Even though he suffered his first defeat of the year, Clare driver Rob Dwane virtually clinched the Naylor Engineering National Hillclimb and Sprint Championship for the first time thanks to scoring his eighth win from nine rounds in Donegal yesterday.
The 21 year-old had to give best to the Radical sports car of Gerard O’Connell in Saturday’s event on the famous Knockalla coast road on the Fanad peninsula, with less than one fifth of a second separating the two rivals. However, Dwane was back to winning form yesterday, finishing well clear of runner up Tim Nunn.
Defending Triton Showers National Rally champion Sam Moffett was 46 seconds ahead of Joe McGonigle in yesterday’s Sligo Stages Rally, taking the lead when this year’s two main title contenders crashed off the road on consecutive stages towards the end of the rally.
Moffett’s younger brother Josh, the rally leader at the time, was first to go, on the sixth of nine stages, while double champion Declan Boyle retired on the following stage, leaving runner up McGonigle to take over the points lead.
In Ballyvourney, Co Cork, defending Hewison Autotest champion Ian White and challenger Guy Foster took a win apiece in the double header opening weekend of the new season, with Chris Grimes and Darren Quille taking turns at finishing third.
DONEGAL M C HILLCLIMB AT KNOCKALLA (DAY 1) (ROUND 8 OF NAYLOR ENGINEERING NATIONAL HILLCLIMB/SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP)
1 Gerard O’Connell (Radical SR8) 38.87s,
2 Rob Dwane (OMS 25) 39.06s,
3 Rory Stephens (Radical SR8 Hayabusa) 40.80s,
4 Chris Houston (OMS CF08) 43.63s,
5 Oliver Cormican (Lancer Evo) 44.06s,
6 Tim Nunn (Westfield) 44.14s,
7 Gary Cunningham (Global GT) 44.63s,
8 Wesley Patterson (Escort) 45.15s,
9 David McClurg (Locost TCS) 45.61s,
10 John Donnelly (Reynard SF80) 45.71s.
Class winners: Seamus Anderson (Anglia), Dara Fay (Swift), Tim Nunn, David McClurg, Gary Cunningham, Mick O’Shea (MGB GT), John Whitley (Swift FF1600), Chris Houston, Rob Dwane, Barry McLaughlin (Sunbeam), Danny Calnan (Corsa), Oliver Cormican, Ernest Browne (Mini), Eoin Kelly (Corsa), Alan Roddy (Saxo), Willie Vance (Escort), Adam Vance (Civic), Wesley Patterson.
DONEGAL M C HILLCLIMB AT KNOCKALLA (DAY 2) (ROUND 9 OF NAYLOR ENGINEERING NATIONAL HILLCLIMB/SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP)
1 Rob Dwane (OMS 25) 39.89s,
2 Tim Nunn (Westfield) 43.87s,
3 John Donnelly (Reynard SF80) 44.49s,
4 Chris Houston (OMS CF08) 45.01s,
5 Russell Stanworth (Reynard RF81 Opel) 45.25s,
6 Gary Cunningham (Global GT) 46.37s,
7 Vincent Deery (Lotus Exige) 46.77s,
8 Dara Fay (Suzuki Swift) 47.05s,
9 Wesley Patterson (Escort) 47.39s,
10 Tommy Gardiner (Civic) 47.56s.
Class winners: Seamus Anderson (Anglia), Elaine Kirwan (Cinquecento), Dara Fay, Tim Nunn, Brendan Keane (Westfield SE1), Gary Cunningham, Mick O’Shea (MGB GT), John Whitley (Swift FF1600), John Donnelly, Russell Stanworth, Barry McLaughlin (Sunbeam), Jack Deegan (Peugeot 205), Ivan Stewart (Lancer Evo 9), Finian Hannigan (Peugeot 106), Ernest Browne (Mini), Harry Browne (Avenger), J P Logue (Civic), Willie Vance (Escort), Adam Vance (Civic), Wesley Patterson.
