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 Michael Conlon and Ciaran Mc Philips made good their trip to North Armagh on Saturday last with an excellent 6-second win on the Loughgall Festival of Motorsport Stages Rally. The duo were pushed all the way however with Damian Toner and Trevor Wilson, both in escorts, keeping the pressure on the Monaghan men with only 3 seconds separating all three crews with just two stages to go, but Michael and Ciaran pulled out all the stops to double their advantage over the final two tests and took a deserved outright win, putting their names on the trophy alongside the likes of Wesley Patterson who had dominated this event in recent years. Michael and Ciaran’s early competition came in the form of Cootehill’s Mervin Wedlock and Damian Mc Cabe who had led the event after the first two stages but their event came to a sudden end on ss3. Mervin did spend the night in hospital as a precaution and thankfully is on the mend, Monaghan Motor Club wish him well on his recovery. Michael and Ciaran would like to take the opportunity to thank their sponsors MC Blinds and monaghanlife.ie monaghan’s new on line newspaper. Kieran (Bilko) Mc Carra and Mark Hamill also made the trip north and didn’t disappoint as they slid their pristine Honda civic to 6th overall and 1st in class, Bilko certainly getting to grips with his new car following a good result on the circuit of Ireland. Carrickmacross’ Gerry and Gavin McGivney brought their escort home to a fine 18th overall and surely entertained the crowds in the process with their sideways style driving. In the historic category of the event Balinode’s Brendan Mc Aree and Jonathan McGovern took their immaculate Porsche Carrera RS to a fine 2nd in class, this Brendan’s first stages event in his new historic spec car.

 Kierans & McAdoo Crowned National Champions

 Aghabog’s Arthur Kierans & Ashley McAdoo collected the National Navigation Championship trophy at the championship prize giving held in Portlaoise last Saturday last 21st May. Following another strong performance over the season, four victories in the eight events was enough to claim the championship for a fourth season in succession. Once again Monaghan had a strong presence in the championship with no fewer than twenty club members amongst the prizewinners. The prize giving was preceded by the annual Open Forum chaired by Paul Hughes. There was lively discussion and debate on how the sport could be improved for the future. The attendance was widespread and included representatives from the various motor clubs involved in the running of Navigation Trials as well as competitors. The list of prizewinners is as follows: Motorsport Ireland National Navigation Trial Championship 2010-2011 Overall: 1st Arthur Kierans/Ashley McAdoo 2nd Michael Carbin/Evin Hughes 3rd Chris Kelly/Sam Johnston Expert: 1st Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan 2nd Andrew Mackarel/Liam Higgins 3rd Richard Cassidy/Noel Hall S/Expert: 1st Darren Babington/Francis Keenan 2nd Johnny Kenneally/Ken Carmody 3rd Declan Tynan/Jonathan McGovern Novice: 1st Pakie Duffy/Colin Duffy 2nd Kevin Keenan/Barry Garvey 3rd Donal McArdle/Olivia McCarthy Beginner: 1st Darren Quinn/Nigel McCloughry 2nd Damien Hagan/Macartan Kierans 3rd Micheal McCluskey/Catriona McCluskey.

 Fire Marshal Training

Motorsport Ireland provided a weekend of fire marshal training for local motor clubs last weekend, which proved to be a huge success. This course took about 2 hours and had well over 60 people in attendance over the two days, almost 40 of these from the Monaghan Motor club. This was a worthwhile course as potential marshals and competitors got first hand experience of how to deal with various types of fire situations, which they may be faced with on motor sport events such as running fuel fires, engine fires and fuel tank/in-car fires. Indeed these situations could also arise in everyday life and general feedback from this course was that everyone associated with motorsport should take the opportunity to attend this course. Motorsport Ireland would like to extend there thanks to Rally School Ireland, Scotstown for the use of their excellent facilities over the duration of the weekend.

