2004 Cork Forest Rally - 24-25 Jul 04

Posted: September 6, 2004 2:46 PM

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31/07/04
Lynch/ Regan Dominate Cork 2-Day

Kevin Lynch/ Francis Regan took an emphatic victory on “The Windscreen Company” Cork 2-day Forest Rally, the penultimate round of the 2004 McCauley Trailers National Forest Rally Championship. Lynch led from the start of the Mallow based event with his immaculate Impreza S9 WRC to clinch his fifth victory of the season. Almost 100 cars set out from park ferme on Saturday including a lot of Ireland’s premier gravel exponents like Kevin Lynch, Robbie McGuire, Dermot Kelly, Glen Allen, Dominic McNeill, John Shanahan, Stephen Moore, Pete Willoughby and Paul Barrett to mention a few.

The opening stage; Raman proved to be very deceptive with several drivers reporting a ball bearing like surface. Kevin Lynch was out in front with McNeill only 2 sacs in arrears, Killavullen’s John Shanahan was on a big charge, holding 3rd in his Gp N Impreza. Kevin O’Kane (Impreza WRC) held fourth. Omagh’s Paul Barrett completed the top five with his rapid Escort G3. Many of the front-runners Norris, Kelly, McGurk and Adrian McElvaney found themselves well down the leader-board having overshot the first junction; a long tightening six-right.

At service after ss2; Peter’s Hill Kevin Lynch held a 38 sec advantage over Robbie McGurk/ Dave Moynihan who had hired Brian Murphy’s Impreza 555. McNeill suffered a puncture, Kelly stalled at the tight hairpin and Glen Allen broke a rear arm that dropped him way off the leader-board. Several drivers caught Allen’s struggling Escort and the dust caused a lot of concern on this 10-mile test. 3rd placed Shanahan was on his home patch and mixing it with the WRC’s only 0.9 sec off McGurk. Paul Barrett was up to 4th and leading 2WD, Brian Lawlor (mk 2) 5th, O’Kane (Impreza WRC) 6th, Norris (Impreza 555) 7th, Willoughby (Evo 6) 8th, Kelly (Escort WRC) 9th and James Cribben (Evo 6) rounded off the top ten. The event headed towards Banteer for the Mount Hilary stage before returning to service. Lynch was again fastest over the 5.5 mile fast flowing stage, arriving to service having extended his lead to 41 secs. McGurk and Shanahan maintained their positions and Dominic McNeill climbed back up to fourth. Paul Barrett held fifth but had gearbox troubles.

After a repeat of the Rahan, Peter’s Hill and Mount Hilary stages Lynch held the overnight lead by 1 min and 6secs. Big Robbie had to settle for 2nd on day one, McNeill set some stunning times and climbed up the leader-board, to hold 3rd. Shanahan was only 8 secs adrift in 4th and led Gp N by over a minute. Having sorted his power steering troubles, Dermot Kelly was on the pace in the afternoon elevating him to 5th overnight. Kelly hoped to make further inroads on the leader-board as Sunday’s stages were on his doorstep.

Pat Norris/ Declan Timulty held 6th overnight, 3 secs adrift of Kelly and 13 secs up on championship rival O’Kane who held 7th with his pristine ’99 spec Impreza WRC. Pete Willoughby/ Paul Nagle were lying 2nd in Gp N and 8th overnight in a Derek Jobb hired Evo 6. Brian Lawlor/ Peter Kavanagh put in a fine performance to lead the 2WD brigade and hold 9th. Monaghan’s Adrian McElvaney/ Paul Goodman were hampered with gearbox troubles all day but managed to maintain 10th.

Paul Barrett was the first major retirement due to an ailing gearbox. Anthony O’Halloran/ Conor Foley (G3) retired with a blown engine but hoped to get going for the Sunday run. Charleville’s Michael O’Sullivan was sidelined at the start of ss2 with a blown frost plug. Andrew Kearney/ Owen O’Neill (206) crashed out on ss4 and Ford Academy winner Owen Murphy retired due to gearbox failure with his 206.

