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Four expert crews proved inseparable last Saturday on the first night navigation trial of 2015 hosted by Monaghan Motor Club. First time CoC Lyndsay Boyd with the help of Mark Hamill, Christine Boyd and their team laid on a 70 mile route which departed Cremartin GAA complex at 9.01pm and headed Northwards through Clontibret, Ardaghey and Tyholland before its return through Bryanlitter and Shanmullagh. Frosty and Snowy weather conditions left things even more difficult for the 34 starters. In the end it was Gary McElhinney/Damian Connolly, Michael & Ciaran Tynan, Andy Mackarel/Fintan Clerkin and Colin Duffy/Muireann Hayes who managed to keep a clean sheet throughout the night to record a four way tie for overall honours, all experts and all driving similar cars.

The novice class was also a tight affair with a three way tie for the class win and 5th overall. Eoghan Corr/Ruaidhri Nash, Derek Mackarel/Seamus McTigue and Keith McConnon/Micheal McCluskey all dropped 1 penalty into timepoint 26 and could not be separated on engine size so were deemed joint class winners. The semi expert class was won by Brendan Treanor and Gary Farrelly from Michael Carbin and Emmet McCooey in 2nd with Damien Treanor and Jonathan McGovern in 3rd, despite some problem’s through the second half of the night.

Shane Maguire and Conor Boylan had a convincing win in the beginners class, ahead of Colm and Conor Mohan in 2nd. Paddy and Oisin Sherlock had a good run to third in beginners class and are gaining experience with every event.

That’s the 2015 navigation calendar kicked off as Cork motor club host a national round this coming weekend, followed by Donegal next weekend which is a round of the Border Championship. Well done to Lyndsay and all his team on a good tricky yet concise event which proved enjoyable for all competitors. Lyndsay would like to thank all residents along the route, marshals, result’s team, Cremartin GAA committee, McChesneys garage and all who help out in any way, big or small.

Co. Monaghan MC Navigation Results Top 12:
1 (tie) Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan (Subaru Impreza), Colin Duffy/Muireann
Hayes (Subaru Impreza), Andy Mackarel/Fintan Clerkin (Subaru Impreza), Gary
McElhinney/Damien Connolly (Subaru Impreza) 0 marks,
5 (tie) Eoin Corr/Ruadhri Nash (Subaru Impreza), Derek Mackarel/Seamus
McTigue (Subaru Impreza), Keith McConnon/Micheal McCluskey (Subaru Impreza)
1m,
8 Ashley McAdoo/Laurence Keenan (Subaru Impreza) 1m,
9 Trevor Farrell/Noel Hall (Subaru Impreza) 2m,
10 Fintan Larmer/Sean McCaffrey (Subaru Impreza) 2m,
11 Martin Tynan/Stephen Thornton (Subaru Impreza) 8m,
12 Richard Cassidy/Paul Phelan (Subaru Impreza) 15m.

Monaghan Motor Club Annual General Meeting

County Monaghan Motor Club will hold their Annual General Meeting this Friday night, 16th January at 8.30 sharp in the Hillgrove Hotel, Monaghan. All club members are asked to attend this worthwhile meeting where you can have your say in the running of the club. All 2014 club members are eligible to vote for the incoming committee who will represent its members for the coming year. Nomination forms for the election of officers to the incoming committee are available on the club web site at http://www.monaghanmotorclub.net and once again all club members are asked to fill these in and return to club secretary before Tuesday 13th January. So please come along and share your views.

Triton Showers National Rally Launch

Irish rallying began a new chapter with the launch of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship at the Glen Royal Hotel, Maynooth on  Saturday last January 10th. The series will consist of eight rounds with the best six scores to count.  It will begin from the heritage town of Abbeyleix in County Laois in February and conclude at the maritime town of Bantry in West Cork in late October. In between, the Triton Showers journey will cascade throughout county towns of Roscommon and Monaghan, the medieval town of Kilmallock, Waterford City, Sligo town and the penultimate round in Ballinasloe.  The series will herald a new era for the Midland Motor Club, who join the national series for the very first time.  Next year’s eight rounds will include the return of the Dublin based ALMC Rally to the championship.

