Author: monaghanmotorclub

Josh Moffett made it an incredible fifth win in a row on the 2022 National Rally Championship at last weekend’s Circuit of Munster Rally, based out of Rathkeale in County Limerick. Josh with Keith Moriarty on the notes finished the nine stage event with a 56.1 second advantage over Robert Barrable/Paddy Robinson. Eamonn Kelly/Conor Mohan finished an excellent 3rd, a further 32.6s behind. Michael Carbin/Dean O’Sullivan finished 4th OA beating numerous R5 machinery in their Mitsubishi Evo. Paul Sheridan navigated Jonathan Pringle to 10th OA and 2nd class 14. Kaine Treanor navigated Chris O’Callaghan to 11th OA and 3rd class 14. Gary McCrudden navigated Sam Johnston to 25th OA and 1st class 11F.

Jack Maguire/Keith McConnon retired after SS6 and Cathal Sheridan/Ryan Farrell retired after SS8. 

Tyrone Stages Rally

Damien Connolly guided Peadar Hurson to 3rd OA at last Saturday’s MJE Wheel Repair Tyrone Stages rally based out of Stewartstown. Arthur Kierans guided Alan Carmichael to 5th OA and 1st class 11. Gary McCrudden guided Alan Smyth to 13th OA and 3rd class 7 before making the long trip to Limerick. David Moffett/Martin Connolly finished 15th OA and 5th class 7. Johno Doogan/Ciaran Marron finished 17th OA and 7th class 10. Declan McKenna navigated Bryan Jardine to 30th OA and 10th class 7. Oisín Sherlock guided Philip Greenlee to 32nd OA and 11th class 7. Gary McKenna/Calum Maguire finished 60th OA and 8th class 4.

PRO: Oisin Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

Stranooden’s Ciaran Maguire navigated local man Andrew Wedlock to overall success at last weekends Cavan Endurance Trial. The pair finished the twenty one selective event with 11 seconds to spare over 2nd place Karl O’Donoghue/ Kevin Fagan. Graham O’Donoghue/William Kelly finished in 3^rd, 25 seconds further back.

Kieran McCarra/Aaron McElroy were actually the fastest crew over the entire event. They finished 1:48.0s a head of Wedlock/Maguire but as they were in a ‘navigation spec’ car they were ineligible to win the event and therefore the win went to Andrew and Ciaran as they were the fastest crew in an endurance specification car. McCarra/McElroy instead finished comfortable winners of class B.

To avoid confusion, the results below are written as if there is no distinction between endurance and navigation specification cars.

Andrew Mackarel/Richard Cassidy finished an excellent 4th OA and were winners of class C in their Opel Ascona. Damien Treanor/Thomas Treanor finished 15th OA and 3rd class B. Abraham Dixon/Luke Connolly finished 16th OA and 4th class A2B and Gordan Parker/Ryan Parker finished 18th OA and 5th class B.

Heartbreak was to befall Bob Graham/Ryan Treanor after selective 15 when the engine in their Toyota Starlet decided it had enough of Bob’s driving and promptly seized putting them out of the event. They had been sitting 2ndOA up to this point, just 16s off the lead.

Jim Clark Rally

Conor Mohan navigated Eamonn Kelly to Junior British Rally Championship success at the recent Beatson’s Building Supplies Jim Clark Rally. The pair selected the rally as their ‘Joker’ round meaning if they won the event, they would receive 5 bonus points. A poor seeding put them on the back foot immediately due to catching cars on the stage, however a big push on SS2, a long night stage left them with a 17s lead going into day two. Day two unfortunately was cut short for them with the cancelation of two stages, but despite this they continued their immense pace and eventually finished 30.6s ahead of 2nd place Kyle White/Sean Topping. The event win along with the 5 ‘Joker’ Bonus points leaves them with a 15 point advantage going into round 3, the Nicky Grist Stages on the 9th of July.

PRO: Oisin Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

Josh Moffett made it four wins from four in the Triton Showers backed National Rally Championship at the Carlow Stages Rally last weekend. Josh with Keith Moriarty on the notes took a start to finish victory and ended the day with a minute and ten seconds to spare over 2nd place Darren Gass/Barry McNulty. James O’Reilly navigated Donegal’s Declan Boyle to 3rd overall.

On the opening stage Josh set the pace and finished the stage with 18.4seconds to spare over Boyle with Gass a further 3.6s behind. All drivers commented about the amount of gravel on the stage and hoping that it would be cleared for the second pass. Boyle said at the stage end that he struggled with the gearing in the car because of the transition back to his R5 VW Polo from his WRC Fiesta. A dejected Gass mentioned that he clipped at least one chicane. Robert Barrable/Paddy Robinson who were next on the road commented that the chicanes were slightly damaged and that they had to take a different line through some to get round them.

