Author: monaghanmotorclub

 

Tarmac Championship Awards

 

In what was a busy weekend for club members with the Irish Tarmac Championship awards and the Border Rally Championship awards both taking place on Saturday night 2^nd November. The Tarmac awards ceremony took place in Stormont in Belfast where Fermanagh’s Gary Jennings & Wicklow’s Kevin Flanagan were crowned the 2013 Irish Tarmac Champions. Pride of place amongst the Monaghan crews went to the brother & sister team of Stephen & Suzanne Wright who were the overall Group N champions. This was a remarkable result given that it was their first time contesting the series. They had a tremendous battle all year with fellow Monaghan man Josh Moffett and his Antrim co-driver, John Rowan. In the end, Josh & John had to settle for 2^nd place in Group N this year. Not to be outdone, Josh’s brother Sam secured 3^rd overall in the championship which was no mean feat as he split the season between his Group N Lancer and a McKinstry WRC Subaru. His overall win with navigator James O’Reilly in Donegal was the highlight of his Championship. Shane Maguire was classified 2^nd in Class 4 despite just two outings during the year.

 

Sligo Pallets Border Championship Awards

 

Monaghan success was once again in abundance at the annual Border Championship Prizegiving in the Sligo Park Hotel. The overall winners of the championship were Cavan’s Gary Kiernan ably navigated by Niall Tierney. This was a great success for Niall who was in his first season competing. Aghabog father and son team, Arthur & Mac Kierans, champions for the last two years, finished 3^rd overall in the championship this year.

 

There was also excellent success for Monaghan crews in the classes once again. Francie McKenna/Sean Craig were the class 1 champions in their MG. Josh Moffett was the class 4 champion with Shane Maguire finishing runner-up. Justin Smyth/Gregory McQuillan finished 2^nd in class 9 while John & Niall Kelly claimed class 10 honours. David Smyth/Mark Deery were the class 11R champions, while Seamus Connolly/Gary McCrudden finished 3^rd in the same class. Raymond Conlon went home with his award for 2^nd place in class 13. Once again, an excellent year for Monaghan crews in the Border Championship.

 

Cork Star-Trek Night Nav

 

A number of Monaghan crews made the trip to Cork for Round 1 of the 2013-2014 National Night Navigation Championship. The event consisted of a challenging 85 mile route organised by leading Cork competitors Ken Carmody & Johnny Kenneally. Richard Cassidy had his usual Dublin navigator Paul Phelan navigating him. The pair finished in 4^th place overall in what was a tough event with only one crew finishing under 100 penalties. Hot on their heels were Ashley McAdoo and Laurence Keenan who finished in 5^th place overall and 1^st in the Semi-Expert class. Also making the trip down were Peter Farrell & Shane Farrell who were taking part in their first Cork event. This was a good result for this crew who finished 3^rd in the Beginners class on a very demanding event. The next National round is the Drumlin Navigation Trial on Saturday night next.

 

Drumlin Navigation Trial

 

Monaghan’s premier Navigation Trial takes place next weekend. COC Gary Farrelly and assistant Sean McKenna are putting the finishing touches to a 120 mile route based out of Tyholland. The event is Round 2 of the National Night Navigation Championship and Round 1 of the Squeling Pig Border Navigation Championship. Crucially the event is the final round of the Monaghan Motor Club Traders and Gary Nesbitt Championships. Damien Connolly currently leads the Traders Championship, but Martin Tynan & Derek Mackarel are also firmly in contention. As usual, marshals are needed to man the various timepoints, vias and controls that mark the route. Marshals are asked to meet in the Tyholland Community Centre at 8pm.

 

Kerry Mini Stages Rally

 

A number of club members are making the long trip south to compete on the Kerry Mini Stages Rally on Sunday next. The event is the final round of West Coast Rally Championship, which is led by Ballinode’s Shane Maguire and Fermanagh co-driver Martin McGarritty. Best of luck to all Monaghan crews.

