`Hero to Zero` does not even begin to sum up Kris Meeke taking the lead on Rally Germany with just a couple of stages to go and then crashing his Citroen DS3 WRC out of the rally. What a dream come true it would have been for Kris and co-driver Paul Nagle to take victory on a WRC event. But, it wasn`t to be. The victory dream did then come true for Belgian crew Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul. This was their first WRC win, and for Hyundai also. Dani Sordo/Marc Marti put the icing on the cake for Hyundai by taking 2nd overall. The fact that their stunning success took place on German soil probably meant an extra dollop of icing for the Korean car manufacturer. Andreas Mikkelsen salvaged something for VW by taking the third spot, a little consolation for both Ogier and Latvala crashing out. There was also some encouragement for Ford and M-Sport by Elfyn Evans/Daniel Barritt taking 4th o/a as well as winning the power stage, which was absolutely brilliant for the young Welshman.

For the crews from this side of the Irish Sea it was a mixed Rally Germany. The dramas started when the stewards refused Craig Breen a start, despite the young Waterford man having the `all clear` from his own doctors regarding the back injury sustained on Rally Finland. The next episode surrounded Marty McCormack, who forgot his passport. He managed to get away with that little predicament getting through the Channel Tunnel, but his rally didn`t go well. An early misfire caused by his Fiesta R5 gearchange cut out malfunctioning cost time. He then got going fairly well and was `comfortable` with his pace. However he then retired – twice. First on Saturday with broken steering, then, when running in Rally 2 on Sunday his car succumbed to two smashed wheels.

Considering it was their first time on the WRC, Sam Moffett/James O`Reilly did well to finish 15th in the Combilift Fiesta WRC. Sam and James overcame a few difficulties, and had been higher than 15th but eased off towards the end to be sure of finishing. Sam did find the long stages and the slippy conditions hard going. Alastair Fisher/Gordon Noble finished 22nd o/a in their Citroen DS3R3T, and were 4th in WRC 3. Alastair felt a little rusty at the beginning of the rally, but got going well and was pushing for 3rd in the category towards the end but bent the car`s rear beam and eased back.

Meanwhile on Friday night`s Magherafelt Sunset Rally Derek McGeehan/Daragh Mullan had a clear run in the Mini WRC to take a 29s win over Enda McNulty/Paul Sheridan. Previous winner McNulty reverted to his Subaru for this one and pushed very hard at times, but a couple of minor overshoots and moments denied him a win. Michael Carbin/Stephen Thornton had a good run in their Lancer to take 3rd overall. Adrian Hetherington/Gary Nolan finished an excellent 4th and best 2wd in their Escort, a few seconds ahead of Shane McGirr/Jackie Elliott in their Starlet and with Seamus O`Connell/Arthur Kierans rounding off the top half dozen. Both Hetherington and McGirr were heading off to Cork for the Jim Walsh Forestry so were just on the careful side of flat out. Desi Henry was expected to feature strongly, but his Lancer stopped on the first stage, Glenshane, with a gearbox problem. It was left to Niall Henry to uphold family honour with 8th o/a and best GpN.

On then to the Jim Walsh Cork Forestry, where Cork man Owen Murphy took his home rally by the scruff of the neck and, co-driven by James O`Brien in their Lancer led from start to finish. Former Forestry Champions Pat O`Connell/Mark Wiley were in the hunt with their Lancer throughout the tough, damp and in places foggy stages to take 2nd. Josh Moffett/Jason McKenna seemed to be heading for 2nd place, but slipped to 3rd at the end in their GpN Lancer.

Owen Murphy never really set out to contest this season`s Valvoline forestry series, but Owen, a former winner of this rally as well as a former Champion, has every chance of taking the title again. His only real problem on this event was an extremely swollen and sore wrist. Owen reckons that on the first stage he aggravated an old injury. The wrist was strapped up for the rest of the day and he just ignored the pain! With three rounds remaining on the Valvoline series – Carrick on Suir, Bushwhacker and Glens of Antrim, the Championship is still relatively wide open. Owen Murphy is looking good, while Josh Moffett actually leads the points table but sooner or later will have to drop scores. Early points leader Desi Henry is still in with a shout and Brendan Cumiskey certainly can`t be ruled out, while Niall Henry is looking strong, as is Ger Lucey. Michael Carbin is another who has a good points tally, but will be affected by dropped scores.

Over the opening three stages on the Jim Walsh Owen Murphy set fastest times, with Desi Henry, making up for an early delay, quickest through stage 4 Newfields. The opening stage, the 10.1km Ballinaboola test, saw Josh Moffett 2nd fastest, Derek McGeehan 3rd and Andrew Purcell 4th.

