Rallying Round Up

Patterson takes the honours in Imokilly

Wesley Patterson wins in Imokilly

Wesley Patterson and Johnny Baird took victory on last weekend's Imokilly Single Stage Rally. The crew won the event in their Escort from last year's winner Roy White by 6.2 seconds. White, navigated this year by Des Cooney had a great battle with Patterson over the three stages but in the end wasn't able to better his pace. Taking third was Barry Meade and Eamonn Hynes finishing just under 21 seconds behind the winners. Event report available here



Dogleap Tarmac Stages Rally 

Dogleap Tarmac Stages Rally Launch

Saturday the 2nd of August will see Maiden City Motorclub host the RiverRidge Recycling Dogleap Stages Rally. 6 stages and almost 40 stage miles is what will greet competitors when they arrive at the Shakleton complex in Ballykelly. Last year's winner Kieran Graffin will lead the almost 80 strong field away but the main talking point leading up to the event is the entry of motorbike ace Michael Dunlop. After sinking his teeth in a MK2 Escort on the Donegal International Rally earlier in the year the 25 year old will tackle his second rally in Brian Brogan's immaculate MK2 Escort. All eyes will be on him on Saturday. The event is also a round of the 2014 NI Junior Championship and will see the country's potential star's of the future tackle the event.


Breen Set for Rally Finland

Rally Finland Takes Place This Weekend

Craig Breen will tackle the world famous Rally Finland for the first time in a World Rally car this weekend.  Fresh from a win on his home Ravens Rock Rally Craig and his co-driver Scott Martin while on a break between rounds from their regular FIA ERC duties with the Peugeot Rally Academy team will use the same Fiesta RS WRC that they used back in February on WRC Sweden where they took 9^th overall on Craig’s first event in the car. This time the pair will use the 
all gravel rally to further evaluate their pace up against some of the world’s top drivers on another road surface.The pair are seeded in at number 23. Breen has competed in the event using a Fiesta ST, R2 and S2000 in the past. Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle will also continue their attack on the WRC. They currently sit in 7th place with 38 points. Alastair Fisher will also continue his WRC 3 campaign. The Ulster man is currently 5th in the championship on 18 points.

Patterson takes the honours in Imokilly

Wesley Patterson and Johnny Baird took victory on last weekend's Imokilly Single Stage Rally. The crew won the event in their Escort from last year's winner Roy White by 6.2 seconds. White, navigated this year by Des Cooney had a great battle with Patterson over the three stages but in the end wasn't able to better his pace. Taking third was Barry Meade and Eamonn Hynes finishing just under 21 seconds behind the winners.

Wesley Patterson wins in Imokilly

Patterson started the event with a time of 12:01.30 which was over seven seconds faster than White who set a time just 0.1 seconds faster than Meade setting up a great fight for the day. On stage 2 Patterson extended his advantage by almost three seconds to lead Roy White by 10.6 seconds. Barry Meade lay 17.7 seconds behind the leaders after his second run with White's MG ZR only 7 seconds ahead in second. On the final stage of the event White made one last push for victory but in the end it wasn't enough and he had to settle for the runners up spot. Wesley Patterson and Johnny Baird had the honour of being the first names on the Paul Mulcahy Memorial Trophy.
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Further down the top ten there was a great battle between Frank Kelly and Jason Ryan. Ryan was ahead come the end of stage 1 in his starlet but only by 0.3 seconds from Kelly and on stage 2 the Escort driver moved ahead by 3.4 seconds. Kelly cemented his fourth place on the final stage finishing 20.4 seconds ahead of Ryan and winning class 14 in the process. It was however a very impressive drive from Jason Ryan winning class 11F by almost a minute.

