Category: Uncategorized

Not for the first time in 2023, the Irish motorsports community was
plunged into sadness on Sunday as news filtered through of a fatal
accident involving a competing crew on Stage 6 of the Sligo Stages
Rally. What was building up to be a thrilling event against the mixed
north west conditions soon became irrelevant as tributes were paid to
Gene McDonald and Dáire Maguire who tragically lost their lives.

Both were regularly seen on the stages in Co Monaghan and surrounding
events for a number of years. From ‘The Beam’ to the MKII Escort, Gene
– who was from Co Cavan and ran a successful business in
Carrickmacross – regularly had local men alongside him to call the
notes. Lisnaskea native Dáire had also competed locally and was known
the length and breadth of the country.

Monaghan Motor Club wishes to extend its condolences to the family and
friends of Gene McDonald and Dáire Maguire 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 they both Rest in Peace.

Monaghan father and son duo Arthur and Mac Kierans went head-to-head
in a round of the FIA European Rally Championship.

The pair contested the BAUHAUS Royal Rally of Scandinavia alongside
junior contestants in the third round of the Junior FIA European Rally
Championship.

Mac was Australian driver Max McRae while his father Arthur was
recruited by Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver Aoife Raftery for
the two-day event that is based in Karlstad in the Värmland region of
Sweden.

Both McRae and Raftery are competing in the junior element of the
series in almost identical cars – an Opel Corsa for McRae and a PCRS
Rallysport-prepared Peugeot 208 for Raftery.

Seeded one after the other on the road, there was an extra competitive
element to the event.

Unfortunately for Raftery and Arthur it was to be a short event. An
accident on the second stage put them out of the event and a
difficulty in getting replacement parts meant they were unable to
restart.

Aoife maintained that getting the opportunity to compete and prepare
for such an event was a great learning curve and that it will stand to
her in the future.

McRae and Mac had better luck, but a challenging weekend all the same.
They were running 3rd in Class for most of the first day before
picking up a puncture and snapping the steering on Stage seven. The
damage sidelined them but they were able to get out for more miles on
the second day. Some competitive times meant it was a case of what
could have been for the pair as their performances were better than
their finishing result reflected.

Omagh brothers Patrick and Stephen O’Brien also made the trip to Sweden. Backed by McAree Engineering and celebrating a new partnership with tyre provider Hankook.
On what was their second European Rally Championship round of the year, they built their experience and progressed over the weekend to finish 15th OA.


Monaghan Motor Club’s Endurance Trial July 30

Gary Farrelly is COC of the event which is being run from Aughnamullen GAA club.

The trial is a counting round of the County Monaghan Motor Club championship.

 Entries are now open and the full regulations and entry form is available on the club website and
Facebook page.

Josh Moffett recorded his third straight win in the Triton Showers
Motorsport Ireland National Rally championship by taking by a
start-to-finish victory in the Waterford City Ford Raven’s Rock Rally.

Having swiped the keys of his brother Sam’s newer model Hyundai i20
Rally2 for the event, the Monaghan driver’s win was never in doubt.

He and his co-driver Keith Moriarty arrived back to finish ramp at the
Viking Hotel with a 42.4-second advantage over Declan Boyle and
stand-in co-driver Paddy McCrudden.

Josh was unsure if he would stay with the upgraded version of the car
for the rest of the season or if he will revert to his older model.

“A lot of people have been asking me that, but we will wait and see,” he said.

It was a special victory for Moffett on Craig Breen’s home rally.

Breen carried the number 42 on the doors of his World Rally
Championship cars and Moffett took his 42nd win by 42 seconds.

The Triton Showers National Rally Championship has now reached its
halfway point and Moffett has won three of the four rounds run so far.

Round one winners Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan are expected to
return to the championship fray for round five, the Connacht Sligo
Stages on July 16 after skipping Waterford.

Former champion Boyle has not enjoyed the best of luck in recent
times, but his mid-season switch from a Volkswagen Polo to a Citroen
C3 has paid dividends.

