Category: Uncategorized

Cork Motor Club’s 1000 Shakes Navigation Trial took place last weekend. The
Inchigeelagh based event counted as round four of the National Championship
as well as the penultimate round of the Munster Navigation Championship.
The all cork team of Derek Butler/Denis O’Donovan scored a commanding win
finishing on 13 marks, well clear of Mike O’Connor Jr/Greg Shinnors who
finished 2 nd overall on 35 marks. 3 rd place went to Alan Shinnors/George
Shinnors who finished on 43 marks.
The entire event took place north of Inchigeelagh around the villages of Ré na
nDoirí, Baile Mhic Íre, Clondrohid and Cúil Aodha with first six time points
being located south of the village of Cill Na Martra. The first farm lane of the
night, a short grassy track which had to be used to avoid a double visit at TP3,
nearly caught out Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock, they missed a difficult to see
left turn half way down the lane and continued further on to a dead end and a
field. For a few moments it looked like a tractor and chain job, but luckily the
car got enough grip to get them back onto the lane and they only dropped one
minute into TP5.
The first trick of the night came in the wind farm south of the village of Ré na
nDoirí. Recent road improvements through the forest changed the layout of
the forest lanes, removing some sharp corners. TP8 was located directly after
where the lane had been straightened with the approach across the old
overgrown unused part of the lane. Of the twenty entries, Butler/O’Donovan
were the only crew to get this right, with every other crew taking a wrong
approach as the new part of the road wasn’t on the map.
Via 12, TP13 and TP14 had to be accessed using numerous farm lanes around
An Rathnach Thiar. The short distance between each check point and the
demanding nature of the lanes left everyone down time by the time TP14 was
reached. Butler/O’Donovan dropped 4 marks here, while Kelly/Sherlock
dropped 3. Shane Dalton/ Ryan Treanor were down just 2 marks at TP14 while
Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan dropped 4. Shane Maguire/Conor Maguire got
through this tricky section with the loss of 5 marks.
There was some controversy at TP16 where a road goes should have been
given for to reach the TP. Butler/O’Donovan did however know a lane existed
there, but neither Kelly/Sherlock, Mackarel/Boylan and Dalton/Treanor and a
few others knew of the lanes existence so all received 15 marks for a wrong

approach. O’Connor/Shinnors had also no knowledge of the unmapped lane,
but luckily for them they accidently went up it and avoided a WA.
Plot and bash was on the cards at TP25, with all TPs in the mountains between
Clondrohid and Carriganimmy. At TP25 grid reference plots were handed out
for TP26, TP29, TP 30 and TP31. It was imperative to plot all p&bs together as
TP30 lay on the shortest route between TP26 and TP27. Unfortunately for
Maguire/Maguire they would receive a WA at TP27 and miss TP30 and TP31 in
what would be a very costly section for the father and son team. From TP32 it
was into petrol for a well needed forty minute break after a daunting opening
half with much more to come.
The entire second half of the event was based around the village of Cúil Aodha,
which didn’t throw up many problems for the Monaghan entrant’s.
Mackarel/Boylan did have a slight scare on the ITC section directly after petrol,
after stopping at the hidden check point they went the wrong direction at the
following junction. They soon realised their error and corrected themselves but
would arrive to the end TP two minutes late. They were fortunate that the
missed junction was after the hidden check point, as with ITC sections, they are
timed to the second with a 1 mark penalty for every ten seconds early or late
arrival to the check point. Arriving two minutes late would have left the team
with a massive 12 mark penalty.
Maguire/Maguire would receive 20 marks at TP111 for a non signature before
missing TP114, TP115 and TP116 which were all p&bs. The p&bs in the second
half were also grid references and did not throw up much difficulty apart from
time loss due to the short distances and twisty roads and lanes beside Doire
Fhínín. After TP116 it was over the penultimate control just outside
Inchigeelagh before heading back to the HQ. Sherlock, Treanor and Boylan did
try and appeal the WA at TP16 due to a road goes not being given but to no
avail.
This overall win for Butler/O’Donovan has given them a considerable lead in
the National Championship as they have won the Cork Startrek, Skibbereen
Carbery and now the 1000 Shakes. The Skibbereen 100 Isles event is up next
on the calendar and a fourth overall win this season will be expected on
Denis’s home event.

