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Quality Hotels West Cork Rally 2014

Cork Motor Club hosted their annual West Cork Rally over the Saint Patricks Weekend, based in the West Cork town of Clonakilty. As always this popular two day event attracted a bumper entry to tackle some of the infamous West Cork stages like Ring and Sam’s Cross. Donagh Kelly and Kevin Flanagan survived the thirteen stages to take the overall win from Denis Cronin and Coleman Hurley by just over half a minute. Donegals Declan Gallagher and Ryan Moore made their long journey home a lot sweeter taking an excellent 3rd overall in their class 13 starlet.

            In what was ultimately a finishers rally the dry cor stages claimed a lot of casualties which include the likes of James Stafford, Darragh O’Riordan, Frank Kelly, Adrian Hetherinton, Pat Donegan and Robert Barrable with upcoming navigation CoC Damian Connolly on the notes only getting two stages after their long haul South.  Paul Sheridan was on the notes for forestry expert Vivian Hamill but their escort cried enough over the last loop of stages whilst fighting for a top 10 finish. Jim McKenna and Thomas Treanor also made the trip South and were also showing great pace but a fuel supply problem dropped them almost 9 minutes and they eventually went on to finish 3rd in class. Stephen and Suzanne Wright also brought their Peugeot 208 to the West Cork countryside where they picked up a class win/13th overall and more importantly some tarmac road mileage ahead of their next rally in Belgium.

Monaghan Motor Club Navigation Trial

All roads lead to Threemilehouse on this Saturday night where Monaghan Motor Club will host the final round of the National and Squealing Pig Border Navigation championship’s. CoC, Damien Connolly and his team are hard at work with their final preparations for the event which will be based in Sean McDermotts GAA centre, Threemilehouse. As always marshals are needed in great numbers so please be at the threemilehouse complex no later than 8 o’clock Saturday evening if your available to help in any way.

Club Notes/PRO Details

Monaghan Motor Club have set up a new e-mail account solely for the purpose of receiving information from competitors and club members on their exploits throughout the year in all forms of motorsport competition. All competitors are urged to e-mail action photos (no watermarks) and a short note on how they got on in any event throughout the year. We need these details for weekly reports and Facebook news. The e-mail address is rallynews1@gmail.com Obviously we cannot guarantee everything will be published but your input would be greatly appreciated to try and cover all members and their endeavours. 

Moffett on Podium in Fivemiletown

Omagh motor club hosted their annual spring forestry stages rally on Saturday last in the forests around fivemiletown. This popular event attracted a large entry with some of the best forestry entertainers on show. Mark Donnelly and Barry Mc Nulty were victorious in their subaru impreza, 25seconds ahead of Gareth Sayers in and EVO 9. Josh Moffett and Jason Mc Kenna were on a real charge all day and finished a well deserved 3rd overall, just 2 seconds behind Sayers.

            Frank Kelly took the two wheel drive honours after a short lived battle with his closest rivals, Shane McGirr and Jackie Elliott who crashed out on stage 2 after their steering broke. Adrian Hetherington also failed to finish after mechanical woes. Sam Moffett and James O’Reilly were also in the Fermanagh/Tyrone forests and finished 7th overall in the EVO. Michael Carbin and Stephen Thornton were also on a great pace in the EVO, taking 9th o/a and 2nd in class. Micky Conlon and Ciaran McPhillips brought the black Mark 2 home in 11th overall and 2nd in class. Bobby Sharkey and Mac Kierans took the Kierans Motorsport escort to the forest with great rewards, finishing 13th overall and 2nd in class for their efforts. Martin Tynan made a return to the forests after a lengthy lay-off in the EVO 8 and with Raymond  Conlon calling the notes they managed 3rd in class and 14th overall. Maurice Moffett and Martin Connolly returned to fivemiletown and surely enjoyed their day to finish 19th overall and 3rd in class. Emmett Sherry was navigating for Calvin Beattie in a ford fiesta to finish in 30th o/a and also 3rd in class. All in all a good day out for the Monaghan brigade in Fivemiletown as the results sheets suggest a 100% finishing record for the travelling Farney men.

