Author: monaghanmotorclub

Monaghan Motor Club Endurance Trial

Monaghan Motor Clubs Endurance Trial which was postponed due to a clash with the recent Ulster Football Final has been re-scheduled for Sunday 18th August. Regulations and entry forms are available on club web site at monaghanmotorclub.net. The Four Seasons Hotel in Monaghan town is the start venue as CoC Andy Mackarel and his team are currently busy setting out an enjoyable and demanding route. As always many marshals are required so please contact any committee member. More details to follow next week.

 

Sympathy

Monaghan Motor Club wish to extend our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Paddy Kiernan who has passed away following a road traffic accident last Sunday night. Paddy was a member of Cavan Motor Club and proved himself as an upcoming star on recent event’s in his class 13 escort. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all at this difficult time.

 

Declan and Brian Boyle from Donegal took the overall honours once again on last Sundays Connacht Motor Club Sligo Park Hotel stages Rally. This win leaves the Donegal cousins in a commanding lead in the Dunlop tarmac championship as they enjoyed a start to finish lead in the sunny Sligo countryside. On what may be a first for Irish rallying the event was shortened by the organisers to six stages from the allotted nine as the blistering heat caused the tarmac to lift and the call was made to cancel the final loop of three stages to avoid any long term damage to the roads. However Declan and Brian Boyle had over a minute to spare so victory was within their sights anyway. It was a good day at the office for some travelling Monaghan crews with four inside the top ten. Niall Maguire and Enda Sherry finished second overall in their impreza WRC, despite the gearbox showing signs of malfunction through stage six they were relieved to make the finish. Sam Moffett and James O’Reilly continued their excellent form of late rounding off the top three in his group N EVO.

            Josh Moffett and Jason McKenna had a good battle with older brother but was just edged out to 4th overall by 17 seconds and took the class 4 win. They also picked up the Sligo Pallets drive of the day award. Cavan’s Jonathan Pringle and Martin Byrne claimed the two wheel drive honours and 5th overall to boot in their class 13 escort. They now lie in 2nd overall in the Sligo Pallets border championship. Ian Gunning was 6th while Clones man Raymond Conlon teamed up with Sarah Whelan to take a great result in 7th overall and 3rd in class 13. Jack Maguire was just outside the top 10 in 11th overall and 2nd in class 20.

            Gary Kiernan and Niall Tierney took the class 10 win and 25th overall. This win leaves the Cavan men at the top of the Sligo Pallets Border Championship classification with only the Donegal Harvest rally left to complete in October. Damien O’Reilly and Damien McCabe had a great battle with the Cavan club rivals and were only edged out by 4 seconds to take the class 9 victory and 26th overall. David Smith and Mark Deery were consistent as ever and finished 29th overall and 3rd in class 11R, thus leading their class in the border championship with one round remaining.  Stephen and Suzanne Wright had an uncustomary bad day at the office when their brakes seemed to malfunction and Stephen was forced to slide his Evo into a bank to avoid going off altogether but picked up a puncture and dropped them right back. Despite finishing 43rd overall they still managed to take 3rd in class 4. Paddy Kiernan acquired the services of Paul Sheridan as navigator for the day but they left their luck at home, finishing 51st overall. The Monaghan/Cavan pairing obviously encountered some problems on stage 5 as they were as high as 5th overall after stage 4. Francie McKenna and Sean Craig took the class 1 honours in the trusty Rover MG ZR.

            Unfortunately the bumpy Sligo stages did claim quite a few casualties throughout the day, with double border champions Arthur and Mac Kierans’ dominance come to an abrupt end on a Sligo ditch on stage 3 whilst lying in 14th overall. Last years winners of this event, Shane Maguire and Martin McGarrity were another retirement after the gearbox in the subaru cried enough. Richard Moffett and Martin Connollys rally came to an end on stage 2, lying in 13th overall after the opening test. Results sheets suggest Justin Smyth and Gregory McQuillan had a troubled day lying well down the leader board and eventually retiring after stage 5.

