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Irish Notes
by Brian & Liz Patterson |
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Last weekend’s Cartell.ie Rally of the Lakes had it all – excitement, top competition, drama, heartbreak, craic in the town, buzz, huge crowds, massive traffic jams, great organisation to keep the rally on time. It was like the Lakes rallies of old and a tough initiation for new Clerk of the Course Anthony O’Connor. Congratulations to Anthony, who runs the car business attached to Mike Moriarity’s Centra store at Farranfore, he was cool and decisive throughout. Maybe he was like the struggling duck paddling like you know what’s below the surface, but it certainly didn’t show!
Current Tarmac Champion Donagh Kelly, co-driven by Conor Foley in his Focus WRC took an emphatic back to back victory. Second overall, and of almost equal significance, were Alastair Fisher & Gordon Noble in their Fiesta R5. This netted the pair maximum Irish Tarmac Championship points and the lead of the series. Sam Moffett/Karl Atkinson harried Fisher all the way but had to accept 3rd at the finish of what was a tough but very good rally. Sam Moffett is now 2nd in the Tarmac Championship and Stephen Wright 3rd. It was significant on this rally that only two World Rally contenders took part – Donagh Kelly and Garry Jennings, so the change in the Irish Tarmac Championship structure is really starting to bite.
It will probably be a different picture on the Joule Donegal, but then Donegal is a special case. But this time there was for example no Declan Boyle, who is worried about putting too many miles on his Fiesta WRC engine and reportedly there is a 10 week turnaround in M-Sport for engine rebuilds and Declan is worried about being left high and dry for Donegal.
The classic Gortnagane road between Killarney and Millstreet was the opening stage this year and Garry Jennings in his Subaru posted his intentions loud and clear with a fastest time from Alastair Fisher, with Sam Moffett 3rd and No.1 seed Donagh Kelly 4th. Garry had his Subaru revamped since its last outing in West Cork and he was determined to make amends for his lacklustre performance there. He remarked at the stage finish that he was distracted a couple of times when he caught a glimpse of Donagh Kelly’s Focus in the distance. Garry told us later that his sponsor, Daniel Loughran from GO (Fuels) sent a text to him at one point with the message ‘GO hard or GO home!’ Later events were to make this ironic in the extreme!
Ed Murphy was fastest of the National crews initially from Eugene Meegan in his BMW 1M. Top National seed Fergus O’Meara was 3rd, but his Escort had brake problems and he completely fell out of contention.
At first service after stage 2 Garry Jennings was 10s ahead of Alastair Fisher, with Donagh Kelly a further 3s back. Sam Moffett was 4th and Tarmac Championship points leader starting the rally Josh Moffett was 6th, having lost a couple of seconds avoiding a dog on a stage, and then was distracted in stage 2 when a temperature warning light flashed on. Worse was to follow for Josh though, as he inverted his Fiesta in stage 3, a 2nd run over Gortnagane. Fortunately Josh and his co-driver John Rowan were uninjured.
Photo by Ger Leahy
By 2nd service after stage 4 Jennings had extended his lead to 18s over Alastair Fisher, with Donagh Kelly 3rd but breathing down Alastair’s neck. Jennings was hampered by a disappearing dashboard display, which meant that often he didn’t know which gear he was in. This was eventually traced to a broken wire in the map light and was easily fixed. Sam Moffett reported his Fiesta R5 to be ‘perfect’, but he was driving the door handles off it in his effort to reel in Fisher. The latter stayed cool though, and maintained a fabulous pace throughout the first day. Stephen Wright worked up to a decent trouble free tempo in his Fiesta R5 to hold 5th o/a through the Saturday afternoon.
At day’s end Garry Jennings had a 27s lead over Alastair Fisher, with Donagh Kelly just 2s back from the flying R5. Sam Moffett was driving as hard as he dared to stay in touch with the top three, and indeed was in touching distance.
David Guest led GpN despite his Lancer needing a replacement driver side door which was damaged in a coming together with Keith Cronin’s Citroen at a control. Paul Barrett was 2nd in GpN with his Impreza, but that was to change on the foggy opening Sunday stage Molls Gap. Paul crashed his Subaru out of the rally at Fishers Bridge. Actually Paul’s accident possibly started even before the bridge, but that is where the car ended up. Bertie Fisher was in the ditch there many years ago, as was Derek McGarrity, his Subaru finishing upside down in a ditch with boulders sticking through the roof – not nice. Brian O’Keefe had held 2nd GpN early in the event but a broken turbo and gearbox dramas sidelined his Impreza. This left Gus Kearney 2nd in GpN but his Lancer was down on turbo power. This problem was soon rectified and Gus went on to finish 2nd, with his brother Pat, also in a Sepam backed Lancer 3rd. Peter O’Kane, who had former multiple Tarmac Champion and Lakes winner Eugene Donnelly co-driving, was 4th out of 4.
