Author: monaghanmotorclub

Ballinode’s Shane Maguire  2^nd over-all in the 2011 West Coast Rally Championship on Saturday night last at the Woodlands Hotel, Adare, Co. Limerick

Andy Mackarel and Liam Higgins got their 2012 navigation campaign off to the best possible start on Saturday night last with a 3 penalty winning margin on Monaghan Motor clubs January navigation trial. Headquarters for the trial was Ardaghey Community Centre with Monaghan Town man Martin McGuigan taking on the role of CoC ably assisted by Brendan Treanor. Ideal weather conditions coupled with a compact 75-mile route made for a great start to the 2012 Gary Nesbitt club navigation championship with 42 cars crossing the start ramp.

Event winners Mackarel and Higgins were pushed all the way on the night as no fewer than 12 crews managed to keep a clean sheet up to time point 21 of the 27-time point route. As the trial traversed through the north Monaghan countryside from its base in Ardaghey towards Clontibret and Castleshane and then Northwards to the scenic village of Glaslough the competition was fierce in all classes. It was evident from the map that there was always going to be a sting in the tail as 3 of the last 6 time points were plot and bash sections, all located in the infamous Brianlitter area of Clontibret. Indeed Mackarel and Higgins only took over the lead at the fourth last time point when trial leaders Garreth Beagan and Stephen Thornton dropped a massive 4 penalties but still held on for 2^nd over-all. An eventful night could be a good way of describing the Drumlin organiser’s night as they were forced to call on the services of Janice Mackarel’s car for the night at the twelfth hour. 2011-club champion Michael Carbin with regular navigator Evin Hughes on the maps were 3^rd on the night and sure to be in the hunt on every round of the new campaign.

The new pairing of Stephen Wright and Damian Connolly took 3^rd place in the expert class and a creditable 5^th over-all. Michael and Ciaran Tynan’s hope’s of going one better in this years championship were dealt a serious blow on the way to time point 16 as their gearbox threw in the towel while on a clean sheet also. Jonathan McGovern was on the maps for Damien Treanor and took a fine win in the semi-expert class, ahead of the Balinode brigade of Bob Moyna and Shane Maguire. It could have been a much better result for Moyna/Maguire in the ex-Carbin Legacy except for a fault with the breaking system which saw them pick up a 50 for a stop sign! Indeed they were not alone as 15 crews were caught out at a deceptive stop sign junction. New pairing of Donal McArdle with Richard Cassidy on the map were 3^rd semi-expert.

The Christmas lay-off didn’t do the dynamic duo of Arthur and Mac Kierans any harm as they took the novice class and an excellent 4^th over-all ahead of Cootehills Damien O’Reilly and Thomas Wedlock who were 6^th over-all. Think its fair to say both of these young navigators are sure to come out on top sometime in the near future. Darren Babbington was back in the drivers seat for this event and steered Laurence Keenan to 3^rd in novice and 10^th over-all. Girl power shone through in the beginners class as Susan McGuinness guided Enda McMahon to a class win and 9^th over-all ahead of the Cootehill father and son team of Gerry and Aaron McIntyre who are climbing the leader board with every event. Aaron Duffy and Michael McCluskey rounded off the top three in beginners.

So that’s the navigation season back up and running, well done to first time CoC Martin McGuigan and his team for a challenging event with an ideal venue. Next up is Midlands and Westmeath co-promoting the 4^th round of the Squealing Pig border navigation championship on 11^th February with Donegal running their round of the border the following weekend, 18^th February.

