Author: monaghanmotorclub

The Motorsport Community was left shocked and stunned after the tragic death of a competitor following an incident at the Killarney Forestry Rally last Sunday week. Unfortunately, Eoin McCarthy, the driver of the car sustained serious injuries during SS4 of the rally following an accident. He was taken to Cork University hospital where he sadly passed away Sunday night. The co-driver Daniel O’Brien was also taken to Cork University hospital with non-life threating injuries. The event was immediately halted as emergency services delt with the accident. The members of Monaghan Motor Club would like to extend their condolences to Eoin’s family and friends at this difficult time.

While the rally was halted from SS4, results were declared after SS3. Portglenone’s Desi Henry with Paddy Robinson on the notes took victory over Sam Moffett/Keith Moriarty with Jordan Hone/Paul Hone finishing 3^rd. Stonebridge man Derek Mackarel with Cork’s Eamonn on the notes finished first in Class 20 and 7^th OA. Michael Conlon/Paul McPhilips finished 2^nd Class 14 and 12 OA. Marty McKenna/Kaine Treanor finished 8^th Class 5 and 15^th OA and David Condell/Paul Kelly finished 4^th Class 14 and 16^th OA.

Kirkistown Stages

Stephen Wright finished the top Monaghan man on the opening round of the McGrady Insurance Motorsport UK Northern Ireland Rally Championship. The Orchard Motorsport Kirkistown Stages Rally took place on the Kirkistown racing circuit in County Down. At the end of the six stages, Wright finished 4^th overall, 15.3 seconds off the lead in what was a disappointing finish after a positive start to a very wet rally.

Wright with Ger Conway on the notes took the lead after a soaking wet Stage 1 which included catching another car and being momentarily held up. Jonny Greer/Darragh Mullen finished the stage second fastest in their Citroen C3 just 1.4s slower than the Ford Fiesta of Wright/Conway. Greer had his own dramas on the stage, when he was held up by Kenny McKinstry/Sean Topping who had a steamed up window and were unable to negotiate the stage. On SS2 rally leader Wright again caught another car, this time for a full lap of the circuit which cost him almost 9s seconds. This huge time loss allowed Greer to go into the lead, some 7.3 seconds faster than Wright.

Wright/Conway had a dramatic start to SS3 when a sensor on their Fiesta R5 started to give trouble and the crew only just managed to reach the stage start on time. Greer again set a fastest time to extend his lead to 10.6s. Wright set a 4^th fastest stage time and this left only 0.2s between himself and Philip Allen/Emily Turkington in third. On SS4 Derek McGarrity/ Graham Henderson set the fastest time on a very slippy stage. Greer only managed to set the 3^rd fastest time on the stage to have his lead trimmed to 9.1s over Allen who had overtaken Wright who struggled on the shiny tar and could only set a 5^th fastest time. Wrights poor time dropped him to 4^th OA with McGarrity also overtaking him to go into 3^rd.

On the penultimate stage, McGarrity/Henderson once again set the fastest time to cut the distance to Allen/Turkington to 1.1s. Greer/Mullen set the 3^rd fastest stage time to hold an overall lead of 8.6s with just one stage to go. Wright again could only set a 5^th fastest stage time to leave just 2.1s between himself and Darren Gass/Marc McMillin in 5^th.

 On the final stage McGarrity set his 3^rd fastest stage time of the day to overtake Allen and finish 2^nd, just 4.6s off Greer who backed off over the last stage to avoid any last minute drama like what had happened him during a rally the previous year, when a final stage puncture cost him the victory. Allen commented after the stage that he tried too hard and this resulted in silly mistakes which ultimately cost him time. Wright could only set a 6^th fastest time on the stage but luckily enough Gass only set a time of 0.2s faster, so Wright was able to hold onto 4^th overall.

Gary McCrudden navigating for Alan Smith finished 29^th OA and 2^nd Class 7.

Fivemiletown Rally

Desi Henry and Paddy Robinson made it two wins in a row at Omagh Motor Clubs Samsonas Rally Fivemiletown. Fresh off their win in Killarney, Henry/Robinson took a beginning to end lead to eventually finish 18.9s quicker than local man Cathan McCourt with Cork’s Liam Moynihan on the notes. Vivian Hamill/Lorcan Moore finished 3^rd, a further 17.4s behind.

