{"id":3445,"date":"2017-05-16T08:07:15","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T08:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/?p=3445"},"modified":"2017-05-16T08:22:53","modified_gmt":"2017-05-16T08:22:53","slug":"marty-maximises-in-donegal-donegal-forestry-report-by-andrew-bushe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/marty-maximises-in-donegal-donegal-forestry-report-by-andrew-bushe\/","title":{"rendered":"Marty Maximises in Donegal! – Donegal Forestry Report by Andrew Bushe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marty Maximises in Donegal!\u2028 <\/span><\/h1>\n

2017 Valvoline Motorsport Ireland National Forest Rally Championship-Round Three<\/span><\/h4>\n

The 2017 Valvoline Motorsport Ireland National Forest Rally Championship, entered into it\u2019s third round on Saturday for the Donegal Motor Club\u2019s Forest Rally. Based in Donegal town, the event provided it\u2019s fair share of excitement, as Marty McCormack stormed to victory in his Skoda Fabia R5. At the mid point service, McCormack said \u201cThe first stage was incredibly demanding, it was very tricky and so slippy we were very glad to get through it. I settled in better on the second stage and felt much more comfortable on the third, it was very nice. \u201c as he and co-driver David Moynihan built up the lead and made changes to the car as the day progressed. \u201cIt\u2019s been a great day and to get the win is a great bonus, but the amount we have learned about the car in these conditions is invaluable\u201d<\/p>\n

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Tiger Risk Rally Team\u2019s Marty McCormack & David Moynihan cruise to victory
Image by Ruaidhri Nash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a resounding second overall was the Mitsubishi Evo 6 of Omagh\u2019s Patrick O\u2019Brien and co-driver Stephen O\u2019Brien, who\u2019s consistently fast pace all day brought a great result, despite a lack of recent seat-time for the former Valvoline Junior Champion. Finishing in fourth overall was another Evo, driven by Omagh\u2019s Cathan McCourt, overcoming a stage one puncture to also take the Group N class. In sixth was Cork\u2019s Ger Lucey in his venerable Evo 8. He recovered from a wrong tyre choice to climb up the leader-board, and like in 2016 he once again leads the Valvoline points race. Could this be the year that the clubman trounces the R5\u2019s? With half the season to go it\u2019s an interesting mid-term points table. Enda McCormack was delighted with ninth in his Impreza WRC, despite a costly stall on stage five. Lying an impressive third overall early in the day was young Dungiven driver Jordan Hone. Driving the Rallyhire Group N Lancer Evo 9, his fine drive came to an end as he was stuck in a ditch on stage four after one of the many jumps threw him off line.<\/p>\n

No one expected the Valvoline Two Wheel Drive category winner to make the podium in Donegal, but that\u2019s what happened as Comber\u2019s David Crossen brought his Mark 2 Escort<\/p>\n

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3rd Overall – David Crossan & Damien Fleming – Ford Escort Mark 2
Image by www.barronpix.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

into a fabulous third place overall. With co-driver Damien Fleming on the Patterson Pacenotes, \u201cIt was a great event, and we really enjoyed the stages \u201csaid David who now leads the two-wheel drive title race. \u201cThe first stage was like something from Finland with the big jumps and bumps! We had a problem with a rear link bar during the day and had to replace a rose-joint at service, and had to put in an emergency spare front strut after stage six, but other than that the rally went very smoothly for us.\u201d Former Valvoline 2wd champions, Fermanagh\u2019s Shane McGirr and Castleblayney\u2019s Micky Conlon were left to tussle for second in what was a frenetic race. McGirr\u2019s Starlet picked up a puncture after stage four and one on stage six which cost some valuable time, but also meant that he had no spare wheel to replace the second flat tyre. Such is the camaraderie in the series that Mickey Conlon lent him his spare, as the battle raged into the final test. It was Conlon and co-driver Ciaran McPhilips who took second as McGirr and co-driver Marty McGarrity, who were choked with exhaust fumes coming into the car, dropping to eighth overall, and third placed two wheel drive runners behind were John Gordon and Thomas Wedlock in their ever enthusiastically driven Mark 2 Escort.<\/p>\n

The Valvoline Junior Section (Class 16), where the eligible crews are competing for an automatic Motorsport Ireland Billy Coleman Award nomination at the season\u2019s end, saw Shane Kenneally take the early advantage before his Honda Civic retired with transmission trouble. Donegal driver Marty Gallagher in the 208 R2 was another retirement on stage five when the wheel studs sheared whilst in the lead of the class. Then the lead battle switched to the two Fiesta R2\u2019s of John O\u2019Sullivan and Stephen Dickson, and it was Dickson who once again put in a late charge to take the category after blitzing the final stage.<\/p>\n

