Author: monaghanmotorclub

Last Saturday marked the final round of the National and Border Trial
Championships. Just like the previous round, Michael Tynan with nephew
Ciaran Tynan on the map emerged victorious after one of the most demanding
events in recent times. They negotiated the eighty mile event dropping only 19
minutes and finished well ahead of Martin Tynan/Fintan Clerkin in 2 nd place.
Andrew Mackarel made his long awaited return, filling in for his son Derek, to
steer Conor Boylan to 3 rd place overall.
Before the event began, all eyes were on the leader board of the National
Navigation Championship. Remarkably going into the last round, no less than
six crews had the chance of the overall win. The current leaders were both
Monaghan men. Despite not being team mates Darragh Kelly led the drivers
championship and Conor Mohan led the navigators championship when
dropped scores were taken into account. As nine o’clock grew nearer, nerves
began to creep into the championship contenders as they knew this was their
last chance to tip the overall honours in their favour.
The event organised by new Clerk of the Course Ben McIntyre ably assisted by
Andrew and Thomas Wedlock was based out of Tullyvin Community Centre.
From time point one it was into the first farm lane of the night opposite Kill
National School to receive the correct approach to Tp2. From there it was into
a new lane at Aghnaglogh and across a few bumpy fields to arrive at Tp3.
Unfortunately, Michael Carbin and Conor Mohan’s championship push came to
an abrupt end here, failing to make it to the Time Point.
The first real challenge of the event came at Tp5 in the famous grounds of the
wind turbines just north of Mountain Lodge. A very difficult to find overgrown
lane led up to the time point and this resulted in a total of fourteen cars
completely missing the lane and landing at Tp6 by mistake. The main
casualties here were three of the championship contenders. Mackarel/Boylan,
Derek Butler/Denis O’Donovan and James Fitzgerald/Ken Carmody all missed
the lane to put a big dent in their hopes. There was no let up as at Tp6 a
herringbone tulip plot and bash was handed out to bring competitors to Tp7,
Via1 and Tp8. The tulip was extremely difficult with a total of 54 junctions
appearing on it. The tulip brought crews up into the turbines beside the
Mountain Lodge reservoir. Navigators had to be clued in, as the quick

succession of junctions left it very easy to get wrong approaches and double
visits, as the tulip brought competitors back into the vicinity of TP7 when
bringing them to Via1. Ciaran Tynan was fortunate to get away with dropping
just eight minutes through this section as he accidently reset his tripmeter
which left him having to calculate the intermediate distances as the tulip read
in cumulative. Most of the expert crews did get through this section without
much drama apart from dropping time.
Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock got through the three p&bs dropping only four
minutes to go into the lead of the event and go from seventh on the road to
second with only Fitzgerald/Carmody in front. Kelly/Sherlock would continue
to lead the event until TP13 at Cran, just outside Maudabawn where they
missed a left turn on a road goes and received a wrong approach.
Plot and bash was again handed out at Tp14, bringing crews yet again into
another farm. Anyone not paying close attention to the tulip diagram would be
met with a wrong approach by following the lane to the end. The correct route
being turning left off the lane, up a field, into the farm yard and keep right
around an old shed and down a cow lane. Ten crews were caught out here
with a wrong approach.
A newly reopened lane that hadn’t seen traffic in decades took competitors to
Tp16. Fitzgerald/Carmody’s night would go from bad to worse as they slid off
the lane and got stuck, resulting in them missing the following three time
points and the ITC as they got towed out and tried to regain lost time.
Kelly/Sherlock inherited being first car on the road, a position they would hold
until the relax section at Tp29.
A never before used lane at Rakane, just north of Kill was the location of Tp17
just before the midpoint control. At the midpoint Control, Tynan/Tynan were
out in front on 12 penalties, 2 nd was championship contenders Shane
Dalton/Ryan Treanor on 15 pens with Kelly/Sherlock 3 rd on 23 pens.
There was no let up in the second half as the lanes kept coming thick and fast.
Another lane never used before brought the navigation up into the turbines at
Lappanbane, where turning right led to Tp25 and left to Tp26. Tp25 was
particularly hard to find as the lane was unmapped and competitors had to
make sure to follow their tulip to not miss a hidden slot right to enter the lane
the time point was located on.

