Category: Uncategorized

Monaghan Motor Club hosted the fifth round of the National Navigation Trial Championship last Saturday night. The event was also a counting round of both the club Navigation and Traders Championship, as well as the penultimate round of The Squealing Pig Border Navigation Championship. Local radio DJ Sean McCaffery assisted by Richard Cassidy laid out a 100 mile event covering a vast area of west Monaghan. The navigation took in the areas of Aghabog, Ballybay, Latton, Rockcorry and Drum village.

Michael Tynan & Ciaran Tynan emerged victorious after a very demanding and challenging event, they completed the entire route only dropping 12 minutes. Considerably less than the time dropped by all other competitors. Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock finished 2^nd overall with Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan finished 3^rd.

From Time Point 1 at Aghadrumkeen, competitors received their first plot & bash, a herringbone diagram which gave navigators their first of many headaches during the night. The tulip brought crews into a farm at Aghnacue. In the farm yard it was keep left and out the gravel lane and slot left across another lane hidden with grass and into TP2. The difficulty of this first section was evident from a total of twenty crews either dropping time or missing it altogether. At TP2 another p&b awaited, a second tulip diagram was handed out and this brought competitors back into the same farm again, this time going straight through the farm and along the disused railway. This section would claim the nights first victim in Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes. They went down a lane parallel to the railway and unfortunately got stuck and burned out the clutch freeing themselves. This section was just as difficult as the first with twenty one crews dropping time or not arriving to it.

A short breather awaited here in a road section before it was back into the rough and tumble on the infamous ‘grey’ lane at Corragarry which involved driving through the renowned flood and precision driving down the very bushy and twisty track to arrive at TP4. From here it was relatively straight forward with mostly public roads and some private lanes bringing competitors to Control B at Latton School. This brought an end to the first third of the event.

At this point Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock were out in front on 1 penalty from being a minute late into TP4. 2^nd were Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan on 2 penalties and in 3^rd  was the Semi-Expert team of Eoghan Corr/Shane Maguire down just 3 minutes.

The middle third proved to be the most difficult part of the navigation and ultimately decided the winning of the event. At TP17, the third p&b of the night was handed out. This would take crews from TP17 through Via3 to TP18. Just like before a herringbone diagram was issued. Unlike the normal herringbone, COC Sean decided to put his own spin on it, this time instead of competitors not taking the junctions appearing on the tulip, they had to do the opposite, something that was completely alien to navigators. As tough as it was most expert crews found Via3 in a farm yard at Creeve, just south of Ballybay without much difficulty. National championship leader Ryan Treanor unfortunately would miss Via3 and run into Tp18 with a wrong approach. The Cork pair of James Fitzgerald/Ken Carmody managed to get Via3 but went back onto the public road too quickly after resulting in a wrong approach at TP18. Another cork crew and National Championship contenders Derek Butler/Denis O’Donovan struggled here, they did eventually find Via3 but dropped 11 minutes into Tp18.

Plot and bash was also on the cards at Tp19 with navigators receiving a clockface tulip for Via4. Via4 was situated in Dixon’s farm at Drumhillagh. A newly opened lane deceived a lot of crews as they instead headed for the main farm entrance and a closed gate preventing entry to the farm. The confusion here led to most of the top seeds arriving to the Via at the same time, giving the marshal plenty of work to do. At the end of Dixons cow paddock lane was the pre-plotted TP20 and it was here that the final p&b of the night was handed out, for TP21 and Via5. Just like before, Sean didn’t make it easy on navigators as the tulip read from top to bottom unlike the normal bottom to top. It wasn’t until competitors arrived at the third instruction on the tulip that most navigators noticed the trick. When back on track the tulip brought crews to the famous Treanor’s farm at Corkeeran.  Approaching the farm from the north, competitors had to turn into the cow lanes and approach the farm yard from the south. Disaster was to strike Kelly/Sherlock as they would receive a wrong approach at TP21. Right behind them Mackarel/Boylan would also get a wrong approach, but opted to skip the TP due to being down so much time. Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan, another team chasing the national title also missed TP21 such was the difficulty in finding it.  When crews arrived at TP22 they breathed a sigh of relief as they knew they wouldn’t have to deal with anymore p&bs for the remainder of the night.

From TP22 it was a straight forward run into Control C and D at the filling station in Rockcorry for a quick refuel. There was a change in the leader board by this point. This time it was number 8 seed, Team Tynan out in front on 12 penalties. Kelly/Sherlock dropped from 1^st to 2^nd thanks to the wrong approach received at TP21. In 3rd place were Mackarel/Boylan despite missing the same Time Point.