 

 

 

Daniel Mc Kenna and co-driver Arthur Kierans have been crowned the BRC Rally 2 champions with the Scanbitz Ltd and Ravenol Motoroil supported Ford Fiesta R2 at the final round of the BRC, Rallye Sunseeker in Poole, Dorset last weekend. Daniel sealed the championship with a mature controlled drive to finish second in the R2 category on the event, doing more than enough to take a hard fought title from event winner Steve Rokland. This was the duo’s sixth podium of the year in as many events, the only R2 crew to manage this amazing feat, which stands testament to the speed and consistency of this championship winning crew.

            Ten tough stages and eight other R2 crew stood between the young Scotshouse native and the title before the event started and after the Friday recce, Daniel and Arthur knew that a top five finish was enough to guarantee him the title, although this was easier said than done. The plan was to start with a steady safe pace and monitor all other R2 drivers times and make no mistakes to take the championship. For added safety the crew decided on covering all bases, carrying extra tool’s and spare tyres in case of emergency which would obviously affect the cars performance but ultimately would give them a better chance of a top 5 finish. Thankfully as things turned out they didn’t have to call on any of their extra baggage.

            The Monaghan men went second fastest on the opening stage directly behind Rokland and remained in this position throughout the event, driving well within their capabilities to consolidate a podium place and stay ahead of the chasing pack. However with slippery conditions on the stages for much of the day and the top five R2 cars never being separated by any more than a minute and thirty seconds, one mishap could have spelled disaster for Daniel’s championship hopes. Another problem was with three passes on some of the stages they became extremely rough and rutted which really took its toll on the car, but the reliable Fiesta R2 was more than able for the challenge. The Scanbitz/Ravenol Ireland backed fiesta  even managed to set a fastest stage time on stage 8 of the event despite driving in safe mode.

            Daniel is absolutely delighted with the result and the championship season as a whole, here is what he had to say about his wonderful achievement. “At the beginning of the season I couldn’t have dreamed for the championship to work out like this for us. To be on the pace with all these great drivers in the BRC, take four wins, a second and a third is unbelievable. I really need to thank my main sponsors Scanbitz and Ravenol Ireland along with the many other companies and people who helped sponsor this success story. To my dedicated service crew for their help all year, especially Sharkey Motorsport for preparing a very reliable car throughout the season. I would also like to thank Motorsport Ireland and the Irish Sports Council for their great advice in conjunction with the Billy Coleman Award, Arthur Kierans for a great job all year on the notes and all of my friends and family for all of their support and good luck” As part of Daniels prize for winning the R2 class, the crew recieve a free entry into this years Rally GB which is the final round of the World Rally Championship based in Wales.

            The icing on the cake for Daniel came on Tuesday of this week when he was also awarded the Pirelli Star Driver award for his exploits in this years British Rally Championship. With no time to celebrate after his R2 championship win, it was a quick shift to North Wales on Sunday to compete in this prestigious competition on Monday and Tuesday where he was to compete against five other nominees for a prize of a full BRC season in a Citroen DS3 R3T backed by Pirelli. Thankfully the hard work by both Daniel and Arthur paid off when it was announced on Tuesday afternoon that Daniel had been awarded the Pirelli Star Driver award and can now look forward to another season in the British Rally Championship with the help of Pirelli in the Citroen DS3.

            Another competition for Daniel this week is the BRC Live Media Trophy shootout held at World Rally preparation experts, Prodrive’s facility in Banbury on Wednesday.  Daniel along with 5 other nominees will be interviewed where the winner will get to test drive JCW Mini S2000 which is another amazing opportunity in conjunction with the BRC.

            Monaghan Motor Club would like to congratulate Daniel and Arthur on their amazing feat of being crowned British Rally Championship R2 category winners and also to Daniel for being crowned 2013 Pirelli Star Driver which undoubtedly could not have been achieved without the help of Arthur Kierans and all his dedicated team. Well done lads.

