County Monaghan Motor Club

Michael Carbin & Conor Mohan came close to overall victory on last weekend’s Fivemiletown Forestry Rally. After eight fast and flowing forest stages, the Smithborough/Ballinode team were just eight seconds shy of the similar Lancer of Niall McCullagh/Ryan McCloskey.

 

The pair had been in a steady 5^th place at the halfway mark but there were major changes at the head of the leaderboard in the latter half of the event but such was the pace they were only 14 seconds behind the rally leaders. By stage six, they had climbed to 2^nd place. Going into the final stage they trailed event leaders Cathan McCourt/Barry McNulty by 37 seconds. However McCourt/McNulty retired on the test. Carbin/Mohan missed out on the win as Niall McCullagh/Ryan McCloskey stormed through the test turning a 3 second deficit into an 8 second win.

 

Andrew Grennan was navigating for Vivian Hamill in an Escort but they failed to make the finish.

 

Monaghan Men Make Mark on Cambrian Rally

 

A number of club members contested the opening round of the 2019 British Rally Championship, the Cambrian Rally based in North Wales. After 10 demanding forestry stages, Josh Moffett/Keith Moriarty led the Monaghan crews home in 5^th place overall. Brendan Cumisky/Ronan O’Kane brought their Skoda Fabia home in 9^th overall. Arthur Kierans joined forces with Billy Coleman Award Winner, James Wilson. They finished an impressive 12^th overall and took victory in the very competitive Junior category by just 2 seconds! Paul Sheridan guided Enda McCormack to 17^th overall.

 

ALMC Endurance Trial

 

The opening round of the 2019 Irish Endurance Championship got underway with last weekend’s ALMC Endurance Trial based in Luttrlestown, Co. Dublin. A number of Monaghan crews tackled the event which attracted a full entry of 70 crews. After 18 selectives which included a number of night selectives, top stages competitor Robert Barrable & his navigator Ciaran Larkin took the win by 52 seconds from his brother Peter & navigator Gary McElhinney. The Dublin/Monaghan partnership of Karl O’Donoghue and Evin Hughes secured 3^rd overall after make good progress on the night selectives.

 

Emmet Sherry/Ciaran Geaney finished 10^th overall and finished 2^nd in the Semi-Expert class. Ryan Treanor/Paul Murphy finished 4^th in the same class. Craig McPhillips/Oisin Sherlock brought their Toyota Glanza to 5^th in class B. Colm McKeever/Shane Marron took 4^th in the Beginners class with Robert Graham/Shane Murphy taking 2^nd in the Novice class. Aaron McElroy guided circuit racer Nicole Drought to victory in class A1 in her Micra. Noel & Aiden Sherry took 3^rd in class C for up to 2.0 litre Navigation cars. Cathal & Eimear McGlone brought their Suzuki Ignis to 12^th in class B with Damien Treanor/Gordon Burke taking 16^th in the same class.