The final third wouldn’t throw up any drama for the top crews as the event mainly stayed on public roads, a welcome sight for all after the gruelling middle third. As the competitors arrived to the final Control in the Aghabog GAA centre, discussion immediately began as to who did what and who went wrong where, much to the amusement of Sean.

At the end of the night, it was Michael and Ciaran Tynan who came out on top finishing on a total of 12. Kelly/Sherlock finished 2^nd on 28 penalties despite their wrong approach and taking the wrong road at Aghnamullen crossroads not once but twice! Mackarel/Boylan finished comfortably in 3^rd on 35 penalties.

In the classes, it was Kelly/Sherlock 1^st  Expert, Mackarel/Boylan 2^nd and Martin Tynan/Fintan Clerkin 3^rd on 52 pens.

 Semi-Expert was won by Shane Dalton/Ryan Treanor on 76 pens, 2^nd was Mickey Conlon/Patrick Corcoran on 89 pens and 3^rd was Damien Treanor/Cristopher McMahon on 115 pens.

Aidan Keenan/Sean Marron were comfortable winners in the Novice class finishing on 62 pens, 2^nd was the Cork pair of Garrett Collins/Eoin Tracey on 119 and 3^rd was Cavan men Sean McConnell/Anthony McDonald, finishing on 138 pens.

In the Beginner class, Ballybay men Elijah Dixon/Marco Lennon stormed to victory and also finished an outstanding 7^th OA on 67 penalties. They arguably had the drive of the night punching well above their weight, beating many seasoned competitors in what was their second ever event. 2^nd in class went to Patrick Shields/John Kelly on 259 pens and 3^rd went to Elijah’s brother Abraham Dixon/Luke Connolly who finished on 301 pens.

Sean thanked all the residents and the landowners along the route for their support and allowing the event to use their land. He also thanked the marshals who came along and stood out manning the time points and his family for all the behind the scenes work done in getting the paperwork sorted and p&b’s measured up.

The final round of the Border and National Navigation Championship’s takes place in Cavan on Saturday the 26th. Regs will be available shortly.

Top 10 Results:

1^st Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan (Subaru Impreza) 12m,

2^nd Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock (Subaru Impreza) 28m,

3^rd Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan (Subaru Impreza) 35m,

4^th Martin Tynan/Fintan Clerkin (Subaru Impreza) 52m,

5^th Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan (Subaru Impreza) 53m,

6^th Aidan Keenan/Sean Marron (Subaru Impreza) 62m,

7^th Elijah Dixon/Marco Lennon (Subaru Impreza) 67m,

8^th James Fitzgerald/Ken Carmody (Subaru Impreza) 68m,

9^th Cathal McGlone/Patrick O’Leary (Ford Focus) 69m,

10^th Shane Dalton/Ryan Treanor (Subaru Impreza) 76m.

Bishopscourt Stages

Round two of the McGrady Insurance Northern Ireland Rally Championship took place at Bishopscourt Race Circuit last Saturday. The Race & Rally sponsored event was won by Carryduff man Jonny Greer with Darragh Mullen navigating. They finished 31.1 seconds quicker than 2^nd place Aaron McLoughlin/Darren Curran. 3^rd place went to Derek McGarrity/Graham Henderson.

Tydavnet man Gary McCrudden navigated Alan Smyth to 15^th OA and 1^st in class 7. Oisín Sherlock navigated Philip Greenlee to 61^st OA before heading to Aghabog to navigate for Darragh Kelly in the Navigation Trial.   

