Sam Moffett and James O’Reilly have popped the Champaign corks for a second weekend in succession following an emphatic win on last weekends Cartell.ie Killarney Rally of the Lakes. The Combilift backed duo claimed the outright win after two tough days through the Kerry countryside, traversing some of Irelands best known rally stages such as Moll’s Gap, Healy’s Pass and Cod’s Head. Declan and Brian Boyle had been leading the event through the Saturday stages but they crashed out in the WRC Subaru. Then it was Donagh Kelly who took over the mantle but he too crashed out on the penultimate stage leaving the travelling Monaghan men to take over the reigns at the helm and guide the Fiesta WRC home to yet another famous victory, following on from their success on their home event, the Hill grove Hotel Monaghan Stages Rally the weekend before hand.

            Alan Ring and Adrian Deasy were second overall, almost two minutes and forty seconds adrift of the Combilift Fiesta. Josh Moffett and John Rowan also made it the the podium, finishing a fantastic 3rd overall in their EVO 9. They too were coming off the back of a great result on their home stages, swapping the Group N win for 3rd overall in Killarney, amongst some stiff opposition. Eugene Meegan and Sarah Whelan rounded off a perfect weekend for the travelling Monaghan crews in the International Rally with 4th overall and the Group N win, also in an EVO 9.

            The National category was won by Roy White and James O’Brien in the MG ZR Rover S2000, with Wesley Patterson and Johnny Baird second overall. Donegal’s Declan Gallagher and Ryan Moore thrilled the thousands of spectators with there sideways style to come home in 3rd overall. Clones man Raymond Conlon with Nicola McKenna on the notes had been lying in 10th overall and second in class 13 in the twin-cam corolla before their gearbox let go and forcing their retirement whilst setting some great stage times.

 

Pirelli Richard Burns Foundation Rally

Daniel McKenna and Arthur Kierans dropped the chequered flag on their British Rally Championship campaign last weekend with a wonderful 2nd overall result on the Pirelli Rally, based in Carlisle. After 10 demanding gravel stages over the course of Saturday and Sunday the Monaghan duo were only 46seconds adrift of Oisan Pryce and Dale Furniss in a similar Citreon DS3 R3T. This was Daniels first competitive stage mileage on a gravel surface, running on the new Pirelli gravel tyres and an excellent result with the tarmac roads of the Jim Clarke Rally in Scotshouse awaiting the Scotshouse/Aghabog men on 30/31st May.

            Tydavnet man Emmett Sherry also made the trip to Wales to navigate for Calvin Beattie in a Ford Fiesta and they too had a great drive through the Welsh forests to claim 5th overall and 2nd in class 2.

 

Wright’s April Adventures

Stephen Wright has reached the end of his hectic April schedule that saw him tackle 3 rallies in 3 weekends in Ireland and Belgium behind the wheel of his Peugeot 208 R2. Stephen’s first event of the month saw him travel to the TAC Rally in Belgium, which is based around the town of Tielt. Despite challenging roads and foggy conditions on some of the stages, Stephen with elder sister Susanne on the pacenotes, finished a brilliant 16^th overall and 2^nd among the Peugeot 208 Rally Trophy runners. As an added bonus, Stephen also won the junior driver of the rally award.

            From the roads of West Flanders the Wright Rally cavalcade then travelled all the way back home to take part in the Discover Northern Ireland Circuit of Ireland Rally. The event was a counting round of the Junior European Championship and after a troublesome opening day, Stephen and Susanne eventually climbed to 4^th place, narrowly missing out on a podium among a truly international field of drivers from Norway, Britain, Italy, Czech Republic, Poland and Belgium.

            Finally, it was back to Belgium to compete in the Rallye de Wallonie where Stephen faced a massive challenge with 25 cars entered in his class. Due to work commitments Susanne sat out the rally but a replacement was found in the form of experienced navigator Karl Atkinson and he guided Stephen to 8^th in class and 5^th among the Peugeot Trophy winners. With every mile on the Belgian roads Stephen is continually learning and is looking forward to the remainder of the season.

 

Squealing Pig Border Navigation Championship Prizegiving

All roads lead to the Squealing Pig in Monaghan this Friday night for the annual border navigation prize giving awards. Dinner will be at 8.30 sharp with prize giving afterwards. This years overall winners were midlands men Colin Duffy and Sam Johnston with a host of local navigation men receiving awards also. Please check out results and award winners on Monaghan Motor Clubs facebook page and come along to the championship sponsor, the Squealing Pig on this Friday night, 9th May for a guaranteed night of craic and banter. Tickets need to be booked ASAP so call or text Andy on 0872558957 to reserve some.

 

Club Notes/PRO Details

Monaghan Motor Club have set up a new e-mail account solely for the purpose of receiving information from competitors and club members on their exploits throughout the year in all forms of motorsport competition. All competitors are urged to e-mail action photos (no watermarks) and a short note on how they got on in any event throughout the year. We need these details for weekly reports and Facebook news. The e-mail address is rallynews1@gmail.com Obviously we cannot guarantee everything will be published but your input would be greatly appreciated to try and cover all members and their endeavours.