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2016 Corrib Oil Galway International Rally Garry Jennings and Rory Kennedy took victory on the 2016 Corrib Oil Galway International Rally event in their Subaru Impreza WRC which didn’t miss a beat as he led from the start to win by over three minutes from Keith Cronin & Mikie Galvin in a Citroen DS3 R5. Alastair Fisher & Gordon Noble completed the podium places in Fiesta R5 as the difficult conditions caused some high profile retirements during the event, most notably former tarmac champions Tim McNulty and Declan Boyle both of whom crashed out. The Clonakilty Blackpudding Irish Tarmac Rally Championship had its traditional season opener in Galway with Corrib Oil coming on board as title sponsors of the Galway International Rally for the first time. With the world rally cars no longer allowed to score points towards the overall championship, much interest was focused on the new breed of R5 cars and by extension the older S2000 cars from which the 2016 champion will come. Top seed was Garry Jennings & Rory Kennedy in their fully rebuilt Impreza WRC which had suffered a lot of damage in a fire at the Ulster Rally last year. Declan & Brian Boyle, the 2014 Tarmac Champions, were at two in their Fiesta WRC and hoping to repeat their 2014 win, while the absence of Derek McGarrity at three meant Roy White and James O’Brien were next up in another Fiesta WRC. Tim McNulty & Paul Kiely were at five in a Mini WRC, and while Tim had not competed in four years, the 2011 Tarmac champion planned to attack from the start. Dean Raftery was another non-starter at six, so Declan Gallagher & Ryan Moore were next up at seven in a Subaru Impreza WRC S8. This was the reigning Modified Champions first outing in a WRC and as it was out of homologation, it was to run in the National Category. Keith Cronin & Mikie Galvan’s Citroen was the first class 5 car on the road at 8, and they were followed by Josh Moffett / Jason McKenna, Alastair Fisher / Gordon Noble, Sam Moffett / Karl Atkinson and Stephen Wright / James Fulton all in Fiesta R5s which completed the top ten starters. Others lying just outside the top ten were Joe McGonigle, Desi Henry, Aaron McHale & Tommy Doyle (all Skoda), while Brendan Cumiskey & Tomas Davies were Fiesta mounted and Jonny Greer was in his usual Citroen DS3 R5. There were fifteen stages scheduled with nine on the first day around Killimor and Eyrecourt with service at Portumna. The second day had service in Gort and six stages, with the Black Road and Lough Cutra being covered three times. Saturday Damp miserable conditions were prevalent as the 78 starters made their way to the first stage outside Kilreekil and immediately it was Jennings who moved into a seven Garry Jennings took his maiden win in Galway second lead over Boyle. McNulty’s rally came to a sudden end just a couple of miles in when he went off the road and damaged a radiator while Tommy Doyle’s Skoda also crashed into retirement in the same part of the stage. Several of the following cars got the time of Roy White who admitted to being very cautious on that opening stage, so it was Desi Henry who took advantage to move into third as he had a clean run through the stage. By the end of the opening loop of three stages Jennings had moved into a 21 second lead from Boyle, while Henry held a narrow 0.1 second advantage over Cronin, with Sam Moffett and Alastair Fisher also pushing very hard. Aaron McHale was finding the switch to LHD very difficult and the conditions only made things worse. Brendan Cumiskey and Tomas Davies were also finding their Fiesta R5s a hard beast to figure out, with the Welshman in particular affected by punctures and struggling to find a suitable suspension setting. The second loop was punctuated by very heavy showers and Henry dropped from third to fifth on Stage 4 as he went wide on a gravelly square left, such were the margins between the top R5 drivers. Stages 5 and 6 were curtailed as a result of accidents, first Declan Gallagher crashed out on the fifth stage while Declan Boyle suffered the same fate on the following stage. As the cars headed to the second service of the day, Jennings now had a lead of almost two minutes over Fisher with Cronin, Henry and Sam Moffett completing the top five. In Group N David Guest led from Gus Kearney with William Mavitty holding third place, while the smaller classes were led by Richard Whelan (Class 3) and Callum Devine (Class 2). The weather improved somewhat on the final loop and there was no more major drama among the top crews although Roy White did lose some time with a 360 spin on the seventh stage to remain in sixth place. Jennings ended the day with over two minutes in hand from Cronin while Fisher was just 2.5 seconds behind the Corkman. Desi Henry and Sam Moffett were still within twenty seconds on Cronin and well placed heading into the second day. Behind White in sixth place lay Jonny Greer who had edged ahead of Josh Moffett, with Stephen Wright and Joe McGonigle rounding off the top ten. Paul Rowley, who had been lying just outside the top ten until the final stage of the day, went off the road and got stuck, but re-joined the rally under Rally 2 rules for the second day. 10