 

 

 

Gary McPhillips and Paul Sheridan made it a Monaghan double in Donegal this year, winning the Donegal Harvest Stages Rally last Saturday.

This followed on from Sam Moffett and James O’Reillys empathic win on the Donegal International Rally earlier in the year. Mc Phillips/Sheridan were made to work for their win on the narrow and bumpy roadways of Northwest Donegal around the Gweedore and Dungloe regions of the picturesque Donegal Gealtacht area. Number 2 seeds and local men, Declan and Brian Boyle crossed the start ramp as favourites and held the early lead but Gary McPhillips and Paul Sheridan took over at the front on stage 3 as the Boyle cousins succumbed to the tricky conditions. The iconic red escort of McPhillips/Sheridan never looked back and increased their lead with every stage to take a well deserved win by a minute and fifteen seconds from Donegal men Patrick McHugh and Padraic O’Donnell. 3rd overall went to another Donegal crew who were on a blistering pace in a class 11 twin cam, Patrick Boyle and Donal Cole. Gary and Paul would like to thank their service team of Cathal and Francis and all who help in their quest for the overall win.

            This event was also the final round of the Sligo Pallets Border Rally Championship and with four crews still in contention pre-event it was all to play for. Cavan man Gary Kiernan with Monaghan’s Niall Tierney on the notes had held a one point advantage over their rivals and a class 10 win on the day ensured the 2103 Sligo Pallets Border Championship was headed for Cavan. A fitting tribute to Gary’s older brother Paddy who passed away earlier this year.

            Raymond Conlon and Darren McCague also made the trip to Donegal and it paid dividends with a superb 5th overall and 1st in class in the Conlon travel backed twin cam. This result left Raymond 2nd in class 13 in this years border championship. Double Border champions, Arthur and Mac Kierans did all they could to make it a treble this year with a class 12 win on the day but it wasn’t to be as they fell short by a point to Kiernan/Tierney. Indeed the Aghabog men were made to work hard all day with only a second separating them and James Cassidy going into the final loop of 3 stages but in true Kierans fashion the KES escort steamed to a class win and 11th overall. Cavan’s Damian O’Reilly and Damien McCabe took the class 9 spoils and 14th overall after a hard fought battle with Justin Smyth and Gregory McQuillan but the Lisnalong men retired on stage 5. Justin and Gregory finished 2nd in class 9 in this years championship.

            Barry Treanor and Colm Connolly were another crew to excel in the tricky Donegal terrain with 2nd in class 11 and 16th overall in an escort. David Smyth and Mark Deery finish their border campaign with 26th overall and 5th in class but more importantly their consistency paid off with a class win in the border championship. John and Niall Kelly were another Monaghan crew to reap the rewards of consistency with 2nd in class 10 on the day but also lifting the class 10 crown in this years championship. Seamus Connolly and Gary McCrudden had a troubled day in the Donegal hills to eventually finish 42nd overall in an escort and were 3rd in class 11R in this years championship. Francie McKenna and Sean Craig finished off their year on a high in the unique Rover MG with a class win on the day and a class win in the championship.

            As always there must be losers and non finishers and the Donegal countryside was to claim over half of the starting 127 in the main field! Class 4 which is the group N production category threw up some great results for Monaghan crews this year but unfortunately Donegal was to bite back. Josh Moffett and James O’Reilly were lying in 3rd overall before a bad stage time on 3 dropped them back to 17th overall. Nevertheless they punched in some great time over the next 5 stages and were back up to joint 4th overall but they disappeared off the leader board on the final stage and into retirement. However Josh still did enough to claim 1st in class 4 in the border championship. Shane Maguire and Enda Sherry also made the start ramp and were giving a good account, lying 4th overall after the sixth stage but they two were to encounter mechanical woes which forced them into retirement. Shane finished 2nd in class 4 in the border championship. 