The event took place in the forests just over the Monaghan/Tyrone border and began with the Famous 7.1 mile Jenkin stage. On the opening pass Henry set the pace setting a time of 6:49.5 in his Fiesta R5. McCourt finished the stage 5.4s slower in his ex McKenna Motorsport USA 2.0 Fiesta. Mark Donnelly/Stephen O’Hanlon also in a Ford Fiesta finished the stage with an identical time as McCourt to be joint 2^nd OA after SS1. A short trip over the road followed for SS2 Mullaghfad. The short but demanding stage seen Henry extend his lead to 8.6s. Hamill in his Mini Cooper WRC set the 2^nd fastest time to go into 3^rd after a poor stage from Donnelly where he only set the 13^th fastest time dropped him from 2^nd to 4^th. McCourt could only set a 4^th fastest stage time but still held 2^nd, just 1.2s in front of Hamill.

Crocknagrally forest was the location for SS3 and Henry was the man to catch as yet again he set the fastest time to make it three stage wins from three. This increased his lead to 11.5s over McCourt who again could only set the 4^th fastest time. Hamill set the 3^rd fastest time on the stage to close the gap to McCourt to just 1s. Monaghan’s Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan set the 5^th fastest time on the stage to go into an excellent 4^th overall before a short regroup in Fivemiletown.

After Regroup it was into the 2.33 mile stage of Doon. A new stage winner emerged in Cathan’s brother Conor McCourt navigated by Caolan McKenna. They finished the stage 0.6s quicker than Henry/Robinson in their Skoda Fabia R5. Hamill only set a 5^th fastest stage time which was good news for Cathan as he increased his advantage over him to 3s. Unfortunately, Conor McCrossin/Arthur Kierans would go off the road resulting the stage being stopped. This resulted in Carbin/Mohan being dropped to 7^th OA through no fault of their own as all cars caught up with the accident received Shane McGirr/Denver Rafferty’s stage time.

SS5 was a repeat run of the Jenkin stage and Desi Henry once again got back to winning ways getting his 4^th stage win of the day, Cathan set a 2^nd fastest stage time to put 5s between himself and Hamill in 3^rd place. This stage ended Carbin/Mohan’s day as an impact with a rut on the stage upset the car and caused them to slide into a drain. A very unfortunate end to what was an excellent drive up until this. From SS5 it was into service for a well needed break after five very demanding stages. At service in Fintona the top three were as follows; 1^st Desi Henry/Paddy Robinson 21:09.4, 2^nd Cathan McCourt/Liam Moynihan 21:24.7 (+15.3), 3^rd Vivian Hamill/Lorcan Moore 21:29.7 (+20.3).

Four more stages lay ahead after service starting with a repeat run of Doon. This time it was Cathan McCourt’s turn for a stage win. A stage win much needed to keep the pressure on Henry and show him that he wasn’t giving up without a fight. Hamill could only set a 5^th fastest time, a full 4.3s slower than that set by McCourt. Cathan’s brother Conor set the 3^rd fastest time to reduce his deficit from Hamill to less than 10s.

On SS7 the third pass of the Jenkin stage, Cathan would once again set the fastest stage time leaving him just 10.4 seconds off the overall lead with just two stages to go. In the battle for 3^rd Hamill would beat Conor to put 13.7s between them. Henry managed to put a stop to Cathan’s charge on SS8 Mullaghfad 2 by setting the fastest time. There was to be no change in the battle for 3^rd as amazingly both Hamill and Conor McCourt set identical stage times.

With a 12.3s lead going into the last stage, and it being only 3.35 miles long, one would have been expecting Henry to back off and consolidate the win but this wasn’t to be the case as Henry went on to set the 2^nd fastest stage time. Cathan could only set the 6^th fastest time to end all hope of a last stage upset. Hamill managed to hold off Conor and comfortably hold onto his 3^rd place overall.

Derek Mackarel/Thomas Wedlock would go onto finish 9^th OA and 1^st in Class 8. David Condell/Paul Kelly finished 15^th OA and 2^nd Class 7. Marty McKenna/Kaine Treanor finished 16^th OA and 2^nd Class 10. Bryan Jardine/Declan McKenna finished 48^th OA and 6^th Class 5. Unfortunately, Niall Connolly/Paul McPhillips retired on the road section between SS4 and SS5 with a broken diff while running 66^th OA.