Tp30 would throw up a late sting in the tail as Kelly/Sherlock would receive a
wrong departure and double visit after heading out a dead end lane in
Wedlock Windows farmyard.
At Tp32 the last p&b was handed out. This time it was two grid references for
Tp33 and Tp34 that were located in a farm yard and a wind turbine lane at
Cornabeagh. These p&bs didn’t throw up much of a challenge for most of the
expert crews as they mainly dropped time because of the short distances,
getting caught in the dust of previous cars and stopping to get a stop sign
signature three times. With the last p&b section finished, the event headed
back through the lane and fields at Aghnaglogh to Tp36 before the final two
controls signalling the end of a fantastic event as well as the National and
Squealing Pig Border Navigation Championships.
With the event over and penalties added up it was Team Tynan once again
who secured the overall win. Tynan/Clerkin finished on 35 pens to secure 2 nd
place and Mackarel/Boylan finished 3 rd on 49 pens.
In the classes, Tynan/Clerkin finished 1 st Expert, Mackarel/Boylan finished 2 nd
and Kelly/Sherlock finished 3 rd on 74 pens.
Dalton/Treanor won the Semi-Expert class finishing on 73 pens, Damien
Treanor/Christopher McMahon secured 2 nd in class with 109 pens and 3 rd place
went to Eoghan Corr/Shane Maguire on 120 pens.
Kieran McCarra/Aaron McElroy won the Novice class despite an early puncture
and finished on 77 pens. In 2 nd were Sean McConnell/Anthony McDonald on
240 pens and in 3 rd was Cathal Sheridan/Ryan Farrell on 255 pens.
The Beginner class was once again won by Elijah Dixon/Marco Lennon,
finishing on 232 pens. In 2 nd place was Pat Shields/John Kelly on 244 pens and
in 3 rd place was Abraham Dixon/Luke Connolly, finishing on 555 pens.
*Amazingly, with Conor Boylan finishing 3 rd OA, Ryan Treanor finishing 4 th OA
and Denis O’Donovan finishing 10 th OA it left the three of them tied for 1st
place in the navigators championship. A tiebreaker was needed to decide the
winner and it sided with Ryan Treanor on the Semi-Expert beats Expert rule.
This was Ryan’s first National Championship win and he became the first
Monaghan navigator to win the championship since Evin Hughes back in
2016/17. 2 nd place went to reigning champion Denis O’Donovan as he had an
overall win at the Skibbereen Carbery event. Conor Boylan finished in 3 rd place

OA. Unfortunately, Conor Mohan had to settle for 4 th overall after his non
finish in Cavan. He finished the championship tied with Oisín Sherlock, but beat
Oisín on the Semi-Expert beats Expert rule also. Despite a very poor start to the
championship (four points from the opening two rounds) Oisín recovered to
finish 5 th OA, just two points behind the winner. Indeed, he could have
snatched the win on the last round if not for two navigational errors that
dropped him from 1st to 5 th on the Cavan event. County Monaghan was well
represented as four out of the top five all hail from the Farney county.
In the drivers Championship, Darragh Kelly finished 1 st OA with one point to
spare over Derek Butler. Darragh secured the OA win thanks to a 14 point haul
driving for Ryan Treanor in the Skibbereen Carbery event, before driving for
Oisín Sherlock for the remainder of the season. 3 rd place went to Shane Dalton,
Ryan Treanor’s driver from the 100 Isles event onwards. 4 th place went to
Michael Carbin. Carbin had been in 2 nd OA but dropped to 4 th after the non-
finish on the final round. 5 th went to Derek Mackarel as he had other
commitments and was unable to start the Cavan event. He would have finished
3 rd OA otherwise.
*National Navigation Trial Championship results remain provisional.
The Squealing Pig Border Navigation Trial Championship points will be updated
in the coming days.
PRO: Oisín Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

Please note a Rally Safety Tracking System Webinar will take place this Thursday 31st March, at 8pm. The goal of this webinar is to provide an indepth presentation on the use of the Safety Tracking System for competitors on Irish rallies. The seminar will be delivered by Joe Corcoran and there will be a Q&A to cover any queries attendees may have. Due to account restrictions, please note the webinar will be limited to 500 attendees, however it will be recorded and uploaded to the Motorsport Ireland YouTube Channel.

Please find the link to the webinar here – https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86827016160

Josh Moffett continued his winning streak at last weekend’s Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally, making it three wins from three starts in 2022. The Clontibret driver with Wexford’s Andy Hayes back in the co-driver’s seat finished the fourteen stage, two day event with 23.3 seconds to spare over the Welsh crew of Meirion Evans/Jonathan Jackson with the Armagh/Tyrone pair Alastair Fisher/Gordon Noble finishing 18.3s further back in 3^rd.

