Author: monaghanmotorclub

Sadly once again this year, the Irish motorsports community was dealt another blow on Sunday as a competitor lost their lives while taking part in the Clare Stages Rally. 

The event was to be a key round for many classes and championships, but there was no interest in counting dropped scores when the news broke that experienced co-driver Damian Fleming from Kilcummin in Co Kerry lost his life on Stage 4. 

Damian was a competitor with over 150 starts since 2006 who had sat in a range of vehicles from WRC Subarus to R5 Fiestas, Junior Civics and Class 14 Escorts. His talent also extended to getting behind the wheel on occasion too. 

For those following local competitors, Damian’s name was often seen on the entry partnered with familiar names. He had sat alongside Johnny Treanor on some giant-killing performances in the iconic blue Civic, accompanied Mickey Conlon on a number of occasions and for many years sat alongside Raymond Conlon as they took on the Killarney Historic Rally and many other events in between. 

Monaghan Motor Club wishes to extend its condolences to the family and friends of Damian Fleming at this difficult time. Our thoughts are also with all of those who were present and responded at the scene on what was a dark day for the motorsport family. 

May he Rest in Peace.

Ryan Caldwell and Arthur Kierans were crowned Irish Forest Rally champions for 2023 despite a non-finish on the Bushwhacker Rally organised by Omagh Motor Club. 

With their main rivals opting to run in a different class, all they had to do was leave Parc Ferme to take the title. They hit mechanical trouble early on and retired on Saturday afternoon. 

The rally featured now-rare night stages on Friday night and it was Patrick and Stephen O’Brien who took the overall win in their Skoda Fabia. 

Brendan Cumiskey and Martin Connolly scored maximum championship points in their Fiesta Rally3. Mickey Conlon and Paul McPhillips took third in championship points, as well as 1st in Class and 4th 2WD. 

Navigation Trials return

Entries are open for the Monaghan Navigation Trial on 30 September. 

COC Sean Marron and ACOC Aidan Keenan have organised a 70 mile route run out of Kingscourt Community Centre. 

Regulations and entries are available online and close on Monday 25 September. 

Competitors are reminded to check the expiry date on their licence. For this event, Motorsport Ireland National licences with an expiry date of 30 September 2023 are not valid. If your licence is not valid for the duration of the event at sign-on, you will not be permitted to start the event.

Eamonn Kelly and Conor Mohan took their second JWRC podium of the year, with a fine 2nd on the Acropolis Rally in Greece, continuing on their form from their category win in Croatia earlier this year. 

Intercom issues on Friday morning meant it was a than ideal start, but a consistent performance of top three times saw them build a comfortable 2nd place as others fell to the rough conditions. 

A gearbox issue this morning left them with a broken gearbox casing and only three gears for 100km but the service crew managed a gearbox change in 15 mins to keep them in the rally and on the second step of the podium for the final round of the championship. 

The result also meant that Conor Mohan came 3rd in the overall co-driver standings for the championship, with Kelly the 4th driver. 

Congratulations to William Creighton and Liam Regan on taking the JWRC back to Ireland for the first time since Craig Breen’s WRC Academy victory in 2011. 

Wexford Stages Rally

A number of local crews travelled south for the two-day Wexford Stages Rally. Daniel Cronin and Donnachadh Burke won after an eventful rally that saw sunshine turn to slippy tar and many being caught out in the changeable conditions. 

Piaras O’Callaghan was the best finisher from Co Monaghan, guiding Brian Lavelle to 10th OA and 1st in Class 13. 

Killian McArdle was alongside Mikey Ryan and they finished 2nd in Class 2. 

David Moffett and Martin Connolly were in the middle of a titanic Class 14 battle in their Toyota Starlet and had sat as high as 7th OA at one point against R5 machines. An off on Stage 11 saw them retire from the event. 

Patrick Fitzpatrick and James McEneaney had led Class 9 for much of the event but their rally came to an end after Stage 15. 

Club AGM

The Monaghan Motor Club AGM and open forum will take place on Wednesday 27 September in the Four Seasons Hotel. There will be a guest speaker on the night. 

All club members are encouraged to attend to collectively discuss matters regarding our sport.

As the sun beamed out across the Co Fermanagh hills, it was apt that it would the scorching hot pace of 2022 Champions Patrick O’Brien & Stephen O’Brien that would see them claim a dominant victory on the Enniskillen based Lakeland Stages Rally.

Over six stages and an incredibly exciting days action, it was the O’Briens who really impressed as they topped the time sheets on all bar one stage, and returned to the finish with a 21.2 second advantage over 2019 Champions Cathan McCourt and Liam Moynihan.

In the race for the 2023 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship, round 5 in Enniskillen provided an insane amount of story lines that will help shape the final tale of the season, but for Ryan Caldwell & Arthur Kierans it was a result they could barely have foreseen as they claimed yet another maximum score as all round them their rivals faltered.

Caldwell headed to the Lakeland Stages with a single point advantage over closest rivals Mark Donnelly & Sean Ferris, and by the end of the opening test it was the VW Polo of Donnelly that led the Skoda Fabia of Caldwell by 0.9 seconds. Cruelly for Donnelly, an impact with a bridge in Ballintempo ended his day and was a cruel blow to his title chances.

With his main rival now sidelined, Caldwell & Kierans continued to push and would eventually arrive to the finish somewhat disappointed to be 4th on the event, but with a sizeable power disadvantage to those ahead and a massive advantage gained in the Championship, it was a remarkably good day for the Motorsport Ireland backed youngster.

Second place amongst the Sligo Pallets Forest Championship registered crews would go to Hugh McQuaid & Declan Casey, a remarkable drive by the local star and event sponsor would see their Ford Escort Mk2 finish top 2WD on the day to make the high-speed blast over the six Lakeland stages all the sweeter.

Mickey Conlon & Paul McPhillips would finish third in their Ford Escort amongst the registered crews.

James McCarville finished 11th overall in a Fiesta R5 and 4th in Class.

Amongst the impressive results achieved on the day, Jack McKenna & Mac Kierans continued their really impressive debut year on Gravel as they finished 24th overall and take another step towards a sweep of Class 16 titles on both surfaces as well as the MIJRS J1600 crown already secured.

Bryan Jardine and Declan McKenna had an almost 19 second lead in the Historic Class 1 midways through the afternoon, helped largely by a blistering time on Stage 2, and were unfortunate to lose out on the class win on the final stage by just three seconds.

Derek Mackarel had Darran Curran on the notes in his Fiesta R5. A fifth and sixth fastest time on two of the opening stages proved that he was becoming more accustomed to the machine after making the move this year. However, their rally came to an end with just one stage to go. Killian McArdle was out with Peter McCullagh once again in the Mitsubishi Evo, however the pairing retired after the opening stage.

The Championship race now comes down to just two more events, with the action staying up north next time out with the ‘Gravel Grand Prix’ that is the Bushwhacker Rally in Omagh on September 15th and 16th , including some really exciting night stages, and then concluding with the Carrick-on-Suir Willie Loughman Forest Rally on October 8th , with entries for both events currently open.

The Irish Kart Grand Prix was held at Nutts Corner recently and Monaghan’s James Gilliland had a dominant performance to take the overall win. In the Saturday heats, he took a 1st from starting P5 and a 2nd from P10. In the middle heat he started P23 and fought up to finish 9th.

These results gave him the King of the Corner title. There was a pre-final and final to be contested on the Sunday and Gilliland took the win in both, seeing off a six time world champion in the process.

He was crowned Senior Driver of the Meeting and was also awarded the IGP plate for 2023 for his efforts.