PRO: Oisín Sherlock    oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

Top 10 Fivemiletown Results:

1^st Desi Henry/Paddy Robinson (Ford Fiesta R5) 33:40.7,

2^nd Cathan McCourt/Liam Moynihan (Ford Fiesta) 33:59.6,

3^rd Vivian Hamill/Lorcan Moore (Mini Cooper WRC) 34:17.0,

4^th Conor McCourt/Caolan McKenna (Skoda Fabia) 34:30.8,

5^th Jason Mitchel/Paddy McCrudden (Ford Fiesta Rally2) 34:44.5,

6^th Mark Donnelly/Stephen O’Hanlon (Ford Fiesta) 35:06.4,

7^th Gareth Mimnagh/J Barry McCarney (Ford Fiesta R5) 35:45.4,

8^th Niall Henry/Barney Mitchell (Ford Fiesta) 36:03.7,

9^th Derek Mackarel/Thomas Wedlock (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) 36:23.3,

10^th David Crossen/Aileen Kelly (Ford Escort MKII) 36:30.5.

Cork Motor Club hosted the 4th Round of the National Navigation Championship last weekend. The ‘1000 Shakes’ event which was also the final round of the Munster Navigation Championship was based out of Shanballymore Community Hall. Ken Carmody along with James Fitzgerald organised an 85 mile event over the vast area of forestry in the Ballyhoura Mountains.

Tydavnet man Ryan Treanor fresh off his win on the previous round in Newcestown flew home from Amsterdam especially for the event and was the top Monaghan finisher, completing the event in 5^th overall.

The event began at 22:01 where 19 crews left headquarters and straight to the forestry tracks at Coolfree Mountain. Time points 2 to TP6 including Via1 and the plot and bash Via2 all took place in the vicinity. Drivers had to be on the ball as the quick succession of lanes and stops left it difficult for competitors to avoid dropping time especially when patches of fog began to appear.

From TP6 to TP7 competitors got bit of a respite as the route was back on smooth public road. However, this was short lived as it was immediately back into the woods at Glenanaar Forest. TP8 was the first proper trick of the night, where a lane not on the map and the most obvious to take invited crews into the time point with a wrong approach. This trick would catch out five crews including Stranooden’s Ryan Farrell navigating for Ray O’Neill.

After departing TP8 another lane not appearing on the map caused difficulty as anyone missing the right hand turn on the mapped lane went off the map and continued down a non goer. This lane caught out Monaghan’s Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan with them dropping 4 minutes, Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan dropping 3 and O’Neill/Farrell dropping 5 minutes. Four other crews also drop time here. Limerick’s Patsy McDonagh with Sligo’s Patrick Corcoran on the maps unfortunately got stuck at the end of the lane in the 2wd Colt, but luckily for them Cork’s Brian O’Mahony/Amy Gallwey also came down the non goer and were able to tow the Colt to safety.

Drama was to occur on P&B TP 11, a narrow bumpy road goes had to be used to avoid a wrong approach and it was on this road goes that Carbin/Mohan would take a wrong turn and leave them beached on a bank with the two passenger wheels off the ground, luckily Mackarel/Boylan would stop and pull them back to level ground. The same was to happen to O’Neill/Farrell. Unfortunately, they had to wait on the recovery jeep resulting in them having to skip a large part of the event to get back on time.

From here it was through the famous river crossing on the Bregoge River and into the first relax section of the night at Control 14A. After a tough start, there was three joint leaders, Derek Butler/Denis O’Donovan, Monaghan’s Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock and Alan Shinnors/George Shinnors all dropping identical times on TP11 andTP12 to have 3 marks on the first sheet.

From the Relax section it was straight into the ITC. There was to be a sting in the tail at the end of the ITC as any crew who pulled up to the TP was given the arrival time and not the time the competitors asked for. At least eleven crews received early penalties here in what was a disappointing start to the middle third of the event.

It was back into the forestry again at Ballynaboola and Caroline Mountain. Here competitors received a trace diagram for TP17 leading to a great section of driving through the entireforestry down to Control 19 and the second relax section which was in the same location as Con14A. The leader board was a lot different from the previous relax, as now the Limerick/Cork pairing of Garrett Collins/Aaron O’Regan were out in front on 4 marks. Mike O’Conor/Greg Shinnors were now 2^nd on 5 marks with Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock and Alan Shinnors/George Shinnors joint 3^rd on 7 marks, having both received 4 penalties for being early at the end of the ITC.