Despite the dreadful conditions, Donagh Kelly set a sparkling time over Molls Gap, 16s faster than Jennings. Perhaps Garry tried to respond on the next stage, Ballaghbeama, but unfortunately he put his Subaru into the scenery and out of the rally. At the finish of that stage Kelly led by 13s from Alastair Fisher, with Sam Moffett a further 22s back. Garry said later that he had made the note for the corner, on that narrow tricky bit of road from the start up to the turn Square Right over the bump and bridge onto the main road, too fast. Indeed he had described the corner as flat out, when it actually tightened. In addition the road was very wet and there was a fair smattering of gravel. Garry’s Subaru took out more than 100yds of hedge bushes and trees before going into a bog. The car looked sore, but he is hoping it is only panel damage and Johnny Crozier, his engineer, is trying to get it ready for this weekend’s Carlow Rally.
Through the following Sunday stages, with the early fog replaced by sunshine, Donagh Kelly drove in a very controlled but extremely fast manner to build up a 49s lead over Alastair Fisher. Sam Moffett was relentless in his efforts to close the gap on Fisher, but he couldn’t avoid a large stone in stage 11 and his Fiesta suffered a puncture which resulted in a 50s gap to the Fisher machine. Sam kept trying, but Fisher was cool under pressure to maintain his 2nd place.
David Guest in his Lancer had a very clear run to GpN victory and was even able to indulge in testing different tyres in readiness for the Donegal Rally, which is the next round of the Tarmac series.
Tipperary brothers Pat and Gus Kearney in their respective Lancers were 2nd and 3rd in the category. Callum Devine had a virtually trouble free run in his Opel Adam to win the R2 category, from the ever improving William Creighton (Peugeot 208 R2). Marty Gallagher in his Fiesta R2 was well in the picture but retired just before the end. Eugene Meegan/Sarah Whelan won the National category in their BMW 1M despite severe brake shudder problems over the last 5 stages. Ross Marshall/Dave Robson, who led the Tarmac Modified points in their Escort starting the rally were sidelined in the Shanera stage. This handed the Tarmac Modified lead to David Armstrong/Martin McGarrity in their Escort. They finished the Lakes National in 10th.
It was another miserable rally weekend for Keith Cronin, his Citroen DS3R3 stationery for 19 minutes between the arrival control and the start of stage 1 when the brakes seized on. This effectively knocked Keith out of all contention for the weekend, although he did get the car going and finished the stage. However, despite changing every electrical component on the car, the engine was off song throughout. Keith never gave up trying. He fine tuned the suspension, and by revving ‘the nuts off’ the engine even managed to score a fastest time on the Sunday, eventually finishing 13th of 17 International finishers. It was suspected that the problem in Keith’s Citroen is related to the wiring loom.
Alastair Fisher’s performance in his Fiesta R5 was just about faultless. His car is being run by Dom Buckley, and the whole team looked ultra professional. Sam Moffett, who won this rally outright a couple of years ago, is very close to Fisher in performance. He could possibly turn the tables on the next Tarmac round, the Donegal International. However on this showing Fisher is in for the long haul and will be hard to beat. Stephen Wright was another to have a good run on his way to 4th in the R5’s, 5th o/a. Alan Ring was on a learning curve with his Fiesta R5, now converted from R5+ to R5, and despite a trip into a resident’s garden on one stage, had a good finish. Owen Murphy was pleased to get to grips with his recently acquired Skoda S2000, and despite stalling the car at a stage start, and also had some wiper troubles, became more competitive through the two days. Aaron MacHale has driven his Skoda on a few rallies now, but is still getting accustomed to the brakes on the car. Joe Connolly in his Fiesta R5, and John Mulholland in his ex Ogier Skoda S2000 had a great battle throughout, the former just getting the edge to finish 10th o/a.
Drivers who encountered problems included Joe McGonigle, his Skoda S2000 suffering an early puncture. The jack then gave problems and Joe, 7th in the Tarmac Championship starting the rally, lost 8m. He was in any case to retire late in the day when his Skoda suffered a mechanical problem.