Moffett did not have it all his own way though, as he had a tremendous battle with Derry’s Callum Devine throughout day one. Devine led from SS1 to SS5 before a hard charging Josh briefly took the lead on SS6 by 1.8s. Callum immediately hit back and regained the lead on the following stage and went faster than Josh again on SS8 to hold an overnight advantage of 4.4s. Moffett/Hayes lay in 2^nd place with Evans/Jackson sitting in third, 21.8s down on Devine.

Cathan McCourt who was in 5^th overall rolled on the opening stage on Sunday ending what had been a great rally for him up until then. Back with the leaders, Devine once again went faster than Moffett but commented that he had went out on too soft of compound tyres and that they may compromise him on the following two stages that were considerably longer than the days opener. Devine’s fears would come through on SS10 where Moffett would go faster by 6.3s to regain the rally lead he last held on SS6. Once again Moffett would go faster than Devine on SS11 by 7.1s to hold an overall lead of 7.3s going into last service.

Devine was eager to get to service to put on some new tyres for a big push over the last three stages to try and regain the lead that he’d held for the majority of the event. Unfortunately, Callum wouldn’t get a chance to fight back as the gearbox on his Rally2 Fiesta cried enough on the road section to SS12. With Devine out, Moffett got to relax a bit as he had a comfortable lead over Evans/Jackson who inherited 2^nd place after Devine’s untimely exit. Over the last two stages, Moffett held onto his lead and even managed another fastest time on the final stage to finish the weekend in style.

Jonny Greer/Dai Roberts had been in third place going into the final stage, just 3s down on Evans/Jackson but unfortunately hit a bank and broke the exhaust which forced them into retirement. This error promoted Fisher/Noble into the podium places.

In the National section. James Stafford/Tom Scallon came out on top in their Darrian T90 GTR+, they finished with 46.2s to spare over 2^nd placed Robert Duggan/John Falvey. Daniel McKenna/Andrew Grennan snatched 3^rd place on the last stage after the diff in Gary Kiernan’s Ford Escort broke which ended his rally prematurely. Daniel was delighted getting to the end of the event after his crash on the last round in Galway and with the continued development of the car.  

Sam Moffett took the Toyota Starlet for another spin after his debut in it at Mayo Stages. He finished 16^th OA and 1^st Class 13. Conor Mohan navigated Eamonn Kelly to 17^th OA and 1^st in the RC4 Class. Amazingly they set the fastest time in their class on each of the rally’s fourteen stages. John McQuaid drove his Escort to 22^nd OA and 7^th Class 14. Gary McCrudden guided Hazel O’Callaghan to 56^th OA and 11^th in Class 13. Brendan McAree finished 12th OA and 4th in Class K in the Historic section in his Porsche 911.

Martin Connolly navigating for Brendan Cumiskey failed to make the finish, retiring after SS12 while sitting 8^th Class RC2. Gary Cassidy/Killian McArdle retired after SS2 with mechanical trouble. Kaine Treanor navigating for Chris O’Callaghan unfortunately crashed out on SS3. Mark Fox/Callum Maguire competing in the Junior rally also failed to make the finish, retiring on SS13 while sitting 5^th OA.

Open Meeting

Monaghan Motor Club are holding an open meeting this Friday at 8pm in the Four Seasons Hotel. All Welcome.

PRO: Oisín Sherlock    oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

Monaghan Motor Club hosted the fifth round of the National Navigation Trial Championship last Saturday night. The event was also a counting round of both the club Navigation and Traders Championship, as well as the penultimate round of The Squealing Pig Border Navigation Championship. Local radio DJ Sean McCaffery assisted by Richard Cassidy laid out a 100 mile event covering a vast area of west Monaghan. The navigation took in the areas of Aghabog, Ballybay, Latton, Rockcorry and Drum village.

Michael Tynan & Ciaran Tynan emerged victorious after a very demanding and challenging event, they completed the entire route only dropping 12 minutes. Considerably less than the time dropped by all other competitors. Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock finished 2^nd overall with Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan finished 3^rd.

From Time Point 1 at Aghadrumkeen, competitors received their first plot & bash, a herringbone diagram which gave navigators their first of many headaches during the night. The tulip brought crews into a farm at Aghnacue. In the farm yard it was keep left and out the gravel lane and slot left across another lane hidden with grass and into TP2. The difficulty of this first section was evident from a total of twenty crews either dropping time or missing it altogether. At TP2 another p&b awaited, a second tulip diagram was handed out and this brought competitors back into the same farm again, this time going straight through the farm and along the disused railway. This section would claim the nights first victim in Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes. They went down a lane parallel to the railway and unfortunately got stuck and burned out the clutch freeing themselves. This section was just as difficult as the first with twenty one crews dropping time or not arriving to it.