There was very little between the top three over the next three stages, with Derek McGeehan coming into 2nd, behind Owen Murphy and with Josh Moffett 3rd, just a handful of seconds covering all three. Pat O`Connell was also well in the hunt and held 4th. Desi Henry improved from 12th to 6th by the end of stage 4, half way in the rally. Desi was having problems with his Lancer`s differential settings. Andrew Purcell dropped from 5th to 9th when his Lancer had brake problems in stage 4. He then called it a day at service.

In the two-wheel drive section there was a massive disappointment on the opening stage for Championship 2WD leaders Shane McGirr/Jackie Elliott. Their Starlet ground to halt with a broken engine when a stone got caught in the cam belt pulleys and jumped the valve timing. Frank Kelly was also tipped as a front runner, but he dropped four minutes when his Escort`s fuel filter blocked. Mickey Conlon, another expected front runner, stopped when his Escort broke a bell housing. It was left to Adrian Hetherington to fly the flag for the 2WD runners, and he had his Escort in the top ten throughout.

In the afternoon stages Owen Murphy kept hammering on to eventually win by 12s from Pat O`Connell. Josh Moffett slipped from 2nd to 3rd on the final stage when he half spun his Lancer at a chicane. Derek McGeehan was 4th, Brendan Cumiskey 5th. Derek McGeehan did well to hold on to his 4th place as his Mini WRC sustained a puncture at one point. Desi Henry had moved up to 5th on stage 6, but then dropped back. Former Champion John Reid had retired his Corolla WRC on stage 5 when holding 8th. Adrian Hetherington was a brilliant 6th, and best of the two-wheel drive contenders. Paul Fitzgerald was 2nd best 2wd and 11th o/a, while Frank Kelly brought his Escort home 12th, having been last after the opening stage.

In the Junior section young Shane Kennealley, co-driven by Jer Connors in his Escort, took the honours at the finish. Conor McCarthy had led but his Civic broke a driveshaft. Alan Moran then moved to the front of the Juniors but crashed his 206, so that Shane Kennealley came through to win.

Jim Walsh Cork Forest Rally Top Ten
1st Owen Murphy/James O`Brien (Lancer) 44.52.3
2nd Pat O`Connell/Mark Wiley (Lancer) 45.04.2
3rd Josh Moffett/Jason McKenna (Lancer) 45.11.4
4th Derek McGeehan/Darragh Mullen (Mini WRC) 45.18.1
5th Brendan Cumiskey/Ronan Kane (Impreza WRC) 46.40.9
6th Adrian Hetherington/Gary Nolan (Escort) 46.44.0
7th Niall Henry/John Rowan (Lancer) 47.06.2
8th Michael Carbin/Stephen Thornton (Lancer) 47.30.8
9th Gerard Lucey/James Lucey (Lancer) 47.39.7
10th Martin Donnelly/Brian Doherty (Corolla WRC) 49.14.4

Class Winners: - CL1 Johnny Kenneally/Grace O`Brien (Escort): CL2 Tom Murphy/Conor Collins (Escort): CL3 Paul Fitzgerald/Pierce Doheny Jnr (Escort): CL4 Mick O`Sullivan/Carol O`Keefe (Escort): CL5A Damien McGauran/Thomas McGauran (Corolla): CL5B Adrian Hetherington/Gary Nolan (Escort): CL6 Brecan McBreen/Breen McNamee (Impreza): CL7 Martin Donnelly/Brian Doherty (Corolla): CL8 Josh Moffett/Jason McKenna (Lancer) CL9 Shane Kenneally/Jer Connors (Escort): CL20 Owen Murphy/James O`Brien (Lancer).

Looking forward to this weekend, Craig Breen is set to tackle the Barum Czech Rally Zlin and is seeded at No.1 in the Peugeot Academy 208 T16 R5. Robert Barrable seeded at No.10 in his Fiesta R5; Stuart Louden will co-drive for Robert and Scott Martin with Craig. Neil Simpson and Claire Mole are seeded at 19 in their Fabia S2000. An interesting entry is at No.27 in the shape of Mark Higgins and co-driver Carl Williamson driving one of the new Impreza Sti running in RC2. Circuit of Ireland winner Esapekka Lappi is seeded at 3 in his Skoda behind Ott Tanak (Fiesta). The event is Round 8 of the European Rally Championship. There are 15 asphalt special stages.

