Category: Uncategorized

The Annual General Meeting of Co. Monaghan Motor Club takes place on Thursday 16^th January 2020 at 8pm in the Four Seasons Hotel, Monaghan. All 2019 club members are eligible to vote in the election of the 2020 committee. Nomination forms available on monaghanmotorclub.net. All members are encouraged to attend and participate in the open discussion on the topics raised. It is hoped to have further information available on the changes being introduced for the 2020 motorsport year.

 Navigation Trial

 Monaghan Motor Club’s first event of the year takes place this Saturday night January 18^th with the January Navigation Trial. This event is Round 2 of the 2020 Traders Championship and Club Navigation Championship. COC Oisin Sherlock has organized a mammoth 117 mile route based out of Latton GAA. Marshals are urgently required for this event and those available should present at Latton GAA by 7pm.

Cork Navigation Trial

 Aiden Sherry & Oisin Sherlock continued their National Navigation campaign with 4^th overall on last weekend’s Cork 1000 Shakes Navigation Trial based out of Buttevant, in North Cork. They were the sole crew Monaghan crew to finish the event with Ray O’Neill/Shane Maguire not finishing after breaking an alternator belt at TP3. Derek Butler/Denis O’Donovan made it three wins in a row in the series to clinch the Munster title on the event. With five rounds completed, it is a three horse race for the National title between the Cork crews of Butler/O’Donovan, Owen Murphy/Daire Hayes and James Fitzgerald/Ken Carmody.

 

The Annual General Meeting of Co. Monaghan Motor Club takes place on Thursday 16th January 2020 at 8pm in the Four Seasons Hotel, Monaghan. All 2019 club members are eligible to vote in the election of the 2020 committee. Nomination forms available on monaghanmotorclub.net. All members are encouraged to attend and participate in the open discussion on the topics raised. It is hoped to have further information available on the changes being introduced for the 2020 motorsport year.

One of the most popular events of the rally calendar took place last weekend with the Killarney Historic Rally. The one day event is exclusive to Historic and Modified rally cars and attracts a superb entry from the best of crews in Ireland and oversees. A number of club members made the trip south to contest the event.

In the popular Modified section, ‘Team Toyota Monaghan’ consisting of three crews in Toyota Corollas made their way to the event. Raymond Conlon & local navigator Damien Fleming took a superb 4th overall and 1st in class in their 2 litre Toyota Corolla. Seamus Connolly/Gary McCrudden won their class in their 1.6 16 valve Corolla and finished 19th overall. This was despite 3 punctures and a broken gearstick. John Kelly & Niall Hughes in their 1600 8 valve Corolla finished 3rd in class after a steady run on what was only Niall’s 2nd event. Johno Doogan & Ciaran Marron set some blistering times and finished a fine 7th overall. Michael Conlon/Martin Byrne came home 35th overall despite a few issues. Shane Farrell guided Quentin Park to 82nd place after retiring and re-entering under Rally 2 rules.

In the Historic category, Damien Connolly guided Robert Barrable to a super 5th overall in their Escort Mk2. Brendan McAree/Niall Kelly retired on the opening stage.

Over the past few weeks there have been several championship awards night from the 2019 season. The Irish National, Irish Forestry and Border Championships have all had their prizegivings.

Josh Moffett & Andy Hayes were the overall winners of the 2019 Triton National Rally Championship having dominated the series with six wins and second place from seven starts. This is the final major Irish Championship eluding Moffett as he is a former Irish Tarmac and Irish Forestry Champion.

Shane Maguire & Anthony Nestor were the Motorsport Safety Team National Group N Champions once again. David Moffett/Martin Connolly were the class 13 champions while Conor Mohan won class 2.

At the Irish Forestry Championship awards, Michael Carbin & Conor Mohan received their trophy for 2nd overall in the series. The pair showed pace and consistency during the year with a 2nd place on the snowy Limerick rally, their best result of the year. Sam Moffett placed 3rd overall thanks to his overall win on the Cork Forestry Rally. Michael Conlon/Ciaran McPhillips were the class 14 champions. Derek Mackarel was the class 16A champion.

In the Sligo Pallets Border Rally Championship. David Moffett was 3rd overall driver and Martin Connolly 2nd overall navigator. Peter & Shane Farrell won class 10 and Shane Maguire was victorious in class 4.

Stephen Wright was crowned the 2019 Northern Ireland Rally Champion. Stephen clinched the series thanks to two wins and three second places to edge out 10 time champion Derek McGarritty. The final round was cancelled which meant the championship was decided over the completed rounds and it was Wright who came out on top.

Derek Mackarel has also been shortlisted for the 2019 Billy Coleman Award. Mackarel produced another outstanding season in his Nova taking class wins on the Munster, Donegal & Cork Forestry Rallies. Derek will now go forward with the other shortlisted candidates and 2019 Young Rally Driver of the year will be revealed at the Champions of Irish Motorsport awards night.

Midland Navigation Trial

The 2019-20 National Night Navigation Championship continued with the Midland Navigation Trial held in Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim. COC Seamus McTigue organised an 85-mile route based over some classic terrain in the Arigna area. The event featured gravel and forestry lanes as well as utilising the many roads around the mountain. Overall victory went to Cork crew of Derek Butler & Denis O’Donovan who held off another Cork team of Owen Murphy & Daire Hayes. 3rd overall went to Michael & Ciaran Tynan.

A small field of 20 cars contested the event. A long SRS section began the night set at 21mph and many crews were caught for time here with only three crews cleaning the section. A plot & bash section followed incorporating a trace diagram which caught some crews out including local favourites Colin Duffy & Sam Johnston. Butler/O’Donovan were one of only two crews to clean this section to move into the lead with Tynan/Tynan 1 penalty behind. The crews then made their way over Arigna Mountain where many crews lost time trying to find the correct route.