After this second relax section, it was back into the Ballynaboola forestry where three P&Bs awaited. Grid references were handed out for TP22, and T23. It was at TP23 that caused the most problems as both Kelly/Sherlock and Mackarel/Boylan were unable to find the entrance to the lane and subsequently missed it and took an unmapped lane beside it and luckily landed into P&B TP24. The crews were lucky to get TP24 as the tulip to get to it was handed out at TP23. Carbin/Mohan fared out worse as they missed TP24 to TP26 and received 60 penalties in the process.

The Navigation then moved into the Carron, Black Rock and Long Mountain’s as the event neared its finish. Kelly/Sherlock would drop 4 minutes into TP29 after mistakenly heading down an unmapped lane to a dead end. They would drop a further 3 minutes into TP30 as a result of breaking the exhaust while crossing a drain along the way.

The final three time points were back in the Coolfree Mountain where the event began and when competitors arrived at TP36 they could breathe a sigh of relief to be finished a very demanding event on man and machine. At the finish, three crews were joint leaders with Derek Butler/ Denis O’Donovan, Mike O’Connor/Greg Shinnors and Garrett Collins/Aaron O’Regan all finishing on 10 marks.

For the second event in a row, tiebreakers were needed to declare the winners. Collins/O’Regan were declared winners on the Semi-Expert beats Expert rule. Butler/O’Donovan finished 2nd with O’Connor/Shinnors finishing 3rd.

Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan finished 6^th overall with Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock finishing 7^th. Shane Dalton/Ryan Treanor finished 5^th overall and 1^st Semi-Expert while Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan finishing 10^th overall and 3^rd Semi-Expert. Ray O’Neill/Ryan Farrell finished 12^th overall and 2^nd Novice.

PRO: Oisín Sherlock     oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

Top 10 Results:

1^st Garrett Collins/Aaron O’Regan (Subaru Impreza) 10m,

2^nd Derek Butler/Denis O’Donovan (Subaru Impreza) 10m,

3^rd Mike O’Connor/Greg Shinnors (Subaru Impreza) 10m,

4^th Alan Shinnors/George Shinnors (Subaru Impreza) 16m,

5^th Shane Dalton/Ryan Treanor (Subaru Impreza) 17m,

6^th Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan (Subaru Impreza) 32m,

7^th Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock (Subaru Impreza) 37m,

8^th Patsy McDonagh/Patrick Corcoran (Mitsubishi Colt) 51m,

9^th Kieran Hayes/Patrick O’Leary (Toyota Starlet) 57m,

10^th Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan (Subaru Impreza) 71m.

Last weekend Irelands top rally drivers headed to Galway City for the first stop on the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship’s calendar, the Corrib Oil Galway International Rally.

Clontibret’s Josh Moffett with Wexford’s Andy Hayes on the notes took a hard-fought victory after two days and fifteen stages in the Hyundai i20 R5 over the VW GTI Polo R5 of Welsh driver Meirion Evans/Jonathan Jackson with Callum Devine/Brian Hoy finishing 3^rd.

The rally began early Saturday morning with nine stages based in the greater Loughrea region. Treacherous conditions due to strong winds and heavy rain left it difficult for drivers to keep their cars on the road, this was evident from the number of videos of overshoots, slides and offs circulating on social media.

On the opening stage Evans/Jackson set the pace with a time 2.2 seconds quicker than Moffett/Hayes. Moffett hit back on SS2, setting the fastest time to go into the lead by a slender 0.5 seconds. On the third stage Evans would set another fastest time to cut Moffett’s lead to the smallest of margins going into the first service.

On SS4 it was Cathan McCourt/Liam Moynihan’s turn for a stage win moving them up to 4^th overall, but in the battle for the lead, Moffett took 3 seconds out of Evans. It was on SS5 that Moffett really began to stretch his legs setting a blistering time in the torrential rain going almost a full 6 seconds quicker than Evans. SS6 saw Declan Boyle with Monaghan’s James O’Reilly on the notes take a stage win in the older WRC spec Fiesta, but more importantly Josh took another 1.2 seconds out of Evans to lead the event by 10.2 seconds at the second service.