On SS2 Josh again went quickest by 8.4s to extend his lead to 30.4s. Boyle, who had been in 2nd, stalled at a hairpin and dropped at least ten seconds. This time loss caused him to surrender three places on the leader board and go into 5th. Boyles mishap promoted Gass into 2nd, despite claiming he had another poor stage. Kevin Eves/Chris Melly went into 3rd overall in their Toyota Corolla Twin-Cam. They had been in a tight battle with Gary Kiernan/Daren O’Brien on SS1, but unfortunately Gary retired on SS2 with mechanical trouble.

After first service it was back for the second pass of SS1. Again, Josh set a blistering time to go a full 13.2s quicker than his own benchmark he set on the first run. A slightly happier Gass set the 4thfastest stage time and maintained 2nd place. On hearing the time set by Moffett, Barry quipped that Josh isn’t wise! Barrable moved up to 3rd and Boyle to 4th after setting the second fastest stage time despite car troubles in which the engine was throwing oil out through the dip stick onto the front window. When stopping for the stage end interview, James was in full conversation on the phone with the team to see if they should continue or not. Eves dropped to 5th, unable to keep the two four wheel drive R5 cars behind him.

Yet another stage win was to go to Moffett on SS4 to push is lead out to just over 52s. The top five crews would all remain in their positions going into final service. Peadar Hurson, driving the only World Rally Car at the weekend, navigated by Monaghan’s Damien Connolly would drop from 6th to 7th after making a mistake at the first hairpin in the stage and lost around 15s. Enda O’Brien/John Butler inherited 6th as a result. Hurson/Connolly had a difficult middle loop of the rally, as previous to their difficulties at the hairpin on SS4, they caught Tim McNulty/Paul Kiely on SS3 after McNulty overshot a hairpin. Hurson ended up being bumper to bumper behind McNulty for the remainder of the stage which resulted in a damaged window for Peadar. McNulty retired at the stage end due to damage sustained with his overshoot.

After the second and final service, Moffett continued his charge and set a fastest stage time on SS5 to have a lead of 1:08.6s overall, Boyle went second fastest and moved up to 2nd overall, commenting that he was feeling much happier and that he changed from Pirelli to Michelin tyres for the final loop. Gass had a poor run through the stage and dropped to 3rd, just 0.9s in front of Barrable in 4th. Eves remained in 5th, still in control of the two wheel drive category.

On the last stage of the rally, SS6, Gass responded from his poor performance on SS5 to set the fastest time to steal 2ndplace off Boyle right at the end by a mere 0.8s. Moffett, even though only setting the second fastest stage time, extended his overall lead and won the rally by 1:10.2s. Boyle was still content with his result especially with all the bad luck he had in the previous events. Barrable held on to his 4th place and Eves his 5th place and 1st two wheel drive.

The O’Brien Cement MKII Challenge was won by Ed O’Callaghan navigated by Stranooden man Kaine Treanor. They finished the day with 41.5s to spare over 2nd place Frank Kelly/Lauren Kelly and in 8th place overall. Gary McPhillips/Liam Brennan, had been 2ndgoing into the last stage with an 11.8s advantage over the Kelly’s but unfortunately a large stone that was on the racing line broke a rim on the car which resulted in a puncture. They did make it to the end but dropped well over a minute and finished 17th overall and 4th in the MKII challenge.

Peadar Hurson/Damien Connolly finished the day in 7th OA and 1st class 7, Michael Carbin/Dean O’Sullivan finished 14th OA and first in class 20. They had a tough start to the day when the engine in their Mitsubishi Evo was giving trouble on SS1, they managed to repair the fault on the road section and were back in business on SS2. Paul Sheridan navigated Jonathan Pringle to 18th OA and 8th class 14. Ryan Farrell guided Seán Brogan to 64th OA and 5th class 11F. Martin McPhillips/Ciaran Tynan finished 72nd OA and 4th class 11R. John McQuaid/Thomas Treanor retired on the middle loop of stages but returned under Rally2 to finish 107th OA. Nigel Brennan navigated Tomas Crummy to 109th OA and 9th class 12. Ashling McArdle navigated Des Lyons to 113th OA after making a return from an earlier retirement.

Brendan Cumiskey/Martin Connolly retired after SS4. Paul Kelly navigating for David Condell crashed out on SS1. Gary McCrudden navigating for Sam Johnston retired after SS2.