 

Moffett and Connolly take the win in Baltinglass

Richard Moffett and Martin Connolly made their trip south to Baltinglass last Sunday very worthwhile, coming away with the overall win in their trusty class 13 starlet amongst some very stiff competition.  The Monaghan men laid down the gauntlet to their rivals early on, pulling out a 10 second lead on the opening stage but with four different drivers destined to share the lead over the next five stages it was to be a battle to the wire for the Moffett Engineering backed starlet. Fortunately Richard and Martin turned a one second deficit into a three second win through the final stage to take a well deserved first overall win of their short rallying career, the first of many hopefully. Mike Quinn finished 2nd overall in a class 14 escort, followed by Shay Power and Paul Collins in 3rd, also in an escort.

            Barry and Darren McKenna made their trip worthwhile also with a 12th overall finish and 2nd in class 13 in the McKenna Agri/New Holland backed escort. Unfortunately David Moffett and Fintan Sherry’s day was short lived with retirement on the opening loop, but with the overall win going to big brother Richard they still had something to celebrate!

 

Rallye Sunseeker

Best wishes to Daniel McKenna and Arthur Kierans who travel to Dorset this weekend to compete in the final round of the British Rally Championship. Daniel and Arthur are currently leading the R2 category in the championship, but need a top 5 class finish to ensure that they take the title back to Monaghan. Full report next week.

 

Newbliss brother and sister pairing of Stephen and Suzanne Wright capped off a hugely successful rallying year last weekend at the Cork 20 International Rally with a 7th overall finish and 3rd in class 4, enough to be crowned 2013 Group N Irish Tarmac Champions. In what was one of the toughest battles all year, Stephen and Suzanne had a measured drive amidst stiff competition in their EVO 9 on the millstreet based event to lift the title for 2013.             Closest championship rival’s and fellow Monaghan crew Josh Moffett & Jason McKenna, put up a great fight to the Wrights all weekend which seen them finish a superb  8th o/a. This result sees the Combilift team finish 2nd in the group N category for 2013 and coupled with their recent successes in the Irish Forestry Championship and Dunlop National Championship end a superb rallying year for the young Monaghan team also.

            The event was won by Daragh O’Riordan and Tony McDaid in a fiesta WRC, ahead of Fermanagh man Gary Jennings and Rory Kennedy in their Subaru Impreza WRC. This result ensured Gary and Rory were crowned 2013 Irish Tarmac Rally Champions. 3rd overall went to Donagh Kelly and Kevin Flanagan, also in a subaru.

            Sam Moffett and James O’Reilly had another fantastic International result and claimed 6th o/a and 2nd in class 4 to round off a great year for this winning crew also.

            In the National category, Monaghan’s Jim McKenna and Thomas Treanor finished an excellent 4th overall and 1st in class 14 in their MK2 Escort. The pair had a fine run mixing it with the top teams as they held 3rd O/A for part of the event. The national category was won by Roy White in an S2000 rover, ahead of the super quick escorts of Wesley Patterson and Phil Collins.           

 

Connolly/McElhinney Win Monaghan Navigation Opener

Damien Connolly, driven by Donegals Gary McElhinney proved once again they are a hard team to beat in the North Monaghan region after taking another win on last Saturday nights Monaghan Motor Club navigation trial, this the first event of the new season. CoC’s for the first time, Jonathan Mc Govern and Damien Treanor laid on a fantastic and compact event circling the quaint North Monaghan village   of Carrickroe with the community centre providing ample facilities for plotting and results.

            31 crews left the Carrickroe area to tackle the 75mile route which bordered the villages of Tydavnet and  Emyvale before heading northwards through Killybrone and then to the Bragan mountain area before the last few time points at the Wattersons Quarry complex. All in all an enjoyable and demanding route with no room for error, this evident from the many wrong approach and departure penalties on results sheets. Michael and Ciaran Tynan had led the event right up to the final two time points where they dropped 2 penalties in all through Wattersons Quarry, enough to push them back to 3rd overall as the novice pairing of Ashley McAdoo and Laurence Keenan also finished on two penalties to be deemed 2nd overall behind Connolly/McElhinney.