 Cavan Stages Rally Preview

 All roads lead to our neighbouring Cavan Motor Club this weekend for their annual Kilmore Hotel Cavan Stages Rally. This event is Round 4 of the Dunlop National Rally Championship and round 3 of the Sligo Pallets Border Rally championship and is sure to see many class battles as well as strong competition among the front runners with five WRC spec cars amongst the top ten entry. Championship leader Tim McNulty will lead the way at no. 1 followed by Balinode’s Niall Maguire and Enda Sherry at 2 and Kevin Barrett at 3, both in triton showers backed Impreza’s. Monaghan’s Sam Moffet and James O’Reilly are at 6 in their group N Evo 9 and are hopeful of a good point’s haul as class leader Robert Barrable isn’t on the entry list at present. A duo of Donegal escorts lead off the two wheel drive brigade with last years border championship winner Declan Boyle at 8 and Manus Kelly at 9, both in class 14 escorts. Shane Maguire and Charlie McEnery make a return to the series at 11 in their group N subaru, Shane opting to sit out the last event in Carlow due to college exams. Fresh from his win in Loughgall, Michael Conlon and Aidan Boyle are at 14 and are sure to have a battle royal with the likes of Russell Woods and Carlow’s Sam Smyth whom they had a good battle with on Sam’s local Carlow Rally a few weeks ago, Michael looking forward to the challenge on neutral stages! Richard Moffett and Martin Connolly are also likely to feature in class 13, starting at 26. Vincent and JP McAree return to the tarmac on Sunday at 33, a change from the gravel where they currently are joint leaders of the forestry championship. Aghabog’s Arthur and Mac Kierans head the class 12 field at 36 and are sure to have a great battle with the likes of James Cassidy in an escort and Noel O’Donnell in a 205. Josh Moffett hopes to debut his new EVO at 42 while Bilko and Colm Murphy are at 44 and hopeful of another good run. Other Monaghan men to make the short trip include John McQuaid 45, David Moffett 47, Martin McPhilips/Nicola McKenna 48 while Aaron McQuaid and Aidan Coyle will hope to follow on from their class 10 win in Monaghan, seeded at 58. Justin Smyth and Gregory Mc Quillan take to the stages proper at 66 following their good but troubled run in the junior category in Monaghan. Gerard McQuiad is at 69 with threemilehouse man Damian Sherry at 77, Michael Carbin and Evin Hughes have gotten their engine back together and start at 78 with Conor Foley at 87. Sean and Fintan Sherry are at 90 closely followed by the class 10 peugeot of Barry Treanor and Colm Conolly at 91. Monaghan CoC Conor Maguire takes his immaculate Mark I escort to the stages once again at 102. Entries are still available for this popular event. As always these events don’t run on there own and marshals are required in great numbers. Monaghan Motor club are required to marshal a full stage and anyone offering to help are asked to make contact with a committee member before Friday evening. Meeting point for Monaghan Marshal’s is the Shantully Inn, Crossdoney at 8.30am sharp on Sunday morning.

Friday night last saw the annual Squealing Pig Bar and Restaurant, Border Navigation Championship prize giving for the 2010/2011 season take place in the friendly and comfortable surroundings of the Squealing Pig, the diamond, Monaghan. Smithboro’s Michael Carbin and Ballybay’s Evin Hughes came out on top by only one point at the end of a very competitive championship to claim 1^st overall after seven events, organised by 4 different motor clubs, Cavan, Monaghan, Midlands and for the first time in many years Donegal Motor Club had a counting round of this popular local championship. Andy Mackarel and Liam Higgins were awarded 2^nd over-all for there season’s efforts while Michael and Ciaran Tynan were 3^rd over-all after a demanding season.

The night kicked off with a beautiful 3-course meal in the ample surroundings of the restaurant and then it was downstairs for the prize giving. MC for the night was none other than our local voice of morning radio and navigation competitor Sean “good morning” Mc Caffery. He started off by offering a round of applause as a mark of respect for club member Brian Ruth who sadly passed away during the year having competed in the first round of the championship in October. CoC’s for each of the 7 events were presented with trophies for their efforts and then it was onto the main award winners. Novice class had 6 award winners which also included beginners and indeed it was the beginner crew of father and son Packie and Colin Duffy who rounded off a superb year to take 1^st novice over-all award. As Carbin and Hughes came from the semi-expert class this meant that the following 3 crews were promoted by a place in their class, which left midlands men Chris Kelly and Sam Johnston taking the class win. The expert pairing of Arthur Kierans and Ashley Mc Adoo finished 7^th in the over-all standings but took 1^st in the expert class, albeit they did not compete on 2 of the seven events due to their commitment in the national navigation championship which they won for a 4^th consecutive year. Once prize giving was out of the way Sean paid tribute to Squealing Pig proprietor Raymond Aughey for his continued sponsorship and support of this popular championship and presented him with a piece of crystal as an appreciation. During their speech Michael and Evin thanked each of the clubs and CoC’s for running high quality events, to all the marshals who manned time points on each of the events, residents along the routes as well as results teams, Andy and Janice for the bulletins and anybody else who helped out in any way throughout the year.