PRO: Oisín Sherlock    oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

The first round of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship took place last weekend with the Mayo Motorsport Club’s Mayo Stages Rally. The eight stage event based around Claremorris was also the first round of the Sligo Pallets Border Rally Championship and was won by none other than Clontibret’s Josh Moffett, with his brother Sam’s regular navigator Keith Moriarty on the notes. They recorded a start to finish win to end the day with 27.9 seconds to spare over Robert Barrable/Paddy Robinson. Stephen Wright with Ger Conway in the navigator’s seat finished 3rd overall to make it two Monaghan drivers in the top three.
Donegal man Eamonn Kelly stepped up from his Ford Fiesta Rally4 into his father’s VW Polo GTI R5 for the first time. Navigated by Conor Mohan, he finished 5th OA in what was an excellent debut for the young driver. Brendan Cumiskey/Darragh Mullen finished 6th OA and 3rd Class 5. Michael Carbin with new navigator Dean O’Sullivan finished a brilliant 8th OA and 1st in class 20. A great bounce back from a small off in Fivemiletown a week previous. Niall Maguire/Conor Foley made the switch from their trusty S12b Subaru to a Ford Fiesta R5 and ended the day in 15th OA after battling with no brakes in the early part of the rally.
Sam Moffett with Darragh Kelly on the notes recently bought his cousin David Moffett’s Toyota Starlet for a new challenge. They finished 19th OA and 2nd Class 13. Johno Doogan/Paul Lennon finished one place behind them in their Mk2 Escort. They also finished 2nd in class 14. Gary McCrudden navigating for Ed O’Callaghan finished 21st OA and 3rd Class 14. Kaine Treanor navigated Chris O’Callaghan to 22nd OA and 4th Class 14.
Trevor Burke navigated Mervyn Deane to 35th OA and 3rd Class 13. Arthur Kierans/Conor Maguire finished 36th OA and 4th Class 13 in their Mk2 Escort. Mickey Conlon/Paul McPhillips finished 2nd Class 12 and 42nd OA. Peter Farrell navigating for Jason Roche finished 49th OA and 7th Class 13. Nigel Brennan/James Sherry finished 69th OA in their Honda Civic, while Shane Farrell navigated Quintan Park to 73rd OA in their Escort after an eventful day which included a spin and also clipping a rock resulting in a puncture. Damien McKenna calling the notes for Hazel O’Callaghan finished 76th OA.
Unfortunately, Gary McPhillips/Liam Brennan would crash out on SS1. Jack Maguire/Keith McConnon would retire after SS7 while sitting 49th OA. Ashling McArdle navigating for Des Lyons retired after SS6
In the Junior section of the Rally, Jack McKenna/Anthony McDonald finished 3rd OA, narrowly missing out on 2nd by just 1.8s. Going into the last stage McKenna/McDonald had been in 2nd place, but a last stage charge by Dylan Eves/Damien Sheridan seen the Donegal crew overtake them.
Top 3 Results:
1st Josh Moffett/Andy Hayes (Hyundai i20 R5) 55:43.4,
2nd Robert Barrable/Paddy Robinson (VW Polo R5) 56:11.3,
3rd Stephen Wright/Ger Conway (Ford Fiesta R5) 56:43.6.
Junior
1st Jack Brunton/Sean Brunton (Honda Civic) 35:46.7,
2nd Dylan Eves/Damien Sheridan (Honda Civic) 36:35.2,
3rd Jack McKenna/Anthony McDonald (Honda Civic) 36:37.0.

ALMC ENDURANCE TRIAL
Tydavnet man Emmet Sherry was the highest placed Monaghan finisher on the opening round of the Endurance Championship which took place last Saturday.

The Mad March Hare Endurance Trial was based out of Luttrellstown Golf Resort in Co. Dublin and organised by ALMC Motor Club.
After a gruelling 16 selectives Emmet Sherry with Elisha Knox navigating finished an excellent 2nd overall in their Navigation spec Toyota Starlet. They finished just 6s slower than Kevin O’Rourke/David McAuley but a comfortable 87s quicker than Graham O’Donoghue/William Kelly who finished the day in 3rd.
Karl O’Donoghue with Ballybay man Evin Hughes navigating had been leading the event from SS1 until SS8. O’Donoghue/Hughes set the fastest time on SS1 by a huge 15s over 2nd fastest Sherry/Knox. O’Rourke/McAuley finished the stage 4th fastest a huge 40s down on O’Donoghue’s time. However, over the next seven stages O’Rourke would set the fastest time on each to eventually overhaul Sherry/Knox on SS7 and O’Donoghue/Hughes by 3s on SS8 to go from 3rd to 1st. Disaster would strike O’Donoghue/Hughes on SS13 when the engine in their starlet cried enough spelling instant retirement. The only consolation being that they had over 75% of the event completed so they were still classified as finishers. Eventually finishing 22nd overall.
O’Rourke would have a scare on SS15 when Sherry set a time some 28s faster to take the lead with just two selectives to go. However, O’Rourke wasn’t going to let his amazing fight back earlier on in the day go to waste and immediately hit back at Sherry setting a time 15s quicker on SS16 to turn a 9s deficit into a 6s advantage. Unfortunately, SS17, the last stage would be cancelled giving Emmet no chance to fight for last minute overall win.
Ciaran Maguire navigating for Andrew Wedlock finished 11th OA and 2nd Class A2S. Abraham Dixon/Luke Connolly finished 19th OA and 3rd Class A2B. Aaron McElroy navigating for Nicole Drought finished 25th OA after an eventful day which included a small off on SS7 resulting in a stage max and missing SS8 while waiting to get towed back onto the track. Craig McPhilips making a return to motorsport after a long layoff finished 26th OA with Shane Maguire navigating. They had been sitting 16th OA and 3rd in Class B but unfortunately, they broke the exhaust on their Toyota Starlet and had to skip the last two selectives. Cathal McGlone navigated by his daughter Emer didn’t make the finish after a rear wheel hub came off at a stop box on the penultimate selective. A very unfortunate end to their day after some brilliant driving where at one point they lay in 8th position overall.
March Navigation Trial
Monaghan Motor Club host the penultimate round of the National and Border Navigation Championships this weekend. The 90 mile event is based out of the Carn Centre in Aghabog. As ever, marshals are needed for the event and those available should make themselves known to Clerk of the Course Sean McCaffery.
PRO: Oisín Sherlock oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