PRO: Oisín Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

Devine Conquers Rally of the Lakes

Last weekend after a gripping battle with Circuit of Ireland winners Alister Fisher/Gordon Nobel throughout the two day event based around Killarney. Devine/O’Sullivan took the win on the very last stage after Fisher got caught out under breaking and slid the car off the road and out of the rally.

In second place was local man Josh Moffett with Andy Hayes navigating.

The action got under way Saturday morning with the first pass of the Kilsarcon stage. A noteworthy change as the event usually starts with infamous Molls Gap. Devine/O’Sullivan set the pace on the opener finishing 2.5 seconds faster than second place Fisher who complained that he had selected too hard of compound tyres. Moffett went third fastest a further 0.2s back and commented that his tyres were going off over the last few kilometres. On SS2 ‘Banard’ Fisher got the stage win and moved into the lead of the rally despite saying at the stage end that he drove too cautiously. Devine went third fastest and mentioned at the stage end that he was losing time on the breaking. Moffett went second fastest despite saying that he never got going in the stage and had a bad rhythm throughout. Gortnagane was the location of SS3 and Fisher again went quickest and extended his lead to 6.3s over Devine. Callum commented again after the stage that he could have pushed harder. Moffett set the fourth fastest time still battling the wrong tyre choice.

A repeat run of Kilsarcon was SS4 after service and Moffett went fastest after going with a harder compound tyre for the afternoon loop. Devine was second fastest. Fisher went third fastest but still only 1s down on Moffett’s benchmark and reported at the stage end that his tyre compound was too soft and that he needed to let the pressures down more. Fisher then went fastest on SS5 despite a few warning lights appearing on the dash of his Polo GTI. Devine was third fastest and again reported that he could have pushed harder.

 On the final stage of the day ‘Gortnagane 2’ Fisher was fastest and extended his lead to 7.7s over Devine. Moffett went forth fastest, 5.1s down on Fisher’s benchmark and remained in 3rd place overall but 15.2 off the lead going into day two.

Moll’s Gap was the beginning of the second day and Devine hit the ground running setting what would be his first of six stage wins on day two. In fact, he beat the bogey time on the opener by 0.1s. Second fastest was Fisher, 1.5s down. Moffett went third quickest and commented at the stage end that he went on the wrong tyre choice.

 Ballaghbeama was next up and once again Devine went quickest despite not finding a good rhythm throughout. Fisher wasn’t far behind, finishing just 0.4s further back, while Moffett went forth fastest and like Callum, complained of not finding a good rhythm through the narrow and twisty stage. It was into service then and after the opening two stages of the day Devine had closed the gap to 1st place to just 5.8s.

There would be no change in times between the top two over the second pass of Molls Gap 2 (SS9) and Ballaghbeama 2 (SS10) as both Fisher and Devine would beat the bogey on SS9 resulting in both receiving identical times. SS10 was cancelled after a Junior competitor crashed on the previous pass and the stage was still blocked.

SS11 ‘Shanera’ began the second half of day two, and just like earlier, Devine was the man in form and once again went fastest from Fisher to reduce the deficit to 4.5s. Moffett had to settle of the fifth fastest stage time but still maintained 3rd place with a gap of 25s back to 4th. Caragh Lake was up next and Devine took a further 0.2s out of Fisher. Sixth was Moffett who commented at the stage end that he never drove as bad in his life!

With just two stages left after service, a repeat loop of Shanera and Caragh Lake, it was all to play for. On SS13, Fisher could not stop Devine’s charge and dropped 1.2s to have just a 3.1s advantage going into the final 14.26kms of Caragh Lake 2. Unfortunately, on the final stage the pressure of trying to keep Devine at bay got to Fisher and he got caught out on breaking and slid the car off the road and out of the event as the car was stuck preventing him from re-joining the road. Due to Fishers retirement, Devine/O’Sullivan took the last gasp win with Moffett/Hayes moving up to 2nd, 1:09.8 off first place. Jonathan Greer/Niall Burns moved up to 3rd overall and finished their weekend on a high, taking a stage win on final test.

In the National Rally, local men Robert Duggan/Ger Conway took the win in their MkII Escort. They finished with 48.9s to spare over Kevin Eves/Chris Melly. In 3rd place was Conor Murphy/Sean Collins, a further 2:13.1s behind.

Daniel McKenna/ Andrew Grennan had a problematic weekend and eventually retired with power steering failure. Raymond Conlon/Damien Fleming finished 7th OA and first in class 13. Richard Moffett/Darragh Kelly had been in 3rdOA but stopped on SS7 and retired after. Arthur Kierans navigating for Aidan Caldwell failed to make the finish, retiring after SS7 while 22nd overall.