            Evin Hughes came out of retirement for this event and teamed up with Shane Maguire to take 2nd in the expert class behind the Tynan’s, proving that he hasn’t forgotten any of his navigation skills which saw him take many overall wins in the past few years. Monaghans Donal McArdle teamed up with Donegal veteran Ciaran Coyle and finished 3rd in expert and 6th overall.

            The most unlikely pairing of Andy Mackarel and Arthur Kierans also teamed up for this event with Arthur taking to the maps, proving that he can compete in any motorsport discipline in any side of the car!! Would be fair to say there was two drivers and two navigators in this subaru and they proved their experience with 1st in semi-expert class and 10th overall. Matt and Enda Hume finished 2nd semi-expert after a troubled night.

            Ashley McAdoo and Laurence Keenan had a great night with their 2nd overall finish and a novice class win, 2 penalties at time point 12 was their only downfall. Eoghan Corr and Brendan Treanor are improving with every event and took 2nd in novice class on this occasion and 8th overall. Jonathan Treanor drove midlands man Seamus McTigue to 3rd place in the novice class.

            Derek Mackarel, driven by Fintan McGorman  picked up where they left of last year taking the beginner class win and a superb 5th overall. Yet another unlikely switch to the navigators seat was Michael Carbin, driven by Emmet McCooey and they too hit it off with 2nd in the beginners class and 9th overall. Father and son team of Peter and Shane Farrell also had a good run to take 3rd in beginners class.

            So that’s the navigation season up and running for another year. Well done to first time CoC’s Jonathan McGovern and Damien Treanor on a job well done. Jonathan would like to thank all the team for their efforts, including Carrickroe Community Centre, Coyle Crash Repairs, all the marshals that showed up, residents along the route, results teams, the tea ladies for their hard work late into the night and everyone else who helped in any way, big or small. Next up is the Drumlin navigation event on 9th November with CoC’s Gary Farrelly and Sean McKenna. This event is also the final round of the traders club championship which is going down to the wire with Damien Connolly only a point or two ahead of Martin Tynan with Derek Mackarel also close behind in 3rd. All three have the potential for a good result in the Drumlin so an exciting finish is in store.

                 

Monaghan Motor Club Navigation Top 10

1/ Gary Mc Elhinney/Damien Connolly 1penalty

2/ Ashley McAdoo/Laurence Keenan 2pens

3/ Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan 2pens

4/ Shane Maguire/Evin Hughes 4pens

5/ Fintan McGorman/Derek Mackarel 7pens

6/ Donal McArdle/Ciaran Coyle 8pens

7/ Martin Tynan/Stephen Thornton 18pens

8/ Eoghan Corr/Brendan Treanor 20pens

9/ Emmet McCooey/Michael Carbin 29pens

10/ Andy Mackarel/Arthur Kierans 38pens

 

 

 

 

a superb 7th and 8th o/a in the event.

Another fantastic International result was claimed by another Monaghan team – Sam Moffett and James O’Reilly, who took 6th o/a and 2nd in class 4.

In the National category, Monaghan’s Jim McKenna and Thomas Treanor finished an excellent 4th overall and 1st in class 14 in their MK2 Escort. The pair had a fine run mixing it with the top teams as they held 3rd O/A for part of the event. Well done to all crews!

 

Daniel McKenna and co-driver Arthur Kierans hit their goal of taking a fourth victory in a row in the Rally 2 category of the BRC at the Trackrod rally of Yorkshire after a fantastic battle with their closest championship rivals. The Pickering based event used the classic Yorkshire stages such as Dalby, Langdale and Staindale made famous by the RAC rally having been used for many years by some of the world’s best drivers. Their result on this event means Daniel and Arthur have really put themselves in pole position to become the R2 champions with one round remaining.

