The New Year of Motorsport got underway last Saturday Night with Monaghan Motor Club’s annual January Navigation Trial. COC Conor Mohan and his team organised a compact 85 mile route in the North and Mid-Monaghan areas. In what was a closely contested event, it was the Expert crew of Mac Kierans & Conor Boylan who secured the win by a one penalty margin.
Just over 30 crews made the start of the event on what proved to be a primarily dry night. After completing pre-event plotting at Ballinode Community Hall, Drumlin winners Michael & Ciaran Tynan led the field to the opening section in the Tydavnet, Ballinode & Three Mile House areas. An early plot & bash timepoint had crews on their toes early. By TP11, most leading crews were on clean sheets. The Beginner crew of Kieran McCarra/Aaron McElroy were leading from the Novice pairing of Aaron Dixon/Dylan Lennon.
A trio of Plot & Bash timepoints between TP12 and TP14 would prove decisive. A mixture of tulip diagrams and jumbled plots would catch out the majority of the field. The Semi-Expert crew of James McCabe/Shane Farrell faired best and by the midway point they led on 7 penalties with three crews tied for 2nd on 17 penalties apiece.
As the event moved towards the Aghabog and Smithborough areas, McCabe/Farrell were holding their own out front. The final plot & bash section incorporated a tulip diagram where every gate, road, lane and opening was included as a ‘road’. This delayed some crews more than others. McCabe/Farrell were caught with a wrong approach here but worse was to come at they picked up a huge 80 penalty at TP28.
Mac Kierans/Conor Boylan cleaned this section to edge out Derek Mackarel/Muireann Hayes by a single penalty. The Semi-Expert pairing of Peter Deery/David McCrudden secured 3rd place with Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes in 4th and Martin Tynan/Fintan Clerkin in 5th.
In the Semi-Expert class, Damien Treanor/Christopher McMahon took 2nd in class and 6th overall with Caolan & Ryan Treanor in 3rd. The Novice class went to Aaron Dixon/Dylan Lennon who were well ahead of Donal & Killian McArdle in 2nd and Francis McElvaney/Danny McKenna in 3rd. The Beginners class was won by Kieran McCarra/Aaron McElroy from Ciaran & Paul McPhillips with Stefan McCann/Colm McKeever in 3rd.
COC Conor Mohan would like to thank all the landowners and residents along the route for their support and co-operation. He would also like to thank all the marshals for turning out to support the event. Two rounds are now completed in the club championship and the next club event is the March Navigation Trial on March 30th/31st.
Results:
1st Mac Kierans/Conor Boylan (Subaru Impreza) 17 marks,
2nd Derek Mackarel/Muireann Hayes (Subaru Impreza) 18m,
3rd Peter Deery/David McCrudden (Subaru Impreza) 21m,
4th Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes (Subaru Impreza) 23m,
5th Martin Tynan/Fintan Clerkin (Subaru Impreza) 23m,
6th Damien Treanor/Christopher McMahon (Subaru Impreza) 26m,
7th Mickey Tynan/Ciaran Tynan (Subaru Impreza) 27m,
8th Mark Deery/Patrick O’Leary (Subaru Impreza) 29m,
9th Caolan Treanor/Ryan Treanor (Subaru Impreza) 44m,
10th Damien Treanor/Jonathan McGovern (Subaru Impreza) 53m,
11th Aaron Dixon/Dylan Lennon (Subaru Impreza) 71m,
12th Kieran McCarra/Aaron McElroy (Subaru Impreza) 71m
Semi-experts: 1 Peter Deery/David McCrudden, 2 Damien Treanor/Christopher McMahon, 3 Caolan Treanor/Ryan Treanor.
Novices: 1 Aaron Dixon/Dylan Lennon, 2 Donal McArdle/Killian McArdle (Subaru Impreza) 152m, 3 Francis McElvaney/Danny McKenna (Subaru Impreza) 153m.
Beginners: 1 Kieran McCarra/Aaron McElroy, 2 Ciaran McPhillips/Paul McPhillips (Subaru Impreza) 86m, 3 Stefan McCann/Colm McKeever (Subaru Impreza) 120m.
Monaghan Motor Club AGM
The annual general meeting of Co. Monaghan Motor Club will be held on Wednesday 23rd January 2019 at 8.30pm in the Four Seasons Hotel, Monaghan. Nomination forms will be available for download on the club website www.monaghanmotorclub.net. Nominations must be received by the secretary by Monday 21st January 2019.
All 2018 club members are eligible to vote in the election of the 2019 committee. All members are encouraged to attend and participate in the open discussion on current topics
County Monaghan Motor Club 