The Motorsport Community was left shocked and stunned after the tragic death of a competitor following an incident at the Killarney Forestry Rally last Sunday week. Unfortunately, Eoin McCarthy, the driver of the car sustained serious injuries during SS4 of the rally following an accident. He was taken to Cork University hospital where he sadly passed away Sunday night. The co-driver Daniel O’Brien was also taken to Cork University hospital with non-life threating injuries. The event was immediately halted as emergency services delt with the accident. The members of Monaghan Motor Club would like to extend their condolences to Eoin’s family and friends at this difficult time.

While the rally was halted from SS4, results were declared after SS3. Portglenone’s Desi Henry with Paddy Robinson on the notes took victory over Sam Moffett/Keith Moriarty with Jordan Hone/Paul Hone finishing 3^rd. Stonebridge man Derek Mackarel with Cork’s Eamonn on the notes finished first in Class 20 and 7^th OA. Michael Conlon/Paul McPhilips finished 2^nd Class 14 and 12 OA. Marty McKenna/Kaine Treanor finished 8^th Class 5 and 15^th OA and David Condell/Paul Kelly finished 4^th Class 14 and 16^th OA.

Kirkistown Stages

Stephen Wright finished the top Monaghan man on the opening round of the McGrady Insurance Motorsport UK Northern Ireland Rally Championship. The Orchard Motorsport Kirkistown Stages Rally took place on the Kirkistown racing circuit in County Down. At the end of the six stages, Wright finished 4^th overall, 15.3 seconds off the lead in what was a disappointing finish after a positive start to a very wet rally.

Wright with Ger Conway on the notes took the lead after a soaking wet Stage 1 which included catching another car and being momentarily held up. Jonny Greer/Darragh Mullen finished the stage second fastest in their Citroen C3 just 1.4s slower than the Ford Fiesta of Wright/Conway. Greer had his own dramas on the stage, when he was held up by Kenny McKinstry/Sean Topping who had a steamed up window and were unable to negotiate the stage. On SS2 rally leader Wright again caught another car, this time for a full lap of the circuit which cost him almost 9s seconds. This huge time loss allowed Greer to go into the lead, some 7.3 seconds faster than Wright.

Wright/Conway had a dramatic start to SS3 when a sensor on their Fiesta R5 started to give trouble and the crew only just managed to reach the stage start on time. Greer again set a fastest time to extend his lead to 10.6s. Wright set a 4^th fastest stage time and this left only 0.2s between himself and Philip Allen/Emily Turkington in third. On SS4 Derek McGarrity/ Graham Henderson set the fastest time on a very slippy stage. Greer only managed to set the 3^rd fastest time on the stage to have his lead trimmed to 9.1s over Allen who had overtaken Wright who struggled on the shiny tar and could only set a 5^th fastest time. Wrights poor time dropped him to 4^th OA with McGarrity also overtaking him to go into 3^rd.

On the penultimate stage, McGarrity/Henderson once again set the fastest time to cut the distance to Allen/Turkington to 1.1s. Greer/Mullen set the 3^rd fastest stage time to hold an overall lead of 8.6s with just one stage to go. Wright again could only set a 5^th fastest stage time to leave just 2.1s between himself and Darren Gass/Marc McMillin in 5^th.

 On the final stage McGarrity set his 3^rd fastest stage time of the day to overtake Allen and finish 2^nd, just 4.6s off Greer who backed off over the last stage to avoid any last minute drama like what had happened him during a rally the previous year, when a final stage puncture cost him the victory. Allen commented after the stage that he tried too hard and this resulted in silly mistakes which ultimately cost him time. Wright could only set a 6^th fastest time on the stage but luckily enough Gass only set a time of 0.2s faster, so Wright was able to hold onto 4^th overall.