The night concluded with the customary banter and drinks into the early hours. Once again many thanks to Raymond Aughey and the Squealing Pig for their continued support as this popular local championship goes from strength to strength. Don’t forget if your in the Monaghan town area and feeling peckish the Squealing Pig on the diamond is highly recommendable for food and drinks! 

 2010/2011 Squealing Pig Border Navigation Championship Results

Overall
1. Michael Carbin / Evin Hughes
2. Andy Mackarel / Liam Higgins
3. Michael Tynan / Ciaran Tynan

Expert
1. Arthur Kierans / Ashley McAdoo
2. Trevor Farrell / Noel Hall
3. Richard Cassidy / Stephen Thornton

Semi Expert
1. Chris Kelly / Sam Johnston
2. Darren Babbington / Francis Keenan
3. James Logue / Jonathan McGovern

Novice
1. Packie Duffy / Colin Duffy
2. Kevin Keenan / Barry Garvey
3. Darren Quinn / Nigel McCloughan
4. Donal McArdle / Laurence Keenan
5. Sean McKenna / Gary Farrelly
6. Damien Ward / Macartan Kierans

  Motorsport Ireland National Navigation Privegiving

The 2010/2011 National Navigation Championship Prize Giving and Open Forum will take place in the Heritage Hotel, Town Centre, Portlaoise this Saturday 21st May at 8 pm sharp. Ashley Mc Adoo and Arthur Kierans will be crowned champions for the 4^th consecutive year. Once again list of award winners are on www.rally.ie As always this event will be preceded by an open forum where all aspects of night navigation trials can be discussed. Attendee’s are asked to confirm their place by texting or ringing 086 278 6033.

 Fire Marshal Training

A Motorsport Ireland Fire Marshal’s Training course will take place in Rally School Ireland this weekend the 21^st/22^nd May. This is a 2-hour course dealing with all aspects of fire containment and fire fighting scenarios, which marshals and competitors could face while on events. This is an interesting and worthwhile course. Booking forms are available on the Monaghan Motor Club web site with 4 different time slots to choose from, Saturday morning/afternoon or Sunday morning/afternoon. All marshals who work on events as well as all competitors are urged to avail of this worthwhile course.

 All roads led to the Mount Wolseley Country Resort Hotel, Tullow, Co. Carlow last Sunday for the third round of the Dunlop National Rally Championship which also incorporated the ever popular Mark II challenge. The travelling Monaghan men had mixed fortunes as Meath native Tim McNulty/Paul Kiely maintained his one hundred per cent record in this year’s championship to take a 25 second win from Dubliner Robert Barrable and Monaghan’s Damian Connolly in there Skoda Fabia S2000. Scotshouse men Daniel McKenna and Andrew Grennan had a fantastic drive to take 3rd overall and with that the title of Mark II Challenge champions. The similar Mk. II Escort of Gary McPhillips with Paul Sheridan on the notes occupied fifth overall just 2 seconds behind a hard charging former National champion and local driver Stephen Murphy in a Subaru WRC. this Stephen’s first event in four years. McKenna was quickest on the opening test, Tomduff, where he was two seconds in front of his fellow county man and former triple National champion, Niall Maguire and Enda Sherry (Subaru WRC) with Barrable a further four seconds behind in third. McPhillips occupied fourth with the Subaru WRCs of McNulty and Murphy completing the top six. McNulty cited suspension set-up problems which he seemed to rectify before stage 2 and set the best times on the second and third stages of the loop to arrive at the Tullow service halt with an eight second advantage. Three drivers tied for second spot, Niall Maguire, Daniel McKenna and Robert Barrable. Daniel recounted a spin on the second test that cost him at least six seconds; he also expressed concern about the brake bias through the third stage. Another Monaghan crew Sam Moffett and James O’Reilly retired their Mitsubishi with differential failure just a few kilometres from the finish of stage 1. Through the second loop, McNulty increased his pace and even though Daniel and Andrew matched him through S.S. 5, McNulty arrived at the penultimate service with a twenty second lead over Barrable, with both enjoying untroubled runs. Niall Maguire was third, five seconds further behind despite a spin on the sixth stage with McKenna only a second adrift in 4th. Gary McPhillips rounded off the top 5 before the final loop but reported that his tyres weren’t working as well as expected. On the final loop disaster struck for Niall and Enda as they bowed out on junction four of S.S. 7 when their Subaru’s gearbox cried enough, thus dealing their assault on the National Championship a serious blow. McNulty had a trouble-free final loop to take the win ahead of Barrable/Connolly who move up to second in the series following Maguire’s non-finish. Daniel and Andrew rounded off a great day in 3rd while Stephen Murphy pipped Gary and Paul on the final stage to take 4th. Castleblayney’s Michael Conlon with Martin Byrne navigating also made the trip South and set some blistering times, some of which were inside the top ten and eventually finished 12th o/a and second in class 13. Damian and Stephen Hagan in their immaculate red Escort finished 24th overall while Martin McPhillips once again teamed up with Nicola McKenna and had a great drive to 27th overall and winning class 11 in the process. Ciaran Marron and JP McAree’s late entry paided off with 45th overall and 3rd in class 8. The rally also incorporated the second round of the Dunlop Junior Rally Championship with Carrickmacross pair Johno and Padraig Doogan (Escort) taking a slender 7 second victory over Meath’s Chris Snow (Honda Civic). Cork driver, Pat Barry (Honda Civic) was third – a minute and 35 seconds further behind.