 

Monaghan January Navigation Trial Top 12

1 Andy Mackarel/Liam Higgins (Subaru Impreza) 3 marks

2 Garreth Beagan/Stephen Thornton (Subaru Impreza) 6m

3 Michael Carbin/Evin Hughes (Subaru Impreza) 8m

4 Arthur Kierans/Macartan Kierans (Subaru Impreza) 25m

5 Stephen Wright/Damien Connolly (Subaru Impreza) 36m

6 Damien O’Reilly/Thomas Wedlock (Honda Civic) 46m

7 Damien Treanor/Jonathan McGovern (Subaru Impreza) 54m

8 Daniel McKenna/Stephen Hagan (Subaru Impreza) 60m

9 Enda McMahon/Susan McGuinness (Toyota Corolla) 64m

10 Darren Babbington/Laurence Keenan (Subaru Impreza) 72m

11 Trevor Farrell/Noel Hall (Subaru Impreza) 73m

12 Cathal McGlone/John Hetherington (Subaru Impreza) 77m

 

Celebration Night for Arthur & Mac Kierans

A celebration night for Aghabog locals – and indeed father and Son team of Arthur and Mac Kierans, was held recently in the Aghabog clubhouse. It was a community-focused celebration for the lads as they were recently crowned the 2011 Border Rally Champions. A fun night was had by all with excellent entertainment from local drama experts Patrick McArdle and Brendan Finan followed with music from top DJ Sean McCaffery. Such was the success on the night; the many contributions resulted in additional funds being collected. To this effect, the organizing committee has donated the remaining funds of €1200 to the local Aghabog Defibrillator fund. Furthermore, a celebration DVD of the night has been produced by Richard Cassidy and Gerard McCarron and is now on sale in local shops in the area. All proceeds from this DVD will again go towards the De-Fib fund.

Arthur and Mac would like to take the opportunity to thank the organising committee of this night as well as the Aghabog GFC club who laid on a fabulous spread of food and to everyone who helped in any way. Arthur would also like to thank all of his past drivers and navigators who turned up on the night, too many to mention.

 

Monaghan Motor Club Ltd AGM

Monaghan Motor Club will hold their annual general meeting this Friday night, 20^th January in Hillgrove Hotel, Monaghan starting at 8.30 sharp. All members are asked to attend as this is your chance to contribute to the running of the club and all new ideas and suggestions would be greatly welcomed.

Monaghan Motor Club will hold their annual general meeting on Friday 20^th January in Hillgrove Hotel, Monaghan starting at 8.30 sharp. Committee would urge members to send in nomination forms which are available on club website and must be with the secretary before Tuesday 17^th January. All members are asked to attend as this is your chance to contribute to the running of the club and all new ideas and suggestions would be greatly welcomed. 

 

January Navigation

Monaghan Motor Club kick off the 2012 navigation season on Saturday night next, 14^th January. Coc is Martin McGuigan with the event running from the Ardaghy Community Centre. All marshal’s available on the night are asked to be there no later than 8 o clock.

Once again Monaghan Motor Club has been cast into the limelight with the exciting news that club member Sam Moffett has been selected as this years Billy Coleman young rally driver of the year. The Dunlop Motorsport Ireland Champions of Irish Motorsport Awards were held in Dublin on Tuesday 13^th December last at the Crown Plaza hotel in Santry, Dublin. Sam was presented with his award by Billy Coleman as RTE’s John Kenny announced his selection on the day.

A large Monaghan contingent were present at the awards ceremony as Scotshouse lad Daniel McKenna was also in the running for the Billy Coleman award. Gracious in defeat Daniel wished Sam all the best for the forth-coming season and congratulated him on his success. Arthur Kierans and Ashley McAdoo were also presented with their awards as National Navigation Champions on the day.

Sam with regular navigator James O’Reilly started off the year with no firm intentions of contesting the National or Tarmac Rally championships but after some great results over the first few events they found themselves in the running for both championships. As the season progressed Sam and James’ results became even more consistent with numerous top five places. They finished up 2^nd over-all in the Dunlop national rally championship behind double championship winner Tim McNulty and took the group N honours in their EVO 9. The finished 3^rd group N in the Tarmac championship behind Gary Jennings and Alan Ring.

            This award includes a €50,000 package towards Sam’s 2012 rallying season. Sam has hinted that he intends to compete in some international and over sea’s events in the coming season as well as gaining some experience on gravel events Monaghan motor club would like to congratulate Sam on his success and wish him all the best for next year. Sam joins a unique list of Monaghan club members who have received this prestigious award in the past with Eamon McElvaney and Dessie Keenan winning it in 2004 and 2003 respectively.