A short breather awaited here in a road section before it was back into the rough and tumble on the infamous ‘grey’ lane at Corragarry which involved driving through the renowned flood and precision driving down the very bushy and twisty track to arrive at TP4. From here it was relatively straight forward with mostly public roads and some private lanes bringing competitors to Control B at Latton School. This brought an end to the first third of the event.

At this point Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock were out in front on 1 penalty from being a minute late into TP4. 2^nd were Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan on 2 penalties and in 3^rd  was the Semi-Expert team of Eoghan Corr/Shane Maguire down just 3 minutes.

The middle third proved to be the most difficult part of the navigation and ultimately decided the winning of the event. At TP17, the third p&b of the night was handed out. This would take crews from TP17 through Via3 to TP18. Just like before a herringbone diagram was issued. Unlike the normal herringbone, COC Sean decided to put his own spin on it, this time instead of competitors not taking the junctions appearing on the tulip, they had to do the opposite, something that was completely alien to navigators. As tough as it was most expert crews found Via3 in a farm yard at Creeve, just south of Ballybay without much difficulty. National championship leader Ryan Treanor unfortunately would miss Via3 and run into Tp18 with a wrong approach. The Cork pair of James Fitzgerald/Ken Carmody managed to get Via3 but went back onto the public road too quickly after resulting in a wrong approach at TP18. Another cork crew and National Championship contenders Derek Butler/Denis O’Donovan struggled here, they did eventually find Via3 but dropped 11 minutes into Tp18.

Plot and bash was also on the cards at Tp19 with navigators receiving a clockface tulip for Via4. Via4 was situated in Dixon’s farm at Drumhillagh. A newly opened lane deceived a lot of crews as they instead headed for the main farm entrance and a closed gate preventing entry to the farm. The confusion here led to most of the top seeds arriving to the Via at the same time, giving the marshal plenty of work to do. At the end of Dixons cow paddock lane was the pre-plotted TP20 and it was here that the final p&b of the night was handed out, for TP21 and Via5. Just like before, Sean didn’t make it easy on navigators as the tulip read from top to bottom unlike the normal bottom to top. It wasn’t until competitors arrived at the third instruction on the tulip that most navigators noticed the trick. When back on track the tulip brought crews to the famous Treanor’s farm at Corkeeran.  Approaching the farm from the north, competitors had to turn into the cow lanes and approach the farm yard from the south. Disaster was to strike Kelly/Sherlock as they would receive a wrong approach at TP21. Right behind them Mackarel/Boylan would also get a wrong approach, but opted to skip the TP due to being down so much time. Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan, another team chasing the national title also missed TP21 such was the difficulty in finding it.  When crews arrived at TP22 they breathed a sigh of relief as they knew they wouldn’t have to deal with anymore p&bs for the remainder of the night.

From TP22 it was a straight forward run into Control C and D at the filling station in Rockcorry for a quick refuel. There was a change in the leader board by this point. This time it was number 8 seed, Team Tynan out in front on 12 penalties. Kelly/Sherlock dropped from 1^st to 2^nd thanks to the wrong approach received at TP21. In 3rd place were Mackarel/Boylan despite missing the same Time Point.

The final third wouldn’t throw up any drama for the top crews as the event mainly stayed on public roads, a welcome sight for all after the gruelling middle third. As the competitors arrived to the final Control in the Aghabog GAA centre, discussion immediately began as to who did what and who went wrong where, much to the amusement of Sean.

At the end of the night, it was Michael and Ciaran Tynan who came out on top finishing on a total of 12. Kelly/Sherlock finished 2^nd on 28 penalties despite their wrong approach and taking the wrong road at Aghnamullen crossroads not once but twice! Mackarel/Boylan finished comfortably in 3^rd on 35 penalties.

In the classes, it was Kelly/Sherlock 1^st  Expert, Mackarel/Boylan 2^nd and Martin Tynan/Fintan Clerkin 3^rd on 52 pens.

 Semi-Expert was won by Shane Dalton/Ryan Treanor on 76 pens, 2^nd was Mickey Conlon/Patrick Corcoran on 89 pens and 3^rd was Damien Treanor/Cristopher McMahon on 115 pens.