His second-place finish in Waterford was his first visit to a National
Rally podium since 2015.

Another surprise package on Sunday’s rally was the pace of Cal
McCarthy and Eric Calnan. They were right on the pace early on and
arrived at the first service halt in second place.

A fastest time on stage four showed his new -found pace but,
unfortunately, the Citroen C3 crew crashed out on stage five.

This promoted English visitors James Ford and Neil Shanks to the final
podium position.

Championship sponsors Paul Barrett and Kevin Reilly recorded their
best result of the season so far and despite an altercation with a
stage-six chicane, they ensured that there were three Citroen’s in the
top six.

The all-important modified battle looked like it was going the way of
local crew Eddie Doherty and Tom Murphy. Regular co-driver Killian
McArdle’s absence fuelled rumours that he had negotiated a new
contract with M-Sport that would see him promoted to sit with Ott
Tanak for the remainder of the WRC season. Malcolm Wilson was
unavailable for comment.

Fresh from his win in the Laois Heartlands Rally and three days of the
Donegal International Rally action Doherty were able to keep Rob
Duggan at bay over the seven stages.

However, disaster struck on the final stage when, with just 2km to,
they picked up a puncture after a heavy landing off a jump.

The long-time category leaders dropped to tenth overall and third in the class.

Duggan and his co-driver Ger Conway were back in their usual Ford
Escort for the first time since the 2022 Donegal International Rally
and they finished seventh overall after a tight battle with their
Kerry neighbours.

Conor Murphy and Sean Collins were second in the Modified rally, in
their similar Escort.

Michael Carbin and Dean O’Sullivan had another strong finish in their
Mitsubishi Evo. A class victory and 12th overall was their reward for
the day and kept Michael’s many championship campaigns on track.

In the Junior category, Jack McKenna and Damian Doherty took their
fourth maximum point haul from four starts in the Triton Showers
National Junior Rally Championship. They finished nearly a minute
clear of the similar Honda Civic of Mikey Ryan and Eoghan Doherty.

Loughgall Stages

In the Loughgall Stages Rally in Armagh it was Aaron McLoughlin and
Darren Curran who took victory in the Fiesta R5, from Aidan Wray and
Martin Brady’s Polo R5.

Shane Farrell was the first Monaghan man home as he guided Conor
Lavery to 13th OA and second in Class 6.

Fresh from victory as a co-driver in the forests a week earlier,
Arthur Kierans was back behind the wheel in his MKII Escort. He and
Conor Maguire were fifth in the same class and only a handful of
seconds from some crystal.

Less than ten seconds further back was the welcomed return of Maurice
Moffett in action once again in the Toyota Starlet. His son Richard
had been getting the miles in the car in recent events and whether as
a reward of punishment, found himself calling the notes from the other
seat for a change. The father and son duo just missed out on a Top 20
finish. Vincent McAree/David McCrudden and Garry Jennings/Damien
Connolly both failed to finish.

As the dust settled on an incredible day in the woods above Ballyvourney, the tale of the 2023 Moonraker Forest Rally will always be remembered for a break-out victory for youngster Ryan Caldwell on a remarkable third round of the 2023 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship. Guided by the incredibly experienced Arthur Kierans, Caldwell would bring his Skoda Fabia R5 home with 9.1 seconds to spare.

Although the data will show six stages victories from eight, and a start-to-finish lead for the youngster, in reality the times were incredibly tight with the top of the time sheets often separated by little more than a handful of seconds. One of those who remained firmly in the hunt all day was Vivian Hamill & Andrew Grennan, who would bring their VW Polo GTi R5 to second place having traded amongst the podium places throughout the day.

The battle for the final step of the podium would eventually come down to the Ford Fiesta Rally2 of Niall McCullagh & Gordon Noble versus the Citroen C3 Rally2 of Conor McCourt & Caolan McKenna. McCourt would pull 4.3 seconds out of his rival on the final 15.6km Knocknabro stage, but it wouldn’t be enough as McCullagh would still have just 0.4 seconds to spare.

