Author: monaghanmotorclub

Donegal’s Paddy McVeigh and Gary McElhinney took the overall win on last weekend’s Abbey Hotel Midlands Stages Rally. The Tir Connell men had a battle royale throughout the day with Daniel McKenna and Arthur Kierans who returned to the Irish tarmac in their trusty Mark II escort after a years absence while competing in the BRC. In the end the WRC subaru of McVeigh/McElhinney proved too much and excelled in the mucky conditions to take a 10 second win from the trying Monaghan men. Local Longford man Tommy Doyle and Liam Moynihan were 3rd overall in a Renault Clio ahead of last years winner Chris Armstrong who was 4th. Monaghans Richard Moffett and Martin Connolly survived an early altercation with a chicane to round off the top five in their starlet.      

            As always local Monaghan crews were in the hunt for many class awards with Michael Carbin and Emmett McCooey finally getting the result they deserve in 6th overall and a class 20 win. Jim McKenna and Thomas Treanor finished 15th overall and 3rd in class 14, ahead of Jack Maguire and Andy Hayes. Barry Treanor and Colm Connolly had an excellent run in their new escort to take the highly competitive class 11R win and 24th overall. David Smith and Mark Deery had a troubled opening loop when they got road penalties after loosing oil pressure but recovered well to take 44th overall. Declan Connolly and Alison Hughes won class 1 in the civic.

            As with every event their will always be non-finishers and unfortunately Midlands Stages was no different for the travelling Monaghan men. Damian Hagan coaxed Ciaran McGorman out of retirement to call the notes but their rally ended on stage 3 when the gearbox packed in. David Moffett and Fintan Sherry’s luck ran out on the last loop of stages when lying 3rd in class with alternator and fan belt issues. Martin McPhillips and Ciaran Tynan were also forced into retirement on the 4th stage when they broke a half shaft. Kevin Cleere and Michael Donnellan crashed out on the 6th stage.

            So that’s it from Roscommon and the Abbey Hotel Midlands Stages Rally. Killarney Rally of the lakes is on this weekend and we wish all the travelling local crews the best of luck.

Monaghan Motor Club Annual Stages Rally

With just under a month to go until Monaghan’s biggest event of the Motorsport calendar, CoC Brendan Flynn and his team are hard at work with the final preparations for this hugely popular event. Keep free the weekend of 26th/27th April and be a part of the action as all help is needed and greatly appreciated. Once again the Hillgrove Hotel will be the Rally HQ with stages to the South West of Monaghan town. Entries will be open in the coming week and keep an eye on this space over the next month for more updates.

Club Notes/PRO Details

Monaghan Motor Club have set up a new e-mail account solely for the purpose of receiving information from competitors and club members on their exploits throughout the year in all forms of motorsport competition. All competitors are urged to e-mail action photos (no watermarks) and a short note on how they got on in any event throughout the year. We need these details for weekly reports and Facebook news. The e-mail address is rallynews1@gmail.com Obviously we cannot guarantee everything will be published but your input would be greatly appreciated to try and cover all members and their endeavours.

Midlands duo of Colin Duffy and Sam Johnston led the field home once again last Saturday night in the final round of the National and Squealing Pig border night navigation championship to record a clean sweep of Munster, National and Border Navigation championships for this season. The Longford men proved a force to be reckoned with from the off as they won the Drumlin Navigation in November and never looked back with wins in Cork and Midlands setting them up for the unique treble ahead of last Saturday nights event where they finished on a clean sheet to add the Border crown to there well decorated trophy cabinet for 2013/14. Richard Cassidy and Paul Phelan finished the night in 2nd overall which confirmed their 2nd overall placing in the National Championship. These were another crew to travel the length and breath of the country for the National campaign and their consistency paid off with a well deserved podium. Sean McKenna and Gary Farrelly ended their navigation season on a high with 3rd overall on the night, a great end to a year which saw them run a mammoth Drumlin event back in November as CoC’s.

