Author: monaghanmotorclub

Ryan Treanor along with his Ballinalee driver Shane Dalton secured the overall
win on this year’s Midland Navigation Trial, which was based out of Creggs
National School on the Galway/Roscommon border. Patrick Brides along with
Sam Johnston organised a 65 mile route that took in the area between
Dunamon and Ballygar.

There was no easy introduction to the event as two plot and bash time points
were received at TP1 for the location of TP2 and TP4. At TP1 a trace diagram
was handed out for to find the position of and the departure of TP2. Located
on the back of the sheet was the plot for TP4, so any navigator who didn’t turn
the sheet over would miss the TP or drop time as they went searching for the
discarded piece of paper at TP3. The trace brought crews along a three and a
half mile journey into the forest and gravel tracks of Mount Mary. After
heading into the forest at Attifarry, it was turn right for Mallyree and travel a
half kilometre before taking a left turn in the forest. Failing to take this left turn
would spell disaster as TP5 was waiting out of sight around the corner. After
taking the left turn competitors had to travel another kilometre before turning
off right to come out on a public road at Ballynahowna and turning left to
arrive at TP2 at the next crossroads.
At TP2, a page of plots was handed out with the grid reference for TP3
disguised in the middle of them. Once plotted, competitors had to do another
loop through the forest tracks of Mount Mary to arrive at the TP which as the
crow flies was only 350m away. TP4 was the only check point along the entire
route that every competitor dropped time, mainly due to having to take yet
another trip through the demanding Mount Mary tracks as well as some
navigators not having realised that they had received the location at TP1 and
thus still had to plot its location.
As straight forward as this opening section was despite the P&B section, eight
crews missed TP2 and a further seven missed TP3 along with three wrong
approaches. A fourth pass through Mount Mary brought competitors into TP5
before a straight forward road section to the time recovery area of TP6 and
TP7 located at Coolavehy.
A bog pass at Boggauns led to TP8 at Creggan, and this lane/pass caused the
first and only casualty of the night. National Championship contenders Darragh
Kelly/Oisín Sherlock got caught out on a section of the lane which was covered

in bog mud and they slipped off the route and dropped into a drain. Car 10
Aidan Keenan/Sean Marron stopped and tried to tow out the stricken car but
to no avail, which left Kelly/Sherlock having to wait an hour and a half for a
tractor to arrive and free them. By the time they were towed out, the pair
were well over their allowed thirty minutes maximum lateness at the next
control and thus went their event and any National Championship hopes for
2023.
From TP8 it was all back on public roads with plenty of looping around
Cregganagrogy for TPs 9 and 10 before moving back north to TP11 at
Monasternalea. From here it was yet another pass through Mount Mary and
most of the same lanes as the route to TP2 for to reach the midpoint control at
Ballynahowna. At this point Dalton/Treanor were out front, with just a minute
dropped on the way to TP4. In 2 nd place was Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan,
down 3 marks, with a minute dropped at each of TP3, 4 and 6. Holding 3 rd OA
was the Squealing Pig Border Championship leaders and Drumlin winners
Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan, down 4 marks. National Championship leaders
Derek Butler/Denis O’Donovan were down 7 marks with 3 dropped at TP2, 2
dropped at TP4 and a further 1 at each of TP7 and 8.
An ITC section stared off the second half, timed at a speed of 24mph. This
uncommon average speed for an ITC section threw up some difficulty for the
crews. Tynan/Tynan who were first on the road dropped 3 marks on this route.
Carbin/Mohan, Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes along with ten others all dropped a
minimum of 1 mark here in what turned out to be quite a complicated route.
TP13, just west of Dunamon, was the end of the ITC and more P&B was on the
cards here. Competitors were issued with a two page box tulip, and to make
the P&B extra difficult, the tulip counted every gate, road and unmapped lane
along the route. Most of the distances along the route were only a few car
lengths apart which took serious concentration on the navigators part for to
not get lost. Crews had to turn right off the yellow road and onto a grey lane
that was a dead end on the map at Kilbegnat. Once on the grey lane, it was
another kilometre of skipping gates and lanes before turning left onto an
unmapped farm lane which brought crews into a farm yard. A great trick lay in
store here as there was a crossroads on the lane. On the tulip diagram, the
COC had swapped box 20 with box 26. Box 20 showed a ‘go straight through’ at
a crossroads, but box 26 showed a ‘turn left’ at a crossroads. Anyone who
missed the switch would inevitably get lost and possibly miss the TP or a least

