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Birr Multi Stages Rally - 26 Feb 06Posted: March 17, 2006 2:27 PM - 15810 Hits
Round 1 - 2006 Midlands East Rally Championship
Photo: Dermot O'Doherty Posted: March 17, 2006 2:27 PM
Birr-iliant start to the 2006 Irish 205 Challenge! Birr and District Motor Club Roscrea stages rally saw the first round of Irelands biggest and best one make championship, the Irish 205 Challenge kick of in brilliant style with victory for Thomas Melia and Christopher Browne from Oldcastle by 36 seconds. 85 fast and flowing stage miles in the Mountrath area lay ahead off the 12 challenge crews on a cold but dry February day. Melia was fastest on the opening stage but it was Martin Ewing who arrived into service after stage 2 with a 2 second lead over young Donegal driver Noel O’Donnell . Only 8 seconds separated the top 3 crews. After a repeat of these 2 stages the lead changed hands .O’Donnell now lead by 10 seconds ahead of Melia, Ewing and Rafferty. No more than 20 seconds separated the top 4 crews with 5th to 8th place separated by just 40 seconds. Out of the event at this stage was Denis Ryan reported to be backwards through a hedge! The stages now moved to the east of the N7 and it was here that Melia moved up into another gear taking huge chances on stage 5. Fastest by 15 seconds from Ewing , he was now up to 1st place. A costly spin by O’Donnell on stage 6 dropped him more time to the leader . Rafferty was the biggest loser here with brake problems costing him 20 seconds on each of the stages. Positions remained the same for the repeat run over these stages. Melia and Ewing shared fastest times to end a brilliant opening round of the RGR Irish 205 Challenge. Great performances were displayed by rally newcomers Niall Lynch/Mark Feely and Barry Mahon/Anthony Concannon who have moved over from rallycross. Paul Conlon/Kieran Carroll had a solid run to finish in 6th place. Browne, Burns, Keyes and Crooke were all either on their 1st or 2nd rally and all finished the event without problems. Prize money of 500 euro will be split between the top three. The next round will take place in Roscommon on Midland Motor clubs April 9th multi stage rally. Provisional final results : 1st Thomas Melia/Christopher Browne 1.20.43 2nd Noel O’Donnell/Michael Bonner 1.21.19 3rd Martin Ewing/James Ewing 1.21.19 (O’Donnell faster on stage1) 4th Tommy Rafferty/ John Casey 1.21.39 5th Niall Lynch/Mark Feely 1.23.01 6th Paul Conlon/Kieran Carroll 1.24.33 7th Barry Mahon/Anthony Conconnon 1.26.02 8th DJ Browne/Torloc O’Reilly 1.26.19 9th Shane Burns/Sean Henehan 1.26.51 10th Kenneth Keyes/Arleigh Skully 1.27.17 11th Donal Crooke/Martin Brady 1.29.47 Results 1 Ray Breen/Andrew Purcell (Ford Focus WRC) 1.06.28 2 Martin Doherty/Andrew Cullen (Subaru Impreza WRC) 1.08.41 3 Aaron McHale/Gerard McGonigle (Toyota Corolla WRC) 1.10.28 4 James M Stafford/James F Stafford (Mit. Lancer Evo 8) GpN 1.11.29 5 Darragh Raferty/Martin Brady (Subaru Impreza WRC) 1.11.34 6 David James/Derek Brannigan (Ford Focus WRC) 1.11.55 7 P J McGrath/Killian Duffy (Subaru Impreza N11) 1.12.08 8 Mark Courtney/Paul Kelly (Toyota Celica GT-Four) 1.12.28 9 John Kelly / Robbie Shaw (Mit. Lancer Evo 7) GpN 1.13.10 10 Stephen Cullen/Edward Roche (Subaru Impreza WRX) GpN 1.14.23 Leaders after SS1-8 Ray Breen/Andrew Purcell (Ford Focus WRC) Stage Winners: SS1-8 Ray Breen/Andrew Purcell (Ford Focus WRC)
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Birr MC Stages
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