Well done to club members Tony Langdon and Eddie Quinn on their finish on Clare Stages Rally. The pair brought their Class 6 Honda civic home in 60th place overall.
Motorsport at Bonniconlon and Ballycastle Shows
Mayo & District MotorSport Club exhibited at the recent Bonniconlon and Ballycastle shows. The aim of the stands was to promote and introducing motorsport to the public. Visitors got the chance to learn first hand about motorsport, speaking with club members and experiencing the machinery from inside!
Mullen clinches Ulster win
Mayo and District Motorsport Club member Darragh Mullen from Ballisadore navigated Derek McGeehan in their Mini to an overall win on the national section of the two-day Ulster Rally on Friday and Saturday last. The pair came from behind on the last few stages, and although having to content with a misfire in their John Cooper Works WRC spec car, they managed to set a blistering pace to win the event by 24 seconds ahead of Frank Kelly in his Escort.
Westport man David Carney along with his regular navigator Ray Fitzpatrick from Laois was taking part in the British Rally section of the Northern Ireland event. Following a good solid drive on day one which seen them sitting in tenth place overnight, they went one better on Saturday to finish in ninth place overall and securing fourth place in class six in their Citroen C2R2.
Photos courtesy of M2merallyphotos
Hunter Fastest in Galway
Hugh Hunter took an impressive victory on the Carlton Shearwater Galway Summer Rally in Ballinasloe, at the weekend.
The Welsh driver finished the nine-stage event with a winning margin of one minute and eleven seconds over the Subaru WRC of Welsh rival, James Belton.
Daragh O’Riordan was third in the Ford Fiesta WRC, eleven seconds further behind.
Best of the local Mayo and District Motorsport Club crews were Sean McHugh and Liam Healy who brought their BMW M3 home in 56th place overall.
David Doherty who had Eamon Walsh on the notes claimed a class 7 win in their Peugeot 306 and finished in 73rd overall.
Young Castlebar man Conor Duffy who was navigating in a rally for the first time had a gratifying and enjoyable day alongside Eamonn McCafferty from Donegal. The pair won class 5 and brought their T-Rex Clothing backed Ford Puma home in 77th place.
Not so lucky were the Ballinrobe pairing of John Warren and Ruthann O’Connor, the engine of their Toyota Corolla cried enough on stage two, bringing a unfortunate end to their rally.
Photos courtesy of Rally Through a Lens
Sunset Rally August 2013
Mayo & District Motorsport Club member, Darragh Mullen from Ballisodare, has made it 2 wins in a row now for himself and his driver, Derek McGeehan in their Mini World Rally Car after their success on the night stages of the Sunset Rally held in the forests around Draperstown, Northern Ireland on Friday Night last.
The pair dominated the opening loop and held a comfortable lead at the service halt.
This was a unique rally in which crews got one run through the forests in daylight before service to bolt on the spot lights for the thrill of doing the two stages again this time in the dark.
It just kept getting better for the McGeehan Motorsport crew, on the final loop of stages they continued to set fastest stage times and returned to the finish ramp in Draperstown in first place.
This weekend’s win follows a triumph on the national section of the two-day Ulster Rally a week previous, for the flourishing Sligo and Derry partnership.
Sligo Park Hotel Stages Rally
Donegal driver Declan Boyle and his cousin Brian increased their stranglehold on this year’s Dunlop National Rally Championship by taking their Subaru Impreza to their fourth win from five rounds on the Sligo Park Hotel Stages Rally.
They were the clear winners, finishing more than a minute ahead of Niall Maguire and co-driver Enda Sherry despite the rally being shortened from nine stages to six when the extreme heat caused problems with the road surface in places.
The Moffett brothers, Sam and Josh, took the top two places in the Group N class and finished third and fourth overall, while Jonathan Pringle’s Escort took fifth position and was the highest placed two-wheel-drive car home.
Best placed of the Mayo Club members home was Darragh Mullen who was navigating for David Leonard. They finished in 8th place overall and won Class 20 in the process. Also navigating was Aidan Gannon who directed his driver Anthony O’Brien to 15th place in their Mitsubishi Evo 8.
Kenneth McHale and Derek McCarthy, both from Ballina had a steady run in their Subaru Impreza to finish in 34th place.
Father and son team Adrian and Aidan Fahy from Ballinrobe survived a few high speed moments to finish in 45th place.
The Bekan Motor Works team of Sean McHugh and Liam Healy brought their BMW home to a Class 14 win, the first event that the distinguished M3 has finished in exactly one year,
Sligo Stages 2012 being the last time the car consummated a competitive outing.
