An Enduring weekend of Motorsport

Michael Carbin and Ben Mohan were the top placed crew at the end of the Co. Monaghan Motor Club, Endurance Trial last weekend.

The event counted as Round 4 of the County Monaghan Motor Club Championship, and Round 4 of the Skoda Parts Ireland, Motorsport Ireland National Endurance Championship.

Michael and Ben took their Subaru Legacy home as the fastest crew throughout the trial’s twenty selectives. A feat that secured them the class C win and maximum Monaghan Motor Club Championship (Traders Championship) points. Although Michael and Ben on paper won the event, as they weren’t competing in an Endurance specification car, they were ineligible to place in the overall positions. 1^st place instead went to Graham O’Donoghue/Kevin Fagan; 2^nd place went to TJ O’Brien/Paul Reilly, and 3^rd went to Darragh Mullen/Aideen Lynch.

The overall positions were filled by a trio of crews competing in Toyota Starlet’s, built to Endurance specification.  

Garry Farrelly, assisted by Michael Sheridan and Sam Patterson once again organised this year’s event, with the event headquarters at the Aughnamullen GAA grounds in Tullynanegish. Garry and his team organised twenty selectives in the area between Scotch Corner, Latton, Broomfield, Corduff and Lisdoonan.

The event was divided into two sections. Section 1 consisted of eleven selectives before a lunch and refuel break at McCaugheys services in Broomfield. Section 2 took place in the afternoon following the lunch break, and consisted of nine selectives. Section 1’s selectives were all based between, Lough Egish, Latton and Scotch Corner, while Section 2’s selectives were all based around Corduff Cross and Lisdoonan.

In the classes, Karl O’Donoghue/Evin Hughes finished 1^st in class A2M, and Owen Murphy/Patrick O’Sullivan finished 2^nd in the same class. In class A2E, Darren Moore/Liam Tuomey finished 1^st. In class A2S, Ernest Alford/Darragh Gannon took 1^st and Martin Nugent/Paul Tiernan took 2^nd. In class A2N, the father/son team of Sean and Caolain McCaffrey finished 1^st. In class A2B, Daniel Buckley/Conor Lennon took 1^st, Timmy Lynch/Stephen O’Neill took 2^nd and Aidan Dennehy/Gerard O’Connor finished 3^rd. In class A1, Frank Byrnes/Sophie Byrnes finished 1^st, Gerard and Luke of Reilly took 2^nd and John O’Sullivan/ Noreen Stanley finished 3^rd. In class B, Dominic Loughran/Oscar Mangan finished 1^st in their Suzuki Swift, Geoffrey Conboy/Luke Gallagher took 2^nd and David Forde/Patrick O’Leary finished 3^rd. In class C, Michael Carbin/Ben Mohan finished 1^st, Martin Tynan/Oisín Sherlock took 2^nd and Andrew Mackarel/Richard Cassidy finished 3^rd in that navigation specification car class.

A standout performance on the day, was that of Aaron McGorman and Darren Lavery. McGorman/Lavery were the fastest competing crew after Selective 16 onboard their Subaru Impreza, and they had a reasonably comfortable lead of 14s in class C. Unfortunately for the pair, a driveshaft broke on their Impreza, taking off from the start line on Selective 17 ‘Courtneys 2’, this driveshaft failure spelled immediate retirement. Luckily for them, (if there is such a thing), they had completed the minimum distance required before the retirement (App 35, 16.9). This minimum distance requirement qualified them to receive a maximum time penalty on each of the remaining four selectives (App 35, 19.22.2), so they still qualified as finishing the event, but they now were down in 10^th in class C and 30^th fastest crew throughout the day.

After the awards were presented to all the winners, the Clerk of the Course, Garry Farrelly and the overall winning team, thanked all the landowners for allowing the event to use their property, and the plethora of marshals who came to man each selective of the event. Garry further thanked the Aughnamullen GAA club for the excellent facilities, and everyone who helped him set up the mammoth event, including his deputies Michael Sheridan and Sam Patterson. He also gave a big thank you to local man, Owen Connolly, for his tireless effort in helping to get everything in order and available on the day of the event.  His assistance is very much appreciated.

Top 10 at Finish

1. Michael Carbin/Ben Mohan (Subaru Legacy) 5:23,

2. 1^st, Grahan O’Donoghue/Kevin Fegan (Toyota Starlet) 5:32,

3. 2^nd, TJ O’Brien/Paul Reilly (Toyota Starlet) 5:35,

4. Martin Tynan/Oisín Sherlock (Subaru Impreza) 6:05,

5. 3^rd, Darragh Mullen/Aideen Lynch (Toyota Starlet) 6:26,

6. 4^th, Karl O’Donoghue/Evin Hughes (Toyota Starlet) 7:10,

7. Andrew Mackarel/Richard Cassidy (Subaru Impreza) 7:10,

8. Trevor O’Callaghan/Susan Smyth (Subaru Impreza) 7:18,

9. Dominic Loughran/Oscar Mangan (Suzuki Swift) 7:18,

10. Geoffrey Conboy/Luke Gallagher (Toyota Starlet) 7:23.

Rally Finland

Conor Mohan was navigating for Eamonn Kelly in Finland over the weekend. Conor and Eamonn were competing in the HYAcenter Ralli 2025, in preparation for the Junior World Rally Championship event, Secto Rally Finland, which takes place this weekend.

Conor and Eamonn, had a fantastic event and were able to get a good car set up and practice ahead of the upcoming ‘World Event’. The Irish pair finished this event in 2^nd place overall, a tiny 0.3s in arrears of Ali Türkkan/Oytun Albayrak, showing just how tight the racing was on the super-fast undulating Finnish gravel roads.

Conor will be joined this coming weekend by fellow Monaghan Motor Club member, Killian McArdle. Killian will be navigating for John Coyne on Secto Rally Finland in a Ford Fiesta Rally3, similar to the one that Conor and Eamonn will be in. Both Conor and Killian will be competing in the event under the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy umbrella.

Imokilly Mini-Stages

Johno Doogan/Paul Lennon took their Ford Escort MKII to 3^rd place overall on the Imokilly Mini-Stages Rally last weekend. The pair finished just 9.1s in arrears of the overall winners James Stafford/Richard Cleary who were in a Darrian T90 GTR. Unfortunately, David Moffett/Martin Connolly retired after SS4.

Co. Monaghan Motor Club CLG, have just launched a new club App. The App will be the go-to location for all your motor club information. To download the App, just search ‘Monaghan Motor Club’ on your ‘Android’ or Apple’ device’s, App store. This App is for everyone; it is not just for club members and competitors.

Oisín Sherlock.