May Day Stages

Stephen Wright/Martin Connolly took the overall win at the Jennings Fuels May Day Rally at St Angelo’s Airport outside Enniskillen on Monday. The pair finished with 7.8s to spare over 2nd place Derek McGarrity/Derrick Jobb.

Paul Sheridan navigated Jonathan Pringle to 9thOA and 3rd class 7 and Mickey Conlon navigated Alan Atcheson to 28th OA and 7th class 7.

PRO: Oisín Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

I don’t apologise, I wasn’t missing an opportunity to use that pun…

 Josh Moffett returned to winning ways at last weekends Four Seasons Hotel Ronnie Hawe Monaghan Stages Rally. Josh teamed up with former navigator Jason ‘Wee Pete’ McKenna to take a start to finish victory over older brother Sam navigated by Keith Moriarty. Josh and Jason last teamed up in 2016 where they won the Monaghan and Cork 20 Stages Rally’s and also finished 2nd on the Lakeland Stages Rally.

Organisers, competitors, marshals and spectators woke up to excellent conditions Sunday, starting off on what was to be a wonderful day’s sport. Huge crowds lined the stages following the long layoff of stage rallying in the county and the lovely weather conditions.

 The action got underway at 10:30 with the twelve kilometre Scotstown stage. On the opener the battle of the Moffett brothers began with Josh setting the stage winning time, just 1.3s faster than Sam. Gass finished the stage in 3rd, 7.1s down on Josh’s time. Fourth fastest was Robert Barrable/Paddy Robinson. The battle continued on SS2 Killeevan, with Josh once again going fastest to extend his lead. Sam went second fastest, 1.4s slower than his brother to go 2.7s behind. Gass maintained his 3rd position despite Barrable going faster in the stage. On the closing stage of the opening loop at Stranooden, Josh set his third fastest time from three stages to go into first service with a 5.1s lead over Sam. Gass was in third, 25.1s back with Barrable still in 4th but just 0.6s off a podium position.

During the middle loop, Sam was unable to make any inroads on Josh’s lead despite setting a stage winning time on SS6. Josh set fastest times on both SS4 and SS5 to extend his lead to 7.2. On SS4, Barrable took 5.2s out of Gass to go into 3rd overall, however the podium position would last long, as Barrable would get a puncture on the gravel strewn SS6 and drop back into 4th position 13.6s off Gass who regained his 3rd position just before second service.

On the final loop, Josh was still in fine form and once again set the fastest time on SS7 and SS8 to hold a 12s lead with just one stage to go. Barrable reduced his deficit to Gass to 8.8s over the same stages. Unfortunately, SS9, the final stage of the event had to be cancelled due to a start control timing system malfunction after the 00 cars went through. Results were declared final after SS8.

J Moffett/McKenna emerged victorious after a closely fought battle all day with S Moffett/Moriarty. Gass/McNulty finished in 3rd and Barrable/Robinson finished 4th. Brendan Cumiskey/Darragh Mullen finished 6th OA and 3rd class 5. Dessie Keenan/Enda Sherry had to settle for 2nd 2wd and 10th OA after a massive battle with Damien Tourish/Domhnall McAlaney throughout the day. Keenan/Sherry did lead the 2wd after the opening loop but couldn’t hold on as Tourish made a huge push in the middle loop to eventually beat them by 9.4s.

Niall Maguire/Conor Foley finished 12th OA and 7th class 5. Early 2wd leaders Richard Moffett/Darragh Kelly had to settle for 15th OA and 4th class 14 after an overshoot on SS3 which included the car failing to restart, dropping them around 30s. Raymond Conlon/Damien Fleming finished 17th OA and 2nd class 13. Johno Doogan made a last minute switch to his R5 Fiesta and he along with navigator Ciaran Marron finished 24th OA and 9th class 5. Justin Smith/Gregory McQuillan finished 26th OA and 1st class 12. Arthur Kierans/Shane Farrell finished 27th OA and 6th class 13. Mickey Conlon/Ciaran McPhilips finished 32nd OA and 3rd class 12. Paul Maguire making his debut navigated brother Shane to 33rd OA and 2nd class 4. Gerard McQuaid/Gary Quinlan finished 35th OA and 8th class 13. Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan finished 37th OA and 2nd class 20. Anthony Hand/David McCrudden finished 38th OA and 1st class 11R. Stephen Wright/Damien Connolly had an eventful day, which included a puncture and the car falling off the jack. They recovered to finish 39th OA and 10th class 5. Paul Mc Phillips navigated Aaron McIntyre to 41st OA and 2nd class 11R. Trevor Burke navigated Mervyn Deane to 45th OA and 9th class 13. Martin Tynan/Declan Tynan finished 48th OA and 3rd class 4. Oisín Sherlock navigated Philip Greenlee to 52nd OA and 8th class 14. Cathal Sheridan/Ryan Farrell finished 66th OA and 1st class 10. Mickey Brennan/Mark Sheridan had been leading class 10 until a puncture on SS7 dropped them to 2nd, and 68th OA. Paddy O’Reilly/David Fitzsimons finished 69th OA and 14th class 13. Barry McKenna/Martin McGarrity finished 72nd OA and 15th class 13. Nigel Brennan/James Sherry finished 73rd OA and 6th class 11F. Jason McConnon/James McEneaney finished 78th OA and 5th class 2. James O’Reilly navigated Declan Boyle to 93rd OA and 2nd class 7 after making a return under rally2 following an early retirement. Gerard McGivney/Donal Crossan finished 95th OA and 19th class 13 after returning under rally2. 