Aidan Keenan/Sean Marron were comfortable winners in the Novice class finishing on 62 pens, 2^nd was the Cork pair of Garrett Collins/Eoin Tracey on 119 and 3^rd was Cavan men Sean McConnell/Anthony McDonald, finishing on 138 pens.

In the Beginner class, Ballybay men Elijah Dixon/Marco Lennon stormed to victory and also finished an outstanding 7^th OA on 67 penalties. They arguably had the drive of the night punching well above their weight, beating many seasoned competitors in what was their second ever event. 2^nd in class went to Patrick Shields/John Kelly on 259 pens and 3^rd went to Elijah’s brother Abraham Dixon/Luke Connolly who finished on 301 pens.

Sean thanked all the residents and the landowners along the route for their support and allowing the event to use their land. He also thanked the marshals who came along and stood out manning the time points and his family for all the behind the scenes work done in getting the paperwork sorted and p&b’s measured up.

The final round of the Border and National Navigation Championship’s takes place in Cavan on Saturday the 26th. Regs will be available shortly.

Top 10 Results:

1^st Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan (Subaru Impreza) 12m,

2^nd Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock (Subaru Impreza) 28m,

3^rd Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan (Subaru Impreza) 35m,

4^th Martin Tynan/Fintan Clerkin (Subaru Impreza) 52m,

5^th Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan (Subaru Impreza) 53m,

6^th Aidan Keenan/Sean Marron (Subaru Impreza) 62m,

7^th Elijah Dixon/Marco Lennon (Subaru Impreza) 67m,

8^th James Fitzgerald/Ken Carmody (Subaru Impreza) 68m,

9^th Cathal McGlone/Patrick O’Leary (Ford Focus) 69m,

10^th Shane Dalton/Ryan Treanor (Subaru Impreza) 76m.

Bishopscourt Stages

Round two of the McGrady Insurance Northern Ireland Rally Championship took place at Bishopscourt Race Circuit last Saturday. The Race & Rally sponsored event was won by Carryduff man Jonny Greer with Darragh Mullen navigating. They finished 31.1 seconds quicker than 2^nd place Aaron McLoughlin/Darren Curran. 3^rd place went to Derek McGarrity/Graham Henderson.

Tydavnet man Gary McCrudden navigated Alan Smyth to 15^th OA and 1^st in class 7. Oisín Sherlock navigated Philip Greenlee to 61^st OA before heading to Aghabog to navigate for Darragh Kelly in the Navigation Trial.   

PRO: Oisín Sherlock    oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

The first round of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship took place last weekend with the Mayo Motorsport Club’s Mayo Stages Rally. The eight stage event based around Claremorris was also the first round of the Sligo Pallets Border Rally Championship and was won by none other than Clontibret’s Josh Moffett, with his brother Sam’s regular navigator Keith Moriarty on the notes. They recorded a start to finish win to end the day with 27.9 seconds to spare over Robert Barrable/Paddy Robinson. Stephen Wright with Ger Conway in the navigator’s seat finished 3rd overall to make it two Monaghan drivers in the top three.
Donegal man Eamonn Kelly stepped up from his Ford Fiesta Rally4 into his father’s VW Polo GTI R5 for the first time. Navigated by Conor Mohan, he finished 5th OA in what was an excellent debut for the young driver. Brendan Cumiskey/Darragh Mullen finished 6th OA and 3rd Class 5. Michael Carbin with new navigator Dean O’Sullivan finished a brilliant 8th OA and 1st in class 20. A great bounce back from a small off in Fivemiletown a week previous. Niall Maguire/Conor Foley made the switch from their trusty S12b Subaru to a Ford Fiesta R5 and ended the day in 15th OA after battling with no brakes in the early part of the rally.
Sam Moffett with Darragh Kelly on the notes recently bought his cousin David Moffett’s Toyota Starlet for a new challenge. They finished 19th OA and 2nd Class 13. Johno Doogan/Paul Lennon finished one place behind them in their Mk2 Escort. They also finished 2nd in class 14. Gary McCrudden navigating for Ed O’Callaghan finished 21st OA and 3rd Class 14. Kaine Treanor navigated Chris O’Callaghan to 22nd OA and 4th Class 14.
Trevor Burke navigated Mervyn Deane to 35th OA and 3rd Class 13. Arthur Kierans/Conor Maguire finished 36th OA and 4th Class 13 in their Mk2 Escort. Mickey Conlon/Paul McPhillips finished 2nd Class 12 and 42nd OA. Peter Farrell navigating for Jason Roche finished 49th OA and 7th Class 13. Nigel Brennan/James Sherry finished 69th OA in their Honda Civic, while Shane Farrell navigated Quintan Park to 73rd OA in their Escort after an eventful day which included a spin and also clipping a rock resulting in a puncture. Damien McKenna calling the notes for Hazel O’Callaghan finished 76th OA.
Unfortunately, Gary McPhillips/Liam Brennan would crash out on SS1. Jack Maguire/Keith McConnon would retire after SS7 while sitting 49th OA. Ashling McArdle navigating for Des Lyons retired after SS6
In the Junior section of the Rally, Jack McKenna/Anthony McDonald finished 3rd OA, narrowly missing out on 2nd by just 1.8s. Going into the last stage McKenna/McDonald had been in 2nd place, but a last stage charge by Dylan Eves/Damien Sheridan seen the Donegal crew overtake them.
Top 3 Results:
1st Josh Moffett/Andy Hayes (Hyundai i20 R5) 55:43.4,
2nd Robert Barrable/Paddy Robinson (VW Polo R5) 56:11.3,
3rd Stephen Wright/Ger Conway (Ford Fiesta R5) 56:43.6.
Junior
1st Jack Brunton/Sean Brunton (Honda Civic) 35:46.7,
2nd Dylan Eves/Damien Sheridan (Honda Civic) 36:35.2,
3rd Jack McKenna/Anthony McDonald (Honda Civic) 36:37.0.