 Squealing Pig Border Navigation Prizegiving

 This Friday night 13th May sees the Squealing Pig Bar and Restaurant annual prizegiving take place as Michael Carbin and Evin Hughes are crowned 2010/2011 Border navigation champions. This night promises to be as enjoyable as ever with many awards to be handed out on the night and plenty of banter guaranteed. So whether you’re an award winner or not why not join in the celebrations at the Squealing Pig from 8pm. List of award winners are on http://www.rally.ie Dinner to be pre-booked – Tel 087 2558 957

 Motorsport Ireland National Navigation Privegiving

 The 2010/2011 National Navigation Championship Prize Giving and Open Forum will take place in the Heritage Hotel, Town Centre, Portlaoise on Saturday 21st May at 8 pm sharp. Ashley McAdoo and Arthur Kierans will be crowned champions for the 4th consecutive year. Once again the list of award winners is on http://www.rally.ie As always this event will be preceded by an open forum where all aspects of night navigation trials can be discussed.

 Fire Marshal Training

 A Motorsport Ireland Fire Marshal’s Training course will take place in Rally School Ireland over the weekend of 21st/22nd May. This is a 2-hour course dealing with all aspects of fire containment and fire fighting scenarios, which marshals and competitors could face while on events. This is an interesting and worthwhile course. Booking forms are available on the Monaghan Motor Club web site with 4 different time slots to choose from, Saturday morning/afternoon or Sunday morning/afternoon. All marshals who work on events as well as all competitors are urged to avail of this worthwhile course.

 All roads lead to Carlow this weekend for the annual Carlow Stages Rally based in Tullow which is a counting round of the National Rally Championship but also features the ever popular Mark II challenge. Fresh from his win in Monaghan Tim Mc Nulty and Paul Kiely will lead off a field of 135 in his S12B Subaru with Monaghan’s Niall Maguire and Enda Sherry at 2 in their slightly older spec Subaru and Kevin Barrett and Sean Mullally round off the top 3 seeds in an S11 WRC Subaru. Robert Barrable and Damian Connolly will be hoping their recent good results continue as they start at 6 in their Skoda Fabia. Sam Moffett nd James O’Reilly are 2nd on the road in the group N category at 8 in their EVO 9 and probably hoping to improve on their 8th o/a in the circuit after some minor mechanical gremlins. Shane Maguire and Charlie McEnery are at 10 in their group N Subaru and are gradually finding the pace of the top group N men so will be hoping for a trouble free run. England’s Simon Maugher leads off a plethora of high powered escorts at no. 11, followed by Monaghan’s Gary Mc Phillips who will be hoping for better luck after his engine cried enough in Monaghan while setting some top 3 stage times. Danial McKenna and Andrew Grennan are next up at 14 in the Scanbitz escort and sure to thrill the crowds with they’re pace also. Rodney Wilton, Trevor Mulligan and Adrian Hetherington, John Waring and David Condell all follow suit in class 14 escorts and will be hoping for podium places on the Mark II challenge which should see the crowds descend on Carlow in their droves to watch these escorts do battle. Michael Conlon and Martin Byrne are seeded at 27, Michael showing great pace in recent events and surely won’t be far away come results time. Damian and Stephen Hagan team up in their class 13 escort at no. 33 with John McQuaid and Seamus O’Connor at 36 in another escort. Corcaghan’s Martin Mc Phillips completes the list of travelling Monaghan men in his class 11 twin cam and will also feature highly in the class results should he get a run of luck. So if you find yourself at a loose end and the weather is favourable, Carlow will be the place to be this Sunday for some guaranteed fast paced sideways action. Fire Marshal Training A Motorsport Ireland Fire Marshal’s Training course will take place in Rally School Ireland over the weekend of 21st/22nd May. This is a 2-hour course dealing with all aspects of fire prevention and fire fighting scenarios which marshal’s may face while on events. This is an interesting and worthwhile course. Booking forms are available on the Monaghan Motor Club web site with 4 different time slots to choose from, Saturday morning/afternoon or Sunday morning/afternoon. All marshals who work on MI events are urged to avail of this worthwhile course