1. Wesley Patterson/Johnny Baird  29:35.0
2. Roy White/Des Cooney  +6.2
3. Barry Meade/Eamonn Hynes +20.9
4. Frank Kelly/Mo Downey +29.8
5. Jason Ryan/Tadgh O'Sullivan +50.5
6. Stephen McCann/Breen McNamee +1.06.6
7. Mark Dolphin/Finbar Quirke +1:18.7
8. Alastair Cochrane/Gary McElhinney +1:29.8
9. Allen Treacy/Bob Fitzgerald +1:32.1
10. Tom Flaherty/Patrick Curley +1:50.1

Rallying Round Up

Phelan Gets the Third Billy Coleman Award Nomination

24 year old Cormac Phelan has become the third nominee for the 2014 Billy Coleman Award. The Roscommon driver has been setting the stages alight this year with a hat-trick of junior class wins on the Circuit of Kerry, Carlow and Circuit of Munster Rallies and he now lies second in the Dunlop National Junior Championship. Cormac began his motorsport career in 2012, tackling three rallies, and increased this to five events last year, so this is his first full season of competition. He has been driving a Honda Civic until recently, but has now changed to a Citroen C2R2 Max which he drove to second place in class in Sligo last weekend on his first outing in a left hand drive car. Cormac joins Josh Moffett and Keven Eves on the list of nominations for the Billy Coleman Award.


Wright takes 208 podium in Luxembourg

Photo Cred: Conor Maguire

Stephen and Suzanne Wright traveled abroad last weekend to attack Rally Luxembourg in their Peugeot 208 R2 and the Monaghan pair had a successful event. The Wrights finished a fantastic 13th overall and 5th in the R2 class. They also netted 2nd in the 208 class. There was a few hiccups along the way however. A difference in the local rules to Irish regulations resulted in Stephen suffering a big time loss after a stage cancellation. The pair also lost 10 seconds having to stop at an accident on Day 2. Apart from that it was a good run for the pair. The next outing for Stephen will be the Ulster Rally next month. The pair will return to the Belgian Rally Championship at the Tour of Flanders on the 5th of September.


Imokilly Single Stage This Weekend!

All roads lead to Cork this Sunday as Imokilly hosts round 4 of the Southern 4 Rally Championship with the Imokilly Single Stage. The event is the only single stage event in the country at the moment and it hosts an entry list of 120 crews. Last year's winner Roy White will lead the field off the start line along with entries such as Frank Kelly, Darragh O'Riordan and Wesley Patterson. The event consists of a 20 Km stage repeated three times.

Entries to close soon for the Ulster Rally

With the final closing date for the Ulster Rally only a week away excitement is building for one of the biggest events of the year and this year's rally will be no different The organisers received an entry from three times Ulster Rally winner Jimmy McRae. The Scottish Rally legend is competing in the British Historic Rally Championship in a Vauxhall Firenza and his many Irish Rally fans will be cheering him on during the event. The event will also host an interesting point in the British Rally Championship. With the final round of the BRC canceled the Ulster Rally is now the penultimate round of the championship which will make it an exciting contest between championship leader Daniel McKenna and last year's winner of BRC section of the Ulster Rally, Osian Pryce. In the Clonikilty Blackpudding Irish Championship, Donegal’s Donagh Kelly has already secured his place on the start list and is expected to be joined by a large contingent of rapid WRC pilots including Irish Championship leader Declan Boyle, Monaghan’s Sam Moffitt in his Fiesta WRC and last year’s winner Garry Jennings. 

Moffett to Attack Rally Germany

It was announced on Tuesday that Sam Moffett and James O'Reilly are to make their World Rally Championship debut at Rallye Deutschland next month. The pair will compete in round 9 of the WRC in their Combilift Rallying Fiesta WRC. The team have had a successful year so far in the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship and the National Rally Championship winning three events so far for Sam and James. Craig Breen will also contest the event as well as Rally Finland next week.  Rallye Deutschland is famed for its testing conditions, from tight bumpy lanes through vineyards to wide, open roads through military ranges. . ADAC Rallye Deutschland runs from August 21st to 24th and is based in the town of Trier.

Josh Moffett Takes Maiden Win In Sligo

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It was a day to remember for Josh Moffett and the Combilift rallying team as the young Monaghan driver took his first overall rally win in Sligo. Co-driven by John Rowan the crew won eight of the nine stages to take victory by over three minutes. When it was announced mid - week that Josh would be taking the Fiesta WRC from his brother Sam for the event everyone was keen to see how his transferal from Group N to WRC machinery would go.