 Monaghan Motor Club hosted their annual awards presentation on Saturday night last in the splendid surroundings of the Hillgrove Hotel. This year’s event also had the added attraction of honouring the ladies of our club. A large crowd gathered for what was a truly enjoyable night as stories and banter of the year gone past rang around the ballroom. 

            Proceeding’s kicked off with a fabulous dinner followed by the club chairman Paul Hughes’s address. Through his speech the chairman acknowledged the achievements of our club members at competition level. These included Arthur and Macartan Kierens winning the Border Rally Championship, Arthur and Ashley McAdoo winning the national night navigation championship as well as Sam Moffatt and James O Reilly winning the group N category and 2^nd over-all in the National Rally Championship.  Paul also recognised the success of the younger generation of competitors within Monaghan as South Monaghan brother’s Johno and Padraig Doogan won the national junior rally championship. He highlighted the fact that five of the seven nominee’s for this years prestigious Billy Coleman award were from Monaghan with Sam Moffatt and Daniel McKenna being short listed for the final three which would be announced on Tuesday 6^th December.  He also congratulated all award winners within our club championships and followed on with an extensive list of thank-yous rangeing from the clubs main sponsor, the Hillgrove Hotel along with the Gardai and Monaghan County Council to name but a few.

            Following on from the chairman’s address last year’s stages CoC Conor Maguire took over at the microphone to announce the Gary Nesbitt club navigation award winners. The display of crystal for this championship along with all of the awards was second to none. Award winners in navigation circles include Niall Kelly and Mac Kierans winning the beginners class, Sean McKenna and Gary Farrelly winning the novice class. Damian Treanor and Jonathan McGovern were top of the semi-expert class while Michael and Ciaran Tynan took the expert class honours. Michael Carbin and Evin Hughes were over-all club navigation champions and indeed both club members had a path worn to the stage to collect crystal by the end of the night!

            Club member, MC and DJ for the night Sean McCaffery then took over at the helm to announce the remainder of the award winners. These included Janice Mackarel winning the ladies award, Karl Moen winning the perpetual McElvaney cup for his exploits in this years gravel surface autocross. Perpetual cup winners for our stages rally included Niall Maguire and Enda Sherry winning the Maguire International cup while Daniel McKenna and Andrew Grennan won the Keenan Stainless Steel cup for 2.4ltr class. The squealing Pig cup went to Damian Hagan and Fiona Boa with Darren and Nicola McKenna lifting the JG Kelly supplies cup. Sam Moffatt and James O’Reilly won the Combi-lift cup. The Gerry McNamara award was also presented on the night with Cora Maguire as the worthy recipient. This award is in recognition of the trojan work Cora carries out not only in her role as club and events secretary but also in promoting Monaghan Motor Club outside of events.

            The climax of the awards ceremony came as Michael Carbin was crowned over-all traders club champion. After competing in all eight of the events the club ran this year Michael clinched the 2011 traders club championship by a single point on the final round, the Drumlin navigation trial. On the night Michael thanked everyone who helped him achieve this goal, especially is navigator Evin Hughes.

            During the course of the awards ceremony spot prizes were awarded with all of the ladies in attendance hoping to win some of the magnificent prizes on offer which included spa treatments, beauty makeovers and vouchers to name but a few. Monaghan Motor club would like to take the opportunity to thank everybody who sponsored prizes for our ladies night. These include the Hillgrove Hotel, Hi-Maintenance, Magill’s, Cavan Crystal, Phyllis Moffett, Beauty Box & Ward’s Chemist and everyone else who helped out in anyway. The night concluded with a disco into the early hours to the sound of Sean McCaffery. A full array of photographs of the night can be viewed on the club website at www.monaghanmotorclub.net All in all an excellent night and well done to the organising committee as well as all award winners and especially our new club champion, Michael Carbin.