Top 10

1 st Derek Butler/Denis O’Donovan (Subaru Impreza) 13 marks,

2 nd Mike O’Connor Jr/Greg Shinnors (Subaru Impreza) 35m,
3 rd Alan Shinnors/George Shinnors (Subaru Impreza) 43m,
4 th Shane Dalton/Ryan Treanor (Subaru Impreza) 45m,
5 th Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan (Subaru Impreza) 45m,
6 th Owen Murphy/Patrick O’Leary (Subaru Impreza) 47m,
7 th Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock (Subaru Impreza) 51m,
8 th Ray O’Neill/Stephen O’Neill (Subaru Impreza) 110m,
9 th James Boland/John McCay (Subaru Legacy) 133m,
10 th Shane Maguire/Conor Maguire (Subaru Impreza) 171m.
PRO Oisín Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

Derek Mackarel and Conor Boylan, scored a commanding win on last
weekend’s January Navigation Trial hosted by Monaghan Motor Club. Clerk of
the Course Eoghan Corr laid out a very challenging 110 mile event spread out
between Clones, Smithborough, Killeevan, Scotshouse and Drum.
The navigation began just north of the town in Tirnahinch before a two and a
half mile road section to Time Point 2 beside Tynan Motors. Here a herringbone
tulip diagram plot and bash was handed out which brought crews to TP3 via an
extremely slippy grey lane at Gortnawinny and across an unmapped field to
reach the TP before re-joining the grey lane out to the public road. Thirteen
crews were caught out here by missing the TP altogether. October COCs Pakie
Duffy/Evin Hughes were the first to miss the TP followed by the October
winners, Aidan Keenan/Sean Marron.
From here the event moved to the Smithborough area, taking in two farms at
Loughoony and Lismeagh. The farm at Lismeagh would put a dampener on
many competitors night as a tricky stop sign at the exit of the farm left many
with 50 penalties as they failed to bring the car to a complete stop. An ITC
section took the event from Smithborough to the townland of Cashlan beside
Garran cross roads and TP10. From TP10 it was over to Via 1 where a big trick
lay in store. The shortest route from Via 1 to TP11 involved traveling a part of
the ITC route, however anyone who did not plot where the ITC check marshal
was located would end up getting double visit penalties. The correct route
involved heading in what felt like the complete wrong direction to avoid picking
up the 30 penalties. In total ten crews got caught with DVs here.
TP11 threw up a lot of problems for competitors as a shed that should have been
closed off, remained open and resulted in the road goes tulip instructing
navigators to proceed through the shed which led to wrong approaches at the
TP. The first six cars on the road all did this, however Mackarel/Boylan on
seeing the commotion, reversed back out of the shed without being seen and got
away without any penalties. Unfortunately for Martin Tynan/David McCrudden
they were not as lucky and they were hit with a double visit trying to do the
same as Mackarel/Boylan. Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock’s event fell apart here
as the confusion here caused Oisín to direct Darragh to TP15 instead of TP12,
dropping them a lot of time, and putting a lot of stress on Damien
Treanor/Jonathan McGovern who were doing course car, as they thought the
event had caught up on them, and the gates not opened yet.