            So all is to play for on this years Sligo Pallets Border Rally championship as Paddy Kiernan holds a slender lead from Jonathan Pringle with Declan Boyle in 3rd with the Donegal Harvest Stages remaining. But when dropped rounds are taken into account and should any of these fail to take a class win in Donegal it opens the door for a number of competitors to lift this years title with Dermot O’Hagan and Arthur Kierans still in with an outside chance to name but a few. Monaghan Motor Club would like to thank the many marshals which turned up and braved the blistering sunshine  in Sligo.

 

Connacht MC Sligo Stages Rally Top 10

1 Declan Boyle/Brian Boyle (Impreza WRC) 50m 21s,

2 Niall Maguire/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 51m 27s,

3 Sam Moffett/James O’Reilly (Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 52m 41s,

4 Josh Moffett/Jason McKenna (Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 52m 58s,

5 Jonathan Pringle/Martin Byrne (Escort) 54m 02s,

6 Ian Gunning/Fred Holmes (Escort) 54m 33s,

7 Raymond Conlon/Sarah Whelan (Corolla) 54m 43s,

8 David Leonard/Darragh Mullen (Lancer) 54m 56s,

9 Enda Haran/Patrick Corcoran (Escort) 54m 56s,

10 Dermot O’Hagan/Pierce Doheny Jnr (Corsa) 55m 41s.

 

Motorsport Safety Team Group N Production class:

1 Sam Moffett/James O’Reilly,

2 Josh Moffett/Jason McKenna,

3 Sean Gallagher/Claire Gallagher (Lancer Evo 9) 56m 07s.

 

rally.ie Two wheel drive award:

1 Jonathan Pringle/Martin Byrne.

 

Monaghan Endurance Trial

Monaghan Motor Club have postponed there upcoming endurance trial due to take place this Sunday as it clashes with the Ulster Football final. Next date due to be published shortly.

 

After the 3^rd round of the British Rally Championship, the Scottish Rally in Dumfries, Daniel McKenna and Co-Driver Arthur Kierans find themselves leading the R2 Championship by 5 points from Norwegian driver Steve Rokland and lying a magnificent 5^th in the overall championship among the top R3 category drivers after finishing 1^st in R2 and 8^th o/a last weekend.

            This is the first time the Scottish Rally has been a round of the BRC for 7 years and was a new challenge for the majority of the championship competitors including Daniel. After a very challenging recce on the Friday, all of the crews knew that they had a very tough day’s rallying ahead of them as the stages where very technical but also very fast. The biggest fear however was the sharp stone surface which would most definitely cause punctures and would probably have some reckoning on the final results. Also the fact that the Scottish national rally competitors were running ahead of the BRC crews, this would cut and rut the surface up, making it an even bigger challenge.

            Stage 1 early ON Saturday morning was a 6 mile test, the crew stuck to the game plan and set 2^nd fastest time in R2, 2 seconds behind Rokland with no problems. However on the next test a 13.5 mile stage the crew encountered an unavoidable rock that had been dragged onto the racing line about 1.5 miles into the stage which created such an impact that it bent the rear axel making the car handle badly for the remainder of the stage. The crew still managed to set 2^nd fastest R2 time on the stage but dropped 11 seconds to Rokland as the majority of the other R2 competitors were already experiencing puncture problems. Stage 3 was a short spectator stage only 0.75 miles long before the much needed service to the car. Daniel made a big effort through the test setting the 5^th fastest time o/a and fastest R2 despite the mishandling car.

            With a short 20 minute service their dedicated service crew managed to replace the rear axle without any time penalties. Towards the end of stage 4 Rokland’s gearbox mounting broke and he also picked up a puncture as Daniel was 4 seconds quicker closing the gap to 9 seconds. Jon Armstrong was also having a good run and was only 6 seconds behind Daniel. Stage 5 proved to be a big turning point as Daniel had a fairly clean stage despite encountering a power steering problem near the end of the stage. Rokland was still carrying his gearbox problem and Armstrong had a puncture so Daniel had a 26 second lead at the 2^nd service.

