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There was a school of Mackarel on the winners list of the Co. Monaghan Motor Club Autotest last weekend.

This year’s event once again took place in the yard of McAree Engineering in Ballinode Village.

Following on from his victory last year, Derek Mackarel again took his Toyota Starlet to 1st place overall. Dereks father Andrew finished closely behind, driving the same Toyota Starlet and completing the course in 2nd place and he also took 1st in Class 2. Michael Carbin driving a similar Toyota Starlet finished his event with 2nd in Class 2. Damien Treanor who was driving the same car as Michael, finished 3rd in Class 2. Aaron McElroy making his driving debut took his ‘under the weather’ Toyota Starlet to 1st in Class 3. Brothers, Ryan and Eoghán Farrell failed to finish after a drive shaft in their Honda Civic broke on the first test of the day.

Both the Clerk of the Course, Ciaran Tynan and the winner Derek Mackarel thanked McAree Engineering for allowing their venue to be used and all the officials who manned the two tests and braved the terrible weather to make the event a success. The ‘School’ pun doesn’t really work when there was only two Mackerels, How and ever, there it is.

Wexford Stages Rally 2025
Paul McPhillips guided Cian Caldwell to 17th overall and 1st in Class 2 onboard their Peugeot 208 Rally4. Daniel McConnon navigated Gavin McGivney to 38th overall in their Ford Escort MKII. Justin Smyth and Ciaran McGorman took their MKII Escort home in 44th overall and 3rd in Class 12.
Unfortunately, Killian McArdle who was navigating for Joesph Kelly failed to finish the event after they got stuck in a ditch on SS12. Though there was little damage, they were unable to continue in their Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. Nigel and Ryan Brennan had to retire their Honda Civic after SS10.

Armstrong Galloway Hills Rally 2025
Arthur Kierans navigated Barry McKenna to 4th overall in their Ford Fiesta Rally2. They were as high as 2nd overall, but ran into issues on SS3 ‘Craignell 2’.

Narooma Forest Rally 2025.
In the land down under, Macartan (Mac) Kierans was navigating for Harry Bates in the The Auz/Irish duo were competing in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. Of the events nine special stages, totalling 175km of gravel roads, Harry and Mac won eight of them and secured the outright victory.

Stephen Wright, Sam Moffett, Aaron and Darragh Evans were all competing in Mondello Park last weekend. Stephen and Sam were competing in Round 4 of the SEAT Supercup Ireland Championship. In Race 1, Stephen finished in 3rd place while newbie Sam finished in 5th place.

On that opening race, Stephen set the 2nd fastest lap time just 0.17s shy of fastest. In Race 2, Stephen finished in 4th place but set the fastest lap time. Sam finished in 13th place.

Bill Griffin Motors Irish Strykers Championship
Meanwhile Aaron and Darragh were competing in Round 4 of the. In Race 1, Aaron finished 6th and Darragh finished 8th. In Race 2, Aaron finished 7th and Darragh finished 9th. Aaron was driving a 1800cc Stryker while Darragh was driving a 1600cc version of the Stryker.

Tullyallen Kart Club
Bobby Connolly was competing in round 7 of the championship over the weekend. This event took place at Pallas Karting Galway. In the Cadet Iame Qualifying race Bobby finished in 2nd place, just 0.059s in arrears of fastest after the six laps. In Race 2, the Cadet Iame Heat 1, Bobby again finished in 2nd place, this time 6.761s down on fastest after the ten laps. In Race 10, the Cadet Iame Heat 2, Bobby finished in 3rd place after the ten laps. In Race 18, the Cadet Iame Final, Bobby finished in 2nd place, 1.779s in arrears of the winning driver.

The 2025 Sligo Pallets Border Rally Championship points were declared final on Monday.

