Richard Moffett and Ger Conway took overall honours on last weekend’s Kerry Winter Stages Rally at Banna. The pair claimed victory by 24.8 seconds from Ryan Loughran/Toney Healy. Third overall went to Stuart Darcy/Darragh Mullen who were a further 5.5s in arrears.
Early leaders Jack Newman/Andrew Browne held a 3.5s lead over Moffett after special stage 3 but all their hard work would come to an end on SS4 when they clipped a chicane and ploughed into a silage bale damaging the bonnet. With the bonnet lifting and blocking the view out, they decided to retire for safety reasons. Newman’s retirement promoted Moffett to 1st, a position he’d hold to the very end. Darcy put in a big charge over the afternoon stages and overhauled both Michael Carbin/Dean O’Sullivan and Padraig Egan/Tomas Ryan and take the final podium place.
Carbin/O’Sullivan finished 5th OA and 1st class 20, David Moffett/Martin Conolly finished right behind them in 6th OA and 2nd class 14. Previous winners Sam Moffett/Keith Moriarty finished 8th OA and 2nd class 13 while Des Lyons/Ashling McArdle finished 23rd OA and 3rd class 11F.
Ed O’Callaghan/Kaine Treanor taking their recently purchased Darrian T90 GTR for a race, retired with mechanical trouble on SS2. Piaras O’Ceallachain navigating for Brian Lavelle retired after SS3.
Cambrian Rally
Eamonn Kelly and Conor Mohan made their way over to the final round of the British Rally Championship, the Visit Conwy Cambrian Rally 2022. Despite taking their Junior Championship title over the previous two rounds they still headed across the sea to finish out the championship. Taking the R5 VW Polo this time, they finished a fantastic 3rd OA on the event and 2nd BRC crew.
The rally began Friday night with two night stages. A cautious run on the first stage due to heavy fog seen them complete the stage in 6th place. Heavy rain over the opening stages hampered them as they got accustomed to the car on gravel for the first time. On SS2 they managed to take 5th place before the overnight break. On SS4 while passing through a watersplash, the impact caused the windscreen to immediately fog up. Unable to see where they were headed, they lost roughly 30s as they drove carefully until the window finally cleared. Despite the stages becoming extremely rough, the pair finally hit a bit of form on SS6 scoring a top 3 stage time. By rally’s end they had five top 3 stage times, including a fastest time overall on the final stage. A perfect way to finish out their BRC campaign. What makes their stage win more impressive, is that they beat former Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team driver Oliver Solberg. Solberg had recently finished Repco Rally New Zealand in 5th OA driving a Hyundai i20 N Rally1 car.
Drumlin Navigation
Round 2 of the National Navigation Championship takes place on Saturday night the 12th November. Clerk of the Course Shane Farrell has laid out a 120 mile route based out of the Sean McDermott’s GAA Complex in Threemilehouse. Route card 1 is at 17:45 with the first car away at 21:01. Regulations and entry are available now on the motor club website and Facebook page. As ever marshals are required for the running of the event. Anyone available is asked to contact the club or CoC Shane on 086-2616120.
Cork Pair Derek Butler/Denis O’Donovan will be looking to make it two wins from two after their victory on Round 1. Shane Dalton will be with a new navigator temporally as Ryan Treanor has other commitments and will miss this event. Conor Boylan will be back in action with Derek Mackarel after missing the opening round. Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock will be looking to bounce back from their non finish in Inchigeelagh.
The Squealing Pig Border Navigation Championship, the club Traders and the club Gary Nesbitt Navigation Championships kick off with the Drumlin event. Michael and Ciaran Tynan will be looking to secure the Border title for the 2nd year in a row while Conor Mohan will try to keep his hands on the overall Gary Nesbitt award. Derek Mackarel will also be trying to get his Traders title defence off to a perfect start.
PRO Oisín Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com
County Monaghan Motor Club 