            Unfortunately the power steering problem could not be fixed in the short service, so Daniel and Arthur knew they would have to carry the problem and probably drop time on the final 3 tests, but were confident of holding their position. Daniel was again quickest through stage 6, the spectator stage by 0.2 of a second from Rokland stretching his lead to 27 seconds. On stage 7 however Rokland was on a charge and took 10 seconds out of Daniel who was being cautious with his steering problem and the gap was reduced to 17 seconds with 2 stages to go. However stage 8 was cancelled due to an accident in the national rally and it was down to the final stage for Daniel to try and hold onto the lead. The 13 mile stage was a tough and rough test to finish with but everything was going to plan for the crew until 10 miles in and disaster struck. A wishbone bolt sheared on Daniel’s Fiesta on one of the bad bumps through the stage and to add insult to injury he then picked up a left rear puncture making the car virtually un-drivable. He managed however, to scrape the car over the finish of the stage very disappointed thinking that the top result was gone. The rough terrain of the Scottish rally was to inflict a lot of trouble to almost all of the R2 competitors including Rokland as he picked up a puncture and dropped 4 minutes and dropped to 4^th in the class. This meant that Daniel and Arthur survived their final stage ordeals to take the R2 win and 8^th o/a by over 2 minutes and now have a 5 point advantage over their nearest rival in the R2 category heading into the 4^th round of the championship, the Ulster rally back on tarmac which would be considered a home rally for Daniel and Arthur.

            Mac Kierans was also in Scotland for his first taste of the BRC, once again navigating for Joe McGonigle in the R3 Clio and followed up on their Donegal success the previous weekend with a fine drive to 7th overall. Brendan Cumiskey and Conor Foley also made the trip to Dumfries and also had a great run to 10th overall on this demanding rally. The event was won by Alastair Fisher and Gordan Noble in the Citreon DS3 R3.

 

Loughgall Stages

Well done to Jim McKenna and Thomas Treanor who were 2nd overall on last Saturday’s Loughgall Stages. Mervin Wedlock and Damien McCabe were 4th overall and first in class 6. Andy and Derek Mackarel had the trusty ascona out once again and finished 27th overall.

 

ALMC and Connacht Stages

Marshals are urgently required for the upcoming ALMC stages this Sunday 7th July based in Dunboyne, Co. Meath and also the Connacht (Sligo) stages the following weekend, Sunday 14th July. If anyone is available for either event please contact Kerry Stevenson or Cora Maguire on 086 3627000 as soon as possible

 

Ravens Rock Rally

Monaghan Motor Club wishes to extend its sincere sympathy to the family and friends of Paul Mulcahy who passed away while competing on the Ravens Rock Rally last weekend. May he rest in peace.

Major win for Monaghan Crews in Donegal

 

Sam Moffett and James O’Reilly led a procession of Monaghan crews to victory in their respective classes at the Donegal International Rally last weekend. In what may well go down as a milestone event for the Monaghan club, Sam and James followed up on their overall win on the recent Monaghan stages with a minute and a half to spare over their nearest rivals after 3 days and 20 stages on what is now classed as Irelands biggest rallying event. Setting some fastest stage times along the way, the Combi-lift backed S14 was never outside the top 5 and with consistent stage times quickly moved up the leader board where they found themselves embroiled in a three horse race with Gary Jennings and Darren Gass who had Monaghans Enda Sherry on the notes. Unfortunately for the Armagh/Monaghan based team of Gass and Sherry it was to be unlucky 13 as their event ended on stage 13 with a visit to the Donegal scenery. Sam and James moved into the lead on Sunday morning when Jennings was allotted a three minute road penalty but with six Donegal stages to traverse on Sunday the pressure was on. Thankfully for the Billy Coleman award winner they held their nerve and made it back to the Mount Errigal Hotel in Letterkenny for a historic win for the young Monaghan team.  Donagh Kelly and Kevin Flanagan had a consistent drive to claim 2nd overall whilst Gary Jennings and Neil Doherty picked themselves up after their 3 minute penalty with some great pace through the Sunday stages and climbed back up to 3rd overall, gaining valuable points for their championship campaign.