Closer to home the Dunlop National Championship action resumes on the Galway Summer Stages. Welshman Hugh Hunter is the No.1 seed on the strength of winning the rally last year. Hugh has Mark Glennerster co-driving in his Impreza WRC. What a strong line-up Hugh has behind his Subaru – Declan Boyle, Paddy McVeigh, Steve Wood, Roy White, Derek McGarrity, Kevin Barrett, Alan Ring, James Stafford and Mick O`Brien – and any of them could win. It`s quite remarkable really how strong it is, and there are plenty of good drivers outside the top ten also. Clerk of the Course Mark Parsons has laid on a very attractive, challenging series of stages.

Four or five drivers could still win the National Championship, so as the story unfolds this Sunday in Ballinasloe the odds will surely shorten on an eventual winner. Josh Moffett is seeded at 11 for Sunday, and he heads the GpN category, while Frank Kelly tops a strong 2wd division. There are just two more rallies after the Galway Summer – Clare and Donegal Harvest, so it is time for the drivers to really get their heads down!

Also this weekend is the Festival of Speed at Long Kesh. The festival will run on Saturday and Sunday, and the non-competitive rally stage will be at the heart of the action, with Group 4 Escorts, Chevette, GpB Super cars such as the Ford RS200 and a whole lot more will be in action. The nature of the format is such that the drivers can go out and enjoy themselves, without worrying about times. Instead of paying an entry fee, the rally crews will be making a donation to Macmillan Cancer Support. As well as rallying, there will be an off-road course, live music, autosolo cars, autotesting, drifting and a lot more!

Looking further ahead, the Enniskillen MC team is working hard at their Lakeland Forest event, scheduled for Saturday 6th September. The rally is supported by Samdec Security and CoC Gerry Cavanagh has laid 44 miles of good forestry stages, with the entry fee being pegged at £196.40 as a nod to the formation of the Enniskillen Motor Club 50 years ago, in 1964. As an added feature to this year`s rally, Gladys Fisher has donated some of the late Bertie`s trophies to be awarded this year. Rally HQ is the Enniskillen Hotel and service will be in the old Grosvenor Barracks. Just some of the top entries so far include one from Donagh Kelly. Donagh is getting an Impreza P2000 ready for forest rallying. However it won`t be ready for the Lakeland, so he will almost certainly drive Derek McGeehan`s Mini WRC. Mark Cassidy, an associate of Donagh`s who is based in the UK, is really keen to co-drive on his home rally for the 50th anniversary, so he is sitting in with Donagh. Mark is no novice, as he co-drove for Niall McShea in the past. Kevin Flanagan, who is Donagh`s usual co-driver, will instead co-drive for Martin Cairns in his Impreza WRC. Frank Kelly has entered in his Escort; Patsy Keenan is making the trip from the USA to compete, while local man Jonny Leonard will be a possible winner in his GpA Lancer.

Small world rallying, as we were heading for the Isle of Man last week to make the notes for the Manx International Rally, quite by chance we met former Ulster Rally winner Derek Boyd, who now lives on the Island. Derek`s wife Beryl sadly passed away a few weeks ago following a short illness. We offer our deepest condolences to all the Boyd family.

Also on the ferry was another rallyman, Will Corry. Many years ago Will bought the rights to the Davrian car, and set up the Corry Car Company to develop the lightweight little pocket rocket. The workshop was moved from Lampeter to an old brass foundry in Lisburn. Stanley Orr, who is currently doing great things in Historic rallying with his self-built MK1 Escort, was employed as mechanic and driver. Stanley scored many class successes with the car. Derek Boyd was a guest driver and competed on the Donegal Harvest with the car, which was then called the Corry Cultra. Brian Nelson was also called upon to compete with it, and he created quite a stir on the Manx Rally with his performance. The late Peter Ashcroft, Head of Competitions at Ford, supplied a couple of engines and gearboxes.

To move the project forward, Will Corry reckoned he had to become an FIA recognised manufacturer. He really needed Ford support for this, as 200 cars had to be built to GpB specifications. This was also at the time when the RS200 was being built `on the quiet`. The Corry project wasn`t supported and eventually closed. Many of the cars reportedly still exist. The last one of them is still owned by Will and he intends to refurbish it at his son Will`s workshop. `Young Will` prepares and builds chiefly old Midgets, amongst other things, for autotests and lanes rallies. The Corry Cultra really was quite a car, and it is quite a shame that the company went the way of so many car concerns in Ireland, and just petered out.

One car business that is still going strong is the Crossle Car Company in Holywood, Co Down. Alan Plum Tyndall of RPM fame has a book about the Crossle coming out in a few weeks and we will have more details on that soon.

Finally for now, our thoughts and condolences go to the family and friends of a great rally friend of ours over the years, Willie Niblock, who died last Friday following an illness.