Locals take the Spoils in Midlands

Colin Duffy and Sam Johnston led from the front in last Saturday nights Midlands navigation trial based in the idealic Drumcowra Lake Resort, just outside Ballinamore. This tough event was set out by CoC Enda Mc Loughlin with a 60 mile route circling the Leitrim town of Balinamore taking in many forests and farm lanes along the way. Duffy and Johnston took the win with ease, dropping just 6 penalties in total to prove why they are now the worthy National and Munster Navigation champions with two rounds to spare. They also hold a good lead in the Squealing Pig Border Navigation championship and could possibly wrap it up in Cavan this Saturday night.

            Shane Dalton and Micheal Reilly were 2nd overall on the night and novice class winners with Corks Joe and Greg Shinnors 3rd overall and expert class winners. Richard Cassidy and Paul Phelan were 2nd experts ahead of Michael and Ciaran Tynan in 3rd. Corks David Beamish and Muireann Hayes proved once again they are hard to beat with a semi-expert class win ahead of  Ashley McAdoo and Laurence Keenan. 3rd semi went to Matt and Enda Hume. Fintan McGorman and Derek Mackarel took a fine 6th overall and 2nd in novice just 2 penalties ahead of Donegal/Cork pairing of Trevor McConnell and Eoghan McCarthy. Michael Carbin made the trip to Leitrim to navigate for Emmet McCooey after driving in the Fivemiletown forestry earlier in the day to prove he can be a winner on both sides of a car

to take the beginners class award ahead of Cootehill cousins Thomas and Andrew Wedlock.

            Cavan Motor Club host the penultimate round of both the Squealing Pig Border Navigation championship and National navigation championships this Saturday night in Killinkere Community Center and with many Class and overall awards still to be decided its sure to be a battle royale.

Wright’s Encouraging start to Belgian campaign

Despite treacherous conditions, Stephen and Susanne Wright made it to the finish of the Haspengouw Rally last weekend and the pair brought their Peugeot 208 R2 home in 29^th overall and 4^th in class. Based around the town of Landen, The Haspengouw Rally was the first of the 8 round Belgian Rally Championship which Stephen and Susanne plan to contest this season so it was crucial that they got off to an encouraging start.

            Stephen, the reigning Motorsport Ireland Young Rally Driver of the Year, takes up the story; “We surprised even ourselves on the opening stage, setting fastest time on possibly the most slippy road surface I have ever seen. Unfortunately this was the highlight. We picked up a puncture on SS2 and had a number of spins on SS3 dropping us back the order and breaking our momentum. We picked ourselves back up in first service; setting a string of top three stage times through to the finish of the event, interrupted only by a front left and right puncture on SS6 and another puncture on SS12. We were disappointed to miss out on a good result but on the plus side our pace was promising, we have learned a lot and are feeling much better prepared prior to the opening round of the 208 Rally Trophy in 6 weeks’ time.”

The next Belgian round the Wright Rally Team plan to contest is the TAC Rally on April 12^th but they may possibly squeeze in another Irish event to gain more competitive miles in the Killyhevlin Hotel Peugeot. “We are still adjusting to and learning the new car. It really is such a huge transition from the Mitsubishi’s we have been used to but we love every second of it and are so impressed with the car. Ideally we’d like to take in one more Irish event to leave us better prepared for the Circuit of Ireland in April which is also a counting round of the Junior European Rally Championship but we will take some time to let the dust settle before making a decision”said Susanne.

            You can follow Stephen on Twitter @StephenWr1ght and Susanne at @SusanneWright15. Stephen is backed by Motorsport Ireland and the Irish Sports Council.

Birr Stages Rally 2014

Last Sunday saw the opening round of the 2014 West Coast Rally championship. The event was staged in Abbeyleix, with two Monaghan crews making the trip down. First home was reigning champions Shane Maguire and Martin McGarrity who were debuting the newly acquired ex-Stephen Wright Mitsubishi Evo9. The duo finished in 8th overall and 2nd in Group N. Jim McKenna and Thomas Treanor also made the trip and had an eventful day whilst battling for top two wheel drive honours. They had been right in the heart of the battle for the lead, however a costly spin on stage five resulted in the boys bringing their trusty Escort home in a fine 2^nd place in class 14 and 9^th overall.

