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Josh Moffett equalled an Irish rallying record by taking his third Triton Showers Motorsport Ireland National Rally Championship title at the Fastnet Rally.

The Monaghan man’s victory means he equals the record originally set by Niall Maguire, and more recently matched by Declan Boyle, to win the Irish National title three times.

An inspired tyre choice on the opening loop – Moffett and his co-driver Keith Moriarty opted for full wets while his main championship rival Callum Devine and navigator Noel O’Sullivan were on slicks, meant the defending champions had ten seconds to spare over his main title rivals at the first service halt.

However, they were only in second place as local crew Daniel Cronin and Donnchadh Burke topped the time sheets in their Volkswagen Polo R5.

Moffett got the grit between his teeth on the second loop, he overhauled Cronin and while Devine too was on a charge those early ten seconds were crucial to the title fight.

Over the final two stages, Moffett, Devine and Cronin all traded times – the final test was both a rally-winning and championship-winning shootout.

Ahead of that final test, Moffett held the upper hand, just 0.9 of a second the gap to Cronin, and Devine was a further 4.4 seconds adrift.

Moffett and Moriarty were fastest over the stage to take the win and championship.

Cronin and Burke were caught out in a late rain shower and slipped off the road.

They lost the best part of 30 seconds in the incident and dropped to third overall. This promoted Devine to second place in both the rally and the championship.

Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy member and outgoing Billy Coleman award winner Eamon Kelly and co-driver Conor Mohan were fourth in their Volkswagen Polo R5 for much of the day.

They were caught out in the same place as Cronin but unlike their Polo R5 colleague, they lost a lot of time but eventually got going again to finish well down the order.

Former Ford Escort exponents Eddie Doherty and Tom Murphy put in a stirring performance over the final loop. They were on a maiden outing in the new Skoda Fabia R5 and finished a creditable fourth overall.

Donegal’s Declan Gallagher and Gavin Doherty were the leading Modified entrants. The Toyota Starlet crew had not competed since the Donegal International Rally in June and were using the Bantry-based event as a test ahead of planned outings at the Donegal Harvest Rally and the Killarney Historic Rally. Their efforts were rewarded with sixth overall.

Border Rally Champions Justin Smyth and Gregory McQuillan made the trip south, and after swapping the Class 12 lead, they had to settle for second and 25th overall, while Cathal Sheridan and Peter Deery took Class 10 honours.

The Triton National Rally Championship Awards Night will take place on Saturday 18th November in the Sheraton Hotel, Athlone.

For some, the darker evenings and cooler weather would mark the year coming to an end, but in motorsporting terms it signals the return of navigation trials. Clerk of Course Sean Marron, with Assistant COC Aidan Keenan and his team organised the first event of the season, which was run out of Kingscourt and won by the expert pairing of Conor Boylan and Derek Mackarel.

The 70 mile route took in a mixture of roads, lanes, farms and a quarry all within Kingscourt, Carrickmacross and Shercock. The first car left the HQ at 9.01pm and it was from the departure of TP3 that crews had to be switched on. The map coordinates for TP4 were known from the start of the event, but a route card in the car window would give the correct approach and departure, as well as the trace for TP5. However on the sheet, the approach and departure were switched and if the trace wasn’t plotted before leaving TP3, crews could have landed upon TP5 out of sequence and from the wrong direction. Only six crews would make through this plot and bash section without incurring time penalties.

The trial then went relatively straightforward towards Magheracloone, where TP14, TP15 and TP16 featured a number of tuliped road-goes across the road from the hotel known by some of the more seasoned competitors as the Oasis. It would be at TP16 that Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes and Shane Dalton/Ryan Treanor would both pick up a large 50 penalties and see them fall out of contention. At that point Mackarel/Boylan led on 2 penalties, with Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan (Expert), Darragh Kelly/Eamonn Doherty (Semi-expert) and Martin Swinburne/Gretchen Swinburne (Beginner) all tied on 3 penalties.

TP16 to TP17 was an intermediate distance tulip diagram that counted all gates and roads – which also had to be read from top to bottom and started further up the road from where it was handed out. Over half the field would either approach TP17 the wrong way, or miss it altogether, with the rest all dropping time. A time recovery section and ITC from TP19 was a welcomed change of pace to all crews after a hectic few timepoints in such a small area.

For TP22, another route card came through the window where navigators would have to find the timepoint coordinates from the scrambled order and again notice the departure and approach being switched. The final plot and bash handed out at TP26 would challenge even the most experienced crews – a double-sided tulip going from top to bottom with intermediate distances counting all goers, non-goers and dotted trails and leading to both TP27 and TP28. As a reward for the efforts, the final timepoints incorporated some enjoyable quarry trails before returning to Kingscourt for final controls.

At the end of the event, Mackarel/Boylan fared the best, dropping just 12 penalties during the night. The slimmest of margins separated Michael and Ciaran Tynan from Martin Tynan and David McCrudden. 16 penalties to 17 in favour of Michael. The Beginner crew of Fintan and Aaron McGorman took a very strong fourth overall on 54 penalties. Mac Kierans/Jack McKenna (Novice) and Kelly/Doherty both finished on 63.

