There was a grandstand finish to the Hotel Kilmore Cavan Stages Rally – a counting round of the Motorsport Ireland Triton Showers National Rally Championship and the Sligo Pallets Border Rally Championship.
Eventual winners Josh Moffett and Keith Moriarty entered the final stage near Drung 0.3 of a second in arrears to Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan.
The Hyundai i20 crew dug deep over the challenging test, their task not helped by the melting tar caused by the day’s high temperatures, to turn the deficit into a 1.8-second victory.
“It was all or nothing, we took a lot of chances out there this evening,” saidMoffett at the finish ramp at the Hotel Kilmore.
“It was a bit dusty out there this morning and in the end, the tar was slightly melting which made for a challenging day, but we are delighted. There is still a lot to play for in the championship, we needed a victory, it was important.”
It was their second win of the 2023 Triton campaign after coming out on top on the Circuit of Kerry in April too.
Earlier in the day Moffett survived a hair-raising spin on stage five and overcame a mysterious engine management fault that resulted in the car’s engine cutting out.
Round one winners Devine and O’Sullivan were credited with a poor time on stage one, attributed to a malfunction within the event’s timing system and this threw their concentration in the early part of the rally.
When the time was eventually corrected, just ahead of stage seven the Volkswagen Polo crew found themselves in the rally lead in the thick of a battle for overall honours.
Third seeds Desi Henry and Paddy Robinson made their maiden championship appearance of the year and finished where they started in third.
“We had a few altercations with Cavan ditches, they jumped out in front of us,” said Henry.
His Citroen C3 Rally2 also developed an engine management system similar to the one Moffett experienced.
“We overshot a junction, stalled and then the engine management system went into reboot mode for some reason,” he added.
Cathan McCourt and Barry McNulty were fourth in their first outing in a new Ford Fiesta. He admitted that he took the early part of the rally to get acquainted with his new mount.
Stephen Wright and Ger Conway were fifth in Class in their Fiesta R5
Just like the main rally, the modified category was decided on the last stage. Kevin Eves and Chris Melly entered the final stage some five seconds behind long-time rally leaders Daniel McKenna and Andrew Greenan.
The Toyota Corolla driver threw caution to the wind to take the category victory by just 0.1 of a second over his Ford Escort rival. Dessie Keenan and Jason McKenna rounded out the top ten in their Ford Escort. The Monaghan crew have not rallied since the Midland Moto Stages Rally in March and admitted it took until the latter part of the rally to get up to the same speed as their busier rivals.
The event was, as always, well supported by Monaghan crews who took to the roads just a short hop across the country boundary.
Niall Maguire and Conor Foley took the Subaru Impreza S12 to 13th overall, while Michael Carbin and Dean O’Sullivan were 20th O/A and 1st in Class in their Mitsubishi. Just behind Carbin was Brendan Cumiskey and Martin Connolly, who were first in Class 4 in the Ford Fiesta Rally3.
Dylan Eves and Ryan Farrell were the Drive of the Day winners in their Ford Fiesta, and took 3rd in the very competitive RC4 class. Like many other battles during the day, there was nothing in it by the end and they were just three seconds off the top spot.
In Class 3, Jason and Daniel McConnon were on for a strong result until steering issues on the final loop demoted them to 4th in Class.
Paul Barrett/Kevin Reilly (Citroen C3 Rally2) and Shane Maguire/Paul Maguire (Ford Fiesta R5) were trading times in Class 5 throughout the rally and getting quicker all afternoon, until issues on the last stage dropped Maguire back down the field.
In Class 9, Patrick Fitzpatrick and James McEneaney had a strong event to take a convincing class win.
Cathal Sheridan and Peter Deery had been leaded Class 10 in the red Nova before retirement.
Gary Cassidy and Killian McArdle had to settle for second in Class 11F in their Honda Civic. Ashling McArdle was calling notes for Des Lyons and took fourth. Jack Maguire/Keith McConnon would finish sixth in the same class.
In Class 11R, Martin McPhillips and Peter Farrell were 3rd in their Corolla Twin Cam, while Martin McPhillips (Newbliss) guided Barney Greenan to 5th in class. It was a story of what could have been for Anthony Hand and David McCrudden who were second in class after the opening stage but forced to re-enter under Rally2 and bounced back with quick times.
Justin Smyth and Gregory McQuillan took Class 12 ahead of James Cassidy and Domhnall Lennon.
In Class 13, Raymond Conlon and Gavin Doherty were 3rd, Trevor Burke was on the notes for Mervyn Deane and finished 5th and Declan Tynan was alongside Gene McDonald to finish 9th in class. Monaghan co-drivers Piaras O’Ceallachain and Paul McPhillips were early contenders in the class, but both respective crews retired before the end of the day. James McCarville’s rally only lasted the length of the first stage. Gerard McGivney and Donal Crossan were also early retirees from the event.
McKenna and Keenan made sure the county was represented on the Class 14 podium, and David Moffett and Eric Calnan were just behind the leading bunch before the Starlet jammed into 1st gear on the last stage and they were forced to drive through at a more relaxed pace. Johno Doogan and Paul Lennon recovered from early troubles to prove their speed on the stage times. Richard Moffett and Darragh Kelly rolled out of the modified lead near the end of Stage 3. Gary McPhillips and Paul Sheridan were another local crew to show early speed, but failed to make the finish.
Monaghan’s Jack McKenna and Damien Doherty won the Junior Rally in a dominant fashion, this was the Honda Civic crew’s third maximum score from as many starts this season.
In Class 15, Brian Comiskey and Declan Campbell led the way ahead of Patrick Connolly and John McCarville.
Round 4 of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship will take place in Waterford on the 2nd of July for the Ravens Rock Stages Rally.
Kierans crews in the UK
Max McRae and Mac Kierans had a short lived Jim Clark Rally when the driveshaft in their Opel Corsa Rally4 gave in on the first stage and caused damage that put them out for the weekend. Mac’s father Arthur had some better luck, making it the full distance of the rally alongside Alan Carmichael to take sixth in the BRC1 class.
County Monaghan Motor Club 