            The rally was won by Welsh visitors Hugh Hunter and Andy Marchbank in a Subaru WRC with James Stafford in the Darrian. Paddy McVeigh and Gary McElhinney were 3rd overall. The next event will be the Mayo stages in two week’s time.

Club Notes/PRO Details

Monaghan Motor Club have set up a new e-mail account solely for the purpose of receiving information from competitors and club members on their exploits throughout the year in all forms of motorsport competition. All competitors are urged to e-mail action photos (no watermarks) and a short note on how they got on in any event throughout the year. We need these details for weekly reports and Facebook news. The e-mail address is rallynews1@gmail.com Obviously we cannot guarantee everything will be published but your input would be greatly appreciated to try and cover all members and their endeavors. 

Omagh motor club hosted their annual spring forestry stages rally on Saturday last in the forests around fivemiletown. This popular event attracted a large entry with some of the best forestry entertainers on show. Mark Donnelly and Barry Mc Nulty were victorious in their subaru impreza, 25seconds ahead of Gareth Sayers in and EVO 9. Josh Moffett and Jason Mc Kenna were on a real charge all day and finished a well deserved 3rd overall, just 2 seconds behind Sayers.

            Frank Kelly took the two wheel drive honours after a short lived battle with his closest rivals, Shane McGirr and Jackie Elliott who crashed out on stage 2 after their steering broke. Adrian Hetherington also failed to finish after mechanical woes. Sam Moffett and James O’Reilly were also in the Fermanagh/Tyrone forests and finished 7th overall in the EVO. Michael Carbin and Stephen Thornton were also on a great pace in the EVO, taking 9th o/a and 2nd in class. Micky Conlon and Ciaran McPhillips brought the black Mark 2 home in 11th overall and 2nd in class. Bobby Sharkey and Mac Kierans took the Kierans Motorsport escort to the forest with great rewards, finishing 13th overall and 2nd in class for their efforts. Martin Tynan made a return to the forests after a lengthy lay-off in the EVO 8 and with Raymond  Conlon calling the notes they managed 3rd in class and 14th overall. Maurice Moffett and Martin Connolly returned to fivemiletown and surely enjoyed their day to finish 19th overall and 3rd in class. Emmett Sherry was navigating for Calvin Beattie in a ford fiesta to finish in 30th o/a and also 3rd in class. All in all a good day out for the Monaghan brigade in Fivemiletown as the results sheets suggest a 100% finishing record for the travelling Farney men.

Locals take the Spoils in Midlands

Colin Duffy and Sam Johnston led from the front in last Saturday nights Midlands navigation trial based in the idealic Drumcowra Lake Resort, just outside Ballinamore. This tough event was set out by CoC Enda Mc Loughlin with a 60 mile route circling the Leitrim town of Balinamore taking in many forests and farm lanes along the way. Duffy and Johnston took the win with ease, dropping just 6 penalties in total to prove why they are now the worthy National and Munster Navigation champions with two rounds to spare. They also hold a good lead in the Squealing Pig Border Navigation championship and could possibly wrap it up in Cavan this Saturday night.

            Shane Dalton and Micheal Reilly were 2nd overall on the night and novice class winners with Corks Joe and Greg Shinnors 3rd overall and expert class winners. Richard Cassidy and Paul Phelan were 2nd experts ahead of Michael and Ciaran Tynan in 3rd. Corks David Beamish and Muireann Hayes proved once again they are hard to beat with a semi-expert class win ahead of  Ashley McAdoo and Laurence Keenan. 3rd semi went to Matt and Enda Hume. Fintan McGorman and Derek Mackarel took a fine 6th overall and 2nd in novice just 2 penalties ahead of Donegal/Cork pairing of Trevor McConnell and Eoghan McCarthy. Michael Carbin made the trip to Leitrim to navigate for Emmet McCooey after driving in the Fivemiletown forestry earlier in the day to prove he can be a winner on both sides of a car

to take the beginners class award ahead of Cootehill cousins Thomas and Andrew Wedlock.

            Cavan Motor Club host the penultimate round of both the Squealing Pig Border Navigation championship and National navigation championships this Saturday night in Killinkere Community Center and with many Class and overall awards still to be decided its sure to be a battle royale.