drop considerable time. In the farm yard at the end of the unmapped lane,
crews had to keep to the right hand side of a cattle shed to reach the TP on the
correct approach.
At TP14 a similar P&B tulip was received for the location of TP15. This tulip
brought crews back up the same grey lane as before, but this time they had to
turn into a farm on the right hand side. Once into the yard it was mayhem and
there were bales and machinery parked everywhere. The correct route was
down a cattle shed with the entrance hidden by a cattle trailer. Once out the
far side, there was a hidden left turn after a lorry, and then travel under the
boom of a loading shovel before turning right around a tractor and traveling
through a chicane made up for agriculture equipment before reaching the
safety of the TP.
The headache was not over yet unfortunately, as a herringbone tulip was
handed out here for to reach TP16. The exit of TP15 was down an unmapped
forest lane and turn right onto the grey lane again and taking the same
unmapped lane that led to TP14. Navigators had to be switched on here as any
wrong measurement would lead to a double visit and a nasty 30 marks. This
time on reaching the farm, crews had to turn left and reach TP16 hidden at the
corner of a silage pit. This P&B section proved to be very difficult as everyone
apart from Dalton/Treanor dropped at least 3 minutes here. Eight crews in
total missed TP14, which included Butler/O’Donovan. This costly mistake
would drop them well down the leader board.
By only dropping 3 marks through this section, Duffy/Hughes jumped to 2 nd OA
at the expense of Mohan/Carbin who had dropped 7 marks. Martin
Tynan/David McCrudden went into 3 rd OA here after dropping just 5 marks.
From this location, it was a straight forward run into the final control with
three TPs to visit via using a bog lane at Clooncunny multiple times to reach
TP17, TP18 and TP19 all in the vicinity of Shanballyeden, and then visiting TP20
before a final via at Tonamaddy.
In the end Dalton/Treanor’s 1 minute penalty was more than enough to secure
their first overall win this season which will keep the pressure on Butler and
O’Donovan in the National Championship as they finished down in 7 th place.
In the classes, Duffy/Hughes finished 1 st on 9 marks, with Tynan/McCrudden in
2 nd , also down 9 marks. Carbin/Mohan finished in 3 rd , down 11 minutes.

Patsy McDonagh/Patrick Corcoran had a comfortable win in the Semi-Expert
class. They finished the event on 19 marks, well ahead of 2 nd placed Ray
O’Neill/Stephen O’Neill who were down 43 marks. 3 rd in class went to the
Donegal pairing of Darragh Kelly/Eamonn Doherty who dropped 48 marks.
Declan Tynan/Aaron McElroy won the Novice class on 34 marks, with Andrew
Stewart/Robert Howard finishing 2 nd on 55 marks. In 3 rd place was another
Donegal team of Damien Sheridan/Keith Sheridan who had dropped 75 marks.
Ciaran McGorman/Aaron McGorman finished 1 st in the Beginner class on 37
marks, with David Kelly/ Gerry Hughes finishing 2 nd on 86 marks. 3 rd in class
went to Shane and Molly Maguire, who finished up on 99 marks.

NI Rally Championship

It was a start to finish win for Stephen Wright and Ger Conway in their Ford
Fiesta R5 at the eurocables Belfast Stages Rally at Kirkistown Circuit. Organised
by the North Armagh Motor Club, it was the opening round of the Northern
Ireland Rally Championship and consisted of three stages ran twice. In a
stacked entry that included 20 R5 and Rally2 cars, Wright and Conway got off
to a flying start with an opening stage win, over five seconds quicker than
anyone else. Jonny Greer and Brian Crawford in a Citroen C3 Rally2 would be
Wright’s biggest rival on the day. It was nip and tuck between them, each
winning three stages, and setting a second fastest times on the others.
Wright’s five second lead after the first stage was reduced to just 1.2 seconds
after five runs, but he held off a hard-charging Greer on the last stage to take
the overall win by the smallest of margins. Just 0.1 seconds separated them
after a day’s rallying. Aaron McLoughlin and Darren Curran were the best of
the rest, finishing 3 rd overall, over half a minute back.
Irish Forestry Championship

Mark Donnelly and Stephen O’Hanlon got first blood in the opening round of
the Sligo Pallets Irish Forest Rally Championship, the Killarney Forest Rally. 71
crews took to the stages in Castleisland, with 2022 Championship runner-up
Jordan Hone leading away the field in his Ford Fiesta R5. Vivian Hamill and
Andrew Grennan were fastest out of the blocks on the opening test in their VW
Polo R5, with Ryan Caldwell and Arthur Kierans second fastest in their Fabia
R5. Heading into service, Donnelly and O’Hanlon had climbed to the top of the
timesheets, with Caldwell and Kierans still holding second behind the new
leaders. There were stage wins for Stephen McCann/Tommy Hayes and Jordan

