Moffett Makes It a Double In Monaghan

Yet again it was a local win in Monaghan as Sam Moffett took victory in his home event for the second year running. The Clontibret man co - driven by James O'Reilly took the lead from the start and never looked back winning by just over two minutes! Peadar Hurson finished an excellent 2nd in the Escort WRC proving that "90's" World Rally Car machinery can still put it up to it's modern day counterparts. Paddy McVeigh's rally came to an end on stage 4 when the car got beached on a bank and with no spectators or marshals to help he was unable to continue although thankfully the car hasn't sustained much damage. Kevin Barrett came home 4th to take the class 8 win. Sam's brother Josh took Group N honours by over 3 minutes while Richard and David Moffett won classes 13 and 11F also making it a good day for Moffetts.

While Sam's win never really looked in doubt it was the battle in the modified section that really grabbed people's attention. Daniel McKenna and Gary McPhillips had a very close scrap for the Modified honours all day. After the first loop of three it was McKenna that led McPhillips by over six seconds with Rodney Wilton the best of the rest in third, fifty seconds behind. That was all changed at the second service stop however as McPhillips had taken the lead from the Scanbitz Escort, made more impressive considering Gary had a puncture on stage 4. Daniel was complaining of vibrations in his car. The battle was unfortunately cut short as McPhillips was forced to retire on stage 8 with gearbox problems handing the win to Daniel McKenna. With the Scotshouse man also finishing third overall it means he forfeited his class 14 win which was inherited by Rodney Wilton. Rodney has had a bad run of luck the last two years in Monaghan with an accident and driveshaft failure forcing his retirement so it's nice to see a change of fortune for the Cavan man.

Class Wins

In Class 1 Francie McKenna and Sean Craig were the sole starter and brought the car home 74th overall. In class 2 there was a good battle between David Keller and Brian Quigley in their Honda Civics. Keller led from the start with Quigley briefly taking the lead on Stage 3 but it was David that took the win in the end by sixteen seconds. Class 3 spoils went to Mark Ewing and John Egan as they were the sole survivors in the class. In Class 6 Darragh Kelly and Keith Gorrell took the lead after stage 2 and never looked back winning the class by over a minute. Roger Kennedy and Wendy Blackledge were the sole class 7 starters and got their Peugeot 306 to the finish. In class 9 Gene McDonald and Kevin Reilly took the win by over 5 minutes in their Ford Escort. Cathal Sheridan and Evin Hughes took advantage of  the rate of attrition in class 10 to take the win in their Opel Corsa. In class 11F early leaders Kevin and Gavin Gallagher retired their Rover 25 on the second loop to hand victory to Adrian Cannon and Paddy McCrudden in their Honda Civic. Justin Smyth and Sharon Clarke lead class 12 for most of the day in their Escort until their retirement after stage 6 leaving Daniel McKenna's British Rally Championship co-driver, Arthur Kierans to take the class navigated by his soon Mac. A good battle between Colin Flannigan and Patrick Bride's Evo 7 and David Smith and Jason McKenna's Evo 8 for class 15 spoils was cut short when both retired after the second loop handing the class win to Derek Bolton and Trevor O'Connell in their Subaru V4 STI. In the juniors Shane Forde and Brian McLoughlin took the lead on stage 2 and never looked back winning by over three minutes. Peadar Hurson's second overall meant that David Leonard and Darragh Mullen took Class 20 in their Lancer.

A great day was had by everyone yesterday. Thanks to Monaghan Motor for running a great event and for the weather for staying dry! Next event I'l make it two will be Cavan so see you all there!