CROSBIE CEDARS HOTEL WEXFORD SINGLE-STAGE RALLY - 17 Nov 01

Posted: November 21, 2001 9:21 AM

The Downman’s traversal of the nine-mile Coolboy stage - covering the Newbawn and Gusserane districts – in his Toyota Celica was near perfect as he covered the route the quickest over each of its three circuits.

Hurson and his able sidekick Ian Porter have been on form of late – no further evidence was required than their recent triumph in the Jim Clark Rally.

They started with a bang, covering the nine miles in 9 minutes 13 seconds, whivch proved unbeatable for the rest of the afternoon, despite the rest of the field having three cracks at the standard.

The only crew that managed to get close were the Hurson-Porter partnership themselves on the last two Special Stages, recording times of 9’16” and 9’13” – extraordinary form from the former national champion.

Sean McArdle appeared to have got off to a dream start, registering an opening stage time of 9:10.

However, this was quickly corrected when the stage notes were scrutinised during the wait for the start of the second circuit – this cost McArdle over a minute, as he slipped out of contention.

That gave Meathman Tim McNulty and another Downman, Maurice Gass, to step to the plate and run the gauntlet.

However, they too had to give way to a team on form, as Hurson and Porter powered home to great scenes of jubilation at Parc Ferme outside the Crosbie Cedars Hotel in Rosslare, having travelled the 27-mile duration in 27 minutes 42 seconds.

McNulty’s Impreza could only come within 32 seconds, giving him second spot, with Gass third a further 34 seconds behind the Royal County’s leading competitor.

For the locals, the main joy was to be seen just below the podium positions, with David James finishing fourth, and Willie Carroll fifth.

Goreyman James steered his 2WD Escort BDX into a rare, yet welcome, top five placing in an unrestricted rally, accompanied by co-driver Ron Guha.

The same partnership just missed out when seemingly on the road to glory at the Lighthouse Rally in Fethard just before Christmas 1999, but this success will surely exorcise those ghosts for good, particularly as his tussle with the big boys turned out to be so much more successful than anyone could have imagined.

What will surely satisfy the Class 13 winner – fending off John Nolan and Jimmy Lambert for the honour - is the fact that he left other more powerful cars trailing in his wake.

James had seven seconds to spare over another Wexfordman, William Carroll of New Ross, whose Escort Cosworth 2000 also celebrated dizzy heights. Accompanied by Jason Mernagh, he claimed fifth spot overall and won Class 8.

In sixth, just past the half-hour mark - 30 minutes, 1 second to be precise - came Tipperary's Willie O'Dwyer in a Metro 6R4, 14 seconds ahead of seventh-placed Carlowman Nolan on 30:15 - himself just two mere seconds clear of Tipperary's ever-popular Lambert and his equally celebrated Escort MkII.

Tom Holton’s Celica and Kieran Molloy’s Lancer completed the top ten, with Molloy’s performance good enough to win the Clonmel speedster the Group N showroom class in his Mitsubishi Evo 6 along with the Class 4 crown.

John Carroll may have finished down in 24th overall, but that was more than enough for him to clinch the South East Stages Championship to add to the Ford Ireland KA Challenge title he won at the Galway Sprint a fortnight ago.

Assisted by Diarmuid Falvey, he claimed Class 5 with just ten seconds to spare over Gerry Keyes.

The popular driver from Kilkenny is one of three candidates for the Billy Coleman Award at the end of November, and has his eye on bigger targets, particularly a shot at one of the UK championships.

The idea of staging a one-day rally on a Saturday quite clearly paid off, with crowds flocking to both the course and Rally HQ at Rosslare’s Crosbie Cedars Hotel.

The fact that for many the following day was not a working day undeniably added to the occasion, and could prove a useful pointer towards the future of the single-stage rally in Ireland.

The fact that circumstances mitigated against the traditional two-day September rally most certainly disappointed many, but those emotions would have undeniably been reversed by a tremendously successful event that went like a dream, thanks to the hard work of a sterling team of officials, marshals and organisers – and thanks to the common-sense approach taken by spectators.

And if all that wasn’t enough, it’s happening all over again next month.

TOP 16 - Final Standings
  1  7 Peadar Hurson/Ian Porter - Down          Celica      27:42
  2  5 Tim McNulty/Julian Nangle - Meath        Impreza     28:14
  3  6 Maurice Gass/Geoffrey Orr - Down         Impreza     28:48
  4 18 David James/Ron Guha - Gorey, Co Wexford Escort BDX  29:47
  5 29 Willie Carroll/Jason Mernagh - New Ross  Escort Cos  29:54
  6 39 Willie O'Dwyer/Andrew Purcell - Kilkenny Metro 6R4   30:01
  7 23 John Nolan/John Smithwick - Carlow       Escort      30:15
  8 19 Jimmy Lambert/James Coleman - Tipperary  Escort Mk2  30:17
  9 12 Tom Holton/Andrew Cullen - Meath         Celica      30:18
10 16 Kieran Molloy/Brian Boland - Tipperary   Lancer      30:22
11 22 Derek Smith/Darragh Cafferty - Wicklow   Escort      30:46
12  8 Sean McArdle/Gerard McMonagle - Armagh   Celica      30:55
13 35 Donal Bowens/Enda Shiels - Meath         Escort Cos  31:19
14 27 Trevor Culbert/James Glynn - Wicklow     Escort Mk2  31:27
15 25 James Foley/Ann Foley - Meath            Honda Civic 31:39
16 53 Willie Fannin/Brian Duggan - Dublin      Lancer Evo6 31:46

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