Gary McCrudden navigating for Alan Smith finished 29^th OA and 2^nd Class 7.

Fivemiletown Rally

Desi Henry and Paddy Robinson made it two wins in a row at Omagh Motor Clubs Samsonas Rally Fivemiletown. Fresh off their win in Killarney, Henry/Robinson took a beginning to end lead to eventually finish 18.9s quicker than local man Cathan McCourt with Cork’s Liam Moynihan on the notes. Vivian Hamill/Lorcan Moore finished 3^rd, a further 17.4s behind.

The event took place in the forests just over the Monaghan/Tyrone border and began with the Famous 7.1 mile Jenkin stage. On the opening pass Henry set the pace setting a time of 6:49.5 in his Fiesta R5. McCourt finished the stage 5.4s slower in his ex McKenna Motorsport USA 2.0 Fiesta. Mark Donnelly/Stephen O’Hanlon also in a Ford Fiesta finished the stage with an identical time as McCourt to be joint 2^nd OA after SS1. A short trip over the road followed for SS2 Mullaghfad. The short but demanding stage seen Henry extend his lead to 8.6s. Hamill in his Mini Cooper WRC set the 2^nd fastest time to go into 3^rd after a poor stage from Donnelly where he only set the 13^th fastest time dropped him from 2^nd to 4^th. McCourt could only set a 4^th fastest stage time but still held 2^nd, just 1.2s in front of Hamill.

Crocknagrally forest was the location for SS3 and Henry was the man to catch as yet again he set the fastest time to make it three stage wins from three. This increased his lead to 11.5s over McCourt who again could only set the 4^th fastest time. Hamill set the 3^rd fastest time on the stage to close the gap to McCourt to just 1s. Monaghan’s Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan set the 5^th fastest time on the stage to go into an excellent 4^th overall before a short regroup in Fivemiletown.

After Regroup it was into the 2.33 mile stage of Doon. A new stage winner emerged in Cathan’s brother Conor McCourt navigated by Caolan McKenna. They finished the stage 0.6s quicker than Henry/Robinson in their Skoda Fabia R5. Hamill only set a 5^th fastest stage time which was good news for Cathan as he increased his advantage over him to 3s. Unfortunately, Conor McCrossin/Arthur Kierans would go off the road resulting the stage being stopped. This resulted in Carbin/Mohan being dropped to 7^th OA through no fault of their own as all cars caught up with the accident received Shane McGirr/Denver Rafferty’s stage time.

SS5 was a repeat run of the Jenkin stage and Desi Henry once again got back to winning ways getting his 4^th stage win of the day, Cathan set a 2^nd fastest stage time to put 5s between himself and Hamill in 3^rd place. This stage ended Carbin/Mohan’s day as an impact with a rut on the stage upset the car and caused them to slide into a drain. A very unfortunate end to what was an excellent drive up until this. From SS5 it was into service for a well needed break after five very demanding stages. At service in Fintona the top three were as follows; 1^st Desi Henry/Paddy Robinson 21:09.4, 2^nd Cathan McCourt/Liam Moynihan 21:24.7 (+15.3), 3^rd Vivian Hamill/Lorcan Moore 21:29.7 (+20.3).

Four more stages lay ahead after service starting with a repeat run of Doon. This time it was Cathan McCourt’s turn for a stage win. A stage win much needed to keep the pressure on Henry and show him that he wasn’t giving up without a fight. Hamill could only set a 5^th fastest time, a full 4.3s slower than that set by McCourt. Cathan’s brother Conor set the 3^rd fastest time to reduce his deficit from Hamill to less than 10s.

On SS7 the third pass of the Jenkin stage, Cathan would once again set the fastest stage time leaving him just 10.4 seconds off the overall lead with just two stages to go. In the battle for 3^rd Hamill would beat Conor to put 13.7s between them. Henry managed to put a stop to Cathan’s charge on SS8 Mullaghfad 2 by setting the fastest time. There was to be no change in the battle for 3^rd as amazingly both Hamill and Conor McCourt set identical stage times.

With a 12.3s lead going into the last stage, and it being only 3.35 miles long, one would have been expecting Henry to back off and consolidate the win but this wasn’t to be the case as Henry went on to set the 2^nd fastest stage time. Cathan could only set the 6^th fastest time to end all hope of a last stage upset. Hamill managed to hold off Conor and comfortably hold onto his 3^rd place overall.

