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The Assess Ireland Rally of the Lakes International Rally, took place around Killarney last weekend. The event was Round 4 of the NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.

Killian McArdle guided Joseph Kelly to 22^nd overall and 1^st in Class RC4. Johno Doogan/Paul Lennon finished 45^th overall after finishing the event under Super Rally rules. Arthur Kierans, navigating for David Kelly retired after SS3 with mechanical trouble.

At the Campbell Contracts May Day Rally held at Enniskillen St Angelo Airport on Bank Holiday Monday, Damien Connolly guided Peadar Hurson to 4^thoverall in their VW Polo R5.

Conor Mohan was in Portugal last weekend, taking part in Rali Terras d’Aboboreira 2025. Conor and his driver Eamonn Kelly were using this event for a test ahead of the next round of the Junior World Rally Championship, Vodafone Rally de Portugal, which takes place next week. Conor and Eamonn had a fantastic event, winning nine out of the ten Special Stages, which left them in 9^th place overall and 1^st in Class RC3 and 1^st in Junior ERT. Eamonn found a great set-up for the car ahead of the world round next week, an event that is one of the toughest on the calendar.

The National Navigation Championship prizegiving will take place on Saturday the 17th of May at 6pm in the Athlone Springs Hotel. Everyone welcome.

The Squealing Pig Border Navigation Championship prizegiving will take place in the Squealing Pig Monaghan, on Friday May 23rd, Everyone welcome.

Oisín Sherlock

The National Navigation Championship results were finalized last week.

The Co. Monaghan/Longford duo of Ryan Treanor/Shane Dalton were confirmed as the 2024/25 national navigation champions after scoring 102 points, with their ‘Best 6 + Bonus’ score.

 Their score was six points better off than the runners up, and multiple national navigation champions themselves, Evin Hughes/Pakie Duffy. Reigning national navigation champions)Greg Shinnors/Andrew Mackarel finished 4^th and 3^rd respectively. Greg finished 4th navigator while Andrew finished 3^rd driver overall.

 That reminds me, I recently won the 2024/25 national weather forecasting championship. I beat the raining champion. Darren Lavery/Aaron McGorman finished 2^nd in the Beginner class.

Gretchen and Martin Swinburne had a resounding win in the Novice class, finishing 17 points better off than the crew in 2^nd place. Ciaran Maguire/Cathal McGlone, though not competing together as a team, finished 3^rd in the Semi-Expert class.

 Greg Shinnors finished 1^st Expert navigator, while Oisín Sherlock finished 3^rd in the class. The National Navigation Prizegiving will take place on Saturday the 17^th of May at 6pm in the Athlone Springs Hotel. Everyone welcome.

The Squealing Pig Border Navigation Championship, results were also classed as final last week. Evin Hughes/Pakie Duffy, went one better than their national championship result, and secured 1^st overall. Aaron McElroy/Declan Tynan finished 2^nd and David McCrudden/Martin Tynan finished 3^rd overall, making it a Co. Monaghan Motor Club 1, 2, 3.  Greg Shinnors/Andrew Mackarel finished 1^st in the Expert class, Oisín Sherlock/Derek Mackarel finished 2^nd, and Conor Boylan/Shane Dalton finished 3^rd.

Ciaran Maguire/Mickey McNelis finished 1^st in the Semi-Expert class, and Michael Sheridan/Cathal McGlone finished 2^nd. Darren Lavery/Aaron McGorman finished 1^st in the Novice class and Adam Langan finished 2^nd Novice navigator. Martin Swinburne finished 3^rd Novice driver. Gretchen Swinburne finished 4^th Novice navigator. Jack McKenna finished 5^th Novice Navigator and Aaron Dixon finished 6^th Novice driver. As there is no ‘Beginner’ class in the border championship, the Novice awards go down to 6^th in class, as beginners are registered as Novice for the Squealing Pig championship. The Squealing Pig Border Championship prizegiving will take place in the Squealing Pig Monaghan, on Friday May 23^rd, Everyone welcome.

Mayo Motor Club’s Autocross was held on Sunday, Limerick based Monaghan club member Greg Shinnors, took his Subaru Impreza home in 15th overall.

Oisín Sherlock.

Arthur Kierans guided David Kelly to 3^rd overall in their VW Polo GTI R5, on last weekend’s Circuit of Ireland Rally 2025.

Paul Barrett/Darragh Kelly finished just behind them in 5^th place, in their Citroën C3 Rally2.

Ryan Farrell navigated Johnnie Mulholland to 10^th overall and first in Class 4.

David Moffett/Martin Connolly took their Toyota Starlet home in 14^th overall and 3^rd in Class 3.

Domhnall Lennon navigated Michael Cahill to 15^th overall and 4^th in Class 3.

