2003 Hotel Kilmore Cavan Stages Rally - 25 May 03

Posted: May 27, 2003 8:14 PM

Derry’s, Eugene Donnelly and co-driver, Paddy Toner, won the Hotel Kilmore Cavan Rally, the fourth round of the Dunlop National Rally Championship. Following the nine special stages, their Subaru WRC was 39 seconds ahead of the similar car of Jim Harrison/Harvey Bell. Defending Dunlop champions, Niall Maguire/Paul McLaughlin, also in a Subaru WRC were third – 16 seconds adrift with current championship leaders, Michael Barrable/Dermot O’Gorman finishing fourth to complete a Subaru WRC quartet, the latter retain their lead in the Dunlop series. The Group N category was won by Willie Fannin/Brendan McCabe (Mitsubishi).

Eugene Donnelly showed no ill effects of his accident on the Tour of Sperrins on Saturday and set the pace on the nine-mile stage, Lavey, where Niall Maguire and Jim Harrison were both four seconds adrift of the early rally leader. Donnelly continued to set the pace on S.S. 2, Clonervy and S.S. 3, Bunnoe and arrived at the Cavan service halt with a ten second lead. Harrison, who remarked he was a slight bit nervous after his Monaghan accident, lost time on the third stage with intercom problems.

A contented Niall Maguire, like the top two, in a Subaru WRC, slotted into third some ten seconds adrift of Harrison. David Armstrong, who held fourth, was concerned about a high degree of road noise from his Escort WRC. Carlow winner, Michael Barrable (Subaru) was fifth – 55 seconds off the lead, a fact he contributed to an intermittent anti-lag system. Having acquired the ex-Kevin Barrett Subaru WRC, Adrian McElvaney in sixth place reckoned that the set up was not to his satisfaction, as the rear of the car seemed to be twitchy. Another factor was that he had the wrong tyres for the first two stages.

Alan Nesbitt reckoned he didn’t settle in quickly enough, he was seventh from the Peugeot of Mac McKenna and the Escorts of Paddy Boyle and Mervyn Wedlock. The Group N category was headed by the Mitsubishi of Dominic Loughran, he was eleven seconds ahead of the Mitsubishi of Willie Fannin.
Early retirements included James McCann, his Escort Cosworth caught fire after a slight off road excursion. Sean McArdle (Toyota Celica) was another to make an early exit.

Donnelly maintained his superiority and extricated a further 20 seconds on the second loop to lead Harrison by 30 seconds at the second service halt in Cavan. Donnelly encountered no difficulties while Harrison remarked that he was braking to early at many of the junctions. Maguire continued to set his sights on second and cut the deficit to eight seconds as his Subaru WRC ran trouble free. Fourth placed Michael Barrable was much more composed on the repeat of the loop but the time lost on the first loop proved to be his downfall.

An exhaust problem saw Armstrong fall into the clutches of the Subaru of Adrian McElvaney who was much happier with the performance of his Subaru WRC. He opined that having softened the suspension set up, the car was easier to drive. Alan Nesbitt (Toyota Celica) held seventh in a top ten that also featured the Escort of Norman Armstrong, the misfiring Peugeot of Mac McKenna, and the Escort of Mervyn Wedlock. Dominic Loughran retained the advantage in Group N but an improving Willie Fannin had cut his lead to just four seconds. They were eleventh and twelfth respectively.

Donnelly and Harrison were joint fastest on stage seven with the former completing the rout of fastest times to win by 39 seconds. Harrison, Maguire and Barrable completed an unchanged top four.
Adrian McElvaney finished fifth for the third time in four rounds of the Dunlop series- he remarked that this particular fifth was his toughest. Armstrong had alternator difficulties en-route to sixth with Alan Nesbitt best of the rest in seventh. Norman Armstrong (Escort) won the rear wheel drive category where his former navigator, Mervyn Wedlock, driving a Ford Escort to second in the rear wheel drive category and tenth overall.
In Group N, Willie Fannin punched in two fine performances on the closing two stages to win ahead of Dominic Loughran (Mitsubishi).
Non-starters included Patrick Elliott (Subaru WRC), Sean Gallagher (Escort Cosworth), Glen Allen (Escort WRC) and James Cullen Subaru Gp. N).

 1. E. Donnelly/P. Toner (Subaru Impreza WRC) 1h. 23.15s.
 2. J. Harrison/H. Bell (Subaru Impreza WRC) 1h. 23m. 54s.
 3. N. Maguire/P. McLaughlin (Subaru Impreza WRC) 1h. 24m. 10s.
 4. M. Barrable/D. O’Gorman (Subaru Impreza WRC) 1h. 25m. 13s.
 5. A. McElvaney/P. Goodman (Subaru Impreza WRC) 1h. 25m. 36s.
 6. D Armstrong/H. Blackburn (Ford Escort WRC) 1h. 25m. 37s.
 7. A. Nesbitt/E. Sherry (Toyota Celica GT-Four) 1h. 28m. 00s.
 8. N. Armstrong/P. McEntee (Ford Escort 2.0) 1h. 30m. 05s.
 9. W. Fannin/B. McCabe (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo6) 1h. 30m. 28s.
10. M. Wedlock/P. Smith (Ford Escort 2.0) 1h. 30m. 36s.

Dunlop National Championship (Positions after Round 4):
1. M. Barrable 72 points; 2. E. Donnelly 58 points; =3. J. Harrison & A. McElvaney 45 points; 5. N. Maguire 43 points & D. Armstrong 42 points.

• Photos by Seamus Counihan