Author: monaghanmotorclub

Derek Mackarel and Conor Boylan, scored a commanding win on last
weekend’s January Navigation Trial hosted by Monaghan Motor Club. Clerk of
the Course Eoghan Corr laid out a very challenging 110 mile event spread out
between Clones, Smithborough, Killeevan, Scotshouse and Drum.
The navigation began just north of the town in Tirnahinch before a two and a
half mile road section to Time Point 2 beside Tynan Motors. Here a herringbone
tulip diagram plot and bash was handed out which brought crews to TP3 via an
extremely slippy grey lane at Gortnawinny and across an unmapped field to
reach the TP before re-joining the grey lane out to the public road. Thirteen
crews were caught out here by missing the TP altogether. October COCs Pakie
Duffy/Evin Hughes were the first to miss the TP followed by the October
winners, Aidan Keenan/Sean Marron.
From here the event moved to the Smithborough area, taking in two farms at
Loughoony and Lismeagh. The farm at Lismeagh would put a dampener on
many competitors night as a tricky stop sign at the exit of the farm left many
with 50 penalties as they failed to bring the car to a complete stop. An ITC
section took the event from Smithborough to the townland of Cashlan beside
Garran cross roads and TP10. From TP10 it was over to Via 1 where a big trick
lay in store. The shortest route from Via 1 to TP11 involved traveling a part of
the ITC route, however anyone who did not plot where the ITC check marshal
was located would end up getting double visit penalties. The correct route
involved heading in what felt like the complete wrong direction to avoid picking
up the 30 penalties. In total ten crews got caught with DVs here.
TP11 threw up a lot of problems for competitors as a shed that should have been
closed off, remained open and resulted in the road goes tulip instructing
navigators to proceed through the shed which led to wrong approaches at the
TP. The first six cars on the road all did this, however Mackarel/Boylan on
seeing the commotion, reversed back out of the shed without being seen and got
away without any penalties. Unfortunately for Martin Tynan/David McCrudden
they were not as lucky and they were hit with a double visit trying to do the
same as Mackarel/Boylan. Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock’s event fell apart here
as the confusion here caused Oisín to direct Darragh to TP15 instead of TP12,
dropping them a lot of time, and putting a lot of stress on Damien
Treanor/Jonathan McGovern who were doing course car, as they thought the
event had caught up on them, and the gates not opened yet.

At TP13 a box tulip p&b was handed out, some of the boxes were mixed
around, which many crews didn’t realise until too late resulting in many wrong
approaches and non visits. Both Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan and
Kelly/Sherlock were caught out here, taking a wrong approach each. With
having dropped so much time between TP 11 and TP14, Kelly/Sherlock skipped
TP15, TP19 T20 TP21 to get back under the allowed 15 minutes max lateness.
TPs 19 and 20 were both on box tulip p&bs in the Drumreenagh and Latroe
areas. This p&b section proved very difficult as only 9 crews visited TP19 and
11 TP20. From here the event moved towards Ture and through a flooded road
at Annahare outside the Hilton Demesne before a well needed half way fuel
stop at Scotshouse.
At the half way point number 3 seeds Mackarel/Boylan held a commanding lead
on 13 marks. In 2 nd place was Emmet Sherry/Ciaran Geaney down 70m, 30 of
which was for an ITC DV and 20 for a non visit at TP13. In 3 nd place was
Dereks father Andrew Mackarel with Greg Shinnors navigating. They were
down 92m which included receiving 50m for a stop sign fault and 15 for a WA
at TP11.
An ITC section started off the second half of the event and it ended at TP28 at
Lattacapple. The first trick of the second half took place at TP31. Expecting to
receive a plot and bash for TP32, competitors were informed that they received
it on a p&b earlier in the event. Having threw all previous sheets into the back
of the car, Ciaran Tynan had to get out and search each of the sheets for the
crucial information. Both Boylan and Sherlock had spied the information earlier
and had plotted TP32, but both had failed to notice the departure out of TP31 so
they too couldn’t proceed to the next TP. Eventually all three took a chance and
went left out of the TP in convoy with Kelly/Sherlock leading the way. The left
turn fortunately proved to be correct.
The next few TPs would involve constant leapfrogging. On the way to TP33,
Mackarel/Boylan took a longer road section and when they arrived
Tynan/McCrudden had got in front of them, and on the way to TP34,
Kelly/Sherlock took a turn too early and Tynan/Tynan along with
Mackarel/Boylan (who had got back in front of Tynan/McCrudden) overtook
them in turn. At TP 34, a tricky farm lane at Creeran, Tynan/Tynan took a turn
too early in the farm and Kelly/Sherlock once again got in front of them while
Mackarel/Boylan were now out a head on their own.
TP35 was a p&b on a newly constructed lane at Drumgramph. The entrance to
the lane was well concealed with two dump trucks blocking the way.
Kelly/Sherlock were fortunate to survive this section as they went around one of

