Martin Tynan and Stephen Thornton were victorious in last weekend’s Monaghan Motor Club Endurance Trial based out of the Four Seasons Hotel.
The pair won the event in their Toyota Starlet by three seconds from Kieran Mc Carra and Gary Mc Crudden with Andrew Mackarel and Richard Cassidy a further sixteen seconds behind in their Opel Ascona.
The event attracted an entry of 23 cars of varying specification who set about tackling the 20 selective’s at 10 venues throughout north Monaghan as set out by CoC Ronnie Hawe and his team. First up was a quick blast around Monaghan Quarries, followed by a tight and slippy test around the combilift factory at Clontibret. Then it was onto a narrow and slippy forest track just outside Ballybay before a visit to Cavan Motor Clubs Hut Cross quarry track in Latton. Wrights Quarry in Swanns Cross was the venue for the 5th selective and all five were repeated before a well deserved dinner break back at the Four Seasons Hotel. The afternoon selective’s were in the North Monaghan regions with two passes over a grassy lane to the back of Niall Maguires house at Hollyrood, next up was the rally school and then onto Wattersons quarry in Carrickroe. Mc Aree Engineering’s Carrickroe factory was the venue for the ninth test followed by a quick blast through a tarmac surfaced lane known locally as McMeels. Endurance by name and endurance by nature as the first car’s arrived back to HQ around 7.30pm. It was a closely fought battle all day but it was Tynan and Thornton who came out on top. As only class 1 cars were eligible for overall honours it was Derek Mackarel and Peter Deery who were deemed 2nd overall with Graham O’Donaghoe and Damian Connolly 3rd overall.
Class one honours went to Karl O’Donoghoe and Evin Hughes in their Rover 200, followed by Enda McLoughlin and Declan Tynan 2nd in class 1 and Paul Gibbons/Mark Reilly 3rd. Class 2 was won by the ultra quick Kieran McCarra in a Mitsubishi Colt followed by Michael and Ciaran Tynan in the 998cc daihatsu cuore. 3rd in class went to Conor Meehan and Brendan Keenan in their starlet. Class 3 went to Peter and Shane Farrell in their Honda civic, followed by Darren McCague and Mark Sheridan in their rover which bore the scares of battle at the finish! Mark Hamill and Greg O’Reilly were 3rd in class 3. Andy Mackarel and Richard Cassidy topped class 5 in their 2 litre opel ascona with Eoghan Corr and Damian Treanor 2nd in class in the Mazda MX5, both crews using there rear wheel power to maximum effect throughout a thoroughly enjoyable day for all competitors.
That’s the endurance trial over for another year and CoC Ronnie Hawe would like to thank everyone who helped organise the event, The Four Seasons Hotel, marshals, land and property owners and anyone else who helped make this a successful event. Next up for Monaghan Motor Club is the first night navigation trial of the new season on Saturday 4th October.
1. Martin Tynan/Stephen Thornton 08:45
2. Kieran McCarra/Gary McCrudden +0.03
3. Andrew Mackarel/Richard Cassidy +0.19
4. Derek Mackarel/Peter Deery +0.55
5. Graham O’Donaghoe/Damien Connolly +1:15
6. Karl O’Donaghoe/Evin Hughes +1:15
7. Eoghan Corr/ Damien Treanor +1:35
8. Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan +1.50
9. Enda McLoughlin/Declan Tynan +2.13
10. Peter Farrell/Shane Farrell +2:36
MOFFETT SET FOR WRC DEBUT
Monaghan’s Sam Moffett and James O’Reilly are set to make their World Rally Championship debut this weekend. The Monaghan pair will tackle the ADAC Rallye Deutschland in their Fiesta WRC. The Combilift Rallying team has secured the sponsorship of DSV for the event and will be looking forward to a massive learning curve on the German stages. The team have had a great year on the national scene so far.
NIGHT NAVIGATION CLASSES
Monaghan Motor Club will once again run their highly successful night navigation classes this year ahead of the upcoming night navigation season starting in October. These class’s are designed for beginners who would like to dip their feet into the world of motorsport, with night navigations being the grass roots of the sport and the first step on the ladder. So if your interested in learning about the sport and how to read maps and indeed pace notes for stages rally why not come along to the first of our classes which start on Friday 29th August. Time and venue to be confirmed next week and also keep an eye out on our Monaghan Motor club face book page as well as http://www.monaghanmotorclub.net Please text your details to Conor on 0861677446 to book a place on this course.
R.I.P. TIMOTHY CATHCART
Monaghan Motor Club would like to extend its sympathies and thoughts to the family and friends of Timothy Cathcart who tragically lost his life at the Ulster Rally yesterday. R.I.P. Also we extend our best wishes to Dai Roberts for a speedy recovery
County Monaghan Motor Club 