Hone, but Donnelly had enough to take the win, with Caldwell and Kierans 10.9
seconds behind on their loose surface 4WD debut. McCann and Hayes were
3rd, a further 14 seconds back. Brendan Cumiskey and Martin Connelly
finished 6th in their Polo R5, one place ahead of Derek Mackarel and Eamonn
Creedon who topped Class 20 in their Mitsubishi Evo. Paul McPhillips guided
Michael Conlon to 2nd 2WD and first in Class 14, while Ryan Farrell was on the
notes for Dylan Eves in their Ford Fiesta Rally4 and they finished 3rd in Class 2
and 19th OA.
The ever competitive J1000 class for junior drivers received a boost ahead of
the event with WRC driver Craig Breen announcing sponsorship for prizes for
the championship. As well as a prize-fund of €1,250 for each round, and a
tuition day for all registered drivers, the winner of the J1000 championship will
be invited to a rally school in Norway to hone their skills.
16 crews started the event, and Tommy Moffett with Domhnall Lennon
alongside him took a stage win in their Toyota Aygo either side of service to
lead the category by 1.4 seconds going into the final stage. A hard-charging
Jack Kennedy in a VW Up! pipped him on the final test to take the win by just
5.4 seconds. Kennedy and Moffett had a cushion of over 45 seconds from the
third placed competitor.

Round Two of the Championship is the Moonraker
Forest Rally on April 15th.

PRO: Oisín Sherlock, with Aaron McElroy. oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

Ryan Treanor has kept the pressure on current National Championship leaders Derek Butler/Denis O’Donovan with a 3^rd place finish on last weekend’s 100 Isles Navigation Trial in Skibbereen. Ryan navigating for Shane Dalton finished the 80 mile event with a loss of just four minutes. Overall winners on the night were the Novice class pairing of Brian O’Mahony/Amy Gallwey. They completed the event with a total of 1 mark from the ITC section near the end of the event. 2^nd overall went to Butler/O’Donovan who were also down just 1 mark, but lost out on the win due to the Novice beats Expert tiebreaker rule.

The navigation began just north of Skibbereen on the R637 and then headed toward the villages of Leap and Drinagh. At Time Point 3 competitors were handed plot and bash for the location of TP4. The p&b was in the form of a route card with the TP4’s grid reference muddled between other plots for TPs received before the event start. The approach and departure directions were also swapped around, making it imperative that navigators read the instruction on the top of the sheet. The exact same format of p&b was handed out at TP5 for the location of TP6. TPs 4 and 6 were both located on farm lanes at Cloonkeen. Most crews managed this section without any problems apart from dropping time due to the narrowness and slippiness of the farm lanes as well as the limited time allowed to plot the locations and get there.

Martin Swinburne/Gretchen Swinburne made their first trip south after Gretchen took up the sport at the start of the season. They unfortunately missed Via 1 and instead continued to TP3 and therefore received 20 marks. They also picked up 2 marks at TP4 and 1 at TP5.

Apart from TP9, accessed via a short farm lane at Ballyriree the next few check points were all on public roads which caused no issues for a majority of the entries. The biggest issue here was to make sure navigators didn’t check in too early to the check points and receive 50 marks. This error did occur to two crews during this section.

TP13 was very nearly unlucky for Dalton/Treanor as the TP was located in a farm yard. They missed the entrance to the farm yard and Kelly/Sherlock actually arrived to the TP first. Luckily for the pair the timing was quite relaxed and they didn’t pick up any penalties as they were still within their allowed time.

TPs 14 and 15 were located at a farm near Corran South. Heading into the farm the first time, competitors had to go around the front of a house to receive the correct approach before departing right, down an extremely narrow overgrown former public road. Kelly/Sherlock were losing some time through this section following a slight overshoot and Butler/O’Donovan overtook them the during the second pass through the farm when they took a left turn too early going to TP15.

 Kelly/Sherlock were unable to overtake Butler/O’Donovan on the way to TP16 or make back any time due to the short distance and as the approach was through a very muddy and twisty farm lane which included a river crossing. Time did eventually catch up with them during the p&b herringbone diagram that was handed out at TP16 for TP17. The distances on the tulip diagram weren’t matching perfectly for them through this section and they took their time to make sure they didn’t make any mistakes through the farm at Knockavoher and receive a wrong approach or miss the time point completely. They dropped 1 minute here and a further minute into TP18. Dalton/Treanor also lost their clean sheet here when they picked up a 2 mark penalty for lateness.

Kelly/Sherlock’s night would take a turn for the worse during the last p&b section. They caught up to and overtook Dalton/Treanor (it took them longer to plot the locations of TP21,22 and TP23) on the way to TP21 but unfortunately, they clipped a rock hidden in the undergrowth through another extremely overgrown former public road at Ballyroe, which immediately deflated the driver side front tyre. Luckily Dalton/Treanor were able to get past when the track widened out as Kelly/Sherlock would drop 3 minutes as they continued the mile and a half journey on the flat. They would also drop 4 minutes on the way to TP22 as they changed the wheel after TP21. Butler/O’Donovan would pick up their only mark of the event in this section as they arrived a minute late to TP22, mostly due to how slippy the grey farm lane was on the approach to the TP at Madranna.