the trucks and ended up being momentarily stuck and while they were praying
that the car would catch grip, Tynan/Tynan once again got back in front via
driving under the back of the dumpers which were parked back to back leaving
just enough room for a car to pass. The approach and departure directions for
this TP were swapped around and anyone failing to notice would be met with a
WA. Mackarel/Boylan and Tynan/McCrudden along with nine others were
caught out here.
The next p&b was handed out at TP38. The box tulip diagram brought crews
through an exceptionally overgrown lane at Gortgranard before turning left on
the exit and reaching TP39 located 50m over the public road. It was essential to
mark this TP on the map as it was located along the shortest route between
TP41 at Killygone and Via 3 on the main Clones-Newbliss road at Altartate
Glebe. The overgrown lane had to be travelled a second time to avoid a DV
penalty at TP39.
A short trip over the road brought competitors through another farm lane at
Annaghkilly for TP42. It was imperative to have the car windows up at all times
through this lane as Oisín Sherlock found out when, on approaching the TP, he
put the window down, just as he spied a large muddy puddle approaching, and
before he could get the window back up, Darragh duly hit the puddle sending
the contents in through the open window covering Oisín face and jacket.
The last p&b (TP43) was located at the end of a farm lane at Creevelea, which
had to be negotiated using a road goes tulip diagram handed out in the hall
before the event began. The penultimate TP (TP47) was located at the end of
the grey lane used for TP3 at the start of the night, before heading to Via 4
which had to be approached via a road goes behind a house at Magheranure.
Kelly/Sherlock who were running first on the road turned to go in through a
field gate expecting a farm lane, but were met with an open field, second on the
road Tynan/McCrudden on seeing them reversing back turned off their car
lights and swung in the correct entrance before Kelly/Sherlock could notice.
Luckily, they got themselves corrected and avoided a WA. At Long last it was
back to the HQ for a well needed cup of tea after another very difficult but
enjoyable nights driving.
In the end Mackarel/Boylan maintained a very comfortable win by some 68
marks from the Semi-Expert crew of Emmet Sherry/Ciaran Geaney. In 3 rd place
was Mackarel/Shinnors on 101 marks. They would rue a 50 penalty for not
coming to a complete stop after TP 5 as it cost them 2 nd overall.

In the classes it was Mackarel/Shinnors 1 st Expert, Tynan/Tynan 2 nd on 111m
and Tynan/McCrudden 3 rd on 114.
The Semi-Expert class went to Sherry/Geaney in their Toyota Starlet. 2 nd went
to Damien Treanor/Christopher McMahon on 172m with Garrett Collins/Patrick
O’Sullivan finishing 3 rd on 195m.
Ben McIntyre/Declan Tynan won the Novice class on 172m. 2 nd was Kieran
McCarra/Adam Langan on 218m, some consolation after Kieran ruined his
brand new runners (just out of the box that day) after taking a wrong turn late in
the night and bogging the car. The runners were ruined as he had to wade
through a considerable amount of cow dung to try push the car out. 3 rd in the
class went to Shane Maguire/Ciaran Maguire who finished on 366m.
The Beginner class was won by the brother sister crew of Shane Maguire/Molly
Maguire, finishing on 310m. 2 nd in class was Ciaran McGorman/Aaron
McGorman finishing on 391m. 3 rd in class went to Martin Swinburne/Gretchen
Swinburne who finished on 415m.
Eoghan thanked all the land owners and residents along the route for allowing
the event to take place on their property and travel past their houses. He also
thanked all the marshals who spent hours out and about to cover all 56 check
points and stop signs. A big thank you was also extended to the Cúil Darach Bar
and Restaurant for the excellent food and venue.
Top 10