 

Martin Tynan & Fintan Clerkin took overall victory on last weekend’s Drumlin Navigation Trial, Round 1 of the 2020 Traders Trophy Club Championship. After a demanding but enjoyable 110 mile route the pair were four penalties clear of the opposition to secure their first Drumlin win.

COC Ciaran Tynan brought the event from Newbliss into neighbouring Cavan for a significant portion of the event with a petrol halt in Drung. An entry of 30 crews started the event including 17 Expert & Semi-Expert crews many of whom had travelled from Cork with the event being a National Championship round. Top seeds were September event winners Aiden Sherry & Oisin Sherlock. Heavy rain in the lead-up to the event resulted in some late changes to the route and made road conditions treacherous in places and drivers were made well aware of this at Driver’s briefing.

The opening section of the event took crews towards Aghabog via an SRS section with a new lane at Aghadrumkeen. A plot & bash section near Dartrey village included a trace diagram and nearly all crews dropped time on this section. Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan were leading on a clean sheet with the Beginner crew of Damien Hagan/Ryan Farrell a sensational 2^nd on 1 penalty. Two long farm tracks near Drum proved very wet and slippy as crews crossed the border into Cavan with some classic lanes near Drung bringing crews into the halfway halt.

Mackarel/Boylan were still in the lead on a total of 3 penalties closely followed by Cork’s Owen Murphy/Daire Hayes (4 pens). The Novice pairing of Emmet Sherry/Patrick Corcoran were on a charge and held 3^rd place on 5 penalties despite the disadvantage of two-wheel drive. Martin Tynan/Fintan Clerkin and Aiden Sherry/Oisin Sherlock were both on 6 penalties and well in contention.

The event continued to flirt the Cavan-Monaghan border including some classic lanes at Lisboduff, Bunnoe, Hall’s Yard and Knocks Lane. By TP28, Mackarel/Boylan (3 pens) led from Murphy/Hayes (4 pens), Sherry/Corcoran (6 pens), Tynan/Clerkin (6 pens) & Sherry/Sherlock (7 pens). The sting in the tail would be the final section south of Newbliss which incorporated plot & bash timepoints. First to fall foul were Mackarel/Boylan who picked up a 50 penalty for an early clock in at TP31. Via9, TP32 and TP34 incorporated tulip diagrams which caught out a number of crews.

Murphy/Hayes hopes came to an end with a wrong departure from TP33 which was followed by a wrong approach at TP34. Tynan/Clerkin put in an impressive performance to drop just 3 penalties through this section and climb into the lead. Sherry/Corcoran kept their cool dropping 6 penalties for a total of 16 penalties to clinch 2^nd overall and class honours. Despite an earlier wrong approach Cork’s James Fitzgerald/Ken Carmody profited from the mistakes of others and climbed back up to 3^rd place on 28 penalties total. The top five were completed by Semi-Expert class winners, Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan (30 penalties) and Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes (31 penalties).

Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan had a strong run to take Semi-Expert class honours despite a late wrong approach at TP34. Damien Treanor/Christopher McMahon (37 penalties) were 2^nd with Andrew Mackarel/Richard Cassidy, who returned to the navigator’s seat after many years away, taking 3^rd on 73 penalties with an early arrival costing them class honours.

Sherry/Corcoran were the stars of the Novice class taking a comfortable win. Aiden Keenan/Sean Marron took 2^nd with Adam Montgomery/Andrew Hamilton in 3^rd. One of the performances of the night was that of Damien Hagan/Ryan Farrell who took Beginners class honours and 7^th overall on just 35 penalties total. Michael Conlon/Paul McPhillips were nearly 100 penalties behind in 2^nd with 3^rd in class going to Shane Maguire/Pauric Duffy.

COC Ciaran Tynan paid thanks to all the landowners and residents along the route for their support. He also paid thanks to all at the Acorn Centre in Newbliss, the marshals and results team and also to Cavan Motor Club for their support of the event.

The next club event will take place on January 18^th/19^th with the January Navigation Trial. In the meantime, the Navigation seasons continues with the Midland Navigation Trial on November 23^rd/24^th.

Top 10 Results:

1^st Martin Tynan/Fintan Clerkin (Subaru Impreza) 12 pens,

2^nd Emmet Sherry/Patrick Corcoran (Toyota Starlet) 16 pens,

3^rd James Fitzgerald/Ken Carmody (Subaru Impreza) 28 pens,

4^th Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan (Subaru Impreza) 30 pens,

5^th Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes (Subaru Impreza) 31 pens,

6^th Aiden Sherry/Oisin Sherlock (Subaru Impreza) 33 pens,

7^th Damian Hagan/Ryan Farrell (Subaru Impreza) 35 pens,

8^th Damien Treanor/Christopher McMahon (Subaru Impreza) 37 pens,

9^th Trevor O’Callaghan/Patrick O’Leary (Subaru Impreza) 39 pens,

10^th Owen Murphy/Daire Hayes (Subaru Impreza) 40 pens

11^th Aiden Keenan/Sean Marron (Subaru Impreza) 56 pens,

12^th Andrew Mackarel/Richard Cassidy (Vauxhall Vectra) 73 pens

 

Moffett Wins in Scotland

Josh Moffett & Andy Hayes secured overall victory on last weekend’s Jim Clark Memorial Rally in Scotland. The pair were debuting a new Ford Fiesta R5 Mk2 and duly claimed overall honours on the all tarmac event. The rally was being run for the first time in several years and consisted of 13 stages over two days. The pair held off the challenge of David Bogie in his Mk2 Escort to take the event win and cap off a memorable year after their National Rally Championship success.