The National Navigation Championship gets underway on 14/15 October with the Startrek Navigation in Cork.

Birr Endurance Trial

In the Birr Endurance Trial Robert Howard and Claire Murtagh took the victory in their Toyota Starlet. Evin Hughes was in action the morning after the navigation and took 2nd in the overall classifications for endurance cars. Shane Maguire was another competitor doing the double, he and Nicola McGuigan took the A2N class win and 7th O/A. Caolan Treanor was sitting with local man Darragh Egan. Mechanical woes would be their downfall as they failed to finish.

Club AGM

The Monaghan Motor Club AGM and open forum will take place on Friday 6 October in the Four Seasons Hotel. There will be a guest speaker on the night. 

All club members are encouraged to attend to collectively discuss matters regarding our sport.

Sadly once again this year, the Irish motorsports community was dealt another blow on Sunday as a competitor lost their lives while taking part in the Clare Stages Rally. 

The event was to be a key round for many classes and championships, but there was no interest in counting dropped scores when the news broke that experienced co-driver Damian Fleming from Kilcummin in Co Kerry lost his life on Stage 4. 

Damian was a competitor with over 150 starts since 2006 who had sat in a range of vehicles from WRC Subarus to R5 Fiestas, Junior Civics and Class 14 Escorts. His talent also extended to getting behind the wheel on occasion too. 

For those following local competitors, Damian’s name was often seen on the entry partnered with familiar names. He had sat alongside Johnny Treanor on some giant-killing performances in the iconic blue Civic, accompanied Mickey Conlon on a number of occasions and for many years sat alongside Raymond Conlon as they took on the Killarney Historic Rally and many other events in between. 

Monaghan Motor Club wishes to extend its condolences to the family and friends of Damian Fleming at this difficult time. Our thoughts are also with all of those who were present and responded at the scene on what was a dark day for the motorsport family. 

May he Rest in Peace.

Ryan Caldwell and Arthur Kierans were crowned Irish Forest Rally champions for 2023 despite a non-finish on the Bushwhacker Rally organised by Omagh Motor Club. 

With their main rivals opting to run in a different class, all they had to do was leave Parc Ferme to take the title. They hit mechanical trouble early on and retired on Saturday afternoon. 

The rally featured now-rare night stages on Friday night and it was Patrick and Stephen O’Brien who took the overall win in their Skoda Fabia. 

Brendan Cumiskey and Martin Connolly scored maximum championship points in their Fiesta Rally3. Mickey Conlon and Paul McPhillips took third in championship points, as well as 1st in Class and 4th 2WD. 

Navigation Trials return

Entries are open for the Monaghan Navigation Trial on 30 September. 

COC Sean Marron and ACOC Aidan Keenan have organised a 70 mile route run out of Kingscourt Community Centre. 

Regulations and entries are available online and close on Monday 25 September. 

Competitors are reminded to check the expiry date on their licence. For this event, Motorsport Ireland National licences with an expiry date of 30 September 2023 are not valid. If your licence is not valid for the duration of the event at sign-on, you will not be permitted to start the event.

Eamonn Kelly and Conor Mohan took their second JWRC podium of the year, with a fine 2nd on the Acropolis Rally in Greece, continuing on their form from their category win in Croatia earlier this year. 

Intercom issues on Friday morning meant it was a than ideal start, but a consistent performance of top three times saw them build a comfortable 2nd place as others fell to the rough conditions. 

A gearbox issue this morning left them with a broken gearbox casing and only three gears for 100km but the service crew managed a gearbox change in 15 mins to keep them in the rally and on the second step of the podium for the final round of the championship. 

The result also meant that Conor Mohan came 3rd in the overall co-driver standings for the championship, with Kelly the 4th driver. 

Congratulations to William Creighton and Liam Regan on taking the JWRC back to Ireland for the first time since Craig Breen’s WRC Academy victory in 2011. 

Wexford Stages Rally

A number of local crews travelled south for the two-day Wexford Stages Rally. Daniel Cronin and Donnachadh Burke won after an eventful rally that saw sunshine turn to slippy tar and many being caught out in the changeable conditions. 

Piaras O’Callaghan was the best finisher from Co Monaghan, guiding Brian Lavelle to 10th OA and 1st in Class 13. 

Killian McArdle was alongside Mikey Ryan and they finished 2nd in Class 2. 

David Moffett and Martin Connolly were in the middle of a titanic Class 14 battle in their Toyota Starlet and had sat as high as 7th OA at one point against R5 machines. An off on Stage 11 saw them retire from the event. 

Patrick Fitzpatrick and James McEneaney had led Class 9 for much of the event but their rally came to an end after Stage 15. 

Club AGM

The Monaghan Motor Club AGM and open forum will take place on Wednesday 27 September in the Four Seasons Hotel. There will be a guest speaker on the night. 

All club members are encouraged to attend to collectively discuss matters regarding our sport.