            Daniel and Arthur were in confident mood approaching the start of the event as it began with two night stages and with lots of experience under darkness, confidence was high in the Scanbitz camp.      The Monaghan men hit the ground running on the opening night stage and set the pace ending the first leg of the event with a 15 second lead, extracting almost a second a mile from his closest rival, Steve Rokland. On Saturday morning the crews were greeted to fantastic weather and perfect rally conditions. Daniel again kept up his high pace on the first stage of the morning but this time was a second of the pace, but still held a 15 second lead. On the second stage of the morning, a six mile test through Gale Rigg, Daniel felt quite happy with his pace crossing the finishing line of the stage, but the stage times told a different story. Jon Armstrong who lay second had slashed 8 seconds of Daniel’s lead and Steve Rokland had taken 9 to remain third.

            After a short service the classic 15 miles of Langdale lay ahead and it could possibly decide the outcome of the event despite there being a repeat of the two Friday night stages after it. Daniel decided maximum attack was the only option to try and build on his 6 second lead. Everything was going to plan until about half way through the stage where they had an overshoot losing around five or six seconds. Nevertheless they kept the pace up towards the end of the stage hoping he had done enough to hold on to the lead. Daniel surrendered only one second to Armstrong but Rokland really made a move in this stage leaping into 2^nd  place and cutting Daniel’s lead to a mere 0.1 of a second.          

            Another a short service before the final two stages, Daniel and Arthur had no intentions of losing the lead they had worked so hard for on the Friday night. Daniel again went out on maximum attack with no mistakes and really stamped their authority on the battle taking eight seconds out of Rokland and six seconds out of Armstrong on the first of the two last stages. The same approach for the final stage saw Daniel going fastest again to win the event by 11.9 seconds. An added bonus for Daniel and Arthur was that their closest rival for the R2 title Rokland, was beaten to second place by Armstrong on the final stage by 0.1 of a second.

            This now gives Daniel and Arthur a 10 point lead over Rokland after dropping their worst score of the season. As a result, if Rokland were to win the final round, Rallye Sunseeker, Daniel and Arthur could afford to finish fifth and still win the championship by one point, which is an even better position than Daniel could have hoped for before the Yorkshire rally.

 

Monaghan Navigation Trial

Monaghan Motor Club kick off the new night navigation season this Saturday night, 5th October. CoC’s for the event Jonathan McGovern and Damian Treanor have the hard work done with a demanding 75mile route on the cards. HQ for the event is Carrickroe Community Centre with route card 1 out at 6.30 and first car away 9.01pm. As always marshals are very much in demand. If you are available please contact Jonathan or Damian as soon as possible and be in the community centre, Carrickroe no later than 7.30pm. Reg’s and entry forms are available on the club website. Full report next week.

 

Bushwacker Forestry Rally

Congratulations to Monaghan crew Josh Moffett and Jason McKenna on their excellent success in the 2013 Valvoline Irish Forest Rally Championship. Jason secured 3rd overall co-driver in the Championship while Josh took an impressive win in the hard fought Gp N category. This Championship win came after finishing 10th O/A on the recent Bushwacker Rally in Omagh last Saturday. Josh has also been nominated for the Billy Coleman award after a string of superb performances in 2013.

            The event was won by Derek Mc Garrity and James McKee in a subaru. Enda Mc Nulty and Monaghan’s Paul Sheridan were 5th overall and won class 9, also in a subaru. Frank Kelly had a mere second to spare over Shane Mc Girr for the two wheel drive honours, finishing 6th and 7th respectively after a day long battle in the forests of Fermanagh and Tyrone. Sam Moffatt and James O’Reilly had to settle for 4th in class and 12th overall on this occasion as they gained valuable experience on the loose surface in the Subaru. Michael Conlon and Ciaran McPhillips had a great run to 16th overall and 3rd in class. Maurice Moffatt made the switch to gravel in his starlet and along with Martin Connolly had a very enjoyable day by all accounts to finish 27th overall and 2nd in class 7.