            Cassidy and Phelan’s 2nd overall handed them the expert class win, ahead of a three-way tie for 2nd in class with Michael/Ciaran Tynan, Packie Duffy/Evin Hughes and Trevor Farrell/Noel Hall all finishing on 15 penalties with no tie break ruling able to separate them. These expert crews all picked up a wrong approach on a plot and bash section. 3rd expert on the night went to number 1 seeds Martin Tynan and Stephen Thornton.

            With McKenna/Farrelly taking 3rd overall and top semi-expert crew it was Ashley McAdoo and Laurence Keenan who took 2nd in class. Indeed this crew were on a clean sheet and coasting to overall victory but a wrong approach at the final control knocked them back to 4th overall. Wayne Feely had Damian Hagan on the maps and they had a great run on home soil to take 3rd in the semi-expert class. Donal McArdle had Cavan CoC Ruaidhri Nash in the hot seat and they too rounded off their season in style to take the novice class win ahead of Trevor McConnell and Eoghan McCarthy. Father and son team of Peter and Shane Farrell took 3rd in the novice section, this team showing great improvements throughout the year also.

            Emmett McCooey and Michael Carbin also had some great results throughout the season as Michael adapted well to the navigators seat and finished the year on a high, taking another beginner class win, their only fault was a missed time point on the night. Gerard Greene and Michael McElwee were 2nd beginner on the night, ahead of Patrick Murphy and Aaron O’Regan.

            So that’s it for another navigation season, well done to CoC Damien Connolly and his team of Gary McElhinney, Martin Connolly and all his many helpers. Damien would like to thank Threemilehouse GAA complex, Pat McQuaid’s Garage, marshals, residents, results teams and everyone else who helped in any way. Keep and eye out over the coming weeks for dates on the Squealing Pig Border Navigation Prize giving Night, as well as the National Navigation awards night. Full run down on all class awards will be issued when final standings are available.  

Monaghan Motor Club Annual Stages Rally

With just over a month to go until Monaghan’s biggest event of the Motorsport calender, CoC Brendan Flynn and his team are hard at work with the final preparations for this hugely popular event. Keep free the weekend of 26th/27th April and be a part of the action as all help is needed and greatly appreciated. Once again the Hillgrove Hotel will be the Rally HQ with stages to the South West of Monaghan town. Entries will be open in the coming week and keep an eye on this space over the next month for more updates.

Club Notes/PRO Details

Monaghan Motor Club have set up a new e-mail account solely for the purpose of receiving information from competitors and club members on their exploits throughout the year in all forms of motorsport competition. All competitors are urged to e-mail action photos (no watermarks) and a short note on how they got on in any event throughout the year. We need these details for weekly reports and Facebook news. The e-mail address is rallynews1@gmail.com Obviously we cannot guarantee everything will be published but your input would be greatly appreciated to try and cover all members and their endeavours. 

Quality Hotels West Cork Rally 2014

Cork Motor Club hosted their annual West Cork Rally over the Saint Patricks Weekend, based in the West Cork town of Clonakilty. As always this popular two day event attracted a bumper entry to tackle some of the infamous West Cork stages like Ring and Sam’s Cross. Donagh Kelly and Kevin Flanagan survived the thirteen stages to take the overall win from Denis Cronin and Coleman Hurley by just over half a minute. Donegals Declan Gallagher and Ryan Moore made their long journey home a lot sweeter taking an excellent 3rd overall in their class 13 starlet.

            In what was ultimately a finishers rally the dry cor stages claimed a lot of casualties which include the likes of James Stafford, Darragh O’Riordan, Frank Kelly, Adrian Hetherinton, Pat Donegan and Robert Barrable with upcoming navigation CoC Damian Connolly on the notes only getting two stages after their long haul South.  Paul Sheridan was on the notes for forestry expert Vivian Hamill but their escort cried enough over the last loop of stages whilst fighting for a top 10 finish. Jim McKenna and Thomas Treanor also made the trip South and were also showing great pace but a fuel supply problem dropped them almost 9 minutes and they eventually went on to finish 3rd in class. Stephen and Suzanne Wright also brought their Peugeot 208 to the West Cork countryside where they picked up a class win/13th overall and more importantly some tarmac road mileage ahead of their next rally in Belgium.