            The group N production class could be considered a two horse race for most of the weekend as the Newbliss brother and sister team of Stephen and Suzanne Wright were embroiled in a battle with Donegal natives Martin Doherty and Damien McCauley  for most of the Saturday and Sunday stages with no more than 15 seconds separating them at any time. Josh Moffett and John Rowan had also been in contention through the early stages but retired on stage 7 which left Shane Maguire and Martin McGarrity 3rd in group N, a position they never relinquished to the finish for a great result and 10th overall. Back at the front the race was very much alive as Doherty/McCauley traded stage times with the Wrights until stage 17 where Dohertys engine cried enough and the Span Wright EVO 9 coasted home for a memorable victory and 7th overall. Seamus Heron was 2nd in group N, also in an EVO 9.

            Donegal’s Joe McGonigle called on the navigator services of Aghabog youngster Mac Kierans for the weekend and things could not have went any better as they had a superb run in the R3 Clio to an incredible result of 8th overall and class 3 winners. Matthew McKenna teamed up with Dara Leonard once again in the fiesta but their weekend was short lived with retirement on stage 8 whilst lying 2nd in class, only 2 seconds off the lead.

            The National Rally could be considered the crowd puller to Donegal and it certainly never failed to disappoint on this occasion either. Monaghan’s Gary McPhillips and Paul Sheridan laid down the gauntlet on the opening stage, pulling out a 5 second lead over the nearest rivals and good friends Manus Kelly and Donal Barrett. Indeed this was to be the story of the weekend for these leading two wheel drive crews as they traded stage times right up until the last stage. Incredibly over the 20 stages these crews were never any more then 13 seconds apart but unfortunately Kelly/Barretts charge ended on the final stage with an off road excursion and Gary McPhillips and Paul Sheridan went on to take a memorable 1st overall victory on the national stages event.  Gary would like to thank the service crew of Francis and Martin McPhillips and Cathal Sheridan who kept the car going all weekend and also Dessie and Emmet from Keenan Rally Prep for preparing the car in the weeks leading up to the rally. He would also like to thank all his sponsors without whom it would just not have been possible to compete on the event. And finally to Deborah and Jennifer for all that they had to endure over the past two weeks whilst Gary and Paul were preparing and competing.

            Frank Kelly took the now infamous baby blue escort home to 2nd overall in the national event after a consistent run with some near misses, whilst Damian Gallagher was 3rd, also in a class 14 escort. James McCarville took up his usual role as navigator for Cavans Paddy Kiernan in the class 13 escort and they too had a memorable run through the Donegal hills to claim 3rd in class and 7th overall. Rodney Wilton and Conor McMahon finished 3rd in class 14 and 9th overall. Gerard McQuaid and Gareth Quinlan also made the finish in their class 13 escort. Unfortunately John McQuaid/Seamus O Connor failed to finish with retirement on stage 8 whilst lying in 9th overall. Cootehill man Mark Wedlock finished in 40th overall after a testing weekend on the Donegal stages. Results sheets suggest that Seamus Connolly and Gary McCrudden had a troubled weekend on the Donegal stages as they were lying 2nd in class after the opening test but slipped back down the leader board and finally into retirement on stage 16.

            In the junior rally, Maudabawn men Damien O’Reilly and Damien McCabe had a great spin through the Sunday stages to claim 3rd overall, a memorable result following some recent bad luck on their local stages. Ryan and Nicola McKenna gained valuable experience in Donegal and brought their twin cam home to 13th overall.