Michael Conlon and Adam Langan are this year’s champions finishing on the maximum of 40 points each. There was a tiebreaker for the driver’s championship, as both Michael and Jack Brunton finished on 40 points. Michael won this tiebreaker as he scored 10 points on the Hotel Kilmore Cavan Stages Rally, compared to Jack’s 4. No tiebreak was required for the Navigators Championship as the next best to Adam was on 38 points. Josh Moffett finished 2nd in Class 5. Peter and Eoghán Farrell finished 3rd in Class 10. Jack Maguire/Keith McConnon finished 3rd in Class 11F and James McCarville finished 4th driver in Class 13, while Arthur Kierans finished 2nd navigator.
Monaghan Motor Club CLGs Navigation Trial classes continue this Friday. The classes are for any person interested in beginning to compete in Motorsport, or would like a refresher course. The classes will last for three more weeks (every Friday) and will conclude on the week of the first navigation event of the season. The classes are taking place in the Aughnamullen GAA Centre, A75 CY82 at 7pm. Places are still available. The first competitive navigation event of the season will be hosted by Co. Monaghan Motor Club CLG. More details will be available soon. Any person interested in the classes can contact Ciaran Tynan on +353877827918 or email oisinsherlock97@gmail.com to register.
Co. Monaghan Motor Club CLG, have launched a new club App. The App will be the go-to location for all your motor club information. To download the App, just search ‘Monaghan Motor Club’ on your ‘Android’ or Apple’ device’s, App store. This App is for everyone; it is not just for club members and competitors.
Oisín Sherlock.

Michael Conlon and Adam Langan are provisionally the 2025 Sligo Pallets Border Rally Championship winners following the final round in Co. Clare last weekend.

Amazingly, Michael and Adam finished 1^st in Class 12 on all five rounds of the championship.

On this particular event, Michael and Adam finished 11^th overall after the nine special stages onboard their Ford Escort MKII.  

Also in the event, Paul McPhillips guided Cian Caldwell to 9^th overall and 1^st in Class 2. Father and son team Peter and Eoghán Farrell finished 54^th overall and 3^rd in Class 10.

Josh Moffett and Keith Moriarty retired after SS3 while in 3^rd position overall. Jack Maguire and Keith McConnon also retired after SS3.

JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion

Held in Wales last weekend, Killian McArdle guided Joseph Kelly to 16^th overall, 3^rd in Class RC4 and 2^nd in the Great Britain Junior category.

Trailer Parts & Spares Lakeland Stages Rally

Also held last weekend, Patrick and Stephen O’Brien took the victory in their Škoda Fabia R5. Cathan McCourt and Barry McNulty finished in 2^nd place onboard a RS Rally2 version of the Škoda Fabia.

Derek Mackarel and Eamonn Creedon took their Ford Fiesta R5 to 9^th place.

Gary McCrudden navigating for Alan Smyth retired after SS6. Former club member Andrew Grennan navigating for Vivian Hamill retired on SS4.

Autotest

The County Monaghan Motor Club CLG are hosting an Autotest event on Sunday September 14^th.

The event will count as Round 5 of the 2024/25 CMMC Championship. Ciaran Tynan has organised the tests in the yard of McAree Engineering in Ballinode village. Regulations and Entry are available now.

Navigation Classes & App

Monaghan Motor Club CLGs Navigation Trial classes continue this Friday. The classes are for any person interested in beginning to compete in Motorsport, or would like a refresher course. The classes will last for four more weeks (every Friday) and will conclude on the week of the first navigation event of the season. The classes will take place in the Aughnamullen GAA Centre, A75 CY82 at 7pm. Places are still available. The first competitive navigation event of the season will be hosted by Co. Monaghan Motor Club CLG. More details will be available soon. Any person interested in the classes can contact Ciaran Tynan on +353877827918 or email oisinsherlock97@gmail.com to register.

Co. Monaghan Motor Club CLG, have just launched a new club App. The App will be the go-to location for all your motor club information. To download the App, just search ‘Monaghan Motor Club’ on your ‘Android’ or Apple’ device’s, App store. This App is for everyone; it is not just for club members and competitors.

Oisín Sherlock.

in the British Historic Rally Championship section of the Phil Price Memorial Woodpecker Rally last Saturday. The pair were competing in a Ford Escort RS 1800 MKII.