Monaghan Motor Club Navigation Trial

All roads lead to Threemilehouse on this Saturday night where Monaghan Motor Club will host the final round of the National and Squealing Pig Border Navigation championship’s. CoC, Damien Connolly and his team are hard at work with their final preparations for the event which will be based in Sean McDermotts GAA centre, Threemilehouse. As always marshals are needed in great numbers so please be at the threemilehouse complex no later than 8 o’clock Saturday evening if your available to help in any way.

Club Notes/PRO Details

Monaghan Motor Club have set up a new e-mail account solely for the purpose of receiving information from competitors and club members on their exploits throughout the year in all forms of motorsport competition. All competitors are urged to e-mail action photos (no watermarks) and a short note on how they got on in any event throughout the year. We need these details for weekly reports and Facebook news. The e-mail address is rallynews1@gmail.com Obviously we cannot guarantee everything will be published but your input would be greatly appreciated to try and cover all members and their endeavours. 

Moffett on Podium in Fivemiletown

Omagh motor club hosted their annual spring forestry stages rally on Saturday last in the forests around fivemiletown. This popular event attracted a large entry with some of the best forestry entertainers on show. Mark Donnelly and Barry Mc Nulty were victorious in their subaru impreza, 25seconds ahead of Gareth Sayers in and EVO 9. Josh Moffett and Jason Mc Kenna were on a real charge all day and finished a well deserved 3rd overall, just 2 seconds behind Sayers.

            Frank Kelly took the two wheel drive honours after a short lived battle with his closest rivals, Shane McGirr and Jackie Elliott who crashed out on stage 2 after their steering broke. Adrian Hetherington also failed to finish after mechanical woes. Sam Moffett and James O’Reilly were also in the Fermanagh/Tyrone forests and finished 7th overall in the EVO. Michael Carbin and Stephen Thornton were also on a great pace in the EVO, taking 9th o/a and 2nd in class. Micky Conlon and Ciaran McPhillips brought the black Mark 2 home in 11th overall and 2nd in class. Bobby Sharkey and Mac Kierans took the Kierans Motorsport escort to the forest with great rewards, finishing 13th overall and 2nd in class for their efforts. Martin Tynan made a return to the forests after a lengthy lay-off in the EVO 8 and with Raymond  Conlon calling the notes they managed 3rd in class and 14th overall. Maurice Moffett and Martin Connolly returned to fivemiletown and surely enjoyed their day to finish 19th overall and 3rd in class. Emmett Sherry was navigating for Calvin Beattie in a ford fiesta to finish in 30th o/a and also 3rd in class. All in all a good day out for the Monaghan brigade in Fivemiletown as the results sheets suggest a 100% finishing record for the travelling Farney men.

Locals take the Spoils in Midlands

Colin Duffy and Sam Johnston led from the front in last Saturday nights Midlands navigation trial based in the idealic Drumcowra Lake Resort, just outside Ballinamore. This tough event was set out by CoC Enda Mc Loughlin with a 60 mile route circling the Leitrim town of Balinamore taking in many forests and farm lanes along the way. Duffy and Johnston took the win with ease, dropping just 6 penalties in total to prove why they are now the worthy National and Munster Navigation champions with two rounds to spare. They also hold a good lead in the Squealing Pig Border Navigation championship and could possibly wrap it up in Cavan this Saturday night.