An extremely tough stage 7 where the wind and rain picked up seen Moffett’s lead trimmed to 7.6 seconds after his car got sucked into a couple of drains, but luckily for him Evans ran wide on a corner and dropped “four or five” seconds struggling for traction on the grass. Moffett immediately hit back on stage 8 going to lead by 15.4 seconds with only stage 9 remaining on day one. On SS9 Evans could only manage to go 1.3 seconds quicker to leave Moffett/Hayes a lead of 14.1 seconds overnight. Devine/Hoy finished the day third, just 3.4 seconds behind Evans/Jackson.

Six stages lay ahead on Sunday with Brady’s Yard and the 20km The Black Road stages each being repeated three times. Moffett/Hayes began day two on a mission and set another fastest stage time on SS10 to push their lead out to almost 20 seconds. A too cautious approach on the stage for Evans resulted on Devine overtaking him and going into 2^nd place.  There was to be slight drama on SS11 where Moffett would struggle with power-steering problems after passing through sections of standing water. Evans would set a dominant stage time to leapfrog Devine and go into 2^nd, only 5.1s behind Moffett.

A determined Josh would set another fastest time on the second pass of Brady’s Yard to increase his lead to 10 seconds and over the last three stages, Josh and Andy held onto their lead and eventually took the win by 14.1s seconds.

Darragh Kelly, navigating for Paul Barrett finished 9^th OA and 6^th in class 7. Unfortunately, Eamonn Kelly navigated by Ballinode man Conor Mohan had a minor off early in the rally and damaged the radiator resulting in retirement. Declan Boyle navigated by James O’Reilly retired on day two with gearshift problems.

In the National Rally, Cavan men Gary Kiernan/Daren O’Brien ran out comfortable winners in the end over Jason Black/Karl Egan with Damien Toner/Denver Rafferty finishing 3^rd.

Kevin Eves had led the rally until SS5 where a high speed overshoot resulted in a damaged back axle and instant retirement. Black/Egan inherited the lead but it wasn’t to last long as a puncture on SS8 would drop them to 6^th. This promoted Daniel McKenna/Andrew Grennan into the lead, with Kiernan/O’Brien just 3.8s ahead. McKenna would hold the lead until SS13 where a high speed impact with a bank on an extremely wet square right caused extensive damage to the front left. With McKenna out, Kiernan/O’Brien were the new leaders with Black/Egan back up to 2^nd after setting some blistering stage times. With over a three minute lead, Kiernan/O’Brien were able to back off over the remaining stages to eventually win by two minutes thirteen seconds.

Ashling McArdle would navigate Des Lyons to 17th OA and 2nd in class 11F, while John McQuaid/Thomas Treanor finished 41^st OA and 11^th in class 14. Unfortunately, Trevor Burke navigating for Mervyn Deane retired after SS10 while 25^th OA while Shane Farrell navigating for Quintan Park also failed to make the finish with mechanical trouble.

The Junior Rally took place over the six Sunday stages and Emyvale man Jack McKenna with Conor Mohan on the notes…Yes, you read that right…took an impressive overall victory in the newly built Civic. Conor now joins an exclusive group of navigators who can say that they competed on the same event on the same weekend with two different drivers.

PRO: Oisín Sherlock     oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

Top 3 Results:

International

1^st Josh Moffett/Andy Hayes (Hyundai i20 R5) 1:46:40.8,

2^nd Meirion Evans/Jonathan Jackson (VW Polo GTI R5) 1:46:54.9,

3^rd Callum Devine/Brian Hoy (Ford Fiesta Rally2) 1:47:09.5.

National

1^st Gary Kiernan/Daren O’Brien (Ford Escort) 1:53:09.6,

2^nd Jason Black/Karl Egan (Toyota Starlet RWD) 1:55:23.3,

3^rd Damien Toner/Denver Rafferty (Ford Escort) 1:55:34.4.

Historic

1^st James Ford/Neil Shanks (Ford Escort) 2:01:59.2,

2^nd Duncan Williams/Declan Casey (Ford Escort) 2:05:27.4,

3^rd Maurice Meskell/Stephen Meskell (Ford Escort) 2:05:59.5.