At TP13 a box tulip p&b was handed out, some of the boxes were mixed
around, which many crews didn’t realise until too late resulting in many wrong
approaches and non visits. Both Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan and
Kelly/Sherlock were caught out here, taking a wrong approach each. With
having dropped so much time between TP 11 and TP14, Kelly/Sherlock skipped
TP15, TP19 T20 TP21 to get back under the allowed 15 minutes max lateness.
TPs 19 and 20 were both on box tulip p&bs in the Drumreenagh and Latroe
areas. This p&b section proved very difficult as only 9 crews visited TP19 and
11 TP20. From here the event moved towards Ture and through a flooded road
at Annahare outside the Hilton Demesne before a well needed half way fuel
stop at Scotshouse.
At the half way point number 3 seeds Mackarel/Boylan held a commanding lead
on 13 marks. In 2 nd place was Emmet Sherry/Ciaran Geaney down 70m, 30 of
which was for an ITC DV and 20 for a non visit at TP13. In 3 nd place was
Dereks father Andrew Mackarel with Greg Shinnors navigating. They were
down 92m which included receiving 50m for a stop sign fault and 15 for a WA
at TP11.
An ITC section started off the second half of the event and it ended at TP28 at
Lattacapple. The first trick of the second half took place at TP31. Expecting to
receive a plot and bash for TP32, competitors were informed that they received
it on a p&b earlier in the event. Having threw all previous sheets into the back
of the car, Ciaran Tynan had to get out and search each of the sheets for the
crucial information. Both Boylan and Sherlock had spied the information earlier
and had plotted TP32, but both had failed to notice the departure out of TP31 so
they too couldn’t proceed to the next TP. Eventually all three took a chance and
went left out of the TP in convoy with Kelly/Sherlock leading the way. The left
turn fortunately proved to be correct.
The next few TPs would involve constant leapfrogging. On the way to TP33,
Mackarel/Boylan took a longer road section and when they arrived
Tynan/McCrudden had got in front of them, and on the way to TP34,
Kelly/Sherlock took a turn too early and Tynan/Tynan along with
Mackarel/Boylan (who had got back in front of Tynan/McCrudden) overtook
them in turn. At TP 34, a tricky farm lane at Creeran, Tynan/Tynan took a turn
too early in the farm and Kelly/Sherlock once again got in front of them while
Mackarel/Boylan were now out a head on their own.
TP35 was a p&b on a newly constructed lane at Drumgramph. The entrance to
the lane was well concealed with two dump trucks blocking the way.
Kelly/Sherlock were fortunate to survive this section as they went around one of

the trucks and ended up being momentarily stuck and while they were praying
that the car would catch grip, Tynan/Tynan once again got back in front via
driving under the back of the dumpers which were parked back to back leaving
just enough room for a car to pass. The approach and departure directions for
this TP were swapped around and anyone failing to notice would be met with a
WA. Mackarel/Boylan and Tynan/McCrudden along with nine others were
caught out here.
The next p&b was handed out at TP38. The box tulip diagram brought crews
through an exceptionally overgrown lane at Gortgranard before turning left on
the exit and reaching TP39 located 50m over the public road. It was essential to
mark this TP on the map as it was located along the shortest route between
TP41 at Killygone and Via 3 on the main Clones-Newbliss road at Altartate
Glebe. The overgrown lane had to be travelled a second time to avoid a DV
penalty at TP39.
A short trip over the road brought competitors through another farm lane at
Annaghkilly for TP42. It was imperative to have the car windows up at all times
through this lane as Oisín Sherlock found out when, on approaching the TP, he
put the window down, just as he spied a large muddy puddle approaching, and
before he could get the window back up, Darragh duly hit the puddle sending
the contents in through the open window covering Oisín face and jacket.
The last p&b (TP43) was located at the end of a farm lane at Creevelea, which
had to be negotiated using a road goes tulip diagram handed out in the hall
before the event began. The penultimate TP (TP47) was located at the end of
the grey lane used for TP3 at the start of the night, before heading to Via 4
which had to be approached via a road goes behind a house at Magheranure.
Kelly/Sherlock who were running first on the road turned to go in through a
field gate expecting a farm lane, but were met with an open field, second on the
road Tynan/McCrudden on seeing them reversing back turned off their car
lights and swung in the correct entrance before Kelly/Sherlock could notice.
Luckily, they got themselves corrected and avoided a WA. At Long last it was
back to the HQ for a well needed cup of tea after another very difficult but
enjoyable nights driving.
In the end Mackarel/Boylan maintained a very comfortable win by some 68
marks from the Semi-Expert crew of Emmet Sherry/Ciaran Geaney. In 3 rd place
was Mackarel/Shinnors on 101 marks. They would rue a 50 penalty for not
coming to a complete stop after TP 5 as it cost them 2 nd overall.

