County Monaghan Motor Club

 

Ballinode’s Conor Foley guided Donegal’s Donagh Kelly to overall victory on last weekend’s Killarney International Rally of the Lakes. The event was Round 4 of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship and consisted of sixteen classic stages over Saturday and Sunday. Kelly/Foley continued their unstoppable form which has already claimed wins in Birr and West Cork by making it three wins on the bounce. This was also their second successive win in Killarney.

 

It was Gary Jennings/Rory Kennedy who set the pace on Friday holding a 30 second advantage over Kelly/Foley with the Fiesta R5 of Alastair Fisher/Gordon Noble sandwiched between them. A stunning run over the classic Moll’s Gap stage saw Kelly/Foley take 16 seconds out of Jennings/Kennedy who were to go off on the following Ballaghbeama stage. This left Kelly/Foley in the clear as they maintained a comfortable margin over Fisher/Noble finishing 49 seconds clear by the end of the event.

 

It was a mixed weekend for the Moffett family. Josh’s rally came to an end when he went off on Saturday while Sam & co-driver Karl Atkinson finished a strong 3^rd overall. They had been putting the pressure on Fisher/Noble until a stone punctured a tyre, which came off the rim mid-stage. Stephen Wright & Fintan Sherry also put in a fine performance to take 4^th overall and secured some useful points for the Irish Tarmac Championship. Enda Sherry guided Aaron McHale to 7^th overall in their Skoda. Barry McKenna & Arthur Kierans competed in the National Rally. An early off left them running under Rally 2 regulations. They restarted on Saturday evening and came through the Sunday stage to finish 40^th overall and 5^th in class. Liam Bowhan/Martin Connolly were forced into retirement on stage three.

 

In the National rally contested over the same stages, Eugene Meegan, co-driven by Sarah Whelan, had an impressive start to finish victory in his BMW 1.

 

Results

 

International Event:

1 Donagh Kelly/Conor Foley (Ford Focus WRC) 2h 03m 15s,
2 Alastair Fisher/Gordon Noble (Ford Fiesta R5) 2h 04m 04s,
3 Sam Moffett/Karl Atkinson (Ford Fiesta R5) 2h 04m 42s,
4 Stephen Wright/Fintan Sherry (Ford Fiesta R5) 2h 07m 02s,
5 Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Ford Fiesta R5) 2h 08m 32s,
6 Owen Murphy/Anthony Nestor (Skoda Fabia S2000) 2h 09m 33s,
7 Aaron MacHale/Enda Sherry (Skoda Fabia S2000) 2h 12m 05s,
8 Callum Devine/Keith Moriarty (Opel Adam R2) 2h 15m 29s,
9 David Guest/Paddy Robinson (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 2h 16m 27s,
10 Joe Connolly/Richard Connolly (Ford Fiesta R5) 2h 20m 20s.

National Event:
1 Eugene Meegan/Sarah Whelan (BMW M1) 2h 12m 20s,
2 Jack Newman/Donal Lennon (Ford Escort) 2h 12m 55s,
3 Liam Howlett/Enda Kennedy (Ford Escort) 2h 17m 02s.

 

 

60^th Anniversary Gala Celebration

 

Monaghan Motor Club will host a Gala Ball in the Hillgrove Hotel on Saturday 14th May to celebrate its 60th anniversary. We plan to re-live the past 60 years by means of displays, videos, history of our members and various memorabilia. Attendees will include members spanning the six decades of Monaghan motorsport. Tickets are available from Ronnie Hawe: 086-8277779, email monaghanmotorclub@gmail.com or any committee member. This is a night not to be missed!