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Irish Notes
by Brian & Liz Patterson |
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Well, not much change there then – Sebastien Ogier’s win on last weekend’s Rally Portugal was his 4th in 5 years. He also won the power stage for his VW team, so not only is he well on the way to a successful defence of his World Rally Champion title, VW is looking good for the manufacturers. Of course it is still a long way to go on this year’s WRC, but then it is never too soon to start winning. Mikko Hirvonen had a great run to 2nd in the M-Sport Fiesta and Mads Ostberg certainly didn’t let Citroen down with his fine 3rd place. The top Hyundai placing was Thierry Neuville in 7th. That may not sound great, but in reality the Hyundai team cars went well, particularly early in the rally, and indications are that they certainly can’t be discounted as the season progresses.
Portugal appeared to be a right tough, difficult rally. There were many upsets. Both Elfyn Evans and Kris Meeke crashed out. Indeed, the only ‘home’ driver who finished was Robert Barrable in the Tunnocks Tea Cakes Fiesta R5, following a very good drive by Robert and his co-driver Stuart Louden. Marty McCormack was having a good run until he retired. Marty’s Fiesta R5 picked up a puncture about 5km from the end of stage 15, but then slithered into a ditch and got stuck just 1km from the end of that penultimate stage. Alastair Fisher was also doing really well, leading the Junior WRC division until at the end of the Saturday leg his Citroen slid into a ditch, banged a tree and the engine block got cracked.
Meanwhile, as the dramas unfolded in Portugal, it was all stations go on the rally front in Tralee, on the 2nd round of the Dunlop National Championship. Donegal crew Declan and Brian Boyle in their Subaru produced a stunning pace to take an unchallenged start to finish victory. For Dunlop National Champion Boyle this made it an extremely convincing hat trick of 2014 rally wins. Hugh Hunter, with Andy Marchbank co-driving, made the trip from Wales worthwhile with a 2nd place in their Subaru, while Daragh O`Riordan/Tony McDaid had a steady run in their Fiesta WRC to take 3rd.
Declan Boyle, who took the lead of the Tarmac Championship with his win in Galway back in February, extends his advantage in the Dunlop series with this win to add to his first round Ballina victory.
There was a great sense of anticipation from the local fans on the opening 14km Mount Eagle Stage, to see the new Craig Breen Peugeot 208 T16 in action for the first time. The burning question as well was how the Peugeot`s times would compare to the all-conquering Subarus. Well, the fans weren`t too disappointed - the new 208 T16 looked and sounded magnificent over the fast Mount Eagle test and was only bettered in the timing department by the Declan Boyle Subaru. Breen was approximately 0.5s of a kilometre slower than Boyle, but considerably faster than the next car up, the Impreza WRC of Hugh Hunter.
Caught out on that first stage, which was quite greasy and a bit damp, was normal front runner Roy White, his Ford engined MGS2000 clouting a bank and damaging the steering which caused retirement.
On stage 2, the 19.3km Headleys Bridge, Declan Boyle`s Subaru was over 1s a km faster than Breen`s 208, while 3rd placed Hugh Hunter was also slightly faster than Breen on that one. This all became slightly academic on stage 3, the 11.6km Kielduff stage, when Breen dropped over a minute to leader Boyle and 50s to Hugh Hunter. Reportedly the Breen Peugeot had suffered a broken driveshaft, plus a rear window had popped out. He had slipped to 7th o/a.
As the cars headed into service at Fels Point in Tralee, leader Boyle had a lead of 44s over Hugh Hunter, with Kevin Kelleher up into 3rd with his Impreza WRC. Boyle did feel that he had been a bit cautious in his tyre selection, while Hunter reckoned his Subaru`s fuel pressure was not quite correct. James Stafford had been on the pace from the word go in his Darrian and was 4th. Daragh O`Riordan had reported a slight misfire with his Fiesta WRC and was 5th, 9s ahead of Kenny McKinstry (Impreza WRC).
There is no doubt the sting had gone out of the Breen situation at the front, but with his Peugeot`s driveshaft sorted, Breen turned in a 2nd fastest time on stage 4, bettered only by Boyle, although that was by 12s. The name of the game for Breen was really to get as many competitive miles covered as possible in the car, as best preparation for the ERC 4th round, the Easter Circuit of Ireland. However that plan went awry when European Championship points leader Craig put his 208 T16 into a stage 5 ditch, on the outside of a moorland road left-hander. The car certainly did not look too bad but it still spelt the end of the rally for the Waterford man.