Junior

1^st Jack McKenna/Conor Mohan (Honda Civic) 1:05:40.4,

2^nd Jason Farrell/Robert Duggan (Honda Civic) 1:07:01.4,

3^rd John Michael Kennelly/Eoin Corcoran (Honda Civic) 1:08:29.5.

Skibbereen and District Car Club hosted the 3^rd Round of the National Navigation Championship last weekend. The ‘100 Isles’ event which also doubled as the 2^nd Round of the Munster Navigation Championship was based out of Newcestown Community Hall. Colm Feen along with Iarla McCarthy organised an 80 mile event over territory that had not seen Navigations in a number of years.

Tydavnet man Ryan Treanor along with Longford’s Shane Dalton snatched the overall victory after a closely contested event in which a total of four crews finished on clean sheets. Ryan was the first Monaghan man to win the event since Michael Carbin and Evin Hughes won it in 2012.

The event began at 23:01 where 22 crews took to the lanes in the hope of victory. There was no easy start as competitors had to negotiate two farm lanes, an underpass, a stop sign and a Via before reaching TP2, all in the space of four minutes. From there it was immediately onto another private lane on the approach to TP3 where a difficult to see track behind a shed half way down the lane caused confusion as competitors came to an apparent dead end, and it was here that Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan dropped a minute. Another Monaghan crew, Eoghan Corr/Shane Maguire would suffer worse as they would receive a Wrong Departure.

The first plot and bash of the night came at TP11 where competitors received grid references in worded format for TP12, TP13 and Via4. Navigators had to be extra careful on the route to TP12 as if crews overshot a road on the left by even the smallest margin they would be met with a Wrong Approach or worse, a Double Visit. The Stranooden pairing of James McCabe/Shane Farrell unfortunately missed TP12 and went directly to TP13 dropping them 20 penalties.

At the midpoint control only four crews were still on zero penalties, Cork’s Derek Butler/Denis O’Donovan, Monaghan’s Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock, Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan and the Longford/Monaghan team of Dalton/Treanor.

The second half of the event was no easier as four more plot and bashes awaited comprising of a trace diagram and more grid references in worded format. Drama was to follow for Kelly/Sherlock as they would almost drop a minute at the very last timepoint as they found the lane momentarily blocked. Luckily a lengthy road section following this allowed them to make back lost time before arriving at the penultimate control.

With the same four crews still on clean sheets, tiebreakers were needed to declare the winners. With both Dalton/Treanor and Carbin/Mohan competing in the Semi-Expert class, this gave them the advantage over the Expert crews of Butler/O’Donovan and Kelly/Sherlock. However, another tie breaker was required to separate the two Semi-Experts and two Experts, this time on Engine cc’s. Dalton’s rare 1990cc engine took the win over Carbin’s slightly bigger 1996cc engine, while in the tiebreaker to separate the two Experts, Kelly’s 1994cc engine beat Butler’s 1995cc engine.

With tiebreakers completed, Dalton and Treanor were declared victorious, securing their first ever victory in their first ever outing together. A slightly shocked Ryan gave a speech at the end and thanked the COC Colm Feen and his team on running a fantastic event and thanked all the residents and landowners for allowing the event to take place. 2^nd Overall and 1^st Semi-Expert went to Carbin and Mohan while 3^rd Overall and 1^st Expert went to Kelly and Sherlock making it a fantastic Monaghan one two three.

Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan finished 3^rd Expert while James McCabe/Shane Farrell finished 7^th. Eoghan Corr/Shane Maguire finished 2^nd Novice while Ray O’Neill/Ryan Farrell finished 4^th.

Top 10 Results:

1^st Shane Dalton/Ryan Treanor (Subaru Impreza) 0m,

2^nd Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan (Subaru Impreza) 0m,

3^rd Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock (Subaru Impreza) 0m,

4^th Derek Butler/Denis O’Donovan (Subaru Impreza) 0m,

5^th Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan (Subaru Impreza) 2m,

6^th James Fitzgerald/Ken Carmody (Subaru Impreza) 3m,

7^th Alan Shinnors/George Shinnors (Subaru Impreza) 4m,

8^th Patsy McDonagh/Patrick Corcoran (Mitsubishi Colt) 6m,

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

10^th Mark Phelan/Patrick O’Leary (Subaru Impreza) 13m.