CONNAUGHT M C FAAC SIMPLY AUTOMATIC SLIGO PARK HOTEL STAGES RALLY AT SLIGO (ROUND 5 OF TRITON SHOWERS NATIONAL RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP, ROUND 5 OF SLIGO PALLETS BORDER CHAMPIONSHIP AND ROUND 5 OF TOP PART WEST COAST CHAMPIONSHIP)
1 Sam Moffett/Noel O’Sullivan (Fiesta R5) 58m 21s,
2 Joe McGonigle/Ciaran Geaney (Mini WRC) 59m 07s,
3 Johnny Jordan/Gary McNern (Starlet) 61m 22s,
4 Aidan Wray/Kieran McGrath (Lancer Evo 10 Gp N) 61m 26s,
5 Chris Armstrong/Chris Melly (Escort) 62m 08s,
6 Trevor Bustard/John McCafferty (Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 63m 03s,
7 J F Shovelin/Ryan Moore (Escort) 63m 04s,
8 John McQuaid/Thomas Treanor (Escort) 63m 13s,
9 Gary Cairns/Martin Brady (Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 63m 13s,
10 Sean Gallagher/Claire Gallagher (Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 63m 43s.
Motorsport Safety Team Group N award: Aidan Wray/Kieran McGrath.
rally.ie Two wheel drive award: Johnny Jordan/Gary McNern.
Juniors: 1 Jason Black/Jack McKenna (Starlet) 40m 06s,
2 David Kelly/Kenny Bustard (Starlet) 40m 28s,
3 Ryan Moore/Neil Brogan (Civic) 44m 11s.
MUNSTER C C AUTOTEST AT BALLYVOURNEY, CO CORK (ROUND 1 OF HEWISON TROPHY CHAMPIONSHIP AND ROUND 8 OF PREMIER AUTO PARTS MUNSTER CHAMPIONSHIP)
1 Guy Foster (Mini Special) 642.5s,
2 Ian White (Mini Special) 653.7s,
3 Chris Grimes (Mini) 676.2s,
4 Darren Quille (Westfield) 696.7s,
5 Cian Power (Mini Special) 721.2s,
6 Liam Cashman (Nova) 721.4s,
7 Mike Mulcahy (Mini Special) 722.6s,
8 Liam Croston (Starlet) 733.6s,
9 Paul Phelan (Mini Special) 745.2s,
10 Connie Lynch (Starlet Special) 775.1s,
11 Martin Walsh (Starlet Special) 776.8s,
12 Michael Cashman (Corsa) 787.2s.
Class winners: Chris Grimes, Ian White, Connie Lynch, Darren Quille, Liam Cashman, James Mansfield (Mazda MX5) 883.1s, Billy Neville (Starlet) 851.8s.
CORK M C AUTOTEST AT BALLYVOURNEY, CO CORK (ROUND 2 OF HEWISON TROPHY CHAMPIONSHIP AND ROUND 9 (FINAL) OF PREMIER AUTO PARTS MUNSTER CHAMPIONSHIP)
1 Ian White (Mini Special) 709.3s,
2 Guy Foster (Mini Special) 719.8s,
3 Darren Quille (Westfield) 738.0s,
4 Chris Grimes (Mini) 742.8s,
5 Liam Cashman (Nova) 747.5s,
6 Liam Croston (Starlet) 765.4s,
7 Martin Walsh (Starlet Special) 781.3s,
8 Cian Power (Mini Special) 796.2s,
9 Victor Beamish (Mini Special) 801.0s,
10 Mike Mulcahy (Mini Special) 810.3s,
11 Paul Phelan (Mini Special) 810.9s,
12 Connie Lynch (Starlet Special) 812.5s.
Class winners: Chris Grimes, Guy Foster, Martin Walsh, Darren Quille, Michael Lynch (Starlet) 895.2s, Liam Cashman, Billy Neville (Starlet) 921.8s.
ENNISKILLEN M C LAKELAND STAGES FOREST RALLY AT ENNISKILLEN, CO FERMANAGH (ROUND 6 OF VALVOLINE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP)
1 Josh Moffett/Stephen Thornton (Fiesta) 32m 17s,
2 Desi Henry/Liam Moynihan (Skoda Fabia R5) 32m 18s,
3 Vivian Hamill/Andrew Grennan (Fiesta R5) 32m 20s,
4 Cathan McCourt/Barry McNulty (Fiesta) 32m 34s,
5 Adrian Hetherington/Gary Nolan (Corolla WRC) 32m 35s,
6 Derek McGarrity/Paddy Robinson (Focus WRC) 32m 55s.
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