Following several years of hard luck stories Garry Jennings has eventually won this Galway International Rally. Co-driven by Rory Kennedy on this Corrib Oil backed very tough event Garry`s Subaru led the field from start to finish. That sounds simple but the conditions made the rally very difficult, with many of the drivers crashing out. Garry had his own problems today when the wipers of his Subaru started to give trouble and there was also a big worry over the car`s centre differential, something that the team was keeping secret from the opposition. Three times British Rally Champion Keith Cronin, co driven by Mikey Galvin this time, showed all his class over today`s wet roads to score 2nd overall. Just as importantly for Ballylickey man Cronin is that he now leads the Clonakilty Blackpudding Tarmac Championship on this opening event of the year, the start of a new era for the Tarmac series. Keith was uncertain about his programme for this year, so surely this result today will give him, his father Danny and all the team, the incentive to see the series through. Considering that he has not competed seriously on a rally for 12 months Alastair Fisher`s performance this weekend has been exemplary. Third place on the rally and 2nd placed points is a great fillip for Alastair and his co driver Gordon Noble. Sam Moffett/Karl Atkinson drove a superb event, their one hiccup today came on stage 14 when Sam spun his Fiesta R5 and Roy White swept past. Sam dropped 30s to Roy.
The competition between the top drivers with their new breed of R5 and S2000 cars brought a breath of fresh air to the rally. Joe McGonigle in his older model Skoda S2000 was particularly fast and finished 7th o/a. David Guest/Paddy Robinson won the group N category in their Lancer and had a trouble free run. William Mavitty was 2nd GpN and Gus Kearney 3rd, both in Lancers.
Some of the notable class winners today included Callum Devine in his little Opel Adam who finished 14th o/a and won class 2. Richard Whelan finished just behind Devine and he wins class 3 in his Citroen DS3R3. Wesley Patterson/Johnny Baird in their 2.5l Escort won the National Rally by just over a minute from Galway crew Tom Flaherty/Patrick Curley also in an Escort. Jason McSweeney/Stephen Quinn (Lancer) were 3rd. Ray Cunningham in his Mini Cooper S won the Historic Rally with David Goose 2nd in his Escort. With one stage to go Mark Murphy led the Juniors from Kieran O`Donoghue, both in Civics. Just 3s separate them going into the last stage.
Finally for now we would like to thank everyone who helped and supported our Rally News service this weekend. The Galway MC under the direction of CoC Kieran Donoghue did a great job to keep the event on schedule under very trying circumstances.
BRIAN & LIZ & MICHAEL & ZOE PATTERSON www.rallynews.net *Follow RallyNews on Twitter & Facebook @Pacenotes or @Real_RallyNews
