Michael Conlon & Ciaran McPhillips were top 2wd drive finishers and an impressive 5th overall on last Sunday’s Carrick-on-Suir Forestry Rally. The pair led the 2wd crews from start to finish on the six stage event to begin their Valvoline Forestry championship campaign in perfect style.
Elsewhere in the event, Clontibret’s Michaela McGinn guided Fermanagh’s Damien McGauran to 19th overall and 3rd in class 13. Derek Mackarel & Peter Deery made the overnight trip down after competing on the Cavan Navigation Trial the previous night. They showed no ill effects as they guided their Nova to 25th overall and 4th in the Junior class. The Championship continues with the Donegal Forestry Rally which has been re-arranged for Saturday March 21st.
Cork Crew Seal the Deal on Cavan Navigation Trial
The Cork Semi-Expert pairing of Dermot Whelton/Mark McCarthy upstaged the locals by taking overall honours on last Saturday’s Cavan Navigation Trial. The event was the penultimate round of the National & Border Night Navigation Championships. COC Damien McCabe laid out a challenging 75 mile route based around the village of Maudabawn. It the end it was the Cork pairing who took the event win from Ashley McAdoo/Laurence Keenan on a tie-break.
A plot & bash section between TP2 and TP6 proved to be very challenging with any mistakes likely to be punished by wrong approach/double visit penalties. Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes and Colin Duffy/Sam Johnston, who were battling for both the National & Border titles, moved into an early lead and by TP22 not one penalty would separate them. Joining them in the lead were Novice pairing Keith McConnan/Micheal McCluskey who were having a terrific run to be down just 2 penalties by TP22. Dermot Whelton/Mark McCarthy held 4th place but were already six penalties adrift of the leading trio.
The event is never over until its over and dramatically all three leading crews would drop out of the lead over the last four timepoints. TP29 would be the undoing of Duffy/Hughes who were caught with a wrong approach. Duffy/Johnston got TP29 ok but would then wrong approach at TP30. This left McConnan/McCluskey holding the lead but they forgot to visit Via4 which had been issued earlier. Upon realising their mistake and re-routing to visit the Via, they dropped 9 penalties into TP32 thus dropping them from 1st to 3rd overall. All this left Whelton/McCarthy clear to take the win on 12 penalties on the furthest cleanest rule from fellow Semi-Expert pairing Ashley McAdoo/Laurence Keenan. McConnan/McCluskey finished 3rd overall and 1st in the Novice class.
Donegal’s Rory Coyle/Ciaran Coyle won the expert class after winning a three-way tie with Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan and Joe Shinnors/Greg Shinnors. Joe Friel/Eoghan McCarthy & Matt Hume/Enda Hume finished 2nd and 3rd Semi-Expert respectively. Local crew Thomas & Andrew Wedlock took 2nd in the Novice class and 4th overall with Derek Mackarel/Seamus McTigue finishing 3rd Novice. Ciaran Sheridan/Conor Boylan won the Beginners class with Philip Smith/Conor Smith and Colm Mohan/Conor Mohan completing the top three finishers.
The final round of both the National & Border Night Navigation Championships will be held in Monaghan on March 21st. Laurence Keenan & Ashley McAdoo will be running this event. Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes hold the advantage in the race for the National title while the Border Championship looks like a shoot-out between Colin Duffy/Sam Johnston & Laurence Keenan.
Mayo Stages Rally
The 2015 Sligo Pallets Border Rally Championship kicks off this weekend with the Mayo Stages Rally on Sunday. Defending champions, David Moffett & Fintan Sherry are among a number of Monaghan crews set to compete on this event. The event will again be based in Ballina with three new stages selected for this year giving a total competitive distance of 116 km. Full Report on this event next week.
Sligo Pallets Border Rally Championship
The committee of the Border Rally Championship are delighted to confirm that Sligo Pallets will return as title sponsors for the 2015 Border Rally Championship. This partnership, which began in 2011, has seen the Championship grow in stature and entrance levels increase over the previous years. It is hoped this trend will continue in 2015.
The Championship will revert to a six round series in 2015 with the addition of the Galway Summer Rally in late August. It was felt by many crews that there was too long of a gap between Sligo & Donegal, so Galway in late August was the ideal candidate to fill this void. The committee look forward to welcoming Galway to the fold this year. Due to the new round, competitors will now count their best four scores from six events. Classes will be as per 2015 Motorsport Ireland regulations.
The dates for the 2015 championship rounds are:
March 8th Mayo Stages Rally
April 26th Monaghan Stages Rally
May 23rd Cavan Stages Rally
July 11th Sligo Stages Rally
August 30th Galway Summer Rally
October 10th Donegal Harvest Rally
Upcoming Events:
March 14/15th West Cork Rally
March 21st Monaghan Navigation Trial
March 21st Donegal Forestry Rally
March 22nd Cavan Autocross
March 29th Midland Stages Rally
April 4th-5th Circuit of Ireland Rally
County Monaghan Motor Club 