Derek Mackarel/Thomas Wedlock would go onto finish 9^th OA and 1^st in Class 8. David Condell/Paul Kelly finished 15^th OA and 2^nd Class 7. Marty McKenna/Kaine Treanor finished 16^th OA and 2^nd Class 10. Bryan Jardine/Declan McKenna finished 48^th OA and 6^th Class 5. Unfortunately, Niall Connolly/Paul McPhillips retired on the road section between SS4 and SS5 with a broken diff while running 66^th OA.

PRO: Oisín Sherlock    oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

Top 10 Fivemiletown Results:

1^st Desi Henry/Paddy Robinson (Ford Fiesta R5) 33:40.7,

2^nd Cathan McCourt/Liam Moynihan (Ford Fiesta) 33:59.6,

3^rd Vivian Hamill/Lorcan Moore (Mini Cooper WRC) 34:17.0,

4^th Conor McCourt/Caolan McKenna (Skoda Fabia) 34:30.8,

5^th Jason Mitchel/Paddy McCrudden (Ford Fiesta Rally2) 34:44.5,

6^th Mark Donnelly/Stephen O’Hanlon (Ford Fiesta) 35:06.4,

7^th Gareth Mimnagh/J Barry McCarney (Ford Fiesta R5) 35:45.4,

8^th Niall Henry/Barney Mitchell (Ford Fiesta) 36:03.7,

9^th Derek Mackarel/Thomas Wedlock (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) 36:23.3,

10^th David Crossen/Aileen Kelly (Ford Escort MKII) 36:30.5.

Cork Motor Club hosted the 4th Round of the National Navigation Championship last weekend. The ‘1000 Shakes’ event which was also the final round of the Munster Navigation Championship was based out of Shanballymore Community Hall. Ken Carmody along with James Fitzgerald organised an 85 mile event over the vast area of forestry in the Ballyhoura Mountains.

Tydavnet man Ryan Treanor fresh off his win on the previous round in Newcestown flew home from Amsterdam especially for the event and was the top Monaghan finisher, completing the event in 5^th overall.

The event began at 22:01 where 19 crews left headquarters and straight to the forestry tracks at Coolfree Mountain. Time points 2 to TP6 including Via1 and the plot and bash Via2 all took place in the vicinity. Drivers had to be on the ball as the quick succession of lanes and stops left it difficult for competitors to avoid dropping time especially when patches of fog began to appear.

From TP6 to TP7 competitors got bit of a respite as the route was back on smooth public road. However, this was short lived as it was immediately back into the woods at Glenanaar Forest. TP8 was the first proper trick of the night, where a lane not on the map and the most obvious to take invited crews into the time point with a wrong approach. This trick would catch out five crews including Stranooden’s Ryan Farrell navigating for Ray O’Neill.

After departing TP8 another lane not appearing on the map caused difficulty as anyone missing the right hand turn on the mapped lane went off the map and continued down a non goer. This lane caught out Monaghan’s Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan with them dropping 4 minutes, Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan dropping 3 and O’Neill/Farrell dropping 5 minutes. Four other crews also drop time here. Limerick’s Patsy McDonagh with Sligo’s Patrick Corcoran on the maps unfortunately got stuck at the end of the lane in the 2wd Colt, but luckily for them Cork’s Brian O’Mahony/Amy Gallwey also came down the non goer and were able to tow the Colt to safety.

Drama was to occur on P&B TP 11, a narrow bumpy road goes had to be used to avoid a wrong approach and it was on this road goes that Carbin/Mohan would take a wrong turn and leave them beached on a bank with the two passenger wheels off the ground, luckily Mackarel/Boylan would stop and pull them back to level ground. The same was to happen to O’Neill/Farrell. Unfortunately, they had to wait on the recovery jeep resulting in them having to skip a large part of the event to get back on time.

From here it was through the famous river crossing on the Bregoge River and into the first relax section of the night at Control 14A. After a tough start, there was three joint leaders, Derek Butler/Denis O’Donovan, Monaghan’s Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock and Alan Shinnors/George Shinnors all dropping identical times on TP11 andTP12 to have 3 marks on the first sheet.

From the Relax section it was straight into the ITC. There was to be a sting in the tail at the end of the ITC as any crew who pulled up to the TP was given the arrival time and not the time the competitors asked for. At least eleven crews received early penalties here in what was a disappointing start to the middle third of the event.

