up for this event with Arthur taking to the maps, proving that he can compete in any motorsport discipline in any side of the car!! Would be fair to say there was two drivers and two navigators in this subaru and they proved their experience with 1st in semi-expert class and 10th overall. Matt and Enda Hume finished 2nd semi-expert after a troubled night.
Ashley McAdoo and Laurence Keenan had a great night with their 2nd overall finish and a novice class win, 2 penalties at time point 12 was their only downfall. Eoghan Corr and Brendan Treanor are improving with every event and took 2nd in novice class on this occasion and 8th overall. Jonathan Treanor drove midlands man Seamus McTigue to 3rd place in the novice class.
Derek Mackarel, driven by Fintan McGorman picked up where they left of last year taking the beginner class win and a superb 5th overall. Yet another unlikely switch to the navigators seat was Michael Carbin, driven by Emmet McCooey and they too hit it off with 2nd in the beginners class and 9th overall. Father and son team of Peter and Shane Farrell also had a good run to take 3rd in beginners class.
So that’s the navigation season up and running for another year. Well done to first time CoC’s Jonathan McGovern and Damien Treanor on a job well done. Jonathan would like to thank all the team for their efforts, including Carrickroe Community Centre, Coyle Crash Repairs, all the marshals that showed up, residents along the route, results teams, the tea ladies for their hard work late into the night and everyone else who helped in any way, big or small. Next up is the Drumlin navigation event on 9th November with CoC’s Gary Farrelly and Sean McKenna. This event is also the final round of the traders club championship which is going down to the wire with Damien Connolly only a point or two ahead of Martin Tynan with Derek Mackarel also close behind in 3rd. All three have the potential for a good result in the Drumlin so an exciting finish is in store.
Monaghan Motor Club Navigation Top 10
1/ Gary Mc Elhinney/Damien Connolly 1penalty
2/ Ashley McAdoo/Laurence Keenan 2pens
3/ Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan 2pens
4/ Shane Maguire/Evin Hughes 4pens
5/ Fintan McGorman/Derek Mackarel 7pens
6/ Donal McArdle/Ciaran Coyle 8pens
7/ Martin Tynan/Stephen Thornton 18pens
8/ Eoghan Corr/Brendan Treanor 20pens
9/ Emmet McCooey/Michael Carbin 29pens
10/ Andy Mackarel/Arthur Kierans 38pens
a superb 7th and 8th o/a in the event.
Another fantastic International result was claimed by another Monaghan team – Sam Moffett and James O’Reilly, who took 6th o/a and 2nd in class 4.
In the National category, Monaghan’s Jim McKenna and Thomas Treanor finished an excellent 4th overall and 1st in class 14 in their MK2 Escort. The pair had a fine run mixing it with the top teams as they held 3rd O/A for part of the event. Well done to all crews!
County Monaghan Motor Club 