Josh Moffett and John Rowan on their way to victory

Trevor Bustard John McCafferty - Group N Winners

 The day didn't start well for some of the top competitors with Frank Wray retiring after stage 1 with brake issues. Paddy McVeigh led the event after stage 1 by 4.9 seconds but a spin on stage 2 left him with light damage and cost him the lead. Sam Moffett was out in a brand new class 20 Mitsubishi Evo 9 and lay 3rd after the opening loop. A fantastic battle between the Evo 9s of Martin Doherty, Pat Kirk and Trevor Bustard was brewing and it was Kirk who who led Group N going into the first service by 14 seconds from Doherty with Bustard a further 6 seconds behind. More drama was to follow mid way through the second loop as gearbox issues on the road section between stage four and five forced Paddy McVeigh into retirement and elevated Sam Moffett into second. Pat Kirk was promoted to third but the battle between the Group N trio was still very much alive with the gap to Doherty now just under nine seconds after the second loop with Bustard a further 13 seconds behind. Into the final loop and drama was about to hit yet again as Sam Moffett retired on stage 8 with a broken wishbone, denying the team a famous Combilift Rallying 1-2. That development should have promoted Pat Kirk to second but Martin Doherty was on a charge and heading into the final stage he found himself 11 seconds ahead of Kirk and second overall. After McVeigh's retirement Josh Moffett had the breathing space to get to grips with his Fiesta and it became very clear he was learning fast. His times improved noticeably throughout the day and the size of his winning margin is a testament to that. It was Martin Doherty and Kevin Flannagan that took the runners up spot after a fantastic final loop. Pat Kirk and John McElhinney were 25 seconds behind in third. This meant that Group N went to Trevor Bustard and John McCafferty who took the class by over two minutes from Sean and Claire Gallagher. The win was especially pleasing for Bustard after a big accident during this event two years ago had a big impact on their rallying.The modified section was won by Gary Kiernan and Niall Tierney. The Cavan crew dominated in their class 13R Escort from start to finish and came home over a minute and a half ahead of his nearest rivals Brian Armstrong and Mark Tierney in their class 12 Escort. Kiernan put in an excellent performance and came home 4th overall.

Gary Kiernan and Niall Tierney took the modified honours

In class 2 it was another win for David Keller. Co-driven by Dean O'Suillivan the Donegal crew beat class 2 championship leaders Brian Quigley and Seamus McTigue by just over a minute and 19 seconds. In class 3 Mark Ewing and John Egan ran out comprehensive winners over Raymond Gilleece and Anthony Gilligan. In class 5 Eamon McCafferty and Michael Donnellan were the sole entrants and got their Ford Puma to the finish. In class 6 a close battle for the win saw Calvin Beattie and Emmett Sherry take the win by 37.9 seconds from Cormac Phelan and Katya Auhl. Roger Kennedy and Wendy Blackledge were the sole entrants in class 7 and got their Peugeot 306 to the finish. Damien O'Reilly and Martin Byrne ran out clear winners in class 9 beating their nearest rivals by over four minutes. Mark and James Ewing took class 10 by over four minutes in their Peugeot 205. In class 11F Alan Smyth and Martin Swinburne took a narrow 5.3 seconds win over Alan Lawson and Sean Harte. Class 11R went to David Moffett and Fintan Sherry winning the class by almost two minutes. Class 12 honours went to Brian Armstrong and Mark Tierney beating Martin Toner and Gary McCrudden by just under 10 seconds. Shane Buckley and Keefe Kilcoyne were the sole entry in class 13F and got their Honda Civic to the finish. Class 14 went to David Quinn and Enda McGonigle who were the sole survivors of the class. Anthony Cairns and Mark Preston dominated class 15 winning by well over 11 minutes. The junior rally went to Niall O'Sullivan and Sean O'Crowley who managed to battle mechanical issues to win by 46 seconds. Michael Carbin and Emmett McCooey were the sole survivors of class 20.


So with round 4 over us there is only one round of the Sligo Pallets Border Rally Championship left. October 11 will see the Donegal Harvest Stages Rally host the final round of the championship and no doubt many of the championship competitors will make the trip up to the North West once again.


 https://soundcloud.com/matthewmcmahon5/sligo-stages-rally-podcast

All Roads Lead to Sligo this Weekend

This weekend will see the Connacht Motor Club host round 4 of the Sligo Pallets Border Rally Championship and by the looks of things it has all the ingredients to entice spectators to the West. Over 100 entries will take the start ramp at the Sligo Park Hotel and tackle the 9 stages predominately based in neighbouring Leitrim.