            So that’s a preview of a highly successful Donegal Stages Rally from a local point of view and with overall winners in both the International and National categories as well as the group N production class, this feat may never be repeated again so well done to all involved.

 

DONEGAL INTERNATIONAL RALLY RESULTS

1 Sam Moffett/James O’Reilly (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2h 22m 44s,

2 Donagh Kelly/Kevin Flanagan (Ford Focus WRC) 2h 24m 14s,

3 Garry Jennings/Neil Doherty (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2h 24m 53s,

4 Seamus Leonard/Paul McLaughlin (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2h 25m 02s,

5 Daragh O’Riordan/Tony McDaid (Ford Fiesta WRC) 2h 25m 58s,

6 John O’Donnell/Aidan Friel (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2h 26m 21s,

7 Stephen Wright/Susanne Wright (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 2h 29m 42s,

8 Joe McGonigle/Mac Kierans (Renault Clio R3 Maxi) 2h 34m 22s,

9 Seamus Heron/Gerry McVeigh (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 2h 37m 05s,

10 Shane Maguire/Martin McGarrity (Subaru Impreza Gp N) 2h 37m 30s.

 

GROUP N:

1 Stephen Wright/Susanne Wright,

2 Seamus Heron/Gerry McVeigh,

3 Shane Maguire/Martin McGarrity.

 

NATIONAL RALLY:

1 Gary McPhillips/Paul Sheridan (Ford Escort) 2h 27m 11s,

2 Frank Kelly/Stephen Quinn (Ford Escort) 2h 29m 07s,

3 Damian Gallagher/Mac Walsh (Ford Escort) 2h 29m 34s,

4 Adrian Hetherington/Gary Nolan (Ford Escort) 2h 29m 47s,

5 Daniel Conaghan/Terence Magee (Ford Escort) 2h 31m 16s,

6 Paul Reid/Karl Reid (Ford Escort) 2h 31m 21s.

 

HISTORIC RALLY:

1 Wesley Patterson/Sean Hayde (Ford Escort) 2h 03m 44s,

2 Seamus O’Connell/Sean Magee (Ford Escort) 2h 05m 02s,

3 Ian Millar/Ronan O’Neill (Ford Escort) 2h 14m 34s.

 

JUNIOR RALLY:

1 Kevin McLaughlin/Kieran McGinley (Honda Civic) 60m 50s,

2 Jonathan Orr/Martin McBrearty (Honda Civic) 60m 55s,

3 Damian O’Reilly/Damien McCabe (Ford Escort) 61m 23s.

Mc Kenna produces Star Drive performance at the Jim Clark

After a very tough weekend’s rallying in the Scottish Borders at the 2^nd round of the BRC, the Jim Clark Rally, Daniel McKenna and Co-Driver Arthur Kierans finished a very impressive 7^th O/A, won the R2 category and an extra bonus was securing the much coveted Pirelli Star Driver (PSD) nomination based on his performance on the weekend’s event.

At the wheel of his Scanbitz Ltd and Ravenol Motoroil Lubricants Ford Fiesta R2, Daniel had a mixed weekend. The event started at 7pm on Friday evening as the first stage was a short blast around the town of Duns before heading to the mammoth 16 mile Abbey St. Bathans stage.

Then a shorter 4 mile test, which were all then repeated. Daniel set the joint 2^nd fastest time on the town stage with no drama, but about 6 miles into the Abbey stage the car dropped down on power getting progressively worse as the stage went on and the crew found themselves 15 seconds off the pace with no chance to repair the unknown problem until after the 6 stages on Friday night were completed before overnight service back at Kelso Racecourse.

After some investigation a faulty fuel pump was diagnosed as the problem. Daniel and Arthur put in a massive effort on the remaining stages that were completed in the darkness of Friday night, doing their best to minimize their disadvantage and finished leg 1 of the event 2^nd in the R2 category and 18 seconds behind the leader, local man Gary Pearson despite the car being very uncompetitive.

