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Irish Notes
by Brian & Liz Patterson |
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Irish Notes 24th Sept 2014
Extreme disappointment and frustration was the hallmark of Craig Breen`s outing on last weekend`s Rally Cyprus. Once again Craig and his co-driver Scott Martin gave it everything, but their Peugeot Academy 208 T16 refused to play ball. On the rare occasions when the car did go well, Craig was right on the pace. Mostly though the car was overheating and switching on to `road mode` and suffering other problems. This was supposedly down to the ambient high temperatures. In Cyprus they have been a lot higher in some past years – up in the forties and with much longer stages. Craig did make it to the end of this tough rally, but his 208 T16 stopped for a while on the final stage, and again on the following road section. He was then over maximum lateness, recording a `DNF`. Saudi driver Yazeed Al Rajhi and his co-driver Michael Orr from Bangor, Co. Down won the event in a Fiesta RRC. The rally certainly didn`t do Craig Breen`s European Championship hopes any favours. Circuit of Ireland winner Esapekka Lappi still leads the ERC points with 123, while Craig is 4th on 74. There are just a couple of ERC rounds to go. The next event is Rallye International Du Valais, an asphalt rally in Switzerland.
Current Dunlop National Champion Declan Boyle, co-driven again by his cousin Brian in their Impreza WRC, scored a start to finish, very impressive win on last weekend`s Clare Rally. Hugh Hunter/Andy Marchbank in their similar Impreza drove hard throughout the day but despite good pace could make little impression on the car in front. Similarly Roy White/James O`Brien were on maximum in their MG all the way, and to hold 3rd to the finish in this company was very good going indeed and remarkably puts them at the top of the Dunlop points table. With one round remaining, the Donegal Harvest, the Dunlop Championship is far from over. On this showing however Declan Boyle could well retain his crown on his home territory. Declan said at the finish, “Great stages, but had to be careful, Hunter is picking up the pace every rally!” Paddy McVeigh was awarded the Dunlop `Driver of the Day` award, and he could also still take the Championship Title. Hunter and Steve Wood are also still in the championship equation. Hunter commented after the rally, “I`m not disheartened, not many can get close to Declan and we are learning all the time.”
The Clare rally terrain West of Ennis, towards the Burren, is always considered to be pretty special. A cold misty start to the day followed by Mediterranean weather for the rally made it even more so. Fastest of all out of the blocks was once again Declan Boyle, closely pursued by Hugh Hunter and with Roy White the supposed underdog in his MG chasing the two Subaru WRC`s in front.
When the top cars came into service after three stages Boyle, despite some smoke inside his Subaru was 17s ahead of Hugh Hunter, who had 12s advantage on Roy White. Hunter was trying very hard to hold on to Boyle, while Roy White was on his MG S2000`s limit. Those crews not so fortunate included Niall Maguire whose Impreza WRC incurred a reported broken drive shaft on the opening stage. Steve Wood`s similar Subaru pulled up in stage 2 with a mechanical malady, indicated to be a turbo.
Shane Maguire led GpN initially from Josh Moffett, and then the latter man got his Lancer`s nose in front on stage 2. However Josh dropped several minutes in stage 3 when his car suffered a punctured tyre. Josh did keep going through the next loop of stages, setting quick times, but was so far off the leaderboard the young man from Monaghan decided to save the car for another day and withdrew. His elder brother Sam also had an unhappy day as he was driving Gary Kiernan`s Mk2 Escort, which he crashed out on the opening stage. Kiernan was driving Sam`s Lancer, and he got on the pace well. Gary had moved into 2nd in GpN but retired on the final stage with an accident. So it wasn`t the happiest experiment ever then, swapping cars!
Through the middle loop of stages Boyle turned in a couple of superb times to increase his lead over Hunter to 44s at 2nd service, with Roy White 52s further back. Kevin Barrett was nicely on the pace to hold 4th, Paddy McVeigh was 5th and Richard Moffett was having a brilliant run to hold 6th in his RWD Starlet.
So where were all the quick Escort men then? Ed O`Callaghan had been a brilliant 4th o/a through the first 5 stages, but dropped several minutes in stage 6 with a small excursion. Ed did get going again and charged! Frank Kelly had made a hesitant start and just inched his way into the top 10 by that 2nd service. Pat Donegan had retired his Escort early in the day and rejoined under Super Rally but was well back, as was Callum Duffy. Jonathan Pringle had slipped getting out of his service van, hurt his foot, kept going in the rally, but then retired. Further retirements include Sean & Katrina Liston (BMW) and Michael Carbin/Emmet McCooey (Lancer).
Through the final loop Declan Boyle reinforced his lead to make it a clean sweep of fastest times. Richard Moffett completed a great run to take 6th o/a and best two-wheel drive in his Starlet. Shane Maguire had one of his best runs to finish 7th and win GpN from Paul Kiely/Eugene Donnelly (Lancer). Gary Kiernan was heading for 2nd GpN but retired the Sam Moffett Lancer on the final stage with an off. Ed O`Callaghan in his Escort made a huge charge towards the end to finish 8th and 2nd 2WD. Frank Kelly retired his Escort 2km from the finish of the final stage when it lost drive. He was 7th starting the stage. Frank had recovered from a first loop poor tyre choice and then a broken gear select indicator.
One Escort driver who did make the finish was Kilrea`s Kevin Bradley and he won his class despite a broken 3rd gear on his 1600 Escort through the final stage. Kevin, who has Graham Henderson co-driving, has had a great run this season on the Dunlop National series and leads his class in the Championship.
