County Monaghan Motor Club

The Four Seasons Hotel in Monaghan town was the place to be last Friday 31^st March, where the 2017 Four Seasons Hotel Monaghan Stages Rally was officially launched. The huge crowd of rally enthusiasts that attended were treated to a programme of varied attractions.

First up was a display of rally cars outside the hotel ranging from the humble clubman specification to the all-powerful WRC cars. The evening commenced inside the spacious hotel with club member and local DJ/MC Sean McCaffrey interviewing some of the organising team.

New Clerk of the Course Thomas Treanor welcomed all and provided some insight into the characteristics of the stages that have been selected for this year’s rally, which takes place on Sunday 23^rd April. New club chairman Conor Maguire thanked everyone for their attendance and he made particular mention of the support received from Frank McKenna and his team at the Four Seasons Hotel, who are the main sponsors of the rally this year.

A number of leading drivers and co-drivers then participated in an open forum with MC Sean McCaffrey leading the show. The proceedings were streamed live to Facebook and can be accessed through the official Monaghan Motor Club Facebook page. The evening concluded with a film show featuring many of the previous Monaghan stages rallies.

Moffett Lights Up The Azores

2016 Billy Coleman Award Winner Josh Moffett got his European Rally Championship (ERC) campaign off to a superb start with an amazing 3^rd overall on the Azores Rally. The ERC Junior series sees competitors under the age of 28 competing in R5 cars counting four scores out of six in events all across Europe. Josh finished in 2^nd place in this category. The Clontibret man was joined by Cavan’s James Fulton in the Navigators seat. Josh had previously competed on this event in 2015, which features some spectacular stages overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

Josh made a solid start to the gravel-based event, surviving an early spin to finish the opening leg in 10^th position. They made steady progress on day two moving up to 6^th place. Stage 14 was to be a dramatic one as local ace Ricardo Moura went out of second place and Jan Cerny dropped out of 4^th while under pressure from Moffett. This promoted Josh to a brilliant 3^rd overall. Their next planned event in this series is the Rally Islas Canaries on the 4th and 5th of May.

Circuit of Kerry Rally

 Anthony Hand & Peter Deery were the sole Monaghan representatives on last weekend’s Circuit of Kerry Rally. They brought their Escort home to a fine 11^th overall and 1^st in class 11R.