Sunday morning saw the event head towards the vast Ballyhoura Forest complex, which had not been used since the Cork 2-day event in ’94. The opening stage “Streamhill Bridge” was a mammoth 16-mile test that was eagerly awaited. Kevin Lynch was the pacesetter again on day two, but emerged from ss8 unhappy with his car – their seemed to be a problem with the diffs. Big Robbie was on a serious charge but it all came to an abrupt end about 10 miles into the stage, his Impreza was stuck on an off camber hairpin right. Glen Allen/ Damien Connolly were way off the leader-board having lost so much time on day one, Glen was now only interested in pace and it showed as he was best of the rest on the opening stage. Dominic McNeill was third quickest and up to 2nd overall. Dermot Kelly lost brakes near the end, but was only 0.2 sec off McNeill. John Shanahan was a little disappointed with his run – not quiet as quick as he expected to be. Kieran Shaw/ Crawford Henderson were another of the front-runners to retire on the long stage, their Impreza WRC stopped with mechanical troubles.

At first service in Charleville, lunchtime Sunday Kevin Lynch seemed virtually untouchable with a 2 ½ min margin clear of nearest rival McNeill who had an overshoot on ss8, Coolfree. John Shanahan held third and a comfortable lead in Gp N. Dermot Kelly in fourth – now only 3 secs off Shanahan and setting 2nd fastest times was determined to make the podium. Pat Norris held 5th and was keeping the pressure on. Kevin O’Kane was holding station in 6th. Adrian McElvaney climbed up the leader-board setting some impressive times to hold 7th. Brian Lawlor in 8th led class 5 and held best 2WD. Pete Willoughby/ Paul Nagle in 9th were lying second in Gp N. James Murphy/ Con Mulcahy in 10th position stalled on the start line of Coolfree due to low turbo boost, which he hoped to sort at service.

Kevin Lynch continued to set the pace through ss9, Ballynaboola. Pat Norris was second fastest and moved ahead of Kelly, who didn’t have the answer - this was his home stage and the Charleville man felt he had had a good clean run. The repeat of Streamhill Bridge saw the top five turned on its head, McNeill broke a shaft and retired at the start of ss11. Kelly went on a big charge for the podium but he too broke a shaft and dropped 25 secs to fourth. Gp N ace to Shanahan was sidelined when his subaru’s engine blew. Norris was up to second and O’Kane slotted into third, as McElvaney moved into the top five.

Glen Allen turned in some stunning times and set FTD through ss11, Coolfree – 0.6 sec up on Lynch over the 5-mile test. Kevin O’Kane’s Impreza had smoke billowing from the transmission; which he hoped to have sorted at service. At service before the final stage, nothing was left to chance with Lynch’s S9, O’Kane’s car got a new gearbox/ clutch replacement and Dermot Kelly replaced the broken drive shaft. With the demise of John Shanahan, Pete Willoughby moved into the lead of Gp N but young Brendan Murphy (Impreza) turned in a stunning time and led the category by 3.9 secs going into the final stage.

Kevin Lynch/ Francis Regan emerged unscathed from the final stage, Ballynaboola taking a convincing victory with a 3 min 45 sec winning margin. The Derry/ Antrim pairing have sealed the McCauley Trailers Championship title and are now focussed on the Rally GB. Pat Norris/ Declan Timulty took a credible 2nd and move up to third in the championship going to the final round. Kevin O’Kane/ Martin Hanna held onto third and have secured second overall in the series. Dermot Kelly/ Greg Shinnors gave it absolutely everything on the final stage – even the spare wheel came out! Kelly set second fastest time and took 0.3 sec off rival O’Kane but it wasn’t enough and Kelly had to settle for fourth only 4.7 secs off the podium. Adrian McElvaney/ Paul Goodman (Impreza 555) battled with gearbox problems from the start, but kept pushing with stunning times Sunday finishing an impressive fifth overall given that this is only the Monaghan man’s second time on gravel.

James Murphy/ Con Mulcahy (Escort Cos) climbed to 6th and were delighted to finish after a race against time to make the startline. 7th overall Brian Lawlor/ Peter Kavanagh (Escort mk2 16v) took class 5 honours and finished best 2WD. Mallow’s Brendan Murphy/ Pat Condon (Impreza) were match fit after Swansea Bay and came from behind to clock up a fine 8th overall and Gp N honours. Pete Willoughby/ Paul Nagle (Evo 6) were one of the talking points – Willoughby hadn’t sat in an Evo in over 2years and hadn’t competed in 12 months. The pair held a top ten position from stage one and became Shanahan’s main Gp N opposition. Despite 5th fastest on the final stage Willoughby/ Nagle had to be content with 9th – finishing a mere 3.7 secs adrift of Murphy. John McGlaughlin/ David McElroy (Evo 6) made their first trip to the southern forests worthwhile, netting 3rd in Gp N and 10th overall. McLaughlin had some problems on Saturday but set top ten times throughout Sunday’s stages.