In the classes it was Mackarel/Shinnors 1 st Expert, Tynan/Tynan 2 nd on 111m
and Tynan/McCrudden 3 rd on 114.
The Semi-Expert class went to Sherry/Geaney in their Toyota Starlet. 2 nd went
to Damien Treanor/Christopher McMahon on 172m with Garrett Collins/Patrick
O’Sullivan finishing 3 rd on 195m.
Ben McIntyre/Declan Tynan won the Novice class on 172m. 2 nd was Kieran
McCarra/Adam Langan on 218m, some consolation after Kieran ruined his
brand new runners (just out of the box that day) after taking a wrong turn late in
the night and bogging the car. The runners were ruined as he had to wade
through a considerable amount of cow dung to try push the car out. 3 rd in the
class went to Shane Maguire/Ciaran Maguire who finished on 366m.
The Beginner class was won by the brother sister crew of Shane Maguire/Molly
Maguire, finishing on 310m. 2 nd in class was Ciaran McGorman/Aaron
McGorman finishing on 391m. 3 rd in class went to Martin Swinburne/Gretchen
Swinburne who finished on 415m.
Eoghan thanked all the land owners and residents along the route for allowing
the event to take place on their property and travel past their houses. He also
thanked all the marshals who spent hours out and about to cover all 56 check
points and stop signs. A big thank you was also extended to the Cúil Darach Bar
and Restaurant for the excellent food and venue.
Top 10

1 st Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan (Subaru Impreza) 33 marks,
2 nd Emmet Sherry /Ciaran Geaney (Toyota Starlet) 101m,
3 rd Andrew Mackarel/Greg Shinnors (Subaru Impreza) 108m,
4 th Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan (Subaru Impreza) 111m,
5 th Martin Tynan/David McCrudden (Subaru Impreza) 114m,
6 th Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock (Subaru Impreza) 134m,
7 th Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes (Subaru Impreza) 142m,
8 th Damien Treanor/Christopher McMahon (Subaru Legacy) 172m,
9 th Ben McIntyre/Declan Tynan (Subaru Legacy) 172m,
10 th Garrett Collins/Patrick O’Sullivan (Subaru Impreza) 195m.

The National Navigation Trial Championship resumes next weekend with the
Cork Motor Club’s 1000 Shakes event. Regs and entry are available now, while
the next Monaghan Motor Club event will be the March Navigation on Saturday
the 11th.

Mohan Set for World Stage

Huge news was announced last week that local man Conor Mohan will contest
the Junior World Rally Championship sitting alongside his Donegal driver
Eamonn Kelly. The pair will contest the five round series in an M-Sport Ford
Fiesta Rally3 car. The championship begins on the snow of Sweden on the 9 th of
February. The final four rounds will take place on the tarmac of Croatia and the
gravel of Sardinia, Estonia and Greece. Eamonn took part in Artic Lapland
Rally last weekend to get some much needed experience on snow. Matt
Edwards sat in in place of Conor as Conor was at the Autosport show in the UK
representing the team at the British Rally Championship stand.
PRO: Oisín Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

The Navigation Trial season resumes on Saturday night the 14^th with the running of the Monaghan January Navigation Trial.

Clerk of the Course Eoghan Corr has laid out a 110 mile event based out of the Cuil Darach Restaurant in Clones.

The event will be Round 2 of both the club Navigation and Traders Championships.

Sign on is at 17:30 and first car away is at 21:01.

As ever marshals will be needed for the running of the event and anyone who is able to help out, please get in touch.

 The National Navigation Championship

resumes the following Saturday night (21^st) with the Cork Motor Club’s 1000 Shakes Navigation Trial. COC Niall Murphy has organised a 105 mile event based around the village of Inchigeelagh. Local men Michael Carbin and Conor Mohan currently lead the National Championship.

PRO: Oisín Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

Fr Dick Mohan

The members of the Motorsport community are saddened by the death of our esteemed club member, Fr Dick Mohan on Sunday last. Dick was a member of Monaghan Motor Club from his early years as a teacher in St. Macartan’s College where his enthusiasm sparked the interest in some of the boys in the sport and that interest often stayed with them.