Clare Stages Top Ten
1st Declan Boyle/Brian Boyle (Impreza WRC) 1.10.52.9
2nd Hugh Hunter/Andy Marchbank (Impreza WRC) 1.12.07.3
3rd Roy White/James O`Brien (MGS2000) 1.13.23.5
4th Paddy McVeigh/Gary McElhinney (Impreza WRC)
5th Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 1.15.29.0
6th Richard Moffett/Martin Connolly (Starlet RWD) 1.16.33.8
7th Shane Maguire/Stephen Thornton (Lancer N) 1.16.47.2
8th Ed O`Callaghan/Ger Clancy (Escort) 1.17.07.6
9th Michael O`Brien/Mark Glennerster (Focus WRC) 1.16.47.2
10th Chris Armstrong/James Fulton (Escort) 1.17.16.1
Class Winners:- CL2 Ken Hogan/Patrick Curley (Civic): CL3 Joe McCarthy/Jason O`Brien (Civic): CL4 Shane Maguire/Stephen Thornton (Lancer N): CL6 Ed Twomey/Jonathon O`Mahony (Fiesta): CL8 Declan Boyle/Brian Boyle (Impreza WRC): CL9 Kenneth Ryan/Keith McCarthy (Escort): CL10 Con Mulcahy/Jonathan Keane (Nova): CL11F Cal McCarthy/Eamonn Dullea (Civic): CL11R Kevin Bradley/Graham Henderson (Escort): CL12 Wm Cavanagh/Olivia Coen (Escort): CL13 Richard Moffett/Martin Connolly (Starlet RWD): CL14 Mike Quinn/Donal Balfe (Escort): CL15 Colin Flanagan/Patrick Brides (Lancer): Roy White/James O`Brien (MG S2000): CL16 (Juniors) Cormac Phelan/Katja Auhl (Citroen C2R2).
This weekend coming there are two interesting rallies on the card – the Bushwhacker in Co. Tyrone and the Trackrod in Yorkshire. The eleven special stage Omagh based forestry rally is a counting round of both the Valvoline Forestry MI series and also the McGrady Insurance NI series. Entries are still piling in, and indications are that there should be at least 80 cars lining up for the Saturday morning start. Just some of the top drivers who have entered include Owen Murphy, Pat O`Connell and Desi Henry, all in with a shout at the Valvoline series, although Josh Moffett currently leads the points. Josh will drive the same GpA type Gerry McGarrity built forestry Lancer with which he led the Lakeland a few weeks ago. This was the car`s first outing but Josh was deprived of victory on the final stage when a silly little pin in the gearbox broke.
NI Championship points leader, and indeed current champion, Derek McGarrity, was not sure at the start of this week if he would be competing or not. Derek has another Impreza S14 on the cards, but it won`t be here for a day or two yet. It is looking likely however that Derek will hire Kenny McKinstry`s Impreza S14. Kenny is having some treatment for a frozen shoulder and it is thought prudent he gives the Bushwhacker a miss. Some top home names entered include Martin Cairns, Enda McNulty, Liam Regan, Marty McKenna, Niall Henry, Frank Kelly, Shane McGirr and Adrian Hetherington to name a few. Ryan Bradley, brother of Kevin but has the same co-driver, Graham Henderson, is looking for another class win in his 1600 Escort. The Bushwhacker is one of those rallies that creates a real buzz and there could be a late surge of entries, almost guaranteeing a big day`s rallying. Scrutiny is in the old Nestles factory, just up the road from the Silver Birches Hotel rally HQ. The service area is in the Aitken`s caravan yard near Castlederg.
The Yorkshire event is a round of the REIS/BTRDA Championship, as well as the RAC Historic Championship. Ray Cunningham is making the trip from Galway to compete in his Mini Cooper S and has every chance of winning the pre-`68 category. In the BTRDA section Steve Perez and Paul Bird in their respective Focus WRC`s will battle it out for maximum events. Stephen Petch was the winner this time last year in his Fiesta R5+, but the Hamsterley man will be pushed hard to retain the honours this time.
Also on this Saturday night (27th) is a celebration of Monaghan pairing Daniel McKenna and Arthur Kierans winning the British Rally Championship title in their Pirelli Citroen DS3R3T. The `do` is in the Monaghan Courthouse starting at 7.30pm, and there will be rally videos, interviews, special guest appearances and generally lots of jollity celebrating Daniel and Arthur`s fantastic achievement at becoming British Rally Champions. As ever, County Monaghan Motor Club is backing Daniel and Arthur, and will be helping to organise this special evening. It sounds like it could be worth a visit!
Looking further ahead, the Millstreet based 4th/5th October Cork `20`, final round of the Clonakilty Blackpudding Tarmac Championship has now attracted over 100 entries, and just some of the top names include Declan Boyle, Darragh O`Riordan, Alan Ring, Peadar Hurson and Martin Donnelly in WRC machinery. Josh Moffett is in the list with his GpN Lancer as is the Escort front runner Frank Kelly.
LATE NEWS - Declan Boyle’s Impreza needs engine and differential work - unlikely to make Cork - focus now on Harvest. Our ancient Abacus shows Declan can’t be beaten on Tarmac and he is new Champion.
LATE LATE NEWS - Keith Cronin to re-start rallying, driving the new Citroen R5 - looking for Irish events as warm up for WRC2 in 2015 and may start with this Cork `20`.
Much further ahead, the Gleneagle Hotel based Killarney Historic Rally (Sat 29th November) is shaping up to be its usual classic self. The Rentokil backed event has a fabulous prize for the top finishing Historic crew. A free entry on the 2015 Barbados Rally, which will include two return flights, free return shipping for the car and a double hotel room for 12 nights. Killarney Historic Clerk of the Course Kevin Flannery is well advanced with the planning, and once again a classic route is promised.
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