Speaking at the launch, Kevin Barrett, Managing Director of Triton Showers said, “Although Triton Showers have been involved in rallying for several years through the support of events such as the renowned Circuit of Ireland and the Lurgan Park Rally along with a regional championship, our sponsorship of the National Rally Championship adds a new and important dimension.” “We look forward to encompassing the unique variety of the eight events that will unite under the umbrella of Triton Showers to showcase Irish motorsport at its very best.  The fact that eight different organising clubs and locations are gearing up for the 2016 Triton Showers series is another illustration of the diversity of the National series.”  Kevin added, “The Triton Showers livery will also continue on our own car and those of Niall Maguire and Shane Maguire as we begin an exciting era in Irish motorsport and together with underpinning the National campaign, Triton Showers is set to become an even more familiar name in motorsport. “

MCKENNA PREPARES FOR JWRC DEBUT

Daniel Mc Kenna and Andrew Grennan set sail for Monte Carlo over the weekend to embark on a junior world rally championship campaign starting on Friday 23rd January. The formidable pairing have joined forces once again and have worked tirelessly over the past six months to make it happen , albeit one event at a time but the motions are in place to cross the start ramp in Monte Carlo. Monaghan Motor Club and all its members wish Daniel and Andrew the very best of luck in Monte Carlo. A full report on Daniels preparations as well as an insight into the Monte Carlo rally itself will feature in next weeks edition so watch this space

All roads lead to Cremartin GAA Centre this Saturday night as Monaghan Motor Club host the first Night Navigation Trial of the 2015 calendar. First time CoC Lindsay Boyd, ably assisted by Mark Hamill and their team have laid on a 70 mile route in the North Eastern Monaghan area. Plotting is at 6.30 with first car away at 9.01pm. As always marshal are in big demand so if your able to help out please make yourselves available at Cremartin GAA Complex by 8.00pm this Saturday night, 10th January.

Monaghan Motor Club Annual General Meeting
County Monaghan Motor Club will hold their Annual General Meeting on Friday night, 16th January next at 8.30 sharp in the Hillgrove Hotel, Monaghan. All club members are asked to attend this worthwhile meeting where you can have your say in the running of the club. All 2014 club members are eligible to vote for the incoming committee who will represent its members for the coming year. Nomination forms for the election of officers to the incoming committee are available on the club web site at http://www.monaghanmotorclub.net and once again all club members are asked to fill these in and return to club secretary before Tuesday 13th January.

Don’t forget, Monaghan Motor Club will host our annual dinner dance tomorrow night (Friday) the 5th of December where once again we will be running our Night of Champions as well as honouring our own club championship winners for the year gone past. Why not come along for an enjoyable night as we commend some of our most successful members for their triumphs in 2014. Tickets are €25 and can be booked through any committee members. Four course dinner is served at 8 p.m. sharp. MC for the night is our very own Sean McCaffrey with music afterwards into the early hours.

MONAGHAN CREWS ATTACK KILLARNEY HISTORIC RALLY

Congratulations to Raymond Conlon and James O Reilly on taking 6th overall in the Modified Rally at the Killarney Historics Rally last weekend. The pair also took 3rd in class 6. Stephen and Susanne Wright changed from the norm and attacked the rally in an Escort MK 2, the brother and sister pair took 21st in the Modified Rally and 7th in class 6. It was disappointment for Monaghan’s Steven Corey and Sligo’s Vinnie Boyd who retired on stage two. The event is the only rally run for Historic rally cars in the country and is always popular with competitors and spectators alike. Cavan’s Chris Armstrong won the overall modified section in his Mk II escort

Colin Duffy and Sam Johnston shared the spoils with Packie Duffy and Evin Hughes last Saturday night at the midlands navigation trial with both expert crews keeping a clean sheet to take the overall win. Based in Ballinalee, Co. Longford, first time CoC’s Eamon and Sean Brady set out a nice straight forward event which had a bit of everything from tricky plot and dash to slippy lanes and even trickier speed regularity sections which saw 36 starters tackle the 70 mile route.

Laurence Keenan had a new driver for the night in Aaron Duffy and they had a great run to 3rd overall, taking the semi expert class win. Local novice crew of Damien Kelegher and Gordon Mc Grill also had a fantastic night to finish 4th overall and a novice class win. Drumlin winners, Michael and Ciaran Tynan were 5th overall and took the expert class win. Donegal brothers, Rory and Ciaran Coyle finished 2nd in the expert class followed by Midlands men, Shane Dalton and Nigel McCloughry. The Donegal/Cork partnership of Trevor McConnell and Eoghan McCarthy proved fruitful once again as they took 2nd in class behind Duffy and Keenan. Bobby Sharkey and Mac Kierans finished 3rd semi’s.

National Loose surface Autocross champion Derek Mackarel piloted Midlands novice Seamus McTigue to 2nd in class ahead of Monaghan October CoC’s Keith McConnon and Micheal McCluskey in 3rd. Shane Sorohan and Finbarr Halligan had a tremendous run to finish 7th overall and take the beginners class win by over 50 penalties from Paddy and Oisin Sherlock. Like the Sherlocks, Conor and Colm Mohan are making great strides with every event and surely ones to watch out for in the future, finishing 3rd beginner on the night.