A second hand fuel pump was fitted to the car with the hopes of the power loss problems eliminated before Daniel and Arthur could launch their attack for the lead of the R2 class. Leg 2 of the event was a scheduled 90 stage miles, but with the longest stage of the day was cancelled due to marshal problems, thus reducing the route by 27 miles which was going to make Daniel’s job even harder. However, undeterred the Monaghan crew set fastest R2 time, taking 8 seconds off the leader and reduced the gap to 10 seconds but unfortunately the power loss problem was not fully rectified but was a lot more manageable than Friday night.

For the next test Daniel found himself on the front foot and was confident of taking the lead from Pearson and the pressure applied to the leader was enough as Daniel was promoted to the lead as his leading rival had a spin and dropped 30 seconds. On the next test the battle was over as Pearson crashed out of the event and Daniel and Arthur had a 58 second lead over the next R2 car. A string of fastest R2 stage times throughout Saturday stretched  their lead to a 1min 40 secs in the R2 category and 7^th O/A by the finish.

At the finish ramp in Kelso town centre, it was announced that Daniel was the chosen nominee for the PSD competition which was the perfect way to cap of a brilliant performance on a very challenging event. Daniel and Arthur now find themselves joint leading the R2 category in the championship and lying joint 5^th O/A in the main championship ahead of the 3^rd round of their campaign, the Scottish rally in Dumfries which is back on gravel.

 

Limerick Circuit of Munster Stages Rally

 

The 2013 Circuit of Munster Rally had a nail biting finish at the Limerick Racecourse. Edward O’Callaghan was leading the event by 4.8 seconds coming in to the last stage but it was the Impreza WRC of Kevin Kelleher who was quickest on the last stage by 7 seconds to take a memorable win. Paul Purtill was 3rd overall, also in an escort.

This event was a counting round of the West Coast Rally Championship. The sole Monaghan representatives where the pairing of Shane Maguire and Martin McGarrity who where rewarded with the Group N win and a seventh overall, a valuable points haul for their championship bid.

1 Kevin Kelleher/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 43m 28s

2 Ed O’Callaghan/Ger Clancy (Escort) 43m 30s

3 Paul Purtill/Diarmuid Falvey (Escort) 44m 26s

4 Ed Synan/Denis O’Connell (Escort) 44m 56s

5 Alan Callaghan/Cathal McGrath (Impreza) 45m 41s

6 Frank Sweeney/Jane Cogan (Escort) 45m 42s

7 Shane Maguire/Martin McGarrity (Impreza Gp N) 46m 13s

8 Stephen Greaney/Keith McHugh (Escort) 46m 24s

9 Sean Lyons/Dean Raftery (Impreza Gp N) 46m 25s

10 Benny Kennedy/Brendan Ryan (Escort) 46m 31s

Group N Production class:

1 Shane Maguire/Martin McGarrity

2 Sean Lyons/Dean Raftery

3 Pat Price/Stephen Price (Impreza) 47m 06s

Historics:

1 P J O’Dowd/John Young (Sunbeam) 31m 00s

2 Philip McKibbin/Padraig Brick (Escort) 32m 14s

3 David Dee/Rita Dee (Mini) 35m 17s

Juniors:

1 Damien Boyle/Joseph Boyle (Civic) 28m 02s

2 Darren Young/Sean Walsh (Civic) 28m 04s

3 Andrew Ryan/Tommy Hayes (Civic) 28m 38

Sol Rally Barbados

A big well done to club members Raymond Conlon/Darren McCague and Maurice Moffett/Jason McKenna who were competing in the Sol Rally Barbados over the past two weekends. Both crews finished the event with Conlon/McCague finishing 24th overall and 5th in class. They also lifted the highest oversea’s rear wheel drive award. Moffett/McKenna finished just two places behind in 26th o/a and 2nd in class. Its evident from the many videos and photo’s available that both these crews had an enjoyable event, along with their many travelling supporters. Hopefully full report and photo’s to follow in the coming weeks when they return.