The ITC section began at the relaxed TP25, and on having taken back the full allowed 5 minutes, Kelly/Sherlock found the road completely blocked by the other competitors who had got passed when they were changing the wheel. Having been signed for to start the ITC section at 01:04 they weren’t able to leave the until shortly after 01:06. Luckily for them, the hidden ITC check car was located over nine and a half miles away and they managed to make most of the lost 2 minutes up and received only 1 mark for being between 10-19 seconds too late. Dalton/Treanor would drop 2 marks on this tricky ITC.

From the end of the ITC section, it was a straight forward run as the event headed back towards Skibbereen and the final control.

In the end O’Mahony/Gallwey scored their first ever event win together with only one mark to their name. Butler/O’Donovan would rue the minute they dropped at TP22 as it cost them what would have been four wins from four in the County Cork events this season. Dalton/Treanor finished 3^rd on 4 marks with Kelly/Sherlock 5^th overall on 7 marks. Their penalties along with everyone else’s were scrapped for TP21 when it was found out that the shortest route was in fact using a farm lane right beside the TP. Some crews went this route only to find the farm lanes closed off which dropped them considerable time. The Clerk of the Course correctly scrapped this TP as a non goer should have been given out before the event began.

The Swinburne team finished an excellent 2^nd in the beginner class, finishing on a total of 72 marks. A bulk of their marks were from missing Via 1, TP17 and TP22.

The Munster Navigation Championship came to a close with the 100 Isles event. Butler/Donovan finished 1^st overall with Dalton/Treanor finishing 2^nd and Kelly/Sherlock finishing 3^rd.

The National Navigation, and Border Navigation Championships

continue this weekend with the Midland Motor Club event. Patrick Brides and Sam Johnston have laid out a 65 mile route based out of Creggs National School on the Roscommon/Galway border. Late entries will be accepted.

Entries can be sent via email to shanequinnrallying@gmail.com.

Both championships continue the following weekend with Cavan Motor Club hosting the penultimate round of both championships. Sean McConnell and Anthony McDonald have laid out an 80 mile event in the greater Crosskeys area. Entry forms are available now. 

Eamonn Kelly and Conor Mohan had a challenging opening round of the Junior World Rally Championship.

The Swedish event which takes place on snow got off to a great start for them with a 4^th fastest stage time on the Thursday Night Umeå super special stage. They settled in well on Friday as they continued to learn the car and the gain experience at this level. A 3^rd fastest time on SS4 (even with a spin) showed just how quickly they were picking up the pace against far more experienced competition, they even beat Grégoire Munster through this 25.81km test. Munster was voted the World Rally Championship’s most improved driver in 2022 and back in December was announced as one of the lead drivers in M-Sport Ford’s WRC2 campaign this season.

At first service they held 5^th overall but unfortunately on SS6 they clipped a snowbank almost flat in 5^th gear. The impact with the bank catapulted the car into the air and sent them off the road and caused significant damage to the car and gave the Eamonn and Conor quite a scare when the car scooped a large amount of snow in through the collapsed front window. Luckily, they both were fine and the M-Sport Poland mechanics go the car repaired overnight and they were able to restart on Saturday morning.

With any hope of a good result gone, they spent Saturday getting the confidence back up after the crash and battling some mechanical issue which was causing the car to stall and cut out at times, but they persevered and even managed another 3^rd fastest stage time on SS12. On SS13 the light bar on their car would break off over a jump and left them with very poor visibility over the two remaining night stages which added up to just over 27kms.

Bad luck was back again Sunday morning when a large stone imbedded in a snowbank hit the car and bent a wishbone forcing them to retire for good.  Despite all the hardship endured they are already looking forward to the next round in Croatia. The tarmac there will be a bit more familiar. The Croatia rally takes place from the 20^th to the 23^rd of April.

The Sligo Pallets Irish Forestry Championship

Kicks off this weekend with the Killarney Forestry Rally. Top Monaghan seed is Derek Mackarel along with his Cork navigator Eamonn Creedon. They are seeded number 8 in their Mitsubishi Evo IX. Arthur Kierans is navigating for Ryan Caldwell seeded number 15 in a Skoda R5. In the two wheel drive category Michael Conlon and Paul McPhillips lead the way in their MkII Ford Escort. Steven Corey/Ella Ryan are seeded just two places behind them also in a MkII Escort and Ryan Farrell is making the trip south, navigating for Dylan Eves in their Ford Fiesta.

Monaghan Motor Club are hosting an open meeting on Wednesday night the 22nd of February.

Topics include the introduction of a marshal’s points system for competitors, the 2024 Monaghan Stages Rally, Pedal Car event and Navigation and Endurance Trials.

The open meeting will take place in the Four Seasons Hotel and starts at 8pm sharp.