1 st Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan (Subaru Impreza) 33 marks,
2 nd Emmet Sherry /Ciaran Geaney (Toyota Starlet) 101m,
3 rd Andrew Mackarel/Greg Shinnors (Subaru Impreza) 108m,
4 th Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan (Subaru Impreza) 111m,
5 th Martin Tynan/David McCrudden (Subaru Impreza) 114m,
6 th Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock (Subaru Impreza) 134m,
7 th Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes (Subaru Impreza) 142m,
8 th Damien Treanor/Christopher McMahon (Subaru Legacy) 172m,
9 th Ben McIntyre/Declan Tynan (Subaru Legacy) 172m,
10 th Garrett Collins/Patrick O’Sullivan (Subaru Impreza) 195m.

The National Navigation Trial Championship resumes next weekend with the
Cork Motor Club’s 1000 Shakes event. Regs and entry are available now, while
the next Monaghan Motor Club event will be the March Navigation on Saturday
the 11th.

Mohan Set for World Stage

Huge news was announced last week that local man Conor Mohan will contest
the Junior World Rally Championship sitting alongside his Donegal driver
Eamonn Kelly. The pair will contest the five round series in an M-Sport Ford
Fiesta Rally3 car. The championship begins on the snow of Sweden on the 9 th of
February. The final four rounds will take place on the tarmac of Croatia and the
gravel of Sardinia, Estonia and Greece. Eamonn took part in Artic Lapland
Rally last weekend to get some much needed experience on snow. Matt
Edwards sat in in place of Conor as Conor was at the Autosport show in the UK
representing the team at the British Rally Championship stand.
PRO: Oisín Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

The Navigation Trial season resumes on Saturday night the 14^th with the running of the Monaghan January Navigation Trial.

Clerk of the Course Eoghan Corr has laid out a 110 mile event based out of the Cuil Darach Restaurant in Clones.

The event will be Round 2 of both the club Navigation and Traders Championships.

Sign on is at 17:30 and first car away is at 21:01.

As ever marshals will be needed for the running of the event and anyone who is able to help out, please get in touch.

 The National Navigation Championship

resumes the following Saturday night (21^st) with the Cork Motor Club’s 1000 Shakes Navigation Trial. COC Niall Murphy has organised a 105 mile event based around the village of Inchigeelagh. Local men Michael Carbin and Conor Mohan currently lead the National Championship.

PRO: Oisín Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

Fr Dick Mohan

The members of the Motorsport community are saddened by the death of our esteemed club member, Fr Dick Mohan on Sunday last. Dick was a member of Monaghan Motor Club from his early years as a teacher in St. Macartan’s College where his enthusiasm sparked the interest in some of the boys in the sport and that interest often stayed with them.

He served on the committee of the club for a number of years until his diocesan duties took him into other areas. He was secretary of the club for a time also, a role where his attention to detail was so evident.

However, it was as a competitor that he will be remembered most. We can recall him compete in full rally mode effective in his Escort RS2000 or his Ford Capri in many Navigation Rallies spread over several years. A number of navigators sat with him to plot their way through the old ½ inch Ordnance Survey maps during these years. Among his navigators were Benny Cadden and Gerry McKenna now deceased, others included Jim Moore, Joe Wedlock and Mervyn Wedlock. Dick’s finishing rate in events was excellent and record shows how he and his various navigators won many class awards.

In addition to all of the above, his presence at and around events brought out many witty and amusing encounters in a sport, by its nature, well removed from the liturgical setting of the sanctuary. His wonderful ability to cultivate friendships widely, together with his great pastoral support, that he is renowned for, will live on in the memory of all who remembered him. Unfortunately for the sport the pressurised nature of his work kept him away in recent years from motorsport activities.

We extend our sympathies to Dick’s family and many friends on his unexpected passing.

May his soul rest in eternal peace.