As well as victory in the Historic section, they also finished 8^th overall and 2^nd in the National Class.

A mighty result considering that there was a plethora of AWD cars in the event too.

Navigation Classes

Monaghan Motor Club CLG are holding Navigation Trial classes from this Friday onwards.

The classes are for any person interested in beginning to compete in Motorsport, or would like a refresher course.

The classes will last for five weeks (every Friday) and will conclude on the week of the first navigation event of the season.

The classes will take place in the Aughnamullen GAA Centre, A75 CY82 at 7pm.

 The first competitive navigation event of the season will be hosted by Co. Monaghan Motor Club CLG. More details will be available soon. Any interested persons can contact Ciaran Tynan on +353877827918 or email oisinsherlock97@gmail.com to register.

Autotest

Co. Monaghan Motor Club are hosting an Autotest event on Sunday September 14th. Regulations and Entry will be available very soon.

Co. Monaghan Motor Club CLG, have just launched a new club App. The App will be the go-to location for all your motor club information. To download the App, just search ‘Monaghan Motor Club’ on your ‘Android’ or Apple’ device’s, App store. This App is for everyone; it is not just for club members and competitors.

Oisín Sherlock.

Johno Doogan and his navigator Paul Lennon were the top placed Co. Monaghan Motor Club members on the GRP4 Fabrications Thomond Mini Stages Rally 2025, which took place last weekend.

The Limerick Motor Club event consisted of three separate special stages; each ran twice for a total of six stages. Johno and Paul finished the event in 3^rd place overall (OA), in their Class 14 Ford Escort MKII.

John McQuaid and Thomas Treanor finished in 9^th place OA and 6^th in Class 14.

Paul Kelly navigated Paul Purtill to 11^th OA and 1^st in Class 13.

Killian McArdle navigating for Michael Cahill finished the event in 6^th place, and 3^rd in class, but unfortunately, they were excluded from the results following a Stewards decision.

Domhnall Lennon navigating for Martin Toner failed to finish the event following an ‘Off’ on SS3. We wish Domhnall a speedy recovery.

Munster Endurance Trial

In the Munster Endurance Trial, Evin Hughes guided Karl O’Donoghue to 3^rd OA, 24s in arrears of the overall winners Danial Buckley/Conor Lennon. Karl and Evin were seeded Car 1, for this event.

Buggy Ireland Championship

Conor Boylan was competing in the 5^th round of the Buggy Ireland Championship last weekend. The 5^th round took place on the site of the former RAF Long Kesh (Maze, Lisburn).

Conor took his Semog buggy home in 41^st position OA. Conor had an eventful day, as he was forced into a five-mile excursion in order to find a ‘man with welder’, following an argument with a fence which broke a part of the gear linkage.  Conor informed me that Thomas Wedlock has an excellent photo of him sitting on a rear wheel looking sad, as he waited for a tow back to the pits. 

Former members of Co. Monaghan Motor Club, Daniel McKenna and Andrew Grennan were competing in the recent ALMC Hellfire Stages Rally 2025. Daniel and Andrew took their iconic Ford Escort MKII (The same car in which they won the Monaghan Stages Rally 2012 in) home in 12^th OA and 1^st in Class 14. You may remember the video of Daniels father Eamonn running and skipping up the road in Ballinode village on hearing the news that Daniel had won the Monaghan 2012 event. Daniel and Andrew plan to do the Cork 20 and Killarney Historic Rally before the years end.

 Navigation Classes

Monaghan Motor Club CLG will be holding Navigation Trial classes very soon for any person interested in beginning to compete in Motorsport, or would like a refresher course.

The classes will last for five weeks and will conclude on the week of the first navigation event of the season. The first event will be hosted by Co. Monaghan Motor Club CLG.

More details will be available soon. Any interested persons can contact Ciaran Tynan on +353877827918 or email oisinsherlock97@gmail.com to register.

Autotest

Co. Monaghan Motor Club are hosting an Autotest event on Sunday September 7th. Regulations and Entry will be available very soon.