PRO: Oisín Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com 

Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes began the defence of their Irish Tarmac Championship title

On last weekend’s opening round, the Corrib Oil Galway International Rally, the pair finished the two day event in 2^nd place, 12.7 seconds in arrears of Meirion Evans/Jonathan Jackson after a very tough battle over 13 stages. Sam Moffett/Keith Moriarty making a return to the championship finished in 3^rd place in their band new Hyundai i20 N Rally2

The ceremonial start began as usual in Eyre Square, where the teams get to show off their cars and sponsors as well as have a quick interview before heading to overnight Parc Fermé at Galway Racecourse.

It was an early start on Saturday, with the first stage beginning at 08:45. Saturday’s itinerary would consist of three stages ran three times for a total of nine stages and 111 kilometres. On the first special stage, ‘Coldwood’, Sam Moffett got his new car off to a perfect start scoring the stage win by a mere 0.6s from Cathan McCourt/Liam Moynihan. Sam commented that his tires worked really well for him. Evans/Jackson finished third fastest just a further 0.4s in arrears. Damien Connolly on the notes for Robert Barrable finished the stage in fourth place, with Moffett/Hayes finishing in fifth and said that he was too steady through the 7.5km test.

 Skehanagh was the name of SS2, just south of the village of Craughwell, and it was here that Moffett/Hayes put the foot down and secured their first stage win of the season and moved into the lead of the event. They completed the 15.24km stage on a time of 7:31.9, 3.2s faster than the car of Barrable/Connolly, who moved up into 3^rd place overall. Evans/Jackson went third fastest, just 0.4s slower than Barrable. Sam Moffett could only manage the eighth fastest time on the stage, some 8s down on his brother. Commitment issues on the tricky sections were the reasons for this time loss he reported at the stage end. The final stage of the opening loop, ‘Eden Hill’ was cancelled when a resident decided to block the road, so it was back into service for a quick check over of the cars and a change of tyres. At first service, Josh Moffett held a slender lead of 0.8s over Evans with Barrable in 3^rd place, just 1.9s down on Moffett. The racing was so tight that the top seven cars were all within 7s of each other. 

The weather took a turn for the worse for middle loop, when the cold and windy morning changed to a cold and wet noon. Unfortunately for the drivers, they had all left service before the rain came, so all had the wrong tyre package for the next three stages. On SS4 ‘Coldwood 2’, Sam Moffett once again set the fastest time, going 1.2s faster than the car of McCourt/Moynihan. Josh finished the stage in 3^rd place, just a further 0.3s further back. All drivers noted how slippy the stage had become. Evans, who finished the stage with the fourth fastest time mentioned that he thought he had a puncture not long after the start due to how much the car was moving around on him. Sam was over the moon with his stage time as he was sure that he was on the wrong tyre compound. This stage win for Sam moved him into 2^nd overall, dropping Evans into 3^rd.

By the time SS5 began, the rain was non stop which left the remaining two stages far slippier than SS4. On this stage, Josh had an overshoot when the throttle in his Hyundai stuck open on the approach to a turn square right leaving him no choice to turn left and spin the car around on the handbrake before continuing on. It was an excellent recovery and showed why it is extremely important to have all escape roads clear of spectators. Sam took the stage win here by 0.5s from McCourt. Evans finished third fastest, 4.6s down on Sam’s benchmark while Josh dropped a full 8s, most of which was lost having the overshoot. This time loss dropped him to 4^th overall, 5.3s in arrears of his older brother.

On SS6, which was everyone’s first run through the previously cancelled ‘Eden Hill’, Evans scored his first stage win with a time of 7:25.0 which was 1.2s quicker than Moffett/Hayes. Sam lost the lead of the rally on this stage, dropping 8.4s to the stage winner and dropped from 1^st to 4^th, but still within touching distance as he still was only 3.7s off the lead. Sam said his time loss was from not being committed enough through the middle section of the 14.2km stage.

At second service, Evans/Jackson now held a slender lead of 1.8s over Moffett/Hayes, with McCourt/Moynihan in 3^rd place, just 3s off the lead. Moffett/Moriarty held 4^th and Barrable/Connolly held 5^th. The racing was still mighty tight as just 6s separated 1^st to 5^th. Garry Jennings/Arthur Kierans held 6^th place, but were 20.5s off the lead.

On SS7, ‘Coldwood 3’ Sam Moffett couldn’t make it a hattrick of stage wins as he clipped a stone and both Josh and McCourt beat him through the opening stage of the days final loop. Barrable had a half spin on this stage and finished the stage 11s down on fastest. Evans finished the stage 7^th fastest and said he’d a great run, but that the times aren’t reflecting that.

Another stage win on SS8 followed for Josh, finishing the stage 0.4s faster than McCourt. Sam finished the stage in third fastest, 5.4s down on his brother and commented that he was very wide on some corners and that it scared him a bit. Jennings had an excellent stage, finishing fourth fastest in his ten year old Fiesta R5. Regrettably, this stage would end Barrable/Connolly’s day as a fire started underneath their Citroën. Frantic waving from some spectators drew their attention and they immediately pulled over and got the fire out without any major issue, but their day was done. Evans finished the stage fifth fastest and still couldn’t understand where he was losing the time as he continued to feel he was driving very well.