Top Ten International:-
1st Donagh Kelly/Conor Foley (Ford Focus WRC) 2h03m14.5s
2nd Alastair Fisher/Gordon Noble (Ford Fiesta R5) +49.6s
3rd Sam Moffett/Karl Atkinson (Ford Fiesta R5) +1m27.5s
4th Stephen Wright/Fintan Sherry (Ford Fiesta R5) +2m19.8s
5th Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Fiesta R5) +1m30.3s
6th Owen Murphy/Anthony Nestor (Skoda S2000) +1m0.7s
7th Aaron MacHale/Enda Sherry (Skoda Fabia S2000) +2m32.0s
8th Callum Devine/Keith Moriarity (Opel Adam R2) +3m23.8s
9th David Guest/Paddy Robinson (Mitsubishi Evo 9) +58.1s
10th Joe Connolly/Richard Connolly (Ford Fiesta R5) +3m53.0s
National Category
1 Eugene Meegan/Sarah Whelan (BMW 1M) 2h12m19.8s
2 Jack Newman/Donal Lennon (Ford Escort Mk2) +34.9s
3 Liam Howlett/Enda Sherry (Ford Escort Mk2) +4m07.1s
4 Jason Ryan/Peter Falvey (Toyota Starlet) +30.7s
5 Charlie Hickey/Johnny Hickey (Ford Escort RS) +33.1s
6 John O’Sullivan/Eoghan McCarthy (Honda Civic) +1m32.3s
Classes
2 Callum Devine/Keith Moriarity (Opel Adam R2)
4 David Guest/Paddy Robinson (Mitsubishi Evo 9)
5 Alastair Fisher/Gordon Noble (Ford Fiesta R5)
7 Donagh Kelly/Conor Foley (Ford Focus WRC)
9 Billy McCarthy/Andy Mahon (Nissan Micra)
10 Steven O’Donovan/Daniel Hanratty (Ford Escort)
11F Jason Ryan/Peter Falvey (Toyota Starlet)
11R Andrew Duggan/Tara Duggan (Ford Escort)
12 Sean Moynihan/Shane Buckley (Ford Escort Mk2)
13 Jack Newman/Donal Lennon (Ford Escort Mk2)
14 Eugene Meegan/Sarah Whelan (BMW 1M)
17 Guil Nascimento/Robbie Ward (Honda Civic Type R)
20 Kevin O’Sullivan/Martin O’Riordan (Subaru Impreza STI)
K Historic Frank Cunningham/Ross Forde (Ford Escort)
C2 Historic Ciaran Geoghegan/Tommy Moynihan (Lancia Fulvia)
C3 Historic Phillip McKibbin/Lynn McKibbin (Ford Escort Mk1)
D5 Historic David Goose/Richard Wardle (Ford Escort RS1800)
J1 Juniors Denis Nagle/Donagh Crowley (Nissan Micra)
J2 Juniors Kieran O’Donoghue/Derek Butler (Honda Civic Type R)
Also last weekend was the Pirelli Rally, round 3 of the British Rally Championship. Swedish driver Fredrik Ahlin, co-driven by Morten Erik Abrahamsen in a Fiesta R5Evo took the win from Matthew Wilson, with Elfyn Evans 3rd, Tom Cave 4th, Marty McCormack 5th Johnny Greer 6th and Desi Henry, having been stuck in a ditch at one point, was 7th. There was controversy on the rally in that the top drivers beat the ‘bogey’ times on three stages – testimony to how fast the likes of Elfyn Evans was going and also as to the quality of the stage tracks which were in beautiful condition. Elfyn Evans did lose time at one point with a puncture, but otherwise was flying.
The story at the front of the British Championship is a bit misleading, as the top two have played something called their ‘joker card’ whereby they get double points for one rally. Anyway, for better or worse, Ahlin leads on 65pts, Elfyn Evans on 60, Josh Moffett 30, Tom Cave 26 and Jonny Greer 23.
There is no doubt about the leader of the BRC Junior Championship, Rob Duggan in his Vauxhall Adam, the Killarney man co-driven by Ger Conway. Rob had a very clear R2 class win, with Gus Greensmith 2nd and Adam Bustard 3rd, the latter two in Fiesta R2s.
Omagh’s Paul Barrett, with Max Freeman co-driving in his Escort had a very good result with his Escort on the Pirelli Historic rally, finishing 2nd o/a, winning the D3 category and also scoring well on the Historic British Championship.