Michael Carbin made his return to two wheel drive rallying for the first time since 2012 to take part in last weekend’s Killarney Historic Rally. Using a historic spec Ford Escort Mk2 of Niall Maguire’s, he along with navigator Dean O’Sullivan finished 11^th overall and 5^th in class D5 after a demanding 7 stage rally which included three runs of the iconic ‘Molls Gap’ and two runs each of ‘Ballaghbeama’ and ‘Kilgobnet’. They took a cautious approach to the first loop of stages as Michael got to grips with the rear wheel drive Escort after spending the last ten years with the more powerful and all wheel drive Mitsubishi Evo. By the time they had finished the third pass of Molls Gap, they had set a time some 32 seconds faster than their first run.

Conor Mohan was also in action, once again navigating for Eamonn Kelly. Their day came to a very quick end as the engine in their historic spec Escort gave up on the approach to the gap towards the end of SS1.

The winning of the Historic section was nip and tuck all day where Craig Breen/Paul Nagel and Jonny Greer/Niall Burns battled it out for the honours. Going into the final stage ‘Molls Gap 3’ both crews sat on exactly the same time, having both been rallying for 50:00.6s. Unfortunately, the Ex Frank Meagher Ford Sierra Cosworth RS of Breen/Nagel wouldn’t make it to the start of the final stage as they would break a driveshaft on the road section between Service out and the stage start.   Having a 20+ second  advantage over now 2^nd placed Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy the pressure was off, not that it showed as Greer set a stage time just 1.8s shower than he previous run to take a famous victory.

In the Modified section of the rally, Monaghan was well represented. 2^nd overall went to Daniel McKenna/Andrew Grennan. They finished 38.5s behind the Toyota Corolla Twincam of Kevin Eves/Chris Melly. Johno Doogan/Paul Lennon were in 4^th OA after SS6, 0.6s in arrears of Dessie Keenan/Jason McKenna. However, on the last stage the beat Keenan/McKenna by 5.3s to take 3^rd. Keenan/McKenna had to settle for 4^th.

Raymond Conlon/Paul Sheridan finished 6^th OA and 2^nd class 6. Gary McCrudden navigated Aidan Bourke to 14^th OA and 6^th class 6. Trevor Burke navigated Mervyn Deane to 30^th OA and 9^th class 6. Kevin Flanaghan/Mark Reilly finished 46^th OA and 1^st class 1.

Sam Moffett/Keith Moriarty retired after SS4 with engine troubles, he was soon joined by his brother Josh as he and John Rowan also retired after SS4 with a broken drive shaft. Some consolation for Josh will be the amount of videos of him with the Starlet in full drift mode around almost every corner. Gary McPhillips/Ger Conway retired after SS4 also.

Elsewhere, Brendan Cumiskey/Martin Connolly finished 2^nd OA at the Coppermines Grizedale Stages Rally in the UK while Arthur Kierans guided Alan Carmichael to 18^th OA.

PRO Oisín Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

Darragh Kelly and Oisín Sherlock were the top finishing local crew on last weekend’s ‘Carbery’ Navigation Trial hosted by the Skibbereen and District Car Club. The event was round 3 of the National Navigation Championship and round 2 of the Munster Navigation Championship. Having retired on the opening round, the Cork ‘Startrek’ back in October, they hit back with 2^nd overall on the Drumlin and followed this up with another 2^nd overall on the Carbery to get their championship challenge back underway. Winners on the night were the Cork crew Derek Butler/Denis O’Donovan making it their second overall win this season. Shane Dalton and Ryan Treanor finished in 3^rd place overall.

Skibbereen based Cavan man Ruaidhri Nash assisted by Eric Calnan organised a very challenging 85 mile event based out of the Saint Oliver Plunkett’s GAA Club in Ahiohill. A double plot and bash was handed out at Time Point 2 for TP 3 and TP 4. The two TPs were based in a regularly used farm just to the north west of Ballinascarthy. Butler/O’Donovan were the only crew to negotiate this section without dropping a single mark. Kelly/Sherlock’s night would get off to a terrible start as they dropped 8 minutes on the way to TP 3 due to confusion on the approach direction and would follow this up with a wrong approach and being two minutes late at TP 4 due to the same problem. Dalton/Treanor would also struggle with TP 3 and dropped 5 minutes while sorting the route out, followed by a further minute dropped  into each of TPs 4 and 5.  Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan and Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan would both miss TP 3 but luckily got to TP 4 the correct approach with minimal time loss.