Derek Mackarel debuted his new Fiesta R5 with Eamonn Creedon on the notes. Gaining experience and knowledge of the car was the main aim for the man who made his name hunting down much more powerful cars in his Nova. They would fail to make the finish, but Mackarel showed his potential when he matched rally winner Caldwell on the times  on just his fourth stage in the car.

In the 2WD battle, it was set to be a classic showdown between long-time rivals and friends Mickey Conlon and Shane McGirr, and things played out right to form as the pair spent the day trading times across the eight Moonraker Forest Rally Stages. McGirr and Ben Taggart bent an axel in their Lada VFTS on the opening loop, but by mid-day service sat just 5.1 seconds off Conlon.

With all his experience though McGirr wasn’t able to reel in the ever-quick Conlon & Paul McPhillips, and for a second year in a row the Ford Escort Mk2 would return victorious after an incredible day of action with 4.9 seconds to spare. Third place would go to Stewart McClean & Gerard Neeson, capping a remarkable day for the pair in their Vauxhall Nova.

Mac Kierans swapped McRae for McKenna as he sat alongside Jack in his Class 16 Honda Civic for a class win.

Killian McArdle was with Pete McCullagh in his Mitsubishi Evo, but failed to finish.

The J1000 side of things was frantic from the start, with Tommy Cronin & Derek Butler racing into an early lead leaving the Derreennaling opening test with a lead of over 5 seconds to rival Tommy Moffett & Domhnall Lennon.

Moffett would respond with two fastest times to hold a slender lead after three stages, but Cronin put in a charge on the longest stage of the day and built a buffer to keep Moffett at bay in second with another strong haul of points.

‘Show and Shine’ success

Monaghan Motor Club held a static ‘Show and Shine’ car show at the weekend, which saw some wonderful machines on display.

The event was organised with the proceeds going to two local and worthwhile charities, Monaghan Crocus Cancer Support and SOSAD Monaghan.

The weather thankfully held out until the last raffle prize giveaway, with the sunshine adding to the event’s success.

All support and attendance was much appreciated, with a special word of thanks to the great organising team that was led by Fintan Larmer.

Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan secured their third Irish Tarmac Rally win on the trot, clinching a maiden Donegal International Rally victory. The Derry driver finished the 20-stage event 55.5 seconds ahead of Matt Edwards and David Moynihan who fought back from tenth after differential trouble on stage one, with Sam Moffett and Keith Moriarty third.

It was Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes who started the Donegal International Rally strongest, though. The defending winners completed Friday’s extremely bumpy stages around Donegal Town with a 4.9-second lead over Devine’s Volkswagen Polo R5.

Moffett was on fire in the June heat aboard his Hyundai i20 R5 – winning four of the six stages on Donegal’s opening day.

Garry Jennings and Sam Moffett fought for third on Friday with the latter moving ahead of his fellow Donegal Rally winner on stage four.

The heavens opened on Saturday morning to give Donegal’s 100+ crews a tyre choice headache as they left Letterkenny’s service area.

Devine was fastest on a wet Carnhill stage, beating Josh Moffett by 5.3 seconds and moving into a 0.4-second lead.

Moffett responded straight away on Saturday’s second test, a greasy Garrygort. His Hyundai i20 R5 was fastest through stage eight by 1.1 seconds, retaking the lead from Devine.

The Donegal Rally duel continued as the cars approached the famous Knockalla hairpins. Devine attacked from the Portsalon startline, putting thoughts of cold tyres, cold brakes, and wet roads to the back of his mind. His Volkswagen Polo R5 coped with the last-minute braking and rewarded Devine’s efforts with a time 7.2 seconds faster than Josh Moffett.

Devine further extended his lead over Moffett to 15 seconds over stages 10, 11, and 12. But just when it looked like he had found an ominously smooth groove, the rally was to turn back towards Moffett’s favour.

A set-up change in service left Josh Moffett feeling much happier aboard his Hyundai, especially on the drier sections. The technical tweaks did the trick as he finally broke Devine’s grip on Carnhill with Moffett finishing closest to Edwards’ breathtaking benchmark.