Killian McArdle navigated John Coyne to 18^th overall and 10^th in Class 1.  

Jack Maguire/Keith McConnon finished 27^th overall and 2^nd in class 8.

Pierce O’Callaghan navigated Brian Lavelle to 32^nd overall and 8^th in Class 3.

Cathan McCourt/Barry McNulty finished 52^nd overall and 13^th in Class 1 after finishing the event under Super-Rally rules.

Josh Moffett/Andy Hayes finished 54^th overall and 14^th in Class 1 after also finishing the event under Super-Rally rules.

John McQuaid/Thomas Treanor unfortunately retired from the event on SS4 after breaking a driveshaft in their MKII Ford Escort.

Many thanks to all Monaghan Motor Club members who appeared at the Jonny Treanor Memorial Day for to help with parking cars and to those who brough their cars to the Rally Car display.

Oisín Sherlock

Conor Mohan was the highest placed Co. Monaghan Motor Club CLG member on last Saturday’s, EARS Motorsport Moonraker Forest Rally. Conor and his driver Eamonn Kelly, were using the event for to get used to driving on a gravel surface again, ahead of the next event of the 2025 Junior World Rally Championship, Vodafone Rally de Portugal which takes place between the 15^th and 18^th of May. The last forest/gravel rally they competed on, on the island of Ireland was the, 2024 Trailer Parts and Spares Lakeland Stages Rally, an event in which they finished 2^nd overall. On last weekend’s EARS Motorsport Moonraker, they were driving a similar Ford Fiesta Rally3 to the one that they’ll be using in Portugal, and they finished 4^th overall. Fourth was possibly as good as they could have expected to be, as the event had six very fast stages that suited the more powerful Rally2/R5 cars compared to their Rally3 car.

Greg Shinnors navigated James Dunphy to 7^th overall in their Ford Fiesta R5.

Killian McArdle, suffering no Jet-Lag from Spain, navigated John Coyne to 11^th overall in a Hyundai i20 N Rally2. Jack Casey finished 59^th OA and 3^rd in Class 8 in his VW UP. Domhnall Lennon navigating for Darragh McEnroe, finished 74^th OA, also in a VW UP.

Other Monaghan members were not as fortunate, as Derek Mackarel/Eamonn Creedon got their 2024 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship winning Ford Fiesta R5, beached at a chicane on Special Stage 2, even though the car was undamaged, they were unable free it quickly, so they had to retire from the event. James McCarville/Arthur Kierans also retired on SS2.

Evin Hughes navigated Karl O’Donoghue to 11^th OA in the Galway Endurance Trial on Sunday, they also finished 2^nd in Class A2M. Eoghán Farrell navigated Michael Connolly to 22^nd OA and 2^nd in Class A2N.

Oisín Sherlock

Ryan Farrell was navigating for Johnnie Mulholland on the ‘Go Tour of The Sperrins’ rally on Saturday. The pair finished 23^rd overall, and 1^st in Class 4 in their Ford Fiesta Rally3. Craig McPhillips took part in his first stage rally as a navigator, on the event.  He was navigating for Raymond Gurney in a Subaru Impreza WRX STI. The car had previously been used by Eamonn Boland and MJ, on two World Rally Championship events, back in 2015. Craig and Raymond retired before the start of the final stage, as Craig began to feel very unwell. They had been in 75^th position overall at that time. Thankfully his driver was the only Gurney he needed, as it was only a case of motion/travel sickness, and he began feeling a lot better once he was out of the car and walking around. It genuinely was a sickening reason for retirement.

Killian McArdle was navigating for Casey Jay Coleman in ‘Rally Sierra Morena’, which was the opening round of the 2025 European Rally Championship. The lads had some competitive times, but were hampered on SS3 following a high-speed spin, which cost them 15s. On the final stage of the opening day, they unfortunately picked up a puncture, and with the stage being 27.2km long, they had no choice but to stop and replace the tyre. This stoppage cost them over four minutes, and left the pair feeling deflated themselves, after what had been an encouraging performance up to that point. The puncture dropped the pair from 43^rd overall, to 76^th at the overnight halt. Six more stages lay ahead on day 2 of the event, and by the finish of the final stage, they had climbed back to 53^rd overall and 6^th in the M-Sport Fiesta Rally3 Trophy.

County Monaghan Motor Club CLG are hosting a Pedal Car Race on Sunday, April 27^th. Participants can race three or four wheeled cars or trikes. Each team has two drivers, aged from 13 to 18, and their parent/Guardian, who can be their mechanic/person to roar ‘PEDAL FASTER’. For more information, contact Brendan Flynn via email on brendanflyn@gmail.com

Oisín Sherlock