Josh made it three stage wins from three on the days final loop, stopping the clock on SS9 5.8s faster than McCourt. In fact, Josh’s time was so great that, when Sam was told of Josh’s time at the end of the stage, he refused to believe it. Sam had finished the stage fourth fastest, a full 11s seconds behind Josh. Evans was third fastest, 8.9 seconds down and on hearing of Josh’s time said that he didn’t know if “he’d lost something, or if Josh had found something.” After the days final stage, it was back to the Galway Racecourse for overnight Parc Fermé.

After the opening day Moffett/Hayes held a 7.8s lead over 2^nd place McCourt/Moynihan. Moffett/Moriarty held 3^rd overall, 19.3s off the lead with Evans/Jackson a further 0.6s behind. Jennings/Kierans were in 5^th place, 43.1s off 1^st place.

Frosty weather greeted crews as they awoke Sunday morning. Sunday’s stages consisted of two stages repeated three times. SS10 ‘Black Road’ had to be cancelled as the mountain stage was treacherous with ice, as temperatures were still around minus 2 degrees. Luckily, SS11 ‘Ballydugan’ wasn’t in the mountains, so it ran as planned.

Evans went quickest on the days opener, setting a time 5.5s faster than Barrable/Connolly, who had repaired their car and returned under rally2 rules. Josh finished the stage in third place, dropping 5.7s to Evans. Unfortunately for McCourt/Moynihan they day came to an abrupt end when they were caught out on shiny tar and cold tyres and crashed out not long after the start line. Due to there being only a 30s interval between cars, Sam Moffett arrived before McCourt could get the OK board displayed, so Sam slowed down to make sure both occupants were uninjured before continuing. Sam received the same stage time as Josh due to having to slow down at the scene of the accident. Evans’s stunning stage time was enough to overtake Sam and go into 2^nd overall, but was still 14.2s in arrears of Josh.

With the temperatures increasing, the Black Road stage ran as planned for the middle loop of stages. Both the Moffett’s had a stage to forget here, as Josh hit a bale in a chicane before having another overshoot and dropped a huge 19s. Sam fared no better, sliding into a wall and stalling the car. Such was the time loss that Evans was beginning to catch Sam on the stage. Patrick O’Brien/Stephen O’Brien finished the stage second fastest and were having an excellent event especially considering most of Patrick’s career was spent on the gravel of forest rallying. Once again Evans went fastest to take the lead of the rally by 4.8s from Josh who managed to only drop one position. Sam still held onto 3^rd place such was the gap back to Callum Devine/Noel O’Sullivan in 4^th.

On the second pass of Ballydugan, Josh had his third overshoot of the weekend as he was pushing to the max to try reel in Evans. The overshoot fortunately only cost him around 3.5s, but it was enough to allow Evans to extend his lead out to 8.3s with just two stages to go. Sam finished the stage third fastest but held a comfortable gap back to Jonny Greer/Niall Burns who had overtaken Devine by 1.1s to go into 4^th.

On the penultimate stage of the event, O’Brien got his first stage win of the weekend and in the Tarmac Championship, much to the shock of stage end interviewer Killian Duffy. He completed the stage 4.6s faster than rally leader Evans. Josh finished the stage sixth fastest and said that the grip levels were changing so much that it was hard to commit.

Despite holding an 11.1s lead with only the last stage to complete, Evans still charged on and ended the stage setting the joint fastest time along with Greer/Burns to take a famous win on the opening round of the 2023 Tarmac Championship. The O’Brien’s finished the stage third fastest, just 1s down on the benchmark with Barrable/Connolly finishing fourth fastest. Josh cruised to the end without too much risk and finished the stage fifth fastest as he knew Evans was too far ahead for to be beaten so close to the end. Sam also took a cautious approach to the last stage and finished twelfth fastest, knowing his 3^rd place overall wasn’t under threat and that it was still a great start to the championship.

In the end Evans/Jackson took the win by 12.7s from Moffett/Hayes with Moffett/Moriarty 3^rd, 42s off the lead. Greer/Burns snatched 4^th overall off Devine/O’Sullivan by 1.5s through the final 14.76kms of Ballydugan 3.

O’Brien/O’Brien finished an excellent 6^th overall, despite a big moment of the last stage, when their Skoda slid wide around a long fast right hand bend. Jennings/Kierans finished right behind them in 7^th OA. Brendan Cumiskey/Martin Connolly finished 15^th OA in their VW Polo. Piaras O’Ceallachain guided Brian Lavelle to 17th OA and 1^st in class 13. Mickey Conlon/Domhnall Lennon finished 31^st OA and 1^st class 12. Barrable/Connolly recovered from their fire to finish 42^nd OA. Ryan Farrell guided Dylan Eves to 46^th OA and 4^th class RC4. Jack Maguire/Keith McConnon finished right behind them in 47^th OA. Paul McPhillips guided Aaron McIntyre to 51^st OA after making a return under rally2 rules.