Disappointingly, Mackarel/Boylan’s night would come to a premature end as they would puncture the water pipe for the radiator of their Subaru on the way to TP 7. To prevent any damage to the engine, they immediately retired from the event.

TP’s 7,8 and 9 would take the event just to the east of Ahiohill, where a couple of treacherously slippy lanes really tested the drivers skill as they struggled to keep the 30 mph average speed, not helped by the floods on the lanes from the recent heavy rainfall. From here the event headed north through the village of Farrannasheshery and three more private lanes before arriving at TP 16 at Cappeen.

At TP 16 a herringbone tulip diagram plot and bash was handed out to reach TP 17. Navigators had to be very accurate as the tulip involved two forest lay-bys where distances between junctions are very small which can lead to mixing up the junctions by the smallest deviation off the route. Carbin/Mohan would pick up 20 marks here by failing to find the marshal hidden in the bushes of a lay-by along the R585. There was some confusion on the route from TP 17 to TP 18, as some crews took what they believed to be the shortest route only to find it blocked. Kelly/Sherlock dropped 4 minutes and Dalton/Treanor 6 by the time they had realized their error.

TP’s 19 to 31 were all based between Shanlaragh and Ballineen. TP 28 was on plot and bash, but didn’t throw up much difficulty apart from dropping time due to the tightly timed and twisty roads. An ITC section timed at 27 mph brought the event from Ballineen through Ballynacarriga to Forge Cross Roads on the Enniskeen-Clonakilty road.

 The final plot and bash of the night was handed out at TP 34. A relatively straight forward in appearance box tulip diagram was handed out which brought crews into a rarely used farm just to the west of Ahiohill. Once in the farm yard however, the tulip became quite technical with very little distance between each change of direction causing competitors to get flustered. Dalton/Treanor, Carbin/Mohan and Kelly/Sherlock all arrived into the yard at the same time. Once in the farm they all went off the tulip and couldn’t find the TP disguised behind a shed. After a few attempts, Dalton/Treanor and Carbin/Mohan took off through the farm yard but ultimately faled to make it to the TP and each received 20 marks. Meanwhile, Kelly/Sherlock went back to the last point on the tulip they knew they were correct at and with a little help from a spectator managed to find the TP with a loss of just three minutes.

 From here it was out another farm lane to the penultimate Control where Ruaidhri greeted all the finishers and congratulated them on surviving the tough event.

The Navigation season will take a short break until the 14^th of January, when Monaghan Motor Club will host their club round event. The National Championship will resume with the Cork ‘1000 Shakes’ navigation on January 21^st.

Top 10

1^st Derek Butler/Denis O’Donovan (Subaru Impreza) 11m,

2^nd Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock (Subaru Impreza) 38m,

3^rd Shane Dalton/Ryan Treanor (Subaru Impreza) 42m,

4^th Ray O’Neill/Patrick O’Leary (Subaru Impreza) 48m,

5^th Gar Collins/Patrick O’Sullivan (Subaru Impreza) 74m,

6^th Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan (Subaru Legacy) 75m,

7^th Brian O’Mahony/Amy Gallwey (Subaru Impreza) 99m,

8^th Mike O’Connor/Greg Shinnors (Subaru Impreza) 138m,

9^th Sam Leech/Barry Attridge (Toyota Starlet) 160m,

10^th Patsy McDonagh/Patrick Corcoran (Subaru Impreza) 170m.

Elsewhere, the Triton Showers National Rally Championship awards night took place recently.  Josh Moffett was crowned overall champion for the second time. In the classes, Kevin Flanagan finished 1^st driver in class 9. Gary McCrudden finished 1^st navigator in class 11F. Micky Conlon finished 3^rd driver in class 12, while Ronan Comerford finished 1^st navigator in the same class. Kaine Treanor finished 3^rd navigator in class 14. Jack McKenna finished 3^rd driver in class 16 and Michael Carbin finished 1^st driver in class 20.

PRO Oisín Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com