Aaron Duffy & Laurence Keenan took overall honours on last weekend’s Doohamlet-based Navigation Trial. COC Garry Farrelly and his team laid out an 80 mile event which was full of tricks and challenges.
It was the South Monaghan pairing of Aaron Duffy & Laurence Keenan who came out victorious taking the win with a 13 penalty margin. Martin Tynan & Fintan Clerkin took 2nd overall with 3rd place going to the Semi-Expert paring of Paddy & Oisin Sherlock.
There were 30 starters for this event which was a counting round of the Traders Trophy and Gary Nesbitt Club Championships. A plot and bash section between TP5 and TP8 would prove decisive on the night.
A herringbone tulip was used incorporating both road goes and non goers and caught out many of the crews, with only one crew negotiating this section without significant penalties.
The Semi-Expert pairing of James McCabe/Shane Farrell faired best dropping just six penalties. Some of the leading Expert crews received multiple double visit penalties at TP5 which had a tricky departure.
McCabe/Farrell were in a commanding lead at this point but would fall foul of TP19 & TP20, missing both of these timepoints. When they dropped 30 penalties (another double visit) at ITC1 their hopes of victory were over.
Having dropped 46 penalties on the earlier plot & bash section, Aaron Duffy & Laurence Keenan put in an impressive run to drop just one more penalty until the end of the night.
They pulled away from the opposition which was headed by another Expert crew of Martin Tynan & Fintan Clerkin. Their total of 60 penalties left them a comfortable 2nd overall. There was a close race for 3rd place with four penalties covering four crews.
It was the Semi-Expert, father & son team of Paddy & Oisin Sherlock who took 3rd overall on 72 penalties. Drumlin winners, Kevin McCormack/David McCrudden were just behind in 4th and 2nd Semi-Expert with early leaders, McCabe/Farrell 5th overall and 3rd in class.
Derek Mackarel/Muireann Hayes finished 2nd Expert with Michael & Ciaran Tynan, despite an early double visit, securing 3rd Expert. Novice class honours went the way of Emmet McCooey/Christopher McMahon who took 9th overall. Colm & Conor Mohan took 2nd in class with Johnny & Ryan Treanor in 3rd.
Darragh Kelly & Ciaran Duffy took another dominant win in the Beginners class taking 12th overall. Niall Kelly/Niall Hughes finished in 2nd with Kieran McCarra/Kate Lynch in 3rd.
COC Garry Farrelly would like to thank everyone who contributed to the event in any way with particular thanks to the landowners and residents along the route and the staff in the Doohamlet Community Centre.
County Monaghan Motor Club 