Author: monaghanmotorclub

Monaghan duo Gary McPhillips and Mark Tierney took an impressive overall win on the Galway Summer Rally last weekend. Gary & Mark have scored multiple successes in class 14 over the last few years but on this occasion they stepped up to challenge for overall honours. At the end of the nine stages, the Monaghan crew finished some 16 seconds clear of the WRC Focus of Dubliner Robert Barrable and Monaghan’s Damien Connolly. This was the Monaghan crew’s first ever overall win on a Multi-Stages Rally.

An added incentive in this year’s rally was the “King of the Mk2” challenge which gave prizes to the top finishing crews in Mk2 Escorts. This led to a strong field of Escorts with the likes of Manus Kelly, Camillus Bradley, Trevor Mulligan and Russell Woods also bidding for honours. After the opening stage, the WRC Impreza of PJ McDermott was leading the rally from Robert Barrable and Gary McPhillips. 

3rd placed McPhillips had a good second stage which moved him into the lead of the rally.  After stage 3, McPhillips led from Barrable with McDermott having dropped to 3rd. Gary & Mark had also pulled 30 seconds clear of their nearest rival in the ‘King of the MK2’ challenge, Manus Kelly/Donal Barrett. Despite the disadvantage of 2wd, Gary & Mark comfortably held the overall lead until stage 6 when a cracked manifold slowed them. This would be fixed at the next service and the Monaghan duo could now go about rebuilding their lead over Robert Barrable and his Monaghan navigator Damien Connolly.

PJ McDermott’s retirement promoted Manus Kelly into 3rd place. Out front, Gary & Mark extended their lead to 20 seconds with two stages to go. By the finish their advantage had been trimmed to 16 seconds but it was more than enough to claim a superb victory. Adding to their delight, their performance also saw them win ‘The King of the MK 2’ challenge by 1 min 30secs. Gary would like to thank his service crew Francis, Paul, Emmett, John, Cathal and Jason.

Damien Connolly guided young Robert Barrable to 2nd place on Robert’s first stages event behind the wheel of the WRC Focus. Manus Kelly/Donal Barrrett took 3rd overall. Shane Maguire/Enda Sherry put in a storming drive to win Group N and finish a fine 5th overall. Martin McPhillips/Nicola McKenna took their Toyota Corolla to 29th overall and 5th in class 11.

Open Meeting, Friday 3rd September

An Open Meeting for all Monaghan Motor Club members will be held at 8.30pm this Friday, 3rd September in the Hillgrove Hotel, Monaghan. The main item on the agenda will be The Way Forward proposal from Motorsport Ireland. This document can be accessed from the club website: www.monaghanmotorclub.net.

Castleshane’s Eamonn McElvaney driving a motorbike-engined autocross special was the star of the day as he scored a runaway victory in the autocross held at Hollywood, Ballinode on Sunday last. McElvaney, who has switched from rallying to autocrosing, was faster than anyone on each of his 4 timed runs to take overall victory by 15.26 seconds from 2nd placed Dominic McCaffrey with Karl Moen in 3rd, a further 4.84 seconds in arrears. The top three were all driving autocross specials.
Best of the non-specials was Lauris Zdanovics (Integra) followed by Jonathan McKenna (Peugeot 106), Anthony Masterson (Integra) and David Moffett (Starlet). The top placed Traders Trophy-registered competitor was Michael Carbin, followed by Dessie Keenan and Paul Sheridan, all three driving Peugeot 205s.
The event was notable for the emergence of new young driving talent. The Junior class for 14-16 year olds was won by Derek Mackarel (Corsa) with Aidan Lang (Fiesta) in 2nd place. Derek made it an especially memorable day by beating his father Andy in the overall standings. Paul Barrett, son of leading rally driver Kevin, won the 16-18 year old category in his Vauxhall from Gavin McGivney (Escort), son of Carrickmacross rally driver Gerry.
In class 2B, David Moffett (Starlet) won the battle of the Moffett brothers with Richard 2nd followed by Enda Sherry and Conor Maguire (Escort Mk1). Michael Conlon (Escort) and Andy Mackarel (Mitsubishi Evo) won their respective classes, while Gerry Cassidy (Peugeot 205) managed to finish despite mechanical problems.
It was a landmark day for Monaghan Motor Club as this was the first grass surface autocross event organised by the club in 27 years! Scotshouse man Eamonn McKenna provided an excellent commentary on Sunday and he recalled being in attendance at that last autocross. Niall Maguire’s site proved to be an excellent venue and the event was superbly organised by youthful Clerk of the Course Shane Maguire, assisted by Pauric McCarra and the team. The Tydavnet Millennium Club is the charity that will benefit from the proceeds of the event.

Commencing 19th August Threemilehouse GAA Complex 8 PM

VENUE: CARRICKNAVEAGH, VIRGINIA, CO. CAVAN

Location Map

Entry Form & Regulations