Ashling McArdle navigating for Des Lyons retired after SS11 and Conor Foley who was on the notes for Martin McGee retired after SS7. The next round of the Tarmac Championship will take place on the 18^th/19^th of March with the West Cork Rally.

In the Junior section Jack McKenna/Damien Doherty took a hard fought win. Going into the final stage they held a 7s lead over Co. Cavan men Ben McIntyre/Andrew Wedlock. On the previous pass on the stage Ben had taken 7s out of Jack so it was very much all to play for. Unfortunately for the Cavan men, they would crash out near the start of the final stage thus allowing McKenna/Doherty a comfortable 20.5s win over 2^nd placed Jason Gorham/Aaron Connaire. This was Jack’s second Galway International Junior win in a row after winning last years event with Conor Mohan in the navigators seat.

Elsewhere, the National Navigation Championship continues this weekend with the Skibbereen 100 Isles Navigation Trial. Local man Denis O’Donovan will be looking to score his fourth win in Cork navigations this season. Meanwhile Conor Mohan will begin his Junior World Rally Championship campaign in Sweden this weekend navigating for Donegal man Eamonn Kelly in a Rally3 Ford Fiesta. The rally begins this Thursday with the Umeå Sprint superspecial stage and finishes Sunday with an extended run of the Umeå stage.

Monaghan Motor Club are hosting an open meeting on Wednesday night the 22^nd of February. Topics include the introduction of a marshals points system for competitors, the 2024 Monaghan Stages Rally, Pedal Car event and Navigation and Endurance Trials. The open meeting will take place in the Four Seasons Hotel and starts at 8pm sharp.

PRO: Oisín Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com 

The Irish Tarmac Championship kicks off this weekend with the Corrib Oil Galway International Rally. The fifteen stage two day event begins this Saturday and is based out of Loughrea. Defending champions Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes will be hoping to get their campaign off to a perfect start seeded number one in their trusted Hyundai i20 R5. Number two on the road will be the Welsh pairing of Meirion Evans/Jonathan Jackson who will be determined to push for the win after securing their first ever triumph on Irish tar on the last round of the 2022 Tarmac Championship, the Modern Tyres Ulster Rally.

Callum Devine/Noel O’Sullivan will be back this year seeded number four, with Sam Moffett/Keith Moriarty seeded number 5 in what’s reported to be a brand new Hyundai i20 Rally2 car. Arthur Kierans will be in the navigators seat for Garry Jennings seeded number eight in a Fiesta R5 and Damien Connolly will be on the notes for Robert Barrable and seeded number 12 in a Citroën C3 Rally2.  Brendan Cumiskey with Damien’s brother Martin Connolly are seeded right behind with number 14 on the door of their VW Polo GTI R5.

2022 Irish Forestry Championship winner and 2022 Billy Coleman award nominee Patrick O’Brien with brother Stephen on the notes are seeded seventeenth in their Skoda Fabia R5.

Other Monaghan entries include Conor Foley, Ashling McArdle, Piaras O’Ceallachain, Ryan Farrell, Paul McPhillips and Keith McConnon all in navigators seats while Mickey Conlon and Jack Maguire sit behind a steering wheel.

There is only one Monaghan entry in the junior section and it is number 1 seed Jack McKenna with Damien Dougherty calling the notes to him.

ALMC Endurance

Evin Hughes was the highest placed Monaghan entrant in the ALMC Winter Endurance Trial which took place last Saturday. Evin along with regular Dublin driver Karl O’Donoghue finished the sixteen selective event in 2^nd overall, two minutes in arrears of the Westmeath pairing of Robert Howard/Claire Murtagh. Championship runners up last year Andrew Wedlock along with Stranooden navigator Ciaran Maguire finished the event in 4^th OA and 1^st in class A2M. Robert Graham took a step out of the drivers seat for this event and navigated Dublin man Michael Connolly to 11^th OA and 2^nd in class A2N. Warren Carleton navigated Mervyn Wedlock to 13^th OA and 1^st in class F. Shane Maguire/Nichola McGuigan finished 14^th OA and 3^rd class A2N in their Mitsubishi Colt. Imants Ignatjevs/Luiza Ieremie finished 16^th OA and 1^st in class A2B. Unfortunately, Cathal McGlone/Dara McGlone failed to make the finish in their Ford Focus.

