Considering the dark wet conditions on last Saturday’s Donegal Harvest Rally, it was a bright enough day for many of the competitors, particularly the Moffett brothers, Sam and Josh, who finished first and second respectively, as well as Declan Boyle, who did enough to clinch the Triton Showers National Championship. Sam Moffett/Karl Atkinson powered their Fiesta into a first stage lead which they weren’t to lose throughout the day. Josh Moffett/Keith Moriarity survived a broken driveshaft on their Fiesta and set some fastest times on their way to 2nd overall.

Winning the Triton Showers National Championship was the big prize of the day and as long as Declan Boyle managed to finish in a decent position, Josh wasn’t going to win the title, which also meant not repeating Sam’s remarkable feat last year of winning the Triton, the Tarmac and the Valvoline Forestry Championships all in the one season. Josh came close, as he has won the Tarmac and the Forestry, but this one, the Triton Showers, eluded him. Declan Boyle was suffering from a stomach upset all day Saturday as well as his Fiesta WRC suffering a misted up screen, but, guided by his co-driver James O’Reilly he steered his Fiesta through the floods to finish 8th, more than enough to clinch his 3rd National Title.

Other drivers to hit their respective targets included Chris Armstrong and his co-driver Chris Melly in their Escort who won the rally.ie Championship 2wd Award, while Aidan Wray/Kieran McGrath won GpN on the day and for the Triton. The 2wd section of the rally had all sorts of dramas – Declan Gallagher was absolutely brilliant in his new Starlet to take 5th o/a, with Damien Toner next 2wd and Gary Kiernan 3rd 2wd, both in Escorts. Stuart Darcy had a big charge at taking the rally.ie award, but his Darrian was stranded at the roadside on the penultimate stage and went on fire. Other top 2wd contenders to retire after mishaps included David Bogie and Damien Tourish.

Drivers who did make the finish included Donagh Kelly/Conor Foley who were a controlled 3rd in their Focus WRC, Joe McGonigle/Ciaran Geaney who had a great run in their Mini WRC to take 4th on the day and 3rd in the Championship, Declan Gallagher who was a brilliant 5th o/a in his new Starlet, while Gareth MacHale/Brian Murphy were a very respectable 6th in their Fiesta R5, as Gareth continues his comeback. He certainly picked a tough one to resume his rally familiarisation!

Also last Saturday was the North Armagh Club’s Loughgall Targa Rally. Christopher Evans/Kevin Fagan came out tops on that one in their Toyota MR2. Eric Patterson/Raymond Donaldson and Douglas Reid/Nathan Mann, both crews in Mazda MX5s, finished 2nd and 3rd.

Further afield there was a great ‘turnout’ of Irish drivers for the Rally Legends event in San Marino. This really is a classic event with all sorts of former top rally cars as well as famous drivers from the present time and past eras. It is not supposed to be a proper rally, but everyone tries to beat the clock over classic roads, so it is an ‘all sideways’ fun rally really. Drivers from here who took part included Kris Meeke and Craig Breen, as well as Frank Kelly, James Coleman, Thomas Fitzmaurice in his Subaru, making a welcome return, Kevin O’Donoghue (BMW) and Tadgh O’Sullivan (Escort). One senior driver described it as ‘madness on wheels’. San Marino is a small principality with a castle on top. There is one bit of dual carriageway which includes roundabouts – this is used for warming tyres and brakes. Drivers come from all over Europe and even further afield, to partake in this huge event. There are night stages where the hordes of fans go completely mad – the noise of air horns, klaxons and chainless chain saws a-revving madly, mixed with the noise of the cars, is breathtakingly deafening! Thomas Fitzmaurice, who was badly injured some years ago in a rally accident down in Killarney tells us, “That was my third time there. I wouldn’t miss it – it is the one weekend of the year when I can be a rally driver again, stretch my rally legs!” James Coleman commented “It is a kind of lunacy you couldn’t replicate anywhere else. If you closed your eyes and thought of the Eighties, all the GpB machinery and the spectators wanting to touch the cars – it’s just like that, fantastic, unbelievable!”