 Easter weekend past saw the traditional running of the Circuit of Ireland Stages Rally based at the Armagh City Hotel. Saturday’s 10 stages were spread throughout northArmaghwith a unique spectator stage through the streets of Lisburn. This was a big hit with spectators as an estimated 15,000 people turned up to watch the 1 kilometre stage. Easter Sunday’s 6 stages moved west around the Aughnacloy area with 2 full stages in Co. Monaghan just North of Emyvale and Carrickroe.

With No. 2 seeds Tim Mc Nulty opting to sit this event out in favour of the Killarney stages next weekend it was number 1 seeds Derek McGarrity and James McKee who held their nerve in a Subaru S11 to win the event by 41 seconds from Kenny McKinstry and Kenny Hull after 16 competitive stages. The Triton showers- backed Subaru of Kevin Barrett and Sean Mullally took 3^rd overall. The 2-wheel drive category was a close affair with the Darrian T90 GTR of Wales’ John Dalton taking a 1.8 second win over the red Escort of Hereford’s Phil Collins with Adrian Hetherington in 3^rd.

As always Monaghan Motor Club were well represented on a number of fronts with Enda Sherry alongside Markethill’s Darren Gass at number 2, fresh from their Circuit of Kerry win. Unfortunately their weekend was short lived with gearbox trouble forcing their retirement at the end of stage 1. Damian Connolly got a late call up to navigate for Phillip Morrow in an EVO 9 and were leading their class after the first few stages but fuel pump gremlins set in, pushing them back down the leader board.  Sam Moffett and James O’Reilly were seeded at 28 in their EVO 9 and had a great run to 8^th overall and 3^rd in class 2. Sam reported brake problems towards the end of the event. Next up at 41 was Raymond Conlon and Darren McCague followed by Michael Conlon and Aidan Boyle at 42 in their MC Blinds Escort. Raymond and Darren had a troubled run throughout the weekend to eventually finish 16^th o/a and 2^nd in class. Michael and Aidan however had a better run, finishing a superb 11^th o/a and topping the class. Emmett Sherry once again partnered Amy Cox in her immaculate G3 escort and they too had a fine run to 23^rd overall and winning their class, Amy showing some real talent on only her 2^nd real tarmac stages event. Barry and Jason McKenna finished 29^th overall in their blue Escort.     

The Circuit of Ireland 2 wheel drive Sunday run took in the last 3 stages of the event and proved a popular category among the spectators. Cootehill’s Mervin Wedlock and Damian McCabe came out on top but were pushed all the way by Monaghan’s Ciaran (Bilko) McCarra and Conor McGinnity who finished 2^nd just 15 seconds adrift. This result surely helps to make up for the disappointment of a broken drive in Monaghan the weekend before. Bilko did experience some difficulties with no brakes towards the end of stage 1 but did manage a fastest stage time on the 2^nd stage by 3 seconds to eventually finish 2^nd and take the class win.

Monaghan Motor Club took on the challenge of managing stage 11 and 14 of the event which ran northwards from Emyvale towards Aughnacloy. Paul Hughes and Barry McAree were to the fore in overseeing the smooth running of this stage, taking control of stage set-up and deployment of marshals. True to form everything ran like clockwork and a big thank you must go to all the marshals who turned up to help out, and to the residents along the route and to everyone who helped out in any way, big or small.