Charleville’s Kieran/ Marie Daly took their first Ka Championship victory on home ground. Mick Nevin/ John Kinahan (mk 2) took class 2 honours again and look very promising to take the championship. Paul Mulcahy/ Karl Baumann (Starlet) were untouchable class 3, they have it wrapped up now and are set on the best 2WD award. Class 4 went to Michael O’Connor/ Denis Collins (Manta), Class 7, Peter McCullagh/ Maul Aprati (206) and Tony Mulcahy/ William Walsh were winners in class 1 with a hired mk 2. Well done to John Quill and his team at Cork Motor Club, the event was hailed an outstanding success, a top quality entry, excellent stages all on time without interruption, perfect weather and a warm friendly atmosphere.

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The Windscreen Company Cork Forest Rally ended on Sunday evening with Dungivens Kevin Kynch, with Frances O Regan on the notes, claiming and emphatic victory in his KPL liveried Subaru Impreza S9.Lynch was fastest on eleven of the twelve stages over the two days and 90 stage miles of the rally. This result also wraps up the McAuley trailers National Forest Rally championship with Lynch winning 5 out of the six rounds so far and taking second place on the sixth, with only Killarney left Lynch cannot now be caught.

Lynchs nearest opponent in the championship, Omaghs Kevin O Kane, also in a Subaru Impreza WRC and with Martin Hanna on the notes, was the only competitor, other than Lynch, with a chance of winning the championship. But it meant he had to win here in Cork and also take victory in Killarney, not impossible but a tall order nonetheless. However, O Kane ran in 7th place for most of day one and was starting day two from the same position.

Lynchs nearest rival on Saturday was Robbie McGurk who admitted to being a little rusty after the first two stages but was still able to hang on to second from an absolutely flying John Shanahan in his Group N Impreza, John was to hold onto 3rd for most of the day but Dominic McNeil passed him to lie third overnight.The other overnight positions were 5th,Dermot Kelly/ Greg Shinnors, 6th Pat Norris/Declan Tunilty, 7th Kevin O Kane/Martin Hanna, 8th, and second in Gp N, Pete Willoughby/Paul Nagle, 9th,Brian Lawlor/Peter Kavanagh and 10th Adrian McElavaney/Paul Goodman.

The first stage on day 2 was the 16 mile Streamhill Bridge stage and sadly this is where we lost the hard charging Robbie McGurk.Robbie went off on the stage and was forced to retire. This promoted Dominic McNeil up to second place albeit two and a half minutes behind Kevin Lynch who was also fastest on the Coolfree stage to arrive into service with three minutes to spare. However Lynch reported problems with his centre differential, which apparently could not be repaired in service.

The crews then went back out to tackle three stages totaling 25 mile before they next visited the service area and again Lynch posted fastest times on all three. There were casualties though. Dominic McNeill retired with propshaft problems and John Shanahans brilliant rally ended with engine failure while running third overall and first in Gp N.Pat Norris and Kevin O Kane took advantage and set some very good times over these three stages which meant they came into service in 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Dermot Kelly was in 4th,just 4 seconds further back. Adrian McElvaney moved up to 5th,Brian Lawlor 6th,James Murphy 7th,Brendan Murphy 8th and now first in Gp N after a perfectly timed attack, Pete Willoughby in 9th and 2nd in Gp N and John McLaughlin moved up to tenth and third in Gp N. <

With just the Ballinabualla stage to go everyone held their position to the finish. All of the competitors were loud in their praise of the two-day event, which ran on time all weekend and boasted the longest and smoothest forest stages yet.

1 Kevin Lynch/Francis Regan (Subaru Impreza WRC) 1.14.43.8
2 Pat Norris/Declan Tumilty (Subaru Impreza 555) 1.18.16.4
3 Kevin O'Kane/Martin Hanna (Subaru Impreza WRC) 1.18.37.8
4 Dermot Kelly/Greg Shinnors (Ford Escort WRC) 1.18.42.8
5 Adrian McElvaney/Paul Goodman (Subaru Impreza) 1.19.18.5
6 Brian Lawlor/Peter Kavanagh (Escort 2.0) 1.20.06.8
7 James Murphy/Con Mulcahy (Escort RS Cosworth) 1.19.38.9
8 Brendan Murphy/Patrick Condon (Subaru Impreza WRX) GpN 1.20.14.5
9 Pete Willoughby/Paul Nagle (Mit Lancer EVo 6) GpN 1.20.18.4
10 John McGlaughlin/David McElroy (Mit Lancer Evo 5) GpN 1.20.31.2

Results and stage times on www.corkmotorclub.com
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