Looking forward to this weekend, the Cookstown Club is running the Tyrone Stages at Benone/Magilligan. There are 14 short snappy smooth stages on the agenda. This is the final round of the McGrady Insurance NI Championship. Derek McGarrity, even with this round remaining, has won the championship once again, and is seeded at No.1. He will almost certainly drive an ex Keith Cronin Citroen DS3 R5 as his Focus WRC is in the throes of an engine rebuild. Fair play to Derek, his attitude is “I want to support the rally and the Championship, and at the end of the day I just want to give it a go.” Desi Henry starts at 2 in his very rapid Skoda R5. Desi won the Tyrone Stages last year when it was a closed road stage event based at Cookstown, while Derek won it the year before when it was run at Benone and was similar to this event, although the stages have now been expanded in places. Desi seemed to be in the running to challenge Derek McGarrity for the NI title, but the Championship committee has ruled that Desi registered after he won this year’s Sperrins, not before, so didn’t earn the points for that. Saturday could be an interesting day. Other drivers at the top end of the entry list include Connor McCloskey in a very quick Fiesta R5+, Gareth Sayers (Subaru), Dominic McNeill and Jonny Morrow. There are still many class positions to be decided in the NI Championship and with ‘points and a half’ for this final round, there is a lot to go for.

‘Life begins at’ – whatever you make it – witness the evergreen Pierce Doheny senior winning this year’s Suirway Group South East Championship. Not only is the Tullyroan, Co. Kilkenny man looking forward to next year’s South East series, but 62 year old Pierce senior is taking on the Clerk of the Course role for the William Loughman Memorial Forestry Rally. Pierce senior is co-driven by Eilish Dunne, whom he describes as “Invaluable, brilliant, a real rally office manager. She does everything on the paperwork side”. His son, Pierce Junior is heavily involved in rallying also, mostly co-driving, but nowadays for other drivers rather than his father.

Pierce senior, who has been rallying for almost 30 years, won the South East once before, in 2013. That was driving a 1300 Peugeot 206. This season his chosen mount is a 1600 Corsa. Age seems of no concern for Pierce Senior. He said, “The last 10 years have flown, the clock is moving fast, I wake up on a Monday morning and suddenly it is Friday afternoon!” He recounted of the season, “It was real good Championship. We non-finished the first round, the Willie Loughman, then we had first or second in class through the season up to the final round, the Cork ‘20’, where we had to finish to win the Championship. Emmett Cronin made it hard for us all season and it was close at the finish – just 1 point between us. But Emmett is a great character, we had banter all the way, and generally serviced with hardly ten yards between us. Four drivers could have won it at the end. Emmett had a bit of trouble on the first day in Cork and we had the success.” As regards organising the William Loughman, scheduled for the 20th January in 2019, Pierce continued, “I’m going to enjoy it, looking forward to it, although I won’t be able to drive it of course, so it will a dropped round for me. We have the stages organised, three new ones, well not used for many years. We have a good team and a lot of the work done.” The rally will again be a round of the forestry Championship, as well as the Suirway South East.

On the subject of Championships, it is that time of the year again – the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, now in their 40th year, is having its awards presentation this weekend, Saturday 20th October in Killarney’s Gleneagle Hotel. The Suirway Group South East Championship awards evening will be on the 12thJanuary 2019 in Wexford’s Riverbank House Hotel.

The latest nomination for Motorsport Ireland Billy Coleman Young Rally Driver Award is 22 year old Jordan Hone from Claudy, Co. Londonderry. Jordan is in the final year of a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering at Queens University Belfast. Quite often co-driven and always supported by his father Paul, Jordan has tasted success in the ultra competitive BTRDA series, won GpN on the 2017 Valvoline Forestry series, was a NI Junior Rally Champion and this year, driving a homologated Opel Adam, quite often against modified machinery, has picked up several important awards.

Coming up fast is the Fastnet Rally next weekend (28th October), same time as the WRC Rally Spain. Clerk of the Course on the Bantry based Fastnet is John Buttimer. He has picked three very interesting stages, each repeated three times. The territory of the rally is very scenic, beautifully dramatic, a real treat of a rally. Following that we have the Mid Antrim MC’s stages rally at Kirkistown (Sat 3rd November). This is instead of the Glens of Antrim Rally: We will have more news on these events next week. As regards, the WRC next year, it seems to be confirmed that Kris Meeke is going to Toyota for a three car team with Tanak and Latvala. Kris may have a new co-driver, although him and Paul Nagle are still on the best of the terms. (Paul is tipped to have a drive with someone else on the Monte) Seb Marshall could be one of the co-drivers mooted to sit with the Dungannon man. Lappi, who was with Toyota, is going to Citroen.