PRO: Oisín Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

Cork Motor Club’s 1000 Shakes Navigation Trial took place last weekend. The
Inchigeelagh based event counted as round four of the National Championship
as well as the penultimate round of the Munster Navigation Championship.
The all cork team of Derek Butler/Denis O’Donovan scored a commanding win
finishing on 13 marks, well clear of Mike O’Connor Jr/Greg Shinnors who
finished 2 nd overall on 35 marks. 3 rd place went to Alan Shinnors/George
Shinnors who finished on 43 marks.
The entire event took place north of Inchigeelagh around the villages of Ré na
nDoirí, Baile Mhic Íre, Clondrohid and Cúil Aodha with first six time points
being located south of the village of Cill Na Martra. The first farm lane of the
night, a short grassy track which had to be used to avoid a double visit at TP3,
nearly caught out Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock, they missed a difficult to see
left turn half way down the lane and continued further on to a dead end and a
field. For a few moments it looked like a tractor and chain job, but luckily the
car got enough grip to get them back onto the lane and they only dropped one
minute into TP5.
The first trick of the night came in the wind farm south of the village of Ré na
nDoirí. Recent road improvements through the forest changed the layout of
the forest lanes, removing some sharp corners. TP8 was located directly after
where the lane had been straightened with the approach across the old
overgrown unused part of the lane. Of the twenty entries, Butler/O’Donovan
were the only crew to get this right, with every other crew taking a wrong
approach as the new part of the road wasn’t on the map.
Via 12, TP13 and TP14 had to be accessed using numerous farm lanes around
An Rathnach Thiar. The short distance between each check point and the
demanding nature of the lanes left everyone down time by the time TP14 was
reached. Butler/O’Donovan dropped 4 marks here, while Kelly/Sherlock
dropped 3. Shane Dalton/ Ryan Treanor were down just 2 marks at TP14 while
Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan dropped 4. Shane Maguire/Conor Maguire got
through this tricky section with the loss of 5 marks.
There was some controversy at TP16 where a road goes should have been
given for to reach the TP. Butler/O’Donovan did however know a lane existed
there, but neither Kelly/Sherlock, Mackarel/Boylan and Dalton/Treanor and a
few others knew of the lanes existence so all received 15 marks for a wrong

approach. O’Connor/Shinnors had also no knowledge of the unmapped lane,
but luckily for them they accidently went up it and avoided a WA.
Plot and bash was on the cards at TP25, with all TPs in the mountains between
Clondrohid and Carriganimmy. At TP25 grid reference plots were handed out
for TP26, TP29, TP 30 and TP31. It was imperative to plot all p&bs together as
TP30 lay on the shortest route between TP26 and TP27. Unfortunately for
Maguire/Maguire they would receive a WA at TP27 and miss TP30 and TP31 in
what would be a very costly section for the father and son team. From TP32 it
was into petrol for a well needed forty minute break after a daunting opening
half with much more to come.
The entire second half of the event was based around the village of Cúil Aodha,
which didn’t throw up many problems for the Monaghan entrant’s.
Mackarel/Boylan did have a slight scare on the ITC section directly after petrol,
after stopping at the hidden check point they went the wrong direction at the
following junction. They soon realised their error and corrected themselves but
would arrive to the end TP two minutes late. They were fortunate that the
missed junction was after the hidden check point, as with ITC sections, they are
timed to the second with a 1 mark penalty for every ten seconds early or late
arrival to the check point. Arriving two minutes late would have left the team
with a massive 12 mark penalty.
Maguire/Maguire would receive 20 marks at TP111 for a non signature before
missing TP114, TP115 and TP116 which were all p&bs. The p&bs in the second
half were also grid references and did not throw up much difficulty apart from
time loss due to the short distances and twisty roads and lanes beside Doire
Fhínín. After TP116 it was over the penultimate control just outside
Inchigeelagh before heading back to the HQ. Sherlock, Treanor and Boylan did
try and appeal the WA at TP16 due to a road goes not being given but to no
avail.
This overall win for Butler/O’Donovan has given them a considerable lead in
the National Championship as they have won the Cork Startrek, Skibbereen
Carbery and now the 1000 Shakes. The Skibbereen 100 Isles event is up next
on the calendar and a fourth overall win this season will be expected on
Denis’s home event.

Top 10

1 st Derek Butler/Denis O’Donovan (Subaru Impreza) 13 marks,

2 nd Mike O’Connor Jr/Greg Shinnors (Subaru Impreza) 35m,
3 rd Alan Shinnors/George Shinnors (Subaru Impreza) 43m,
4 th Shane Dalton/Ryan Treanor (Subaru Impreza) 45m,
5 th Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan (Subaru Impreza) 45m,
6 th Owen Murphy/Patrick O’Leary (Subaru Impreza) 47m,
7 th Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock (Subaru Impreza) 51m,
8 th Ray O’Neill/Stephen O’Neill (Subaru Impreza) 110m,
9 th James Boland/John McCay (Subaru Legacy) 133m,
10 th Shane Maguire/Conor Maguire (Subaru Impreza) 171m.
PRO Oisín Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com