It was back into the forestry again at Ballynaboola and Caroline Mountain. Here competitors received a trace diagram for TP17 leading to a great section of driving through the entireforestry down to Control 19 and the second relax section which was in the same location as Con14A. The leader board was a lot different from the previous relax, as now the Limerick/Cork pairing of Garrett Collins/Aaron O’Regan were out in front on 4 marks. Mike O’Conor/Greg Shinnors were now 2^nd on 5 marks with Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock and Alan Shinnors/George Shinnors joint 3^rd on 7 marks, having both received 4 penalties for being early at the end of the ITC.

After this second relax section, it was back into the Ballynaboola forestry where three P&Bs awaited. Grid references were handed out for TP22, and T23. It was at TP23 that caused the most problems as both Kelly/Sherlock and Mackarel/Boylan were unable to find the entrance to the lane and subsequently missed it and took an unmapped lane beside it and luckily landed into P&B TP24. The crews were lucky to get TP24 as the tulip to get to it was handed out at TP23. Carbin/Mohan fared out worse as they missed TP24 to TP26 and received 60 penalties in the process.

The Navigation then moved into the Carron, Black Rock and Long Mountain’s as the event neared its finish. Kelly/Sherlock would drop 4 minutes into TP29 after mistakenly heading down an unmapped lane to a dead end. They would drop a further 3 minutes into TP30 as a result of breaking the exhaust while crossing a drain along the way.

The final three time points were back in the Coolfree Mountain where the event began and when competitors arrived at TP36 they could breathe a sigh of relief to be finished a very demanding event on man and machine. At the finish, three crews were joint leaders with Derek Butler/ Denis O’Donovan, Mike O’Connor/Greg Shinnors and Garrett Collins/Aaron O’Regan all finishing on 10 marks.

For the second event in a row, tiebreakers were needed to declare the winners. Collins/O’Regan were declared winners on the Semi-Expert beats Expert rule. Butler/O’Donovan finished 2nd with O’Connor/Shinnors finishing 3rd.

Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan finished 6^th overall with Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock finishing 7^th. Shane Dalton/Ryan Treanor finished 5^th overall and 1^st Semi-Expert while Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan finishing 10^th overall and 3^rd Semi-Expert. Ray O’Neill/Ryan Farrell finished 12^th overall and 2^nd Novice.

PRO: Oisín Sherlock     oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

Top 10 Results:

1^st Garrett Collins/Aaron O’Regan (Subaru Impreza) 10m,

2^nd Derek Butler/Denis O’Donovan (Subaru Impreza) 10m,

3^rd Mike O’Connor/Greg Shinnors (Subaru Impreza) 10m,

4^th Alan Shinnors/George Shinnors (Subaru Impreza) 16m,

5^th Shane Dalton/Ryan Treanor (Subaru Impreza) 17m,

6^th Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan (Subaru Impreza) 32m,

7^th Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock (Subaru Impreza) 37m,

8^th Patsy McDonagh/Patrick Corcoran (Mitsubishi Colt) 51m,

9^th Kieran Hayes/Patrick O’Leary (Toyota Starlet) 57m,

10^th Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan (Subaru Impreza) 71m.

Last weekend Irelands top rally drivers headed to Galway City for the first stop on the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship’s calendar, the Corrib Oil Galway International Rally.

Clontibret’s Josh Moffett with Wexford’s Andy Hayes on the notes took a hard-fought victory after two days and fifteen stages in the Hyundai i20 R5 over the VW GTI Polo R5 of Welsh driver Meirion Evans/Jonathan Jackson with Callum Devine/Brian Hoy finishing 3^rd.

The rally began early Saturday morning with nine stages based in the greater Loughrea region. Treacherous conditions due to strong winds and heavy rain left it difficult for drivers to keep their cars on the road, this was evident from the number of videos of overshoots, slides and offs circulating on social media.

On the opening stage Evans/Jackson set the pace with a time 2.2 seconds quicker than Moffett/Hayes. Moffett hit back on SS2, setting the fastest time to go into the lead by a slender 0.5 seconds. On the third stage Evans would set another fastest time to cut Moffett’s lead to the smallest of margins going into the first service.

On SS4 it was Cathan McCourt/Liam Moynihan’s turn for a stage win moving them up to 4^th overall, but in the battle for the lead, Moffett took 3 seconds out of Evans. It was on SS5 that Moffett really began to stretch his legs setting a blistering time in the torrential rain going almost a full 6 seconds quicker than Evans. SS6 saw Declan Boyle with Monaghan’s James O’Reilly on the notes take a stage win in the older WRC spec Fiesta, but more importantly Josh took another 1.2 seconds out of Evans to lead the event by 10.2 seconds at the second service.