Wright’s Encouraging start to Belgian campaign

Despite treacherous conditions, Stephen and Susanne Wright made it to the finish of the Haspengouw Rally last weekend and the pair brought their Peugeot 208 R2 home in 29^th overall and 4^th in class. Based around the town of Landen, The Haspengouw Rally was the first of the 8 round Belgian Rally Championship which Stephen and Susanne plan to contest this season so it was crucial that they got off to an encouraging start.

            Stephen, the reigning Motorsport Ireland Young Rally Driver of the Year, takes up the story; “We surprised even ourselves on the opening stage, setting fastest time on possibly the most slippy road surface I have ever seen. Unfortunately this was the highlight. We picked up a puncture on SS2 and had a number of spins on SS3 dropping us back the order and breaking our momentum. We picked ourselves back up in first service; setting a string of top three stage times through to the finish of the event, interrupted only by a front left and right puncture on SS6 and another puncture on SS12. We were disappointed to miss out on a good result but on the plus side our pace was promising, we have learned a lot and are feeling much better prepared prior to the opening round of the 208 Rally Trophy in 6 weeks’ time.”

The next Belgian round the Wright Rally Team plan to contest is the TAC Rally on April 12^th but they may possibly squeeze in another Irish event to gain more competitive miles in the Killyhevlin Hotel Peugeot. “We are still adjusting to and learning the new car. It really is such a huge transition from the Mitsubishi’s we have been used to but we love every second of it and are so impressed with the car. Ideally we’d like to take in one more Irish event to leave us better prepared for the Circuit of Ireland in April which is also a counting round of the Junior European Rally Championship but we will take some time to let the dust settle before making a decision”said Susanne.

            You can follow Stephen on Twitter @StephenWr1ght and Susanne at @SusanneWright15. Stephen is backed by Motorsport Ireland and the Irish Sports Council.

Birr Stages Rally 2014

Last Sunday saw the opening round of the 2014 West Coast Rally championship. The event was staged in Abbeyleix, with two Monaghan crews making the trip down. First home was reigning champions Shane Maguire and Martin McGarrity who were debuting the newly acquired ex-Stephen Wright Mitsubishi Evo9. The duo finished in 8th overall and 2nd in Group N. Jim McKenna and Thomas Treanor also made the trip and had an eventful day whilst battling for top two wheel drive honours. They had been right in the heart of the battle for the lead, however a costly spin on stage five resulted in the boys bringing their trusty Escort home in a fine 2^nd place in class 14 and 9^th overall.

            The rally was won by Welsh visitors Hugh Hunter and Andy Marchbank in a Subaru WRC with James Stafford in the Darrian. Paddy McVeigh and Gary McElhinney were 3rd overall. The next event will be the Mayo stages in two week’s time.

Club Notes/PRO Details

Monaghan Motor Club have set up a new e-mail account solely for the purpose of receiving information from competitors and club members on their exploits throughout the year in all forms of motorsport competition. All competitors are urged to e-mail action photos (no watermarks) and a short note on how they got on in any event throughout the year. We need these details for weekly reports and Facebook news. The e-mail address is rallynews1@gmail.com Obviously we cannot guarantee everything will be published but your input would be greatly appreciated to try and cover all members and their endeavors. 

Monaghan Motor Club held their annual Autotest event on Sunday last at the idealic venue that is Wrights Quarry, Swanns Cross. Once again Brendan Flynn was the CoC and together with his team set out some challenging tests for the experts as well as the highly competitive club members section. With the recent bad weather threatening to dampen this enjoyable day, the weather Gods were certainly on Monaghan Motor Clubs side with dry and bright conditions throughout the day, albeit a bit cold.

            Robin Lyons was the fastest expert of the day in his mini saloon, incredibly only 1.9 seconds ahead of Eamonn Byrne after 12 tests and some twelve minutes of competition. Daniel Byrne was 3rd overall, only 10 second further adrift with veteran Norman Armstrong taking 3rd in class A. Class B went to Stephen Ferguson in a mini special, just 4 seconds ahead of Peter Falvey in 2nd and Guy Foster in 3rd with only 7 seconds separating the top three. Ashley Lamont, in a cosworth powered Westfield had a comfortable win in class C with a 47 second advantage over Darren Quille in 2nd, with Timmy Lynch only 5 seconds further adrift in 3rd. Class D was also a close affair with David Thompson taking the outright win in his nova, 8 seconds ahead of Mark King with Jamie McMillan 3rd.