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Image by www.barronpix.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Other class winners were on the event were: Ruairi Maguire (Vauxhall Corsa)-class 9, Mike Garaghy- (MK2 Escort)-class 10, Stewart McClean (Vauxhall Nova)- class 11F, Damien McAleer (Toyota Corolla)-class 11R, Chris Simms (MK2 Escort)-class 12, Derek Mackeral (Mitsubishi Evo)-class 15.<\/p>\n

The M. O\u2019Brien Plant Hire Junior 1000 class for 16-18 year olds, entered its third round in Donegal and once again the Peugeot 107\u2019s of Alex Byrne and Jason Murphy lined up to do battle. It was Jason Murphy\u2019s turn to take victory this time, the Mayo driver coping with clutch issues to take the win from Alex Byrne.
\nAlex had built up a handsome lead on the first loop, only to run into his own more costly problems incurring over three minutes in road penalties. With a fabulous prize of a drive in an R2 car on a 2018 Irish Forest Rally round, entry vouchers for the top three on each round: \u20ac200 euro to first place, \u20ac125 euro to 2nd place and \u20ac75 euro to third place and Ears Motorsport putting up tyres as prizes the rewards are great for these youngsters.<\/p>\n

Once again we would like to give special thanks to all our sponsors \u2013 Valvoline, Andrew Fanning Motor Factors, M. O’Brien Plant Hire, Suirway Group Forklifts & Farm Machinery, Jelf Motorsport Insurance, Exact Signs & Graphics, Pottinger Machinery, Ears Motorsport \/ Kumho Tyres, Colton Pump & Heating Services, Coillte, Concept Fire Services Ltd, Gordon Automotive Services, Barron Pix & SVS Incar Cameras.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s time for a mid-season break in the championship, before coming back to Cork for the Jim Walsh Cork Forest Rally in July. With a County Cork man leading the driver\u2019s championship interest will be high at the end of July.<\/p>\n

2017 Valvoline Motorsport Ireland National Forest Rally Championship-Round 3 Results
\n1st Marty McCormack \/ David Moynihan \u0160koda Fabia R5 28:07.8
\n2nd Patrick O’Brien \/ Stephen O Brien Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI +1:11.5
\n3rd David Crossen \/ Damien Fleming Ford Escort MkII +1:36.0
\n4th Cathan McCourt \/ Brian Hoy Mitsubishi Lancer Evo +1:54.5
\n5th Mickey Conlon \/ Ciaran McPhillips Ford Escort MkII +2:03.5
\n6th Gerard Lucey \/ JJ Cremin Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII +2:06.7
\n7th John Gordon \/ Thomas Wedlock Ford Escort MkII +2:09.1
\n8th Shane McGirr \/ Martin McGarrity Toyota Starlet +2:14.5
\n9th Enda McCormack \/ Colin Fitzgerald Subaru Impreza S10 +2:31.4
\n10th Ian Graham \/ Liam McIntyre Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +2:53.2<\/p>\n

2017 Valvoline Motorsport Ireland National Forest Rally Championship-Provisional Points After Round 3\u20281st Ger Lucey \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 45
\n2nd Josh Moffett \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 42
\n3rd David Crossen \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 40
\n4th Sam Moffett \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 38
\n5th Marty McCormack \u00a0 38
\n6th Desi Henry \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 36
\n7th Adrian Hetherington 34
\n8th Mickey Conlon \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a034
\n9th Enda McCormack \u00a0 \u00a0 32
\n10th Jonny Leonard \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a030<\/p>\n

2017 Valvoline Motorsport Ireland National Forest Rally Championship-Rounds
\nRound 1 – 12th February- Carrick on Suir Forest Rally
\nRound 2 – 8th April- Moonraker Forest Rally
\nRound 3 – 13th May- Donegal Forest Rally
\nRound 4 – 30th July-Jim Walsh Cork Forest Rally
\nRound 5 – 2nd September-Enniskillen Lakeland Stages Rally
\nRound 6 – 14th October-Rathfriland MC Down Forest Rally<\/p>\n

For all the latest updates and more information of the Valvoline Motorsport Ireland Irish National Forest Rally Championship please look us up on Facebook or Twitter and even more details are available on our dedicated website: www.irishforestrally.com <\/a><\/p>\n

F: Irish Forestry Championship T:@IrlForestchamp. Official Valvoline Motorsport Ireland National Forest Rally Championship press release issued by Andrew Bushe F: Andrew Bushe Promotions t-@andrew_bushe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marty Maximises in Donegal!\u2028 2017 Valvoline Motorsport Ireland National Forest Rally Championship-Round Three The 2017 Valvoline Motorsport Ireland National Forest…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rallynews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3445"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3456,"href":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3445\/revisions\/3456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}