As Moffett found his mojo, Devine had made a mistake. An overshoot on one of Carnhill’s greasy junctions cost the rally leader several seconds and halved his advantage over Moffett.

Edwards made it a hat-trick of stage wins on Saturday’s Garrygort finale. His turn of speed through Saturday moved him from seventh to fourth, ending the day 5.1 seconds behind third-placed Sam Moffett.

Josh Moffett managed to sneak a further 2.6 seconds out of Devine’s rally lead on Garrygort to finish day two 4.7 seconds behind his Irish Tarmac Rally Championship rival.

Overnight leaders, Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan started Donegal’s final day in perfect fashion. The Circuit of Ireland and Rally of the Lakes winners set the fastest times on High Glen and Atlantic Drive to build a 17.7-second lead over Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes heading into Fanad Head.

Devine’s grasp on victory faced a different threat on Fanad Head when rain rolled into the coastal test. He hoped his pre-Fanad advantage would be enough when he approached the wet sections with caution. What he didn’t know, though, was that Josh Moffett’s Donegal International Rally defence had come to blows near the end of the 17.9-kilometre test.

Searching for every second in his chase of Devine, Moffett slid wide on a medium left-hander and his Hyundai i20 R5 clattered into a bank. The impact broke the Hyundai’s rear right wheel, putting Moffett out of the rally with three stages remaining.

Devine now held a 53.1-second lead over Sam Moffett with a single pass of High Glen, Atlantic Drive, and Fanad Head left to go.

Devine and O’Sullivan kept their composure, and maintained a high pace of driving, to win Donegal’s final stage – an impressive way to secure their first-ever Donegal International Rally win. Matt Edwards usurped Sam Moffett in High Glen’s wet conditions, secured a runner-up finish in his Polo R5.

Ryan Caldwell may have admitted to being inexperienced taking his Skoda Fabia R5 around some of the country’s most famous stages, but the wise Arthur Kierans was alongside him to pass on some of the secrets. They had a strong run as they clocked up the miles and built confidence.

Brendan Cumiskey and Daragh Mullen brought the Fiesta Rally3 to the hills and had a fault-free event, while Paul Barrett and Kevin Reilly had to avail of Rally2 to make it to the finish in their Citroen C3, showing consistency throughout the weekend.

Dylan Eves and Ryan Farrell reigned supreme in Donegal International Rally’s Rally4 category, finishing 59.2 seconds ahead of Shane Quinn and Patrick Brides.

Rally of the Lakes winner, Ioan Lloyd set Donegal’s initial pace, winning all of Friday’s six stages. Lloyd had built a 40.9-second advantage over fellow Peugeot 208 Rally4 pilot Keelan Grogan and was an incredible 28th overall over stage six.

Both Lloyd and Grogan failed to make it through Saturday’s very first stage meaning that out of nowhere, Eves and Quinn were now locked in a battle for the category win. Quinn briefly sneaked ahead by 0.1 seconds on Saturday’s penultimate stage before Eves pumped in a rapid time through Garrygort to lead overnight by 17.3 seconds.

A fastest time, 25.1 seconds faster than any of his Rally4 rivals, through High Glen 2 put Eves and Farrell in a dominant position with two tests remaining. He continued to extend his lead to eventually finish 59.2 seconds ahead of Quinn with Joseph Kelly completing the top three. Jason McConnon and Daniel McConnon were out in their Peugeot 208 R2 and a steady run saw them get more miles under their belt and a fifth in Class finish in RC4.

Kevin Gallagher and Ryan Moore brought their Darrian T90 safely home to a massive two-minute, 19-second modified victory over Damien Tourish and Domhnall McAlaney.

Gallagher was down in fifth position after Donegal’s opening Donegal Bay test. Instead, it was Kevin Eves who was setting searing pace in his Toyota Corolla. He led Richard Moffett’s Toyota Starlet by four seconds after stage two.