            The club members section was also a very tight affair which seen 15 entries in all makes and models of high powered autotest machines from starlets to corsas, peugeots, seats, hondas and the mini special of Damien and Martin Connolly. It was the excellent driving skills of Kieran “Bilko” McCarra in the starlet which earned him the overall win on the day. Derek Mackarel finished in 2nd place only 5 seconds adrift and could have taken the win except for a few costly errors. 3rd overall went to Damien Connolly in the mini special with only 11 seconds separating the top three placings. Martin Tynan finished in 4th overall with Andy Mackarel taking 5th overall. Keith McConnon, Martin Swinburne and Laurence Keenan were all new comers to this event in the seat arosa and together with Ashley McAdoo put the little one litre pocket rocket through its paces to set some good times on their first attempt. Peter and Shane Farrell were also new comers to this form of motorsport and they too enjoyed their day in the ex-night navigation honda with Shane earning the bragging rights  over his father.

            Well done to Brendan Flynn and all his crew on yet another enjoyable autotest and for somehow managing to ward off the wind and rain of recent weeks. Brendan would like to thank David Wright of Wrights Quarry, Swanns Cross for the venue, the Northern Standard, results teams, marshals and timekeepers and everyone else who helped out in any way.

Wrights are Belgium Bound  

This weekend marks the beginning of Stephen and Susanne Wright’s European adventure as the pair get ready to tackle the Haspengouw Rally, the opening round of the BFO Belgian Rally Championship. Stephen, who is the current Motorsport Ireland Young Rally Driver of the Year, is keen to build on his recent successes in Ireland and feels the Belgian campionship can provide the challenge he is looking for in 2014. Accompanying Stephen will be his sister Susanne who will call the all-important pacenotes and she will play a key role on the tricky Belgian roads over the weekend.

                                                   The Haspengouw Rally is based in the town of Landen in central Belgium and the Wright Rally Team will land there late on Thursday evening ahead of scrutineering on Friday before the rally starts in earnest on Saturday. The event will consist of 13 tricky stages and should provide a stern test for Stephen and Susanne who are keen to get their championship campaign off to a steady start in the Killyhevlin Hotel and Irish Sports Council backed Peugeot 208 R2.

Galway International Rally

Donegal pair Declan and Brian Boyle led virtually all the way to take their first International victory on the recent Colm Quinn BMW Galway International Rally held over the weekend of 8/9th February, leading defending Tarmac champion Garry Jennings and co-driver Rory Kennedy home by 26 seconds at the end of two days of rallying curtailed by the weather conditions. Jennings put the Boyle cousins under enormous pressure early on Sunday, reducing their overnight lead to just one fifth of a second after the two opening stages, but on the next stage, the Fermanagh driver hit a sheet of standing water, slid off into a field and dropped 40 seconds, leaving him in fifth place behind Sam Moffett who was showcasing his new Fiesta WRC and Donagh Kelly in a subaru. Later, Jennings overhauled Kelly and Moffett to regain runner up position, while the two Ford drivers reversed their placings to leave Kelly 3rd, three seconds ahead of his Monaghan rival. The main casualty of the rally’s second day was former winner and ex-Tarmac title holder Eugene Donnelly, whose Mini WRC held third place overnight. The Maghera man crashed out on the first stage of the day at Black Road and was too badly damaged to continue.

            Josh Moffett and John Rowan had an excellent run on the tricky wet Galway roads to take the group N win and 5th overall in the EVO 9. Cavan man Stephen McCann finished in 6th overall, just 19 seconds adrift of Josh with Eugene Meegan 7th and Brendan Cumiskey 9th.

            The national category was won by the super quick starlet of Donegal man Declan Gallagher, with Wesley Patterson in 2nd in his escort and Pat Kelly in 3rd in a subaru sti. Brendan and JP McAree also made the trip to compete in the historic section and finished in 5th overall in their porch 911.