Monaghan Motor Club held their annual Autotest event on Sunday last at the idealic venue that is Wrights Quarry, Swanns Cross. Once again Brendan Flynn was the CoC and together with his team set out some challenging tests for the experts as well as the highly competitive club members section. With the recent bad weather threatening to dampen this enjoyable day, the weather Gods were certainly on Monaghan Motor Clubs side with dry and bright conditions throughout the day, albeit a bit cold.
Robin Lyons was the fastest expert of the day in his mini saloon, incredibly only 1.9 seconds ahead of Eamonn Byrne after 12 tests and some twelve minutes of competition. Daniel Byrne was 3rd overall, only 10 second further adrift with veteran Norman Armstrong taking 3rd in class A. Class B went to Stephen Ferguson in a mini special, just 4 seconds ahead of Peter Falvey in 2nd and Guy Foster in 3rd with only 7 seconds separating the top three. Ashley Lamont, in a cosworth powered Westfield had a comfortable win in class C with a 47 second advantage over Darren Quille in 2nd, with Timmy Lynch only 5 seconds further adrift in 3rd. Class D was also a close affair with David Thompson taking the outright win in his nova, 8 seconds ahead of Mark King with Jamie McMillan 3rd.
The club members section was also a very tight affair which seen 15 entries in all makes and models of high powered autotest machines from starlets to corsas, peugeots, seats, hondas and the mini special of Damien and Martin Connolly. It was the excellent driving skills of Kieran “Bilko” McCarra in the starlet which earned him the overall win on the day. Derek Mackarel finished in 2nd place only 5 seconds adrift and could have taken the win except for a few costly errors. 3rd overall went to Damien Connolly in the mini special with only 11 seconds separating the top three placings. Martin Tynan finished in 4th overall with Andy Mackarel taking 5th overall. Keith McConnon, Martin Swinburne and Laurence Keenan were all new comers to this event in the seat arosa and together with Ashley McAdoo put the little one litre pocket rocket through its paces to set some good times on their first attempt. Peter and Shane Farrell were also new comers to this form of motorsport and they too enjoyed their day in the ex-night navigation honda with Shane earning the bragging rights over his father.
Well done to Brendan Flynn and all his crew on yet another enjoyable autotest and for somehow managing to ward off the wind and rain of recent weeks. Brendan would like to thank David Wright of Wrights Quarry, Swanns Cross for the venue, the Northern Standard, results teams, marshals and timekeepers and everyone else who helped out in any way.
Wrights are Belgium Bound
This weekend marks the beginning of Stephen and Susanne Wright’s European adventure as the pair get ready to tackle the Haspengouw Rally, the opening round of the BFO Belgian Rally Championship. Stephen, who is the current Motorsport Ireland Young Rally Driver of the Year, is keen to build on his recent successes in Ireland and feels the Belgian campionship can provide the challenge he is looking for in 2014. Accompanying Stephen will be his sister Susanne who will call the all-important pacenotes and she will play a key role on the tricky Belgian roads over the weekend.
The Haspengouw Rally is based in the town of Landen in central Belgium and the Wright Rally Team will land there late on Thursday evening ahead of scrutineering on Friday before the rally starts in earnest on Saturday. The event will consist of 13 tricky stages and should provide a stern test for Stephen and Susanne who are keen to get their championship campaign off to a steady start in the Killyhevlin Hotel and Irish Sports Council backed Peugeot 208 R2.
Galway International Rally
Donegal pair Declan and Brian Boyle led virtually all the way to take their first International victory on the recent Colm Quinn BMW Galway International Rally held over the weekend of 8/9th February, leading defending Tarmac champion Garry Jennings and co-driver Rory Kennedy home by 26 seconds at the end of two days of rallying curtailed by the weather conditions. Jennings put the Boyle cousins under enormous pressure early on Sunday, reducing their overnight lead to just one fifth of a second after the two opening stages, but on the next stage, the Fermanagh driver hit a sheet of standing water, slid off into a field and dropped 40 seconds, leaving him in fifth place behind Sam Moffett who was showcasing his new Fiesta WRC and Donagh Kelly in a subaru. Later, Jennings overhauled Kelly and Moffett to regain runner up position, while the two Ford drivers reversed their placings to leave Kelly 3rd, three seconds ahead of his Monaghan rival. The main casualty of the rally’s second day was former winner and ex-Tarmac title holder Eugene Donnelly, whose Mini WRC held third place overnight. The Maghera man crashed out on the first stage of the day at Black Road and was too badly damaged to continue.
Josh Moffett and John Rowan had an excellent run on the tricky wet Galway roads to take the group N win and 5th overall in the EVO 9. Cavan man Stephen McCann finished in 6th overall, just 19 seconds adrift of Josh with Eugene Meegan 7th and Brendan Cumiskey 9th.
The national category was won by the super quick starlet of Donegal man Declan Gallagher, with Wesley Patterson in 2nd in his escort and Pat Kelly in 3rd in a subaru sti. Brendan and JP McAree also made the trip to compete in the historic section and finished in 5th overall in their porch 911.
County Monaghan Motor Club 