Co. Monaghan Motor Club CLG, have just launched a new club App. The App will be the go-to location for all your motor club information. To download the App, just search ‘Monaghan Motor Club’ on your ‘Android’ or Apple’ device’s, App store. This App is for everyone; it is not just for club members and competitors.

Oisín Sherlock.

Josh Moffett and Keith Moriarty took the outright victory on the latest round of the 2025 Triton Showers Motorsport Ireland National Rally Championship last weekend.

The Triton Showers national championship resumed with the Hellfire Stages Rally 2025, which was organised and promoted by the ALMC motor club. The nine special stage event (3×3) was based around the town of Oldcastle in Co. Meath.

Josh and Keith made a change from their trusty Hyundai i20 R5, to a hired Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 for this event, and it immediately paid off as they took the stage win on SS1 by 2.7s from Eddie Doherty/Tom Murphy who were competing in a Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo.  The event lead didn’t last long however, as Gary Kiernan/John McCabe driving a Ford Fiesta Rally2 took the stage win on SS2, setting a time which was just over 3s faster than Moffett’s time over the same piece of road. Josh and Keith’s time on SS2 dropped them two places on the leaderboard heading into the third and final special stage of the morning loop. Gary and John held the lead of the rally until SS5 when they suffered a spin, which cost them 10s and demoted them to 5^th place overall. This error for Kiernan/McCabe promoted Moffett/Moriarty into the lead of the event by a mere 2.3s, with four stages still to go.

Josh and Keith took another stage win on SS6 and stretched their advantage over 2^nd place to 5.2s going into final service. On the final loop of the three special stages, Josh and Keith took their Škoda safely to the finish with an advantage of 5.5s over Doherty/Murphy who finished in 2^nd place.

Also in the event, Kaine Treanor guided Stephen McCann to 24^th overall and 9^th in Class 5, Paul McPhillips navigated Cian Caldwell to 26^th overall and 1^st in Class 2 and Ryan Farrell guided Stephen Faughnan to 18^th overall and 2^nd in Class 2.

James McCarville/Arthur Kierans finished in 24^th overall and 5^th in Class 13.

Daniel McConnon guided Gavin McGivney to 30^th overall and 7^th in Class 13.

Michael Conlon/Adam Langan finished 32^nd overall and 1^st in Class 12.

Shane Farrell on a hiatus from Australia guided Martin McPhillips to 47^th OA and 3^rd in Class 11R. Barry McKenna/Gary McCrudden finished 52^nd overall and 12^th in Class 13.  Declan Brady guided Gene Callan to 74^th overall and 4^th in Class 12. Peter and Eoghán Farrell took their Toyota Corolla Twin-cam home in 83^rd overall and 3^rd in Class 10. Domhnall Lennon guided Martin McKeown to 89^th overall and 5^th in Class 2A.

Unfortunately, Paul Barrett/Darragh Kelly were forced to retire on SS6 when the water pump in their Citroën C3 Rally2 failed. Jack Maguire/Keith McConnon retired after SS7 while in 49^th position overall.

In the Modern Tyres Ulster Rally last weekend, Ryan Farrell guided Johnnie Mulholland to 9^th overall and 1^st in Class RC3. Unfortunately, Darren Gass/Enda Sherry were forced into retirement during SS5.

Navigation Classes

Monaghan Motor Club CLG will be holding Navigation Trial classes very soon for any person interested in beginning to compete in Motorsport, or would like a refresher course.

The classes will last for five weeks and will conclude on the week of the first navigation event of the season.

The first event will be hosted by Co. Monaghan Motor Club CLG. More details will be available soon.

Any interested persons can contact Ciaran Tynan on +353877827918 or email oisinsherlock97@gmail.com to register. Co. Monaghan Motor Club are hosting an Autotest event on Sunday September 7^th. Regulations and Entry will be available soon.

Co. Monaghan Motor Club CLG, have just launched a new club App. The App will be the go-to location for all your motor club information. To download the App, just search ‘Monaghan Motor Club’ on your ‘Android’ or Apple’ device’s, App store. This App is for everyone; it is not just for club members and competitors.

Oisín Sherlock.