Ballinode’s Conor Foley kept up his run of wins with Irish Tarmac and National Champion, Donagh Kelly, with a start to finish victory on the West Cork Rally. The event was round two of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. Kelly/Foley had already won in Birr three weeks ago and they kept up their momentum by dominating the Clonakilty-based event.
Monaghan Motor Club was further represented in the top five as Sam & Josh Moffett had a terrific battle for 4th overall with Sam & Karl Atkinson taking the place by a mere 3.6 seconds. Their result also secured the Clontibret brothers 2nd and 3rd place points in the Irish Tarmac Championship which is decided on the R5 class in 2016. Newbliss driver Stephen Wright with James Fulton on the notes took 8th overall in another Ford Fiesta R5. Enda Sherry guided Aaron McHale to 12th overall in their Skoda Fabia with Brendan Cumiskey/Ronan O’Kane just behind in 13th overall in their R5 Fiesta.
Paul Sheridan was the top finishing Monaghan man in the National Rally. He guided Vivian Hamill to 5th overall in his class 14 Escort. American based Monaghan native Barry McKenna with Declan Tynan on the notes were forced to retire on stage 10 with mechanical failure.
The Irish Tarmac Championship continues with the Circuit of Ireland which this year will take place on April 8th and 9th as opposed to it’s normal Easter date. The event is also a counting round of the British Rally Championship for the first time in 25 years, while again being a round of the European Rally Championship.
Results
1 Donagh Kelly/Conor Foley (Ford Focus WRC) 1h 54m 14s,
2 Keith Cronin/Mikey Galvin (Citroen DS3 R5) 1h 55m 40s,
3 Garry Jennings/David Moynihan (Subaru Impreza WRC) 1h 56m 23s,
4 Sam Moffett/Karl Atkinson (Ford Fiesta R5) 1h 57m 19s,
5 Josh Moffett/John Rowan (Ford Fiesta R5) 1h 57m 22s,
6 Roy White/James O’Brien (Ford Fiesta WRC) 1h 57m 37s,
7 Daragh O’Riordan/Tony McDaid (Ford Fiesta WRC) 1h 58m 25s,
8 Stephen Wright/James Fulton (Ford Fiesta R5) 1h 59m 21s,
9 Kevin Kelleher/Gwynfor Jones (Subaru Impreza WRC) 1h 59m 35s,
10 Joe McGonigle/Ciaran Geaney (Skoda Fabia S2000) 2h 00m 49s.
Mackarel/Hayes win Navigation Finale
The final Night Navigation T rial of the season took place on Saturday night last, based in Newbliss. Peter Deery stepped in as COC and along with Fintan McGorman and Conor Maguire, they pulled together an excellent 80 mile route through some classic terrain in West Monaghan. Local ace Derek Mackarel with Cork woman Muireann Hayes on the maps, took overall honours with a total of just one penalty incurred over the 85 mile route. Michael Tynan & Ciaran Tynan put in another strong showing to take 2nd overall with Richard Cassidy/Paul Phelan following up their good run in Cavan to take 3rd overall.
The opening section of the event took crews from Newbliss to Stonebridge via a Speed Regularity Section. Than it was into a plot & bash section at Killeevan and onto Clones via Stonebridge. Mackarel/Hayes and Tynan/Tynan were among a number of clean sheets at this stage but by TP19 outside Drum, they were the only crews still clean. The Tynans dropped two penalties into TP22 when they were delayed. Mackarel/Hayes were promoted into the lead which they would never lose. A sting in the tail, a plot & bash section between TP24 and TP27 on a herringbone tulip diagram caught out almost every crew. Mackarel/Hayes remained clean through this section and dropped their only penalty of the night at TP33 to take victory by a margin of two penalties.
Tynan/Tynan took a comfortable 2nd overall on three penalties. This maintains their lead in the Monaghan Motor Club Navigation Championship with two rounds completed. Richard Cassidy/Paul Phelan finished 3rd overall on eight penalties. Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes had a steady run to 4th overall which was enough to secure the Border Navigation Championship in addition to the National Navigation Championship title they had secured in Cavan. Peter Farrell/Shane Farrell had a great run to 5th overall and 1st Semi-Expert crew. They had a good battle all night with Eoghan Corr/Ruadhri Nash who finished 2nd in class with Ray O’Neill/Andrew Wedlock taking 3rd.
Novice class honours went to Colm Mohan/Conor Mohan in 8th overall ending a run of bad luck which had plagued them in recent events. Mac Kierans/Conor Boylan clinched the Novice class in the National Championship with 2nd overall on the night. Aiden Sherry/Oisin Sherlock secured the class in the Border Championship with 3rd in class on the night. They were also runners-up in the National Championship.
Hugh McBrien/Patrick Corcoran won the Beginner’s class from Paddy Sherlock/Pamela McMahon with Anthony McDonald/Jack McKenna taking 3rd in class on Jack’s first event.
That concludes the Navigation Trials series until the new season commences in October. Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes completed the double of the National & Border Night Navigation Championships, a feat which has only been achieved by a small number of crews. The prizegivings for both championships will take place in the coming months.
Results
1 Derek Mackarel/Muireann Hayes (Subaru Impreza) 1 mark,
2 Mickey Tynan/Ciaran Tynan (Subaru Impreza) 3m,
3 Richard Cassidy/Paul Phelan (Vauxhall Vectra) 9m,
4 Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes (Subaru Impreza) 11m,
5 Peter Farrell/Shane Farrell (Subaru Impreza) 23m,
6 Eoghan Corr/Ruaidhri Nash (Subaru Impreza) 34m,
7 Damien Treanor/Jonathan McGovern (Subaru Impreza) 35m,
8 Colm Mohan/Conor Mohan (Subaru Impreza) 45m,
9 Fintan Larmer/Sean McCaffrey (Subaru Impreza) 46m,
10 Mac Kierans/Conor Boylan (Subaru Impreza) 61m,
11 Brendan Treanor/Garry Farrelly (Subaru Impreza) 69m,
12 Damien Hagan/Damien Connolly (Subaru Impreza) 84m.
County Monaghan Motor Club 