Thats the navigation season at ease until the new year, next up is Monaghan club event on 10th January followed by Cork national event on 17th January with Donegal border championship event on 24th January.

Midlands Navigation Trial Top 12

1 (tie) Colin Duffy/Sam Johnston (Subaru Impreza) and Pakie Duffy/Evin
Hughes (Subaru Impreza) 0 marks
3 Aaron Duffy/Laurence Keenan (Subaru Impreza) 3m
4 Damien Kellegher/Gordon McGirl (Subaru Legacy) 5m
5 Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan (Subaru Impreza) 5m
6 Rory Coyle/Ciaran Coyle (Subaru Impreza) 6m
7 Shane Sorohan/Finbarr Halligan (Subaru Impreza) 9m
8 Shane Dalton/Nigel McCloughry (Subaru Impreza) 17m
9 Derek Mackarel/Seamus McTigue (Subaru Impreza) 22m
10 Keith McConnon/Micheal McCluskey (Subaru Impreza) 25m
11 Trevor Farrell/Noel Hall (Subaru Impreza) 27m
12 Eoghan Corr/Ruaidhri Nash (Subaru Impreza) 28m

Monaghan Motor Club Night of Champions

Monaghan Motor Club will host their annual night of champions awards dinner dance on Friday night week, 5th December in the Hillgrove Hotel, Monaghan. As always this is a night not to be missed where our club champions as well as club members who had international, national and regional successes throughout the year are honoured for their achievements. Dinner is served at 8pm sharp and tickets are widely available from any committee member and must be pre-booked. MC for the night is our very own “Mr. Good Morning” Sean McCaffery and promises to be a great night. Please note the change of night to Friday night 5th December.

It was a dramatic few days last weekend as the World Rally Championship season wrapped up on Wales Rally GB and Monaghan had two different crews competing in different classes on the rally. 2014 British Rally Champions Daniel McKenna and Arthur Kierans won their entry because of there championship success this year through the Road to Wales Initiative. McKenna and Kierans were competing in a Citroen DS3 R3T, the same machine that took them to the BRC title. The pair had a great start to the event and were right on the pace of the Junior World Rally championship regulars. The Monaghan crew went second fastest on stage three and held third place in class RC3 but it all came undone on the fourth test as their DS3 suffered overheating issues which forced their retirement. McKenna and Kierans were able to rejoin the rally on day 2 under super rally rules and got straight back on the pace going third fastest in class on two of the opening five stages of the day. The pair found themselves in a great battle with JWRC regular Quentin Giordano. Heading into service 29.8 seconds ahead of the Frenchman. Into the second half of the day and McKenna and Kierans were getting into a good rhythm setting second fastest time on stage 16 and then setting fastest time on the final test of the day. However it was all to come to a heartbreaking end the next morning when mechanical trouble forced the Monaghan pair to retire on the first stage of the final day.

It was a better weekend for the Combilift Rallying team as Monghan’s Josh Moffett and Northern Ireland’s John Rowan took second place in Group N on their WRC debut in their Mitsubishi Evo IX. Moffett and Rowan took four stage wins in their class on their way to an impressive finish on their WRC debut.

Group N was won by Northern Ireland’s Phillip Morrow and Jonny Hart with third place being taken by Irish crew Brendan Cumiskey and Conor Foley.

Dunlop National Rally Championship Awards Night

It was one last hurrah for the Dunlop National Rally Championship as the series had it’s annual prize-giving night at the Sheraton Hotel, Athlone last Saturday night. A number of local crews were recognised for the achievements throughout the year. Shane Maguire and Stephen Thornton collected their award for winning the Dunlop National Group N title. Shane had a fantastic battle with Josh Moffett throughout the year to win the title at the penultimate round in Galway while navigator Stephen took the co-drivers title at the last round in Donegal.

It was success also for Michael Carbin and Emmett Mc Cooey as the Monaghan crew took the win in class 20.

Mackarel Crowned National Autocross Champion

It was a great weekend for Derek Mackarel as the 18 year old Monaghan man was crowned National Loose Surface Autocross Champion last weekend with one round to spare. Mackarel, who drivers a Vauxhall Nova, took numerous class wins throughout the season and another one last weekend at the Birr and District Motorclub Autocross to clinch the title. A great achievement on his first full year of competition.

Midlands Motor Club Navigation Trial

All roads lead to Ballinalee, Co. Longford for Round 3 of the National and Round 2 of the Squealing Pig Border Navigation Championships this Saturday night. CoC’s Eamon and Dessie Brady have a 75 mile route laid out with the event starting at 9.01pm. Full report next week

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