Also stopped on that 5th stage was Clonakilty man Kevin Kelleher`s Subaru, when lying 3rd. Kevin reported that all seemed fine and then suddenly there was no drive. Kevin Barrett`s Subaru was also stopped in that stage 5 reportedly with a mechanical problem (Clutch).
Following stage 6, where Boyle was again fastest, with James Stafford just pipping Hugh Hunter for 2nd fastest, it was back to Tralee again for service. Boyle`s lead was by now a massive 1m26s, while James Stafford was almost 17s in arrears of 2nd placed Hugh Hunter. Daragh O`Riordan seemed a bit happier with his Fiesta WRC following a spark plug change and was up to 4th. Kenny McKinstry was 5th. Monaghan`s Sam Moffett was out for the first time in a Fiesta RRC and as he settled into his new mount, was coming nicely on the pace and held 6th. In theory the fast nature of the roads should have been a slight handicap for the Regional Rally Car, but gradually through the day Moffett got on to the pace of O`Riordan`s Fiesta WRC.
Conditions were ideal when the top cars headed for the final loop of three repeated stages and it seemed to be plain sailing for the top cars to hold station. It didn`t quite work out like that, as in stage 7 James Stafford crashed his Darrian and several of the following cars had to be awarded a nominal time. No such problem though for the leaders, Declan and Brian Boyle, and with yet another fastest time they brought their Subaru through the final stage to win by almost 2m from the similar Impreza WRC of Hugh Hunter/Andy Marchbank.
Fels Point Circuit of Kerry Top Ten
1st Declan Boyle/Brian Boyle (Impreza WRC S12b) 1.03.56.0
2nd Hugh Hunter/Andy Marchbank (Impreza WRC S11) 1.05.52.3
3rd Daragh O`Riordan/Tony McDaid (Fiesta WRC) 1.06.56.6
4th Kenny McKinstry/Kenny Hull (Impreza WRC S14) 1.07.21.2
5th Sam Moffett/James O`Reilly (Fiesta RRC) 1.07.22.1
6th Paddy McVeigh/Gary McElhinney (Impreza WRC) 1.07.43.3
7th Niall Maguire/Conor Foley (Impreza WRC S11) 1.07.49.4
8th Steve Wood/Keith Moriarity (Impreza WRC S10) 1.08.35.0
9th Ed Murphy/John McCarthy (Escort) 1.09.10.6
10th Tommy Doyle/Liam Moynihan (Clio R3) 1.09.13.9
Class Winners: - CL 2 Jason Roycroft/Nicole O`Shea (Civic): CL3 Joe McCarthy/Jason O`Brien (Civic): CL4 Neil & Gerard Tohill (Lancer): CL6 Richard Tannahill/Aileen Kelly (Peugeot 208 R2): CL7 Jochim Buckley/James Foley (Peugeot 306 S16): CL8 Declan & Brian Boyle (Impreza WRC): CL9 Kenneth Ryan/Keith McCarthy (Escort): CL10 Michael P Kelleher/John Doody (Escort): CL11 Derek Butler/Aaron O`Regan (Honda): CL11R Mike Neligen/John Hurley (Corolla RWD): CL12 Cyril Wharton/Helen Duggan (Escort): CL13 Ed Murphy/John McCarthy (Escort): CL14 Frank Kelly/Liam Brennan (Escort): CL20 Anthony O`Brien/Aidan Gannon (Lancer): CL18 PJ O`Dowd/John Young (Sunbeam): CL16 Cormac Phelan/Katja Auhl (Civic)
The race for best Escort is generally hotly contested over the Kerry stages. Killarney`s Ed Murphy came out on top in his class 13 version, with Frank Kelly topping the list in his class 14 Millington engined example. Tommy Doyle was running his Clio R3 in class 13 and took 2nd in class 13. Local man Mike Quinn was heading for a top result but his Escort lost drive at Headley`s Bridge, stage 8. Vivian Hamill was an early retirement when his Escort overheated.
Roy White is the normal front runner in the Modified section but his retirement, when he tried to take an `R3 L3` flat in 6th gear resulted in his MG hitting the bank and breaking a rosejoint/suspension. Interestingly, Roy was allowed to re-join the fray under the new `SuperRally` rules on the Dunlop series and he contested the final 3 stages as a shakedown for the next round in Carlow. It is not possible to score points under the new rule.
