There were a couple of Monaghan Motor Club members competing in the
Assess Ireland Rally of the Lakes last weekend.
The event which was based out of the Gleneagle Hotel in Killarney was the fourth round of the 2024 Samdec Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.
Arthur Kierans navigating for Brendan Cumiskey finished 23 rd OA and 1 st in class RC3.
Killian McArdle navigating for Joseph Kelly finished the two day event 29 th OA.
Border Navigation Prizegiving
The eagerly anticipated Squealing Pig Monaghan Border Navigation Trial
Championship prizegiving takes place this Friday night at 8:30pm.
The prizegiving is taking place in the venue of the main sponsor. Conor Mohan
finished first Navigator overall (OA) with David McCrudden finishing 2 nd and
Conor Boylan finishing 3 rd . In the driver’s section, Martin Tynan finished 1 st ,
Derek Mackarel finished 2 nd and Shane Dalton finished 3 rd . In the Expert class,
Greg Shinnors/Andy Mackarel finished 1 st with Evin Hughes/Pakie Duffy
finishing 2 nd and Ryan Treanor/Colin Duffy finishing 3 rd . Aaron McElroy/Declan
Tynan finished 1 st in the Semi-Expert class with Ciaran Coyle/Niall McDaid
finishing 2 nd and Molly Maguire/Eoghan Corr taking 3 rd . In the Novice class
Aaron McGorman/Martin Swinburne took 1 st , Anthony McDonald/Ciaran
McGorman finished 2 nd . 3 rd went to the brother pairing of Eoghan and Shane
Farrell. 4 th went to Gretchen Swinburne/Sean McConnell. 5 th in class went to
Eoin Quinn/Keith Sheridan and 6 th in class went to Damien Sheridan/Patrick
Masterson.
Round 3 of the Northern Ireland Rally Championship took place on Saturday last with the Eakin Bros Brian James Maiden City Stages Rally.
The event was won by Desi Henry/Shane Byrne in a Citroën C3 Rally2.
A number of Monaghan Motor Club members were involved which included Ryan Farrell navigating Johnnie Mulholland to 18th overall (OA) in their Fiesta Rally3.
Killian McArdle navigated Michael Cahill to 21st OA in a Ford Escort.
Damien Connolly on the notes for Peadar Hurson failed to finish the event after they were forced to retire their VW Polo R5.
There was only one Monaghan entrant in the Mayo Motorsport Club’s Loose Surface Autocross on Sunday. Clones man Martin Tynan finished the day in 4th OA in his Mitsubishi Evo VIII.
Josh Moffett and Keith Moriarty took overall victory in the Birr Stages Rally, round three of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship.
The pair held a 17.6s advantage over Sam Moffett/James O’Reilly after nine stages and 103 kilometres. Arthur Kierans navigated David Kelly to 3rd OA in their VW Polo R5 making it a Monaghan Motor Club top three.
Darragh Kelly guided Paul Barrett to 7th OA. Kaine Trainer guided Chris O’Callaghan to 11th OA and 2nd in class 14 while Michael Carbin/Dean O’Sullivan finished 13th OA and 3rd in class 14. Gareth Deazley/Oisín Joyce finished 24th OA and 1st in class 2. Tommy Moffett/Domhnall Lennon finished 26th OA and 3rd in class 2. Michael Conlon/James McEneaney finished 30th OA and 2nd in class 12. Anthony Hand/David McCrudden finished 36th OA and 2nd in class 11R, just 1.2s off 1st in class. Kevin Reilly guided Colin Flanagan to 46th OA and 2nd in class 20 in their Mitsubishi Evo X. James McCarville/Conal McNulty finished their day off in 48th OA and 8th in class 13. Martin McPhillips/Peter Farrell finished just behind them in 49th OA and 4th in class 11R. Paul McPhillips guided Stephen Faughnan to 65th OA and Cathal Sheridan/Coel Leonard finished 78th OA and 1st in class 10. Justin Smyth/Darren O’Brien unfortunately failed to finish after retiring on SS1. Trevor Burke navigating for Mervyn Deane also failed to finish after retiring after SS8.
No luck for Kelly and Mohan in Croatia
Unfortunately, it was a weekend to forget for Ballinode man Conor Mohan as he and his Donegal driver Eamonn Kelly suffered recuring engine problems throughout Rally Croatia – an issue which eventually forced them into retirement. The event was a counting round of the Junior World Championship so a non-finish has put a big dent in their championship hopes. Stage 1 of the event turned out to be the only stage that went without hassle as they finished the stage in 6th place. On SS2 their Ford Fiesta Rally3 suffered coil pack failure. Luckily, they carried a spare coil pack for the car which they managed to replace on the road section to SS3. On SS3 they suffered a puncture and for the rest of Friday’s stages their engine once again started acting up which forced them to retire for the first time on the day’s final stage. Their service team managed to repair the car in service and they rejoined the event under super rally rules. Amazingly, their engine gremlins returned on the very first stage of Saturday and this time it was terminal so they had to retire permanently as the engine was beyond repair. Understandably the two lads were bitterly disappointed at the outcome as they had put in so much effort getting set up of the event that they won last year. Their Junior World Championship charge will restart with Rally Italia Sardegna, which takes place between 30 May and 2 June.
Derek Mackarel with navigator Darren Curran took a start to finish victory on last weekend’s Willie Loughman Forestry Rally, round two of the Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship. The pair completed the six stage event 20.6 seconds faster than second placed Jordan Hone/Paul Hone who were in a similar Ford Fiesta R5. Third place went to Stephen McCann/John McCabe who were just 0.2 seconds in arrears and also in a Fiesta R5. This event was Derek’s first ever outright victory in stage rallying.
Derek went on a big charge from the very start, mentioning that the very fast stages and great surface gave him great confidence. Winners of the opening championship round in Killarney, Jordan and Paul Hone’s day got off to a difficult start as they had a spin in SS1 and had difficulty getting the car faced the correct direction after as the stage was quite narrow where the spin occurred. The spin would cause them to lose around 25s.
Arthur Kierans guided Ryan McHugh to 8th OA and 1st in class 2. Michael Conlon/James McEneaney finished the event in 9th OA and 2nd in class 14. Ryan Farrell navigated Dylan Eves to 10th OA and 2nd class 2. Tommy Moffett/Domhnall Lennon finished 11th OA and 3rd class 2, making in a Monaghan Motor Club member one, two, three in the class.
In the UK, Killian McArdle navigated for Joseph Kelly in the Rallynuts Severn Valley Stages Rally, round two of the British Rally Championship. They finished the event in 52nd OA and 7th in class N5.
Galway Motor Club hosted the latest round of the Endurance Trial Championship. Evin Hughes guided Karl O’Donoghue to 3rd OA and 1st class A2M. Caolan Treanor guided Darragh Egan to 22nd OA and 2nd in class A2S. Ciaran Maguire navigated Steve Martin to 17th OA and 2nd in class B. Finally, Sean and Caolin McCaffrey finished 26th OA and 7th in class B.
Oisín Sherlock – Club PRO
County Monaghan Motor Club 