He served on the committee of the club for a number of years until his diocesan duties took him into other areas. He was secretary of the club for a time also, a role where his attention to detail was so evident.

However, it was as a competitor that he will be remembered most. We can recall him compete in full rally mode effective in his Escort RS2000 or his Ford Capri in many Navigation Rallies spread over several years. A number of navigators sat with him to plot their way through the old ½ inch Ordnance Survey maps during these years. Among his navigators were Benny Cadden and Gerry McKenna now deceased, others included Jim Moore, Joe Wedlock and Mervyn Wedlock. Dick’s finishing rate in events was excellent and record shows how he and his various navigators won many class awards.

In addition to all of the above, his presence at and around events brought out many witty and amusing encounters in a sport, by its nature, well removed from the liturgical setting of the sanctuary. His wonderful ability to cultivate friendships widely, together with his great pastoral support, that he is renowned for, will live on in the memory of all who remembered him. Unfortunately for the sport the pressurised nature of his work kept him away in recent years from motorsport activities.

We extend our sympathies to Dick’s family and many friends on his unexpected passing.

May his soul rest in eternal peace.

Michael Carbin made his return to two wheel drive rallying for the first time since 2012 to take part in last weekend’s Killarney Historic Rally. Using a historic spec Ford Escort Mk2 of Niall Maguire’s, he along with navigator Dean O’Sullivan finished 11^th overall and 5^th in class D5 after a demanding 7 stage rally which included three runs of the iconic ‘Molls Gap’ and two runs each of ‘Ballaghbeama’ and ‘Kilgobnet’. They took a cautious approach to the first loop of stages as Michael got to grips with the rear wheel drive Escort after spending the last ten years with the more powerful and all wheel drive Mitsubishi Evo. By the time they had finished the third pass of Molls Gap, they had set a time some 32 seconds faster than their first run.

Conor Mohan was also in action, once again navigating for Eamonn Kelly. Their day came to a very quick end as the engine in their historic spec Escort gave up on the approach to the gap towards the end of SS1.

The winning of the Historic section was nip and tuck all day where Craig Breen/Paul Nagel and Jonny Greer/Niall Burns battled it out for the honours. Going into the final stage ‘Molls Gap 3’ both crews sat on exactly the same time, having both been rallying for 50:00.6s. Unfortunately, the Ex Frank Meagher Ford Sierra Cosworth RS of Breen/Nagel wouldn’t make it to the start of the final stage as they would break a driveshaft on the road section between Service out and the stage start.   Having a 20+ second  advantage over now 2^nd placed Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy the pressure was off, not that it showed as Greer set a stage time just 1.8s shower than he previous run to take a famous victory.

In the Modified section of the rally, Monaghan was well represented. 2^nd overall went to Daniel McKenna/Andrew Grennan. They finished 38.5s behind the Toyota Corolla Twincam of Kevin Eves/Chris Melly. Johno Doogan/Paul Lennon were in 4^th OA after SS6, 0.6s in arrears of Dessie Keenan/Jason McKenna. However, on the last stage the beat Keenan/McKenna by 5.3s to take 3^rd. Keenan/McKenna had to settle for 4^th.

Raymond Conlon/Paul Sheridan finished 6^th OA and 2^nd class 6. Gary McCrudden navigated Aidan Bourke to 14^th OA and 6^th class 6. Trevor Burke navigated Mervyn Deane to 30^th OA and 9^th class 6. Kevin Flanaghan/Mark Reilly finished 46^th OA and 1^st class 1.

Sam Moffett/Keith Moriarty retired after SS4 with engine troubles, he was soon joined by his brother Josh as he and John Rowan also retired after SS4 with a broken drive shaft. Some consolation for Josh will be the amount of videos of him with the Starlet in full drift mode around almost every corner. Gary McPhillips/Ger Conway retired after SS4 also.

Elsewhere, Brendan Cumiskey/Martin Connolly finished 2^nd OA at the Coppermines Grizedale Stages Rally in the UK while Arthur Kierans guided Alan Carmichael to 18^th OA.

PRO Oisín Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com