Moffett Wins in Birr

 Josh Moffett and Keith Moriarty took overall victory in the Birr Stages Rally, round three of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship.

The pair held a 17.6s advantage over Sam Moffett/James O’Reilly after nine stages and 103 kilometres. Arthur Kierans navigated David Kelly to 3^rd OA in their VW Polo R5 making it a Monaghan Motor Club top three.

Darragh Kelly guided Paul Barrett to 7^th OA. Kaine Trainer guided Chris O’Callaghan to 11^th OA and 2^nd in class 14 while Michael Carbin/Dean O’Sullivan finished 13^th OA and 3^rd in class 14. Gareth Deazley/Oisín Joyce finished 24th OA and 1st in class 2. Tommy Moffett/Domhnall Lennon finished 26^th OA and 3^rd in class 2. Michael Conlon/James McEneaney finished 30^th OA and 2^nd in class 12. Anthony Hand/David McCrudden finished 36^th OA and 2^nd in class 11R, just 1.2s off 1^st in class. Kevin Reilly guided Colin Flanagan to 46^th OA and 2^nd in class 20 in their Mitsubishi Evo X. James McCarville/Conal McNulty finished their day off in 48^th OA and 8^th in class 13. Martin McPhillips/Peter Farrell finished just behind them in 49^th OA and 4^th in class 11R. Paul McPhillips guided Stephen Faughnan to 65^th OA and Cathal Sheridan/Coel Leonard finished 78^th OA and 1^st in class 10. Justin Smyth/Darren O’Brien unfortunately failed to finish after retiring on SS1. Trevor Burke navigating for Mervyn Deane also failed to finish after retiring after SS8. 

No luck for Kelly and Mohan in Croatia

Unfortunately, it was a weekend to forget for Ballinode man Conor Mohan as he and his Donegal driver Eamonn Kelly suffered recuring engine problems throughout Rally Croatia – an issue which eventually forced them into retirement. The event was a counting round of the Junior World Championship so a non-finish has put a big dent in their championship hopes. Stage 1 of the event turned out to be the only stage that went without hassle as they finished the stage in 6^th place. On SS2 their Ford Fiesta Rally3 suffered coil pack failure. Luckily, they carried a spare coil pack for the car which they managed to replace on the road section to SS3. On SS3 they suffered a puncture and for the rest of Friday’s stages their engine once again started acting up which forced them to retire for the first time on the day’s final stage. Their service team managed to repair the car in service and they rejoined the event under super rally rules. Amazingly, their engine gremlins returned on the very first stage of Saturday and this time it was terminal so they had to retire permanently as the engine was beyond repair. Understandably the two lads were bitterly disappointed at the outcome as they had put in so much effort getting set up of the event that they won last year. Their Junior World Championship charge will restart with Rally Italia Sardegna, which takes place between 30 May and 2 June.