Shrule’s Noel Murphy and Stephen Murphy from Headford finished 3rd in the Junior section of the rally as Noel continues to gain valuable experience in his first season in stage rallying. Alan Moran from Foxford with Jared Gill from Ballina finished one behind in 4th.
Other locals not so lucky included the Ballinrobe partnership of John Warren and Ruthann O’Connor who suffered a broken steering rack when their corolla clipped a concrete post on stage 3, bringing a sudden end to their rally.
Derek Bolton from Ballaghaderreen and Trevor O’Connell from Ballina had an unfortunate premature end to their return to stage rallying, the pair, after setting an astonishing 5th fastest time overall on stage 4, had a coming together with a bank on stage 6, although not causing much damage to their Subaru Impreza they became stranded, unable to get back on the road inside the allotted time period.
Photos courtesy of James Burke www.jamesburke.biz
Boyles clinch Dunlop title with fifth win
Donegal cousins Declan and Brian Boyle in their Subaru Impreza WRC won their first Dunlop National Rally Championship after an emphatic win in the Tipperary Stonethrowers Rally.
The battle for second and third place saw Roy White of Tipperary in an MG Rover edge out James Belton from Wales in his Subaru WRC.
Local man David Carney from Westport, who had Ray Fitzpatrick from Laois on the notes, was on an intermission from the British Rally Championships. The pair had a rewarding day competing, winning Class Six and finishing thirteenth overall in their Citroen C2R2.
The Dunlop title win for the Donegal cousins sees the Vard Memorial Trophy pass from last year’s champions, Cork’s Brian O Mahony and John Higgins from Kiltimagh.
Rally Italy- June 2013
Bellissimo!
Five rounds into his maiden WRC season, Local man Killian Duffy heads the WRC-2 Co-driver standings by fifteen points after wins in Argentina and Mexico and, most recently, a podium at Rally Italy.
But with the competition likely to intensify in the second half of the season, which features the most popular European-based rallies and the arrival of the first R5 specification cars, Duffy was happy to have make his lead in the standings more comfortable, following his second place in Sardinia.
“This is our first time in WRC-2, and our plan at the start of the year was top five, now we’re leading the championship just past the halfway point, it’s like a dream,”Duffy said.
On their first appearance in Sardinia, Duffy and Qatari driver Abdulaaziz Al-Kuwari, were up against 15 other WRC-2 entries. Ex Formula 1 driver Robert Kubica, won the event the event.
“It’s a good result after a tough rally,” said Al-Kuwari.”We have expanded our championship lead and we expect to be back in Australia.”
Watch him in action here:
Donegal International Rally
June 2013
Donegal for Sam
Monaghan young gun, Sam Moffett and his navigator James O’Reilly managed to hang on in the final stages of the Donegal International Rally to claim a historic victory as one of the youngest teams to ever claim the title.
They brought their Subaru Impreza WRC home to a 90-second victory over the Ford Focus of Donagh Kelly and Kevin Flanagan after three days, with many of the stages made very slippery by wet conditions.
Defending champions Garry Jennings and Neil Doherty finished third after picking up a three-minute time penalty on Sunday morning, having led for the first two days.
Former National Champion, Claremorris man, Paul McLaughlin navigated Seamus Leonard to a well-deserved fourth place overall in their Subaru Impreza.
Other local club members that didn’t fare as well included, David Doherty from Ballinlough, his rally ended on Saturday when the engine in the Evo 6 he was navigating in for Gavin Harris gave way on the famous Knockalla stage.
Alan Moran from Foxford had fellow club member Jared Gill on the notes, their event didn’t get the chance to get into full swing as their Opel Kadett broke a driveshaft three km into stage1.
Warren Wins Twin Cam Challenge
Mayo & District Motorsport Club members John Warren and Ruthann O’Connor travelled to the Laois Heartlands Stages Rally on Sunday last. The event consisted of two, challenging, twenty kilometre special stages, each ran three times.
The Ballinrobe based pair; got off to a great start in their McHales Farm Machinery backed Toyota Corolla twincam and at the half way point had themselves up to 15 place after starting 30in the morning. They battled hard over the last loop and swapped places with the surrounding cars and at the end of the last stage finished the event in a fantastic 14 overall, and fourth in class 13, narrowly missing out on 3d in class by less than six hundredths of a second.
Afterwards the overjoyed driver and navigator were elated even more when they found out they were the first Toyota Corolla twin cam to finish, winning a special incentive competition “Toyota Twin Cam Challenge” ran by the Laois Motor Club to promote the rally.
A really Toyota-reffic end to the weekend for the pair.