ALMC ENDURANCE TRIAL
Tydavnet man Emmet Sherry was the highest placed Monaghan finisher on the opening round of the Endurance Championship which took place last Saturday.

The Mad March Hare Endurance Trial was based out of Luttrellstown Golf Resort in Co. Dublin and organised by ALMC Motor Club.
After a gruelling 16 selectives Emmet Sherry with Elisha Knox navigating finished an excellent 2nd overall in their Navigation spec Toyota Starlet. They finished just 6s slower than Kevin O’Rourke/David McAuley but a comfortable 87s quicker than Graham O’Donoghue/William Kelly who finished the day in 3rd.
Karl O’Donoghue with Ballybay man Evin Hughes navigating had been leading the event from SS1 until SS8. O’Donoghue/Hughes set the fastest time on SS1 by a huge 15s over 2nd fastest Sherry/Knox. O’Rourke/McAuley finished the stage 4th fastest a huge 40s down on O’Donoghue’s time. However, over the next seven stages O’Rourke would set the fastest time on each to eventually overhaul Sherry/Knox on SS7 and O’Donoghue/Hughes by 3s on SS8 to go from 3rd to 1st. Disaster would strike O’Donoghue/Hughes on SS13 when the engine in their starlet cried enough spelling instant retirement. The only consolation being that they had over 75% of the event completed so they were still classified as finishers. Eventually finishing 22nd overall.
O’Rourke would have a scare on SS15 when Sherry set a time some 28s faster to take the lead with just two selectives to go. However, O’Rourke wasn’t going to let his amazing fight back earlier on in the day go to waste and immediately hit back at Sherry setting a time 15s quicker on SS16 to turn a 9s deficit into a 6s advantage. Unfortunately, SS17, the last stage would be cancelled giving Emmet no chance to fight for last minute overall win.
Ciaran Maguire navigating for Andrew Wedlock finished 11th OA and 2nd Class A2S. Abraham Dixon/Luke Connolly finished 19th OA and 3rd Class A2B. Aaron McElroy navigating for Nicole Drought finished 25th OA after an eventful day which included a small off on SS7 resulting in a stage max and missing SS8 while waiting to get towed back onto the track. Craig McPhilips making a return to motorsport after a long layoff finished 26th OA with Shane Maguire navigating. They had been sitting 16th OA and 3rd in Class B but unfortunately, they broke the exhaust on their Toyota Starlet and had to skip the last two selectives. Cathal McGlone navigated by his daughter Emer didn’t make the finish after a rear wheel hub came off at a stop box on the penultimate selective. A very unfortunate end to their day after some brilliant driving where at one point they lay in 8th position overall.
March Navigation Trial
Monaghan Motor Club host the penultimate round of the National and Border Navigation Championships this weekend. The 90 mile event is based out of the Carn Centre in Aghabog. As ever, marshals are needed for the event and those available should make themselves known to Clerk of the Course Sean McCaffery.
PRO: Oisín Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com