Josh Moffett will take the wheel of the Fiesta WRC in Sligo

The big story coming into this weekend is that Josh Moffett is to take his brother Sam's Fiesta WRC for the event. The Billy Coleman Award Nominee has been in stunning form this year in his Group N Mitsubishi Evo 9 and currently joint leader at the top of the class 4 table in the championship. It will be interesting to see if he can make the transition to faster machinery. His brother Sam won on his debut in a WRC car in Monaghan two years ago driving a Subaru S14. His direct competition comes in the form of Paddy McVeigh and Frank Wray both in Subaru WRCs. McVeigh is joint leader of class 8 and with none of his championship rivals competing this weekend it will be a good chance for him to extend his lead.  Frank Wray hasn't entered any of the championship rounds so far but should be right up there challenging for the win on Sunday.

Trevor Bustard could take the lead in Group N with a good result

In Group N Sam Moffett is reverting back to his Evo 9 for the weekend. The Monaghan driver has said in the past that reverting back to a Group N car from faster machinery is a challenging task so can he get to grips with his Evo 9 form the get go? He will certainly have some competition to contend with. With Josh in the Fiesta the battle for Group N focuses in on three men in terms of the championship. Trevor Bustard, Pat Kirk and William Mavitty are all separated by 4 points in the championship table. Bustard took the honours at the last round in Cavan and will be on a real push to take the championship lead in Sligo. Pat Kirk is seeded at number 6, the Tyrone man was in contention for the win in Group N at the Donegal International until gearbox trouble forced him into retirement. He finished second in Cavan so will be looking to turn things around this weekend. Fermanagh's William Mavitty will be looking to claw back some points. Two thirds so far in the championship sees him just four points behind the Group N lead in the championship so a good finish in Sligo could make it very interesting going into the Donegal Harvest Rally. Other mentions in Group N this weekend include Paul Kiely. The former Clerk of the Course for the Sligo Rally will be hoping for a good run on his home event. Martin Doherty and Sean Gallagher will be also one's to watch this weekend.

Brian Brogan will be well in contention for modified honours

Brian Brogan and Jack Maguire look set to have a good scrap in class 14 for the top modified honours. Brogan has scored 14 points from the first two rounds of the championship but missed round 3 in Cavan while Jack Maguire has been improving throughout the season. 8th in Mayo was followed by 5th in Monaghan and then 3rd in Cavan so could he take the top spot this weekend in class 14? With Brogan not competing in Cavan it means he is two points behind Maguire in the championship so it is all to play for this weekend. David Quinn and Sean McHugh will both be competing in BMWs and will be looking to make a real push for top modified honours. For this weekend class 13 has been sub divided into class 13R and class 13F to separate rear wheel and front wheel drive entries. There are 8 entries in 13R including Dominic McLoughlin making a return to the stages in his Peugeot 205.

So with that its on to the rally. The cars will depart from the start ramp at 9.15 a.m. on Sunday ready to attack the 9 stages. I'll have a report and podcast with reaction from the winners as well as updates throughout the day so make sure and check my facebook and twitter pages for up to date information.

Matthew McMahon



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Hunter Takes ALMC Victory

                                     PODCAST AT THE BOTTOM OF THE REPORT



It was a question of who could survive mother nature in Meath as the weather played it's part in an exciting ALMC Stages Rally. The day started dry but the rain wasn't long throwing a spanner in the works midway through the first loop as competitors struggled to cope with the changing weather conditions throughout the rest of the event.

First blood went to Hugh Hunter, the Welsh driver led after the first stage by seven seconds from Stephen Simpson and Gary Jennings who had set a time exactly the same to the nearest tenth of a second. However on stage 3 Jennings took the lead by 5 seconds setting up a nice fight going into the second loop. Stephen Simpson held third but his rally ended after hitting a bale on stage 4. On stage 6 an oil pressure problem ended Gary Jennings' rally. The event leader pulled off the stage and into retirement with two miles to go handing the lead back to Hugh Hunter. The Welsh man held first place until the end winning the event by 54 seconds. John Stone inherited second place but on the last stage he slipped to fourth. The battle of the afternoon was definitely between Damian Cole and Mick O'Brien. The pair were neck and neck for most of the day and at the finish line their times were inseparable to the nearest tenth of a second! It was Cole than won the battle as he had set the faster time on the final stage and took 2nd place overall. Mick O'Brien was still happy with taking 3rd.