Modified’s top two encountered trouble as early as stage three, though. Eves lost 28.1 seconds when a mistake punctured and bent a cross member in his rear-wheel-drive Corolla. Moffett was forced to retire on the same stage with mechanical issues.

It propelled Gallagher into a lead he wouldn’t let go of for the rest of the rally. Daniel McKenna briefly held second in modifieds on Friday before he was forced to stop on day one’s final test with technical trouble.

Stage wins on all eight tests through Saturday increased Gallagher’s lead to nearly one and a half minutes over Eves who was now focusing on keeping Tourish behind.

Tourish, who hasn’t competed on a closed-road rally since last year’s edition, was pressuring Eves’ runner-up spot before Eves’ Toyota Corolla gave up the ghost with two stages to go.

David Moffett and Martin Connolly completed the modified podium after fighting back from a one-minute time-sucking spin on the rally’s second stage. Following on from their victory in Laois recently, Eddie Doherty and Killian McArdle were fourth Modified in a stacked field.

Anthony Hand and Peter Deery had held second in Class 11R for most of the event, but inherited the lead with just the final few stages left to take a well deserved win.

Bernard McGinley and Shane Farrell had been working their way up the timesheets in the same class and moved up to third with just one stage remaining, but a storming performance on the last stage of the rally promoted them a step higher on the podium to take second by just a second.

Mickey Conlon and Donal Lennon took second in Class 12, but most importantly collected a haul of championship points.

Piaras O Ceallachain guided Brian Lavelle to second in Class 13.

James McCarville was back in action in his Class 13 Escort and had been running well before needing Rally2 to get him back out on the stages, and John McQuaid and Thomas Treanor failed to make it to the end in their Class 14 Escort.

In the Junior category over Sunday’s stages, Gary Cassidy/Gary McCrudden and Ben McIntyre/Andrew Wedlock were tied for first after High Glen’s opener, 3.5 seconds ahead of Jack McKenna/Damian Doherty.

Cassidy moved ahead on Atlantic Drive, going 3.7 seconds faster than McIntyre who was now just 0.2 seconds ahead of McKenna.

A series of stage cancellations left Donegal’s final Fanad Head test as the Junior’s shoot-out for victory.

McKenna set the timesheets alight with his effort, 4.9 seconds quicker than anyone else to clinch the Junior Donegal Rally victory by one second over Cassidy.

Mohan and Mac in action in Latvia

FIA Junior World Rally Championship frontrunners Eamonn Kelly and Conor Mohan contested the Latvian round of the ERC. They had two very different but equally important reasons for entering the event in a locally sourced Ford Fiesta Rally3. They wanted to get some experience of high-speed gravel roads ahead of the Junior WRC counting Rally Estonia next month. Rally Liepaja will be included in next year’s Junior WRC and Kelly and Mohan had always said that this year was a learning year ahead of a more serious attack in 2024. It was a case of mission accomplished, a solid 24th overall and sixth in a class that was won by Northern Ireland’s Jon Armstong.

“ERC Latvia done, good event, really fun stages, superfast, obviously we came here to learn, first time on really, really fast gravel so happy with the progress, ok the result was not great but we can build on it. We came here to gain experience, we got it, so let’s see if we can take it to Estonia,” said the Donegal driver.

Australia-based Aghabog man Mac Kierans was on pacenote duty for Max McRae in an Opel Corsa Rally 4. They finished sixth in the Junior category. They led the category- by 0.1 of a second – after Saturday’s opening leg but a one-minute time penalty after an early check-in for a technical zone shoved them down the order. They were unable to recover the lost time and eventually finished fifth.

“It started off very well, we were straight on the pace of the junior competitors, then the final super special stage of sat evening we took the overnight lead. It was very short as I clocked in a minute early into a technical zone on Saturday evening, this gave us a one-minute penalty dropping us from first to seventh overnight,” said the Monaghan man.

“Sunday, we went on a charge to try and make back some time but unfortunately with a number of quick stage times we could only climb back up to fifth overall in the Junior ERC.” “It was good to get to the end, stages are unbelievable, cut up on second pass on Sunday but very good, good event for us overall.”