RALLY NEWS NO.4 Banna Beach Hotel Finish/Sunday 3.30

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4 – LAST STAGE
1st (12) John Kearney/Denis O'Connell (Escort) 39.51
2nd (3) Kevin & Martin Kelleher (Lancer N) 40.13
3rd (2) Alan Ring/Derek Brannigan (Impreza N) 40.15
4th (19) Kevin O'Donoghue/Joe O'Leary (Escort) 40.15
5th (8) Joe & Dermot McHugh (Esc.Cos) 40.40
6th (7) Pat Donegan/Jakes Kelly (Escort) 40.43
7th (6) Tadgh Lenihan/Mark Kane (Impreza N) 41.23
8th (17) Dave Slattery/Craig McSweeney (Escort) 41.43
9th ((67) Patrick Corcoran/Amanda Giles (Starlet) 41.46
10th (11) Aidan Walsh/Jim Casey (Escort) 41,57
11th (31) Mike Bird/Kevin Keane (Lancer N) 42.03
12th (22) Charlie Hickey/Johnny Hickey (Escort S) 42.32

Tralee man John Kearney and his co driver Denis O’Connell have scored a memorable victory here on this Bio Tech/Banna Beach Kerry Winter Rally. What makes the event even more special for 26 year old self employed builder John is that he wins the highly coveted Donal O’Flaherty Trophy. The late Donal was a close neighbour of Kearney’s and indeed Denis O’Connell also co-drove for him. This is Kearney’s first major win, indeed he hasn’t done all that many rallies as a driver and he said “This is the first time the car really went right. It was a really great day. We had a small problem towards the end on the road section when the fuel pump gave trouble”.

Second placed Kevin Kelleher made a massive charge for victory, but it all went slightly awry on the penultimate stage when his Lancer skidded off the road on a square right junction. Kevin doesn’t know how many seconds he lost but certainly the hard charging Tadgh Lenihan was in sight when he got going. Interestingly Bio Tech man Lenihan then overshot a junction, jerked his Impreza into reverse and broke the gear lever clean off! Lenihan’s co driver Mark Kane said. “I’ve done about 20 rallies this year and never had as many things go wrong and as many incidents”.

Alan Ring and co driver Derek Brannigan brought their Impreza into a good 3rd place, Ring however was looking a little despondent at the finish and said. “We had a few minor moments over the last couple of stages, nothing great.” The Munster Joinery man cheered up immensely then when Richard Talbot and his wife Anne worked out the points for the Top Park West Coast Championship, and it was discovered that Alan had won the title. He actually tied with Noel Redmond on 78 points, but on the count back system the title goes to Alan. Redmond finished well down the order in 22nd overall having lost a load of time on stages 1 and 2 with accidents. Redmond told us at the end that it was just a matter of getting the car through the remaining stages.

Kevin O’Donoghue did well to get his Lancer through to 4th o/a despite a few moments. Joe McHugh took it easy towards the end to finish 5th and Pat Donegan rounded off the top 6 with a fastest time and a joint fastest time over the last 2 stages, giving co driver Jakes Kelly quite a run for his birthday!

The rally is also a round of the Ka Championship and Mark Buckley has won today and won the championship overall from Sharon Power. Buckley was ahead for most of the day but any chance Sharon had of catching him went out the window with a stage 3 puncture.

Some class winners for today include – Patrick Corcoran who did really well to bring his Starlet into 9th overall from a start number of 67 and win class 11. Billy Coleman Award winner Eamonn McElvaney brought his Peugeot into a top 20 position and won class 6. Finally for now – very well done to clerk of the course Senan Raggett and all his team for putting on such an enjoyable event. Senan has asked us to particularly thank all the marshals who stood out all day in the cold. Many thanks as well to all who helped and supported the RallyNews service. It was great to be back in Banna…..BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net