Hugh Hunter and Andy Marchbank win by 54 seconds

In the modified section it was Frank Kelly that took the honours in class 14 beating Keith Robathan by just over a minute and a half. We were denied a close battle for the top spot after Adrian Hetherington unfortunately crashed out on stage 2. After that Kelly was in control till the end.

Frank Kelly and Jackie Elliot Win the Modified Section

  In Group N Merion Evans sadly crashed out of the lead on stage 8 after landing awkwardly over a jump. The UK driver was enjoying a good run and was leading the class by almost three minutes until his accident. That left Shane O'Rourke to take the win by well over two minutes from Joe Gallagher.

In the juniors it was Paul Jordan Hone who set the early pace leading by over 40 seconds but his rally ended after just two stages. Brian Brady took the lead on stage three and held it to the end winning the class by 28 seconds from Tom Holton. In the historics it was Christopher Lloyd who was the sole survivor after the retirement of Malcolm Pedlow on stage 2.




                                                  ALMC Rally Podcast

Ulster Rally Is A Go

This week saw the launch of one of the most popular events of the year, the Ulster Rally. An event which is well supported in terms of championships and entries a like and this year looks set to be one of the most exciting Ulster Rallys yet. Big names such as Gary Jennings, Stephen Wright and current British Rally Championship leader Daniel McKenna were on hand to launch the event in the grounds of the Castle Coole Estate in Fermanagh.

The event could play a pivotal role in a number of championships this year. In the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, Declan and Brian Boyle will head to Enniskillen on the back of a fantastic home win in the Donegal International Rally and a win in Ulster will surely wrap up the championship for them. But the Boyle brothers didn't have much luck last year only managing to complete one stage before retirement so will they fair better this time? Sam Moffett and James O'Reilly have had a great year so far with victory in Killarney and taking second after a tough battle in Donegal, they are currently second in the championship. A victory in Ulster and a retirement for the Boyle's might just see them head for Cork with a chance at the title. Last year's winner Gary Jennings will no doubt be eager to make it two in a row and although he currently is fourth in the championship he could well play a role in how this championship concludes.

Another man looking for a strong Ulster performance is Monaghan man Daniel McKenna. After victory in the Scottish Rally McKenna is leading the British Rally Championship by 20 points. His chief rival Osian Pryce failed to finish with gearbox problems and comes into round 4 of the championship needing a good result. Pryce won the Rally NI section of the event last year so he will travel to Fermanagh with confidence in that regard however the stages are 70% different to last year. McKenna will attack his home round of the BRC with the knowledge that his car is 100% where he wants it to be in terms of performance which certainly will help his confidence when attacking the stages. So this I think will be the battle of the rally. Ulster could prove all the more important in terms of the championship as there are rumours circulating that Rally Dorset may not take place. After the announcement that the BRC will not be run in 2015 the Southern Car Club, who organise and run the event, released a  statement earlier in the week blasting the MSA for the decision which has all but put an end to a potential deal to bring important sponsorship to the event, which could lead to it being axed. Nothing of course has been made official in terms of the cancellation of Rally Dorset and it would be a tremendous shame to lose the event formally known as Rallye Sunseeker. In the event that the rally is canceled however it would make the Ulster Rally the penultimate round of the championship and thus the result could be all the more important.

Stephen and Suzanne Wright will also be tackling the event. The Monaghan pair have been impressing in the Belgian Championship this year and finished in the top 10 in the R2 category at the Ypres Rally. The crew will come to Fermanagh looking to challenge Irish and British R2 contingent. Wright took second in Group N here last year and although he's in a different car he knows the stages so will definitely be one to watch.

As the entries are set to open there will be many more crews to keep an eye on including Billy Coleman Award Nominees Kevin Eves and Josh Moffett as well as many more familiar faces. The event is just 6 weeks away so put it in your diary and get ready!