(Report compiled by Pro Oisin Sherlock)

Monaghan Motor Club hosted the first Navigation Trial of the new year on Saturday night last. Garry Farrelly assisted by Brendan Treanor laid out the 75 mile route based out of Ardaghey Community Hall.

Michael Carbin & Conor Mohan were the only crew to negotiate the entire route penalty free and ran out overall winners ahead of Derek Mackarel and Conor Boylan. 3^rd place went to Patrick Corcoran and Oisín Sherlock. The 75 mile compact route took in the areas of Ardaghey, Castleshane, Tullycorbet, Braddocks and Clontibret with plenty of narrow roads and gravel lanes to keep competitors occupied.

Navigators had to be on the ball from the off as it was immediately into a double plot and bash section from TP1. Competitors had to follow a herringbone tulip diagram from Braddocks to Castleshane and into the first farm lane of the night at Corlust. Navigators had to have their thinking caps on as there was a difficult to see looped lane on the right hand side of a cattle shed and anyone missing it were immediately met with a wrong approach at TP2. Crews then collected a box tulip to find TP3 which brought them towards Aghnagap. Again, crews had to be switched on as the approach to the timepoint was across the street of a farm, and anyone who missed it would get a wrong approach or double visit, a trick that would catch out no less than 12 crews. After this, crews got to relax a bit as the event opened out as they negotiated timepoints 4 to Control B. At the half way mark beside Scotch Corner three crews were on 0 penalties, Carbin/Mohan, Mackarel/Boylan and Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes.

The second half of the event was more condense as the event began to loop around Tullycorbet and Braddocks. The first sting in the tail came at the second set of plot and bash where Mackarel/Boylan dropped 2 minutes into TP13 and Duffy/Hughes dropping 7 minutes on a difficult trace diagram at TP14. From there it was through a tunnel under the N2 and towards the much loved lanes at Ballygreaney and Bryanlitter.

There was to be no easy finish to the event as 2 more plot and bashes awaited crews at TP22 and TP23. Again, a herringbone diagram was handed out and this brought competitors back to the farm at Corlust, this time though going left around the shed to TP22, TP23 was in the same location as TP3, however not using the farm yard this time. The difficulty of these last two plot and bashes was evident from the plethora of crews who either missed them completely or got wrong approaches and double visits.

So at the end of the night, it was Carbin and Mohan who took a deserved win finishing the entire event without dropping a single penalty. This was Conor’s first ever overall win in Navigation Trials, and if this performance continues, there will be many more to come.

In the classes, it was Mackarel/Boylan 1^st Expert on 2 pens, 2^nd Corcoran/Sherlock on 4 pens and Martin Tynan/Fintan Clerkin 3^rd on 12 pens.

Semi-Expert was won by David Acheson/Philip Fitzpatrick on 66 pens, 2^nd Gary Cassidy/Killian McArdle on 82 pens and 3^rd was Mickey Conlon/Andrew Wedlock on 99 pens.

Kieran McCarra/Aaron McElroy finished 1^st Novice on 22 pens, with Aidan Keenan/Sean Marron in 2^nd with 23 pens and Declan Tynan/Ben McIntyre 3^rd with 49 pens.

In the Beginner class, Ciaran Duffy/Pauric Duffy finished 1^st on 31 pens, Conor Maguire/Ciaran Maguire finished 2^nd on 62 pens and Darragh Kelly/Richard McElwaine finished 3^rd on 73 pens.

Garry 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 timepoints.

The National Navigation Championship continues with the Skibbereen and District Car Clubs 100 Isles Navigation  Trial on Saturday the 29^th based out of Newcestown Community Hall. Regs will be available shortly.

Top 10 Results:

1^st Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan (Subaru Impreza) 0m,

2^nd Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan (Subaru Impreza) 2m,

3^rd Patrick Corcoran/Oisín Sherlock (Subaru Impreza) 4m,

4^th Martin Tynan/Fintan Clerkin (Subaru Impreza) 12m

5^th Bob Graham/Ryan Treanor (Toyota Starlet) 18m,

6^th Kieran McCarra/Aaron McElroy (Toyota Starlet) 22m,

7^th Aidan Keenan/Sean Marron (Subaru Impreza) 23m,

8^th Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes (Subaru Impreza) 30m,

9^th Ciaran Duffy/Pauric Duffy (Subaru Impreza) 31m,

10^th James McCabe/Shane Farrell (Subaru Impreza) 39m.