Overnight Top 5 1 – Jennings / Kennedy Impreza WRC 2 – Cronin / Galvin Citroen DS3 R5 + 2:27.7 3 – Fisher / Noble Fiesta R5 + 2:30.1 4 – Henry / Moynihan Fabia R5 + 2:44.2 5 – Moffett / Atkinson Fiesta R5 + 2:56.8 Sunday The Black Road was the longest stage of the rally and Jennings was once again fastest while Cronin moved six seconds clear of Fisher, while Sam Moffett was quickest of the R5s to close the gap to Henry to just three seconds. Moffett carried on the momentum to the Lough Cutra stage with a fastest stage time to move to fourth overall. Heavy downpours for the second loop proved costly for Desi Henry as he crashed out heavily on the Black Road which ruined a fine drive. Cronin moved ahead by almost twenty seconds clear of Fisher, while Moffett and White completed the top five. Over the final three stages there was little movement at the top as Jennings powered on to win by almost three and half minutes from Cronin with Fisher in third place. Sam Moffett took fourth with Roy White coming home in fifth place. Josh Moffett took sixth place from Joe McGonigle who edged past Jonny Greer on the final stage by just two seconds. Stephen Wright was much happier with his car on the last loop of stages and came home ninth with David Guest finishing tenth and winning Group N into the bargain. Top 5 Overall 1 – Jennings / Kennedy Impreza WRC 2 – Cronin / Galvin Citroen DS3 R5 +3:25.4 3 – Fisher / Noble Fiesta R5 +3:41.9 4 – Moffett / Atkinson Fiesta R5 +4:30.0 5 – White / O’Brien Fiesta WRC +4:42.4 National Rally Declan Gallagher the National favourite changed from his popular Toyota Starlet to a Subaru Impreza WRC and the reigning Modified Champion had a thirty second lead after the first loop of stages from Chris Armstrong’s Escort. Eugene Meegan & Sarah Whelan’s BMW held third place just thirteen seconds ahead of Wesley Patterson & Johnny Baird who had been held up a couple of times over the opening stages. swung Patterson’s way on the second run over the Black Road when Meegans BMW aquaplaned on standing water near the beginning of the stage and bent a steering arm putting him out of the rally. This left Patterson with a comfortable lead of over a minute and he was able to cruise home to take the National Rally by over a minute from Flaherty. Jason McSweeney had a very good drive to third place ahead of the Escort of Patrick McHugh. Andrew Fanning in his Ford Fiesta took fifth place overall from Ross Marshalls Escort while Davy Armstrong and John O’Sullivan came home seventh and eighth respectively. Tommy Cahill and Justin Comer in a pair of Mitsubishi Lancers rounded off the top ten. Top 5 National Overall Wesley Patterson won the National Rally in his mk2. 1 – Patterson / Baird Ford Escort 2 – Flaherty / Curley Ford Escort +1:09.5 3 – McSweeney / Quin Mitsubishi Lancer +1:39.5 4 – McHugh / O’Donnell Ford Escort +1:56.7 5 – Fanning / Hayes Ford Fiesta +3:49.3 Historic Rally Ray Cunningham & Adrian Cusack took the honours in the Historic Rally with a winning margin of almost three minutes in their Mini from David Goose & Richard Wardle in an Escort. Luke McCarthy & David Hogan were third in a Porsche 911, while Alex Schmieder / Steffan Schmieder (Escort) and Brendan McAree / JP McAree (Porsche 911) completed the finishers. Retirement s included John Spiers & James O’Mahony (accidents) Frank Cunningham (mechanical) and John Coyne (clutch cable). The second loop of stages was curtailed as a result of Gallagher’s accident which propelled Meegan into the lead as Armstrong had retired with a broken driveshaft. Patterson was now up to second place 21 seconds behind and Tom Flaherty was upholding local honours by holding third place. Jason McSweeney (Lancer), Patrick McHugh & Davy Armstrong (both in Escorts) completed the top six placings. The last three stages of the day saw no changes in position for the top five, but Patterson had closed into just 1.8 seconds off the lead which promised to make the second day fascinating. The second day began with Patterson taking the lead only for Meegan to grab it back after the first pair of stages. However the battle for supremacy Ray Cunningham took honours in the Historic section. Junior Rally Kieran O’Donoghue & Peter Falvey took a dramatic victory in the Junior Rally when they turned a four second deficit into a four second win on the final stage over Mark Murphy & Michael Hamilton. O’Donoghue led for the first couple of stages before Murphy pulled ahead until the very last test. Mark O’Leary and Ciaran Graal came home third in a Toyota Starlet. Kevin O’Driscoll Text & Photos 11
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Page 3 and 4: Issue 1 March 2016 Editor’s Lette
Page 5 and 6: Feature specific programmes develop
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Page 11: West Cork Rally March 12th - 13th 2
Page 15: Triton Showers National Rally Champ
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