An extremely tough stage 7 where the wind and rain picked up seen Moffett’s lead trimmed to 7.6 seconds after his car got sucked into a couple of drains, but luckily for him Evans ran wide on a corner and dropped “four or five” seconds struggling for traction on the grass. Moffett immediately hit back on stage 8 going to lead by 15.4 seconds with only stage 9 remaining on day one. On SS9 Evans could only manage to go 1.3 seconds quicker to leave Moffett/Hayes a lead of 14.1 seconds overnight. Devine/Hoy finished the day third, just 3.4 seconds behind Evans/Jackson.

Six stages lay ahead on Sunday with Brady’s Yard and the 20km The Black Road stages each being repeated three times. Moffett/Hayes began day two on a mission and set another fastest stage time on SS10 to push their lead out to almost 20 seconds. A too cautious approach on the stage for Evans resulted on Devine overtaking him and going into 2^nd place.  There was to be slight drama on SS11 where Moffett would struggle with power-steering problems after passing through sections of standing water. Evans would set a dominant stage time to leapfrog Devine and go into 2^nd, only 5.1s behind Moffett.

A determined Josh would set another fastest time on the second pass of Brady’s Yard to increase his lead to 10 seconds and over the last three stages, Josh and Andy held onto their lead and eventually took the win by 14.1s seconds.

Darragh Kelly, navigating for Paul Barrett finished 9^th OA and 6^th in class 7. Unfortunately, Eamonn Kelly navigated by Ballinode man Conor Mohan had a minor off early in the rally and damaged the radiator resulting in retirement. Declan Boyle navigated by James O’Reilly retired on day two with gearshift problems.

In the National Rally, Cavan men Gary Kiernan/Daren O’Brien ran out comfortable winners in the end over Jason Black/Karl Egan with Damien Toner/Denver Rafferty finishing 3^rd.

Kevin Eves had led the rally until SS5 where a high speed overshoot resulted in a damaged back axle and instant retirement. Black/Egan inherited the lead but it wasn’t to last long as a puncture on SS8 would drop them to 6^th. This promoted Daniel McKenna/Andrew Grennan into the lead, with Kiernan/O’Brien just 3.8s ahead. McKenna would hold the lead until SS13 where a high speed impact with a bank on an extremely wet square right caused extensive damage to the front left. With McKenna out, Kiernan/O’Brien were the new leaders with Black/Egan back up to 2^nd after setting some blistering stage times. With over a three minute lead, Kiernan/O’Brien were able to back off over the remaining stages to eventually win by two minutes thirteen seconds.

Ashling McArdle would navigate Des Lyons to 17th OA and 2nd in class 11F, while John McQuaid/Thomas Treanor finished 41^st OA and 11^th in class 14. Unfortunately, Trevor Burke navigating for Mervyn Deane retired after SS10 while 25^th OA while Shane Farrell navigating for Quintan Park also failed to make the finish with mechanical trouble.

The Junior Rally took place over the six Sunday stages and Emyvale man Jack McKenna with Conor Mohan on the notes…Yes, you read that right…took an impressive overall victory in the newly built Civic. Conor now joins an exclusive group of navigators who can say that they competed on the same event on the same weekend with two different drivers.

PRO: Oisín Sherlock     oisinsherlock97@gmail.com

Top 3 Results:

International

1^st Josh Moffett/Andy Hayes (Hyundai i20 R5) 1:46:40.8,

2^nd Meirion Evans/Jonathan Jackson (VW Polo GTI R5) 1:46:54.9,

3^rd Callum Devine/Brian Hoy (Ford Fiesta Rally2) 1:47:09.5.

National

1^st Gary Kiernan/Daren O’Brien (Ford Escort) 1:53:09.6,

2^nd Jason Black/Karl Egan (Toyota Starlet RWD) 1:55:23.3,

3^rd Damien Toner/Denver Rafferty (Ford Escort) 1:55:34.4.

Historic

1^st James Ford/Neil Shanks (Ford Escort) 2:01:59.2,

2^nd Duncan Williams/Declan Casey (Ford Escort) 2:05:27.4,

3^rd Maurice Meskell/Stephen Meskell (Ford Escort) 2:05:59.5.

Junior

1^st Jack McKenna/Conor Mohan (Honda Civic) 1:05:40.4,

2^nd Jason Farrell/Robert Duggan (Honda Civic) 1:07:01.4,

3^rd John Michael Kennelly/Eoin Corcoran (Honda Civic) 1:08:29.5.