Remarkably, New York based Barry McKenna flew back last weekend to compete on the Grampian Rally – and won! Barry met up with his co-driver, fellow Monaghan man Arthur Kierans, in Edinburgh on the Friday and from there they went on to compete on the Scottish Championship Rally. Barry was driving the same Dom Buckley prepared Fiesta R5 he uses on the Valvoline Irish Forestry series. No. 1 seed on the rally, and favourite for victory, was Jock Armstrong. He commented before the rally: “You’re two tough men coming over here to compete!” How right Jock was. Barry and Arthur raised the bar somewhat, winning by over a minute from the Subaru driver. Kierans commented afterwards, “We had a spin and overshoot on the final stage and still set fastest time. We missed your notes!”

Also on Saturday was the Rathfriland Motor Club’s Targa Rally, run in the Pontzpass area. Moneyreagh’s Matthew Mason, son of former GpN Champion Raymond, took victory in his Nissan Micra, with Ben McKee co-driving. Mark Francis/Adam Hilditch were 2nd in an MX-5 and Eddie Peterson/Phillip O’Reilly (Toyota MR2) were 3rd.

Then on the Sunday, Josh Moffett/Keith Moriarity in their Fiesta WRC were the clear winners of the Tipperary Stonethrowers Rally from Declan Boyle/James O’Reilly. Roy White/James O’Brien made it a Fiesta top three. Moffett built up a clear lead over the course of the day, although a penultimate stage hiccup when his Fiesta went on to three cylinders left Josh leading by just 3 seconds. The Monaghan man made no mistakes on that final test to win by 7s and also take the Power Stage bonus Championship point. Joe McGonigle/Ciaran Geaney in their Mini WRC went well throughout the day, even though it was Joe’s first time in the territory. The Donegal man appeared to have finished 3rd and received the plaudits on the ramp.

However an amendment to the results moved Roy White up to 3rd, Joe 4th. It appears that White thought that a car in front of him had gone off the road, and he stopped to check. This cost several minutes as well as places on the leaderboard. Then, after the finish, he was awarded a notional time which moved him up to 3rd. No doubt, following all the warnings to drivers that they must stop at the scene of an accident unless an “OK” board is displayed, White’s cautious approach was understandable, even laudable. However there was no accident, although there may well have been earlier in the day. The officials obviously believed Roy did the right thing, so the notional time. It was annoying though for Joe McGonigle. Stuart Darcy in his Darrian was best 2wd, Adrian Hetherington top Escort. Jonathan Pringle appeared to be heading for both honours until a last stage puncture intervened. Armagh’s Jason Black won the Juniors with ease and set some good times relative to the main field. In terms of the Triton Showers National Championship, Declan Boyle still leads on 77 points: Joe McGonigle is 2nd with 60 and Josh Moffett 3rd on 59. It promises to be a close run to the finish, as Declan Boyle is going to have to drop a score sometime, which would leave him and Josh more or less tied. The next round is the reconstituted Sligo Stages on the 1st & 2nd September. The rally was due to run in early July but because of the worry over melting tar on the roads, the event was postponed and then cancelled. Obviously then prospective competitors are going to have to enter afresh, and the club has a very generous scheme involving draws and free entries.

Three major rallies are on the cards for this weekend: the Galway Summer, the Ulster and the WRC Rally Germany. On the latter it is all change for the drivers as well as the set-up on the cars for the switch from gravel roads to smooth asphalt. Again there is no Kris Meeke, but the treat of seeing Sebastien Loeb in a Citroen once again. Otherwise, it is all much the same, Ogier (M-Sport Ford) and Neuville (Hyundai), the two WRC points leaders, battling it out for supremacy. Where the Toyotas, particularly Ott Tanak, feature in the equation, should certainly be interesting.

On the John Mulholland Motors backed Ulster, the coming together of the Irish Tarmac and British Championship contenders is well documented and no doubt the drones will be fairly buzzing come Friday evening and the drama of Torr Head! However Keith Cronin, the British Champion and No. 1 seed has unexpectedly withdrawn from the rally. News is also coming in that Sam Moffett has also withdrawn from the rally. Further news is that Philip Allen is substituting for Eugene Donnelly. The points positions at the top of the two Championships more or less reflect the seeding. Sam Moffett is just ahead of his brother Josh in the Tarmac. Robert Barrable is 3rd in the Tarmac standings, but he is giving the Ulster a miss. Jonny Greer is 4th and Eugene Donnelly 5th. (One of the Ulster stages passes the door of Eugene’s old home, so surely he will set a good time on that test!) In the Prestone British Championship, Matt Edwards leads from Keith Cronin. 3rd is Alex Laffey: 4th Rhys Yates: 5th David Bogie and 6th Marty McCormack. Interestingly Josh McErlean is 9th and James Wilson 10th, these two leading the ultra-competitive R2/Junior contenders. The Ulster is a big event, spread over two days, and with a large road mileage as well as tough stages. It is going to be very interesting indeed to see who comes out on top.

At the Tuam based Galway Summer Rally, the battle will be for West Coast and Border Rally Championship points. The Rally HQ is in Ballybrit, the stages and service are out at Tuam. Certainly the Galway Summer should be intriguing. CoC Aiden Connolly has organised a compact route, with mostly smooth and fast stages, which should give the crews a brilliant day’s Motorsport. Padraig Egan is the number 1 seed in an Impreza from Hugh Hunter in his Fiesta WRC. Brendan Cumiskey is entered in a Skoda R5 while Jonathan Pringle is the top 2wd exponent in his Escort. A really interesting late addition to the entry is former National Champion Donagh Kelly who is giving his recently completed historic Ascona 400 a run out.

Looking forward, the next weekend (25th/26th Aug) is comparatively free of rallying on the home front, and then it is all stations go the following weekend (1st/2nd September), with the Lakeland, Sligo and the Wexford ‘recce’.
Brian & Liz Patterson