Stanley Orr in his Mk1 Escort, with Guy Weaver on the notes, also had a great run and they finished 5th and won the C3 category. Stanley went on down then to Wales and contested a rally over Epynt on the Sunday, where he again had a good result. The purpose of the Wales trip was as much to gain experience of the Epynt asphalt military roads in preparation for the Harry Flatters Rally this summer. Dessie Nutt/Geraldine McBride also contested the ‘Mini Epynt’ event in their Porsche 911, Dessie and Geraldine having a decent run to finish 2nd in their Historic category, behind Rikki Profitt.
Meanwhile on the Bank Holiday Monday the Enniskillen MC ran the St. Angelo sprint and Derek McGeehan/Laurie Smith in their Mini WRC took victory. Kenny McKinstry/Derek Crossen were 2nd. Kenny was caught on the wrong tyres a couple of times when sudden heavy showers swept across the airfield. Damian Toner/Denver Rafferty in their Escort were 3rd. Martin Cairns was competing in his recently acquired Fiesta WRC and finished down the order, having messed up about switching on the anti-lag and also indulged in a spin.
Also last weekend was the Cookstown Club’s Sheperd’s Rest Targa Rally and Christopher Evans/Kevin Fagan ran out the winners in their Mazda Mx-5. Eric Patterson/Raymond Donaldson in a similar car were 2nd and Matthew Mason/Peter Scott did well to take 3rd o/a and a class win in their Micra.
Coming up this weekend is the Magherafelt Club’s Sperrins Rally on Saturday as well as the Carlow Stages on Sunday. The Sperrins is a round of both the McGrady Insurance NI series as well as the Valvoline Forestry. Desi Henry (Fabia R5), Kenny McKinstry (Impreza WRC), Derek McGeehan (Mini WRC), Mark Donnelly (Impreza WRC), Marty McCormack (Fabia S2000) and Patrick O’Brien (Mitsubishi) make up the top six. Derek McGarrity missed the early closing and he is seeded down at 76. NI Champion Derek is driving the same ex Nasser Al Attiyah Fiesta WRC which he drove on the Circuit, now fitted with forest suspension for the race through Glenshane, Davagh and Banagher forests. There are plenty of other drivers capable of mixing it with the leaders and these include Richard Hogg in his Impreza WRC, Mark Donnelly (Fiesta S2000) are just a couple more from a very strong entry. We will be providing our RallyNews service on the rally with live reports starting after the first stage.
On the Carlow Rally, Wesley Patterson is seeded at 1 in deference to his win there last year, but whether he starts first on the road ahead of a veritable flock of World Rally cars on this Triton Showers National Championship rally remains to be seen. Wesley has been unhappy with his Escort over the last few rallies as there has been a vibration in the car. He feels that at last he has discovered the cause – the gearbox main shaft was a tiny fraction out of line, possibly having got a knock when the clutch was changed earlier this year. Former Champion Declan Boyle is seeded at 2 in his Fiesta WRC, Garry Jennings is at 3, depending of course on his Subaru being repaired, current Championship points leader Roy White is at 4 in his Fiesta WRC, Peadar Hurson and Niall Maguire, both in Subaru WRCs, make up the top half dozen. The rest of the top ten is also made up of WRC machinery, and beyond that are most of the top Escort drivers in the country. Even 5 times Scottish Champion David Bogie is making the trip from Dumfries to join in the Mk2 Escort Challenge. The entry is not just bursting with talent it is also bursting at the seams quantity wise, which should make this one of the best rallies of the year.
There are many angles to the rally. For example both Tommy Doyle and Manus Kelly are switching to World Rally Cars. Simon Chapman is competing in his interesting Proton. The GpN category has quite often been poorly supported in recent times, but on this one it looks brilliant – Sebastien Ling will be racing against the likes of Shane Maguire, Paul Barrett, Aidan Wray, Trevor Bustard and Neill Tohill.
On Saturday 14th May it is the next round of the BTRDA, the Plains Rally. Jordan Hone and his co-driving father Paul are making the Welsh trip to compete with their Proton and get back in contention to win the BTRDA 1400 Championship. They used the last round, the Somerset Stages, as one of their dropped scores in order to carry out some improvements to the car including new shafts, a gearbox rebuild and a new heated screen, all thanks to RallyHire. Jordan finished 2nd in class last year and hopes to go one better this time.
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