Neil & Gerald Tohill in their Lancer won GpN from Gus Kearney/Eddie O`Neill also in a Lancer. Both Maurice Greaney and Alan Ring led earlier in the day, but both retired, Ring`s Impreza at the start of stage 4 with transmission failure.
There was a brilliant day-long battle for class 6 honours between Richard Tannahill/Aileen Kelly and Andrew Slattery/Shaun Forde, both crews in state of the art Peugeot 208 R2`s. The former crew eventually took the honours by 4s.
Kerry was a full Circuit of Ireland dress rehearsal for young Monaghan man Sam Moffett who even ran his newly acquired Fiesta RRC on the same `control` tyres as he would be using at Easter. Moffett initially found the car`s suspension needed some adjustments to cope with the Irish roads, but certainly before the day was over he seemed a lot happier with the car and his pace.
Tyrone`s Paddy McVeigh, who took his Impreza WRC to victory on the Midlands Moto Stages Rally, finished 6th in Kerry that was enough to ease him into 2nd place in the Dunlop Championship points.
Also last weekend, Dungannon MC’s Springfling lanes type rally was won by Allan Harryman/Suz Graham in a Mazda, from the similar MX-5 of Mark Woodside/Andrew Blair. Dermot Carnegie/Kevin Fagan were 3rd having been delayed by a puncture.
This weekend, the Valvoline MI Forestry Championship swings back into action with the Munster MC Moonraker Rally. The event has moved to the Ballyvourney district and the Abbey Hotel, which has sparked considerable interest. Previous forestry champions Owen Murphy and Pat O’Connell are at numbers 1 & 2, with first round winner Desi Henry at 3, all in Lancers. Dundalk VW dealer Brendan Cumiskey is at 4, Josh Moffett at 5, again both in Lancers. Martin Cairns in his Subaru completes a very competitive top six line-up.
Looming large now is the Circuit of Ireland, which runs over Good Friday and Easter Saturday. The International section has 37 entries and the National list runs to over 84, making up a maximum field of 121 cars. The International section has an interesting selection of European contenders, including the top two in the European Championship points table, Craig Breen (Peugeot) and former Finnish Champion Esapekka Lappi (Skoda). They are the top two seeds for the Belfast start. Just some of the other European contenders who must be in with a great shout are Kevin Abbring and Sepp Wiegand. The top ten seeds includes some real ‘dark horses’ as well – drivers such as Robert Barrable, Sam Moffett and the amazing Neil Simpson, who is running a Skoda S2000 in a restricted European Championship programme. In pure European Championship terms, there appears to be 7 or 8 drivers in potentially winning ‘RC2’ cars who are really contesting the rally for outright European Championship points.
There are many more European series contenders in the smaller classes as well as Juniors, providing a genuine International element to the rally. There are plenty of brilliant drivers in RC3 and RC4 cars as well who could really spring a surprise. Just two who spring to mind are Jukka Korhonen and Pirelli driver Daniel McKenna – seeded down at 24 & 25 in their Citroen DS3 R3T’s. There could be a brilliant RC4 class battle also, between Renato Pita, Richard Tannahill, Andrew Slattery as well as Billy Coleman Award winner Stephen Wright, all in Peugeot 208 R2s. Hopefully joining them will be Pettigo’s Kevin Eves, also in a Peugeot 208 R2 although there is a doubt as the car is currently undergoing some work. Kevin, following a string of brilliant results, has just been nominated by Motorsport Ireland as a candidate for this year’s Billy Coleman Award. Drivers such as Barry Greer in his Fiesta should provide yet another element to the R2 scenario.
Looking beyond the International Rally to the National Rally, Top Tarmac contenders such as Declan Boyle, Garry Jennings, Donagh Kelly and Eugene Donnelly in their WRC machinery should provide yet another fascinating element. Derek McGarrity is in the mix as well. However the current NI Rally Champion and former multiple Tarmac Champion may not be able to score points in the Tarmac due to an issue, a complicated homologation matter, with his Mini WRC’s turbo restrictor. Derek of course may not even appear on the rally in a Mini WRC. Some drivers, such as Sam Moffett who is driving a Fiesta Regional Rally Car in the International section, will be eligible to score points in the European as well as the Clonakilty BlackPudding Tarmac Championship. The downside to that is that the RRC car may be short of puff compared to the ‘traditional’ WRC machinery. The McGrady Insurance NI Championship contenders, plus an interesting Historic entry all add meat to the rally. There are many angles to this Circuit of course, while at its heart are two days of very fast challenging asphalt stages through Co Down. This should bring a new and much needed dimension to Irish rallying.
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