Michael Carbin/Dean O’Sullivan retired with mechanical trouble on SS1. David Moffett/Martin Connolly had a troubled day and eventually retired after SS6. Kaine Treanor navigating for Chris O’Callaghan retired on SS2 with mechanical trouble. Seamus Connolly/Gary McCrudden unfortunately crashed out on SS5 while 3rd in class 11R. Gavin McGivney/Kevin Cole retired on SS6. Padraig Doogan/Anthony Smith retired on SS2 while 2nd in class 9. Jack Maguire/Keith McConnon retired on SS2.

In the Historic section, Emmet Sherry navigated Tommy O’Connell to 1st OA in their Ford Escort with over a four minute gap back to 2nd OA. Brendan McAree/Peter Farrell finished 3rd OA in their Porsche 911. 

In the Junior section Mark Fox/Bradley Maguire took a famous win. It was only Mark’s third ever start and it was Bradley’s first time calling notes. Not a bad way to finish their first ever Monaghan Rally. Aaron McElroy navigated Ben McIntyre to 2nd OA. Garry Cassidy/Killian McArdle had a last minute change of car and moved from class 13 into the Junior section. Unfortunately, they had mechanical trouble on SS1 but made a return on SS4 under rally2 to finish 4th OA. Jack McKenna/Ben Taggart retired on SS2 with an overheating issue in their Honda Civic.

At the prizegiving in the Four Seasons Hotel, COC Conor Maguire thanked Frank McKenna and his team for sponsoring the event which was an outstanding success. The event was highly praised by competitors for the demanding stages and the excellent organisation. Conor extended his thanks to Eoghan Corr, who originally picked the stages for the cancelled 2020 event, Monaghan County Council, Monaghan Municipal District, Civil Defence and An Garda Siochana for their assistance. A special word of thanks goes out to the residents along the route for their welcome, co-operation and support. The rally would not have run without the work of over 200 volunteers and marshals, to whom the organisers are most grateful.

Top 10 Results:

1st Josh Moffett/Jason McKenna (Hyundai i20 R5) 50:59.5

2nd Sam Moffett/Keith Moriarty (Ford Fiesta WRC) 51:11.5

3rd Darren Gass/Barry McNulty (Citroen DS3 Rally2) 52:23.0

4th Robert Barrable/Paddy Robinson (VW Polo GTI R5) 52:31.8

5th Seamus Leonard/John McCaffrey (Ford Fiesta Rally2) 53:16.6

6th Brendan Cumiskey/Darragh Mullen (VW Polo GTI R5) 53:40.1

7th Paul Barrett/Kevin Reilly (Ford Fiesta R5) 53:40.5

8th Tim McNulty/Paul Kiely (Ford Fiesta Rally2) 53:46.5

9th Damien Tourish/Domhnall McAlaney (Ford Escort Mk2) 53:47.0

10th Dessie Keena/Enda Sherry (Ford Escort Mk2) 53:56.4 

Corbeau Seats Rally

Conor Mohan navigated Eamonn Kelly to 2^nd British Championship Junior and 8^th overall on the opening round of the 2022 British Rally Championship. The two day, fourteen stage rally based around Clacton-on-Sea was a tightly contested event in both the Main Field and Junior section. Kelly/Mohan did lead their category after SS12, but stage wins on SS13 and SS14 by Norwegian Ola Nore Jr dropped them to second, just 2.3s off the win.

In the Main Field, Osian Pryce/Noel O’Sullivan took a 5.4s win over four time BRC winner Keith Cronin with Mikie Galvin navigating. 

PRO: Oisín Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com