Clontibret brothers Sam & Josh Moffett recorded another 1-2 finish on last weekend’s Cork 20 International Rally. The event was the final round of the 2016 Irish Tarmac Rally Championship and consisted of fourteen stages over two days. Sam went into the event with an outside chance of winning the overall title but faced stiff opposition from Keith Cronin & Alastair Fisher. After a dramatic two days, Josh & navigator, Jason McKenna, emerged victorious by just 4.6 seconds from Sam & navigator, Karl Atkinson. This was Josh and Jason’s first International win.
The opening day consisted of eight stages with centralised service in Fermoy. Championship hopeful, Alastair Fisher set the early pace but crashed out of the lead on Stage 4. Sam & Josh were well positioned in 3rd and 4th place respectively. By the end of the day, Sam had climbed to 2nd place, 8.5 seconds behind Championship leader, Keith Cronin. Josh held 4th overall just 14.3 seconds off the lead, despite a heart stopping moment on Stage 6. The Newbliss/Aghabog pairing of Stephen Wright/Arthur Kierans held 6th overall, Dundalk driver Brendan Cumiskey/Ronan O’Kane 8th and Doohamlet driver Pauric Duffy/Patrick Brides 9th. All were driving R5 Ford Fiestas.
Josh then set fastest times on Stage 9 and 11 to take the lead. With three stages remaining, just 5.9 seconds covered the top four of Josh, Cronin, Roy White with Sam in 4th place. Cronin then dropped out of contention with a puncture on stage 12. Josh & Jason maintained their lead while a storming final stage saw Sam & Karl pass White for 2nd place. Just 6.3 seconds separated the top three after two days of competitive action. Cronin’s 4th place was enough to secure him and co-driver Mickie Galvin the Tarmac Championship title for the first time. Sam & Karl finished 2nd overall with Josh 3rd overall in the championship, sponsored by Clonakilty Black Pudding.
Elsewhere, Stephen Wright & Arthur Kierans finished 6th overall and Brendan Cumiskey/Ronan O’Kane took 8th overall. In the National Rally, Emmet Sherry guided Isle of Mull resident, Calum Duffy, to 3rd overall in his unusual 2.5 litre Skoda Fabia. American-based Monaghan man, Barry McKenna, had a brilliant run to 5th overall with Donegal’s Leon Jordan in the hot seat. Ballinode’s Brendan McAree & JP McAree finished 3rd in the Historic class. Pauric Duffy retired on stage 13 while in 9th overall.
Martin Tynan & Fintan Clerkin took overall honours on last weekend’s October Navigation Trial. This was the first event of the new season and was a counting round of the Traders Trophy and Gary Nesbitt Club Championships. Both championships were ‘turned on their heads’, after a number of leading crews ran into difficulty.
COC Donal McArdle organised a compact 80 mile route in the North Monaghan area, with the Sliabh Beagh Hotel in Knockatallon serving as an excellent HQ. The opening section of the event included some long gravel lanes, a plot & bash section and some new lanes near Roslea. As early as TP3, the top two seeds, Derek Mackarel/Muireann Hayes & Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes were out of contention with wrong departures at TP3 with Mackarel/Hayes also getting a double visit.
Beginner crew, Paddy Sherlock/Pamela McMahon held a sensational lead by the midpoint Control at the Sliabh Beagh Hotel. They were on 0 penalties with Kevin McCormack/David McCrudden, Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan, Martin Tynan/Fintan Clerkin and Michael Conlon/Damien Connolly also clean.
The event moved north towards Bragan, Knockballyroney and Clara before heading West back to Knockatallon. The status quo remained the same until TP24. On an exceptionally slippy grassy lane, the top three seeds all slipped off into an unseen drain. There was pandemonium as the other crews tried to get by while the crews stuck tried to get out. Conlon/Connolly & Tynan/Clerkin survived this to remain on clean sheets as the Tynan’s challenge came to an end, stuck in the drain.
There was one final sting in the tail as Conlon/Connolly were sidelined when they too became stuck on a forest lane and went OTL trying to get out. Tynan/Clerkin dropped one penalty after passing them to take the overall win. Richard Cassidy/Paul Phelan finished 2nd overall on 6 penalties, mainly caused by delays at the incidents mentioned. Keith McConnon/Micheal McCluskey completed the podium places, securing victory in the Semi-Expert class.
Ray O’Neill/Stephen O’Neill took 2nd in the Expert class with Fintan Larmer/Sean McCaffrey in 3rd. Peter & Shane Farrell took 2nd Semi-Expert with Shane Maguire/Ruadhri Nash in 3rd. Jonathan Treanor/Martin Swinburne won the Novice class and were 4th overall. Colm Mohan/Conor Mohan finished 2nd in class and 5th overall with Kevin McCormack/David McCrudden 3rd in class and 6th overall. They lost the chance of class success after also getting stuck in the lane to TP24.
In what was a Beginner-friendly event, Michael Carbin/Mark Mohan took a sensational win on just 16 penalties total. This was good enough for 7th overall beating all but two Expert crews on Mark’s first event. A late wrong approach dropped Paddy Sherlock/Pamela McMahon to 2nd Beginner with Emmet McCooey/Christopher McMahon taking 3rd in class. David Dixon/Abraham Dixon also had a fine run to 4th in class, on Abraham’s first event. This was the biggest class of the event, with 13 Beginner crews in action.
COC Donal McArdle would like to extend his thanks to all those who made the event possible particularly the residents and landowners along the route. The Trader’s Trophy and Gary Nesbitt Club Championships are now wide open going into the final round, which is the Drumlin in November. The National Navigation Championship kicks off with the Star-Trek Navigation Trial in Cork on Saturday 15th/Sunday 16th October.
Old Monaghan Society Historical Presentation
Monaghan Motor Club stalwart Malcolm Totten will give a presentation on the formation of Monaghan Motor Club on Monday night next 10th October at 8pm in St Joseph’s Pastoral Centre, North Road, Monaghan on behalf of the Old Monaghan Society. He has put together a lot of the really old photographs and plans to cover the period from 1950 up to the affiliation of the club in 1959. In conjunction with this, the club’s 60th anniversary photo collages will be put on display in the Market House, Monaghan from Monday 10th until Thursday 20th October inclusive. Viewing times: 11am to 1pm and 2pm to 5 pm Monday to Friday. All interested are invited to attend both presentations.
Sympathy
The members of Monaghan Motor Club extend condolences to Cora and Conor Maguire and family on the death of their father Kevin Maguire and also to the Hagan family Threemilehouse on the death of Liam Hagan.
County Monaghan Motor Club 