            Shane Dalton and Micheal Reilly were 2nd overall on the night and novice class winners with Corks Joe and Greg Shinnors 3rd overall and expert class winners. Richard Cassidy and Paul Phelan were 2nd experts ahead of Michael and Ciaran Tynan in 3rd. Corks David Beamish and Muireann Hayes proved once again they are hard to beat with a semi-expert class win ahead of  Ashley McAdoo and Laurence Keenan. 3rd semi went to Matt and Enda Hume. Fintan McGorman and Derek Mackarel took a fine 6th overall and 2nd in novice just 2 penalties ahead of Donegal/Cork pairing of Trevor McConnell and Eoghan McCarthy. Michael Carbin made the trip to Leitrim to navigate for Emmet McCooey after driving in the Fivemiletown forestry earlier in the day to prove he can be a winner on both sides of a car

to take the beginners class award ahead of Cootehill cousins Thomas and Andrew Wedlock.

            Cavan Motor Club host the penultimate round of both the Squealing Pig Border Navigation championship and National navigation championships this Saturday night in Killinkere Community Center and with many Class and overall awards still to be decided its sure to be a battle royale.

Wright’s Encouraging start to Belgian campaign

Despite treacherous conditions, Stephen and Susanne Wright made it to the finish of the Haspengouw Rally last weekend and the pair brought their Peugeot 208 R2 home in 29^th overall and 4^th in class. Based around the town of Landen, The Haspengouw Rally was the first of the 8 round Belgian Rally Championship which Stephen and Susanne plan to contest this season so it was crucial that they got off to an encouraging start.

            Stephen, the reigning Motorsport Ireland Young Rally Driver of the Year, takes up the story; “We surprised even ourselves on the opening stage, setting fastest time on possibly the most slippy road surface I have ever seen. Unfortunately this was the highlight. We picked up a puncture on SS2 and had a number of spins on SS3 dropping us back the order and breaking our momentum. We picked ourselves back up in first service; setting a string of top three stage times through to the finish of the event, interrupted only by a front left and right puncture on SS6 and another puncture on SS12. We were disappointed to miss out on a good result but on the plus side our pace was promising, we have learned a lot and are feeling much better prepared prior to the opening round of the 208 Rally Trophy in 6 weeks’ time.”

The next Belgian round the Wright Rally Team plan to contest is the TAC Rally on April 12^th but they may possibly squeeze in another Irish event to gain more competitive miles in the Killyhevlin Hotel Peugeot. “We are still adjusting to and learning the new car. It really is such a huge transition from the Mitsubishi’s we have been used to but we love every second of it and are so impressed with the car. Ideally we’d like to take in one more Irish event to leave us better prepared for the Circuit of Ireland in April which is also a counting round of the Junior European Rally Championship but we will take some time to let the dust settle before making a decision”said Susanne.

            You can follow Stephen on Twitter @StephenWr1ght and Susanne at @SusanneWright15. Stephen is backed by Motorsport Ireland and the Irish Sports Council.

Birr Stages Rally 2014

Last Sunday saw the opening round of the 2014 West Coast Rally championship. The event was staged in Abbeyleix, with two Monaghan crews making the trip down. First home was reigning champions Shane Maguire and Martin McGarrity who were debuting the newly acquired ex-Stephen Wright Mitsubishi Evo9. The duo finished in 8th overall and 2nd in Group N. Jim McKenna and Thomas Treanor also made the trip and had an eventful day whilst battling for top two wheel drive honours. They had been right in the heart of the battle for the lead, however a costly spin on stage five resulted in the boys bringing their trusty Escort home in a fine 2^nd place in class 14 and 9^th overall.

            The rally was won by Welsh visitors Hugh Hunter and Andy Marchbank in a Subaru WRC with James Stafford in the Darrian. Paddy McVeigh and Gary McElhinney were 3rd overall. The next event will be the Mayo stages in two week’s time.

Club Notes/PRO Details

Monaghan Motor Club have set up a new e-mail account solely for the purpose of receiving information from competitors and club members on their exploits throughout the year in all forms of motorsport competition. All competitors are urged to e-mail action photos (no watermarks) and a short note on how they got on in any event throughout the year. We need these details for weekly reports and Facebook news. The e-mail address is rallynews1@gmail.com Obviously we cannot guarantee everything will be published but your input would be greatly appreciated to try and cover all members and their endeavors.