West Cork Classic Retrospective - 27 - 28 May 2006

Posted: May 31, 2006 4:04 PM

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In RETROspect, a great success!
Cork Motor Club ran their annual Retrospective Trial over the weekend of the 27th and 28th of May and 25 crews, including UK navigators Paul Bodsett and Anthony Preston who crossed the Irish Sea for the event, enjoyed the splendid route set out for them by C.O.C.Jim Walsh.

                    In what seems to be a rarity in motor sport events lately the sun beamed down on the West Cork Classic Rally for the two days and made the event all the more enjoyable for both competitor and official alike.

            The rally started with three test trials in the Clonakilty area, the Showgrounds, Campbells Quarry and Inchidoney car park, in that order and then moved on to Regularity 1.

            This took the competitors from Ballinascarthy to Kilbrittain and whether it was rusty roamers or rusty competitors on lot of penalties were picked up here, or maybe it was the beautiful weather and countryside that distracted everyone.

           However, people got their act together on Regularity 2 and there were fewer penalties on this section.

           Leaders on time card one were Eamonn Byrne/Paul Phelan in a Mini Cooper S on 24 with Frank Lenehan/Anthony Preston a close second in their Datsun 100A on 26.5.In third place at this point on 55 were Peter Lynch/Rory Dooley in a Mark 1 Cortina GT with fourth and fifth being held by Ronnie Griffin/Paul Bodsett (BMW 2002) and Kevin Fitzpatrick/Vincent Fagan (Escort Mark 1) respectively.

                 The next section started with two test trials in Bandon followed by regularity 3, which took the crews from Bandon through Beal na mBlath, Kilmurray and onto Macroom where another test trial awaited.

        Joint top of the pile on time card two were Peter Lynch/Rory Dooley (Cortina GT) and Liam Cashman/Nicky Sparks (Starlet), both on 15, third was Frank Leneghan/Anthony Preston (Datsun 100A), fourth Ronnie Griffin/Paul Bodsett (BMW 2002) and fifth Eamonn Byrne/Paul Phelan (Mini Cooper S).

        Next up was regularity 4 from Macroom, over Mushera Mountain, the Kerrymans Table on onto the finish in Carriganimma.From here the crews travelled to Ballyvourney for a well deserved supper halt.

               But if anyone is thinking this was day one over it wasn’t, not by a long shot.

The crews left Ballyvourney for a very tough night navigation section which took them through Renaniree, Kilmichael, Dunmanway and onto the finish near Bealad.Nobody cleaned the night section although Eamonn Byrne/Paul Phelan and Ronnie Griffin/Paul Bodsett DID clean the second half of it.

              Kevin Fitzpatrick/Vincent Fagan, who had been going well throughout, developed suspension problems during the night but urgent repairs saw them go on to finish the event.

              Sunday morning started with three more test trials in Clonakilty/Inchidoney and then regularity 5 from Ardfield through Red Strand and finishing in Owenahincha and regularity 6 which started near Leap, went though Castletownshend and Tragumna and finished in Skibereen with a lunch halt in the Shebeen.

           Two more test trials in Skibbereen after lunch and on to the final tests in Ballingurteen brought the event to a close.

      The winners after two daunting, but enjoyable days in the West Cork sunshine and beautiful scenery were Frank Leneghan/Anthony Preston (Datsun 100A) on 124.1. Second were Eamonn Byrne/Paul Phelan (Mini Cooper S) on 148,third were Ronnie Griffin/Paul Bodsett (BMW 2002) on 165.1,fourth Peter Lynch Rory Dooley (Cortina GT) and fifth Kevin Fitzpatrick/Vincent Fagan.

Class winners were:
Class 1:Peter Lynch/Rory Dooley (Cortina GT Mark 1)
Class 2:Eamonn Byrne/Paul Phelan (Mini Cooper S)
Class 3:Kevin Fitzpatrick/Vincent Fagan (Escort MK 1)
Class 5:Ronnie Griffin/Paul Bodsett (BMW 2002)
Class 6:Keith O Brien/Ian O Brien (Escort Mark 2)
Class 7:Liam Cashman/Nicky Sparks (Toyota Starlet).

Cork Motor Club would like to extend their sincere thanks to the all the marshals and time keepers who gave their time freely over the weekend and would like to give a special word of thanks to Skibbereen & District Motor Club for their invaluable assistance.

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Results
1 Frank Lenehan/Anthony Preston (Datsun 100A) 124.1 marks,
2 Eamonn Byrne/Paul Phelan (Mini Cooper S) 148.0m,
3 Ronnie Griffin/Paul Bosdet (BMW 2002 Tii) 165.1m,
4 Peter Lynch/Rory Dooley (Cortina GT) 282.7m
5 Kevin Fitzgerald/Vincent Fagan (Escort RS2000) 313.9m,
6 Liam Cashman/Nicky Sparks (Starlet) 358.4m,
7 Brendan Fahy/Niall O’Keeffe (Astra) 624.7m,
8 Niall Kearney/Eoin Longworth (Starlet) 749.1m,
9 Jim Healy/Greg McCarthy (Corsa) 808.8m,
10 Declan Hendrick/Brendan Finn (Starlet) 854.3m.

Class winners:
Peter Lynch/Rory Dooley,
Eamonn Byrne/Paul Phelan,
Kevin Fitzgerald/Vincent Fagan,
Ronnie Griffin/Paul Bosdet,
Liam Cashman/Nicky Sparks,
Keith O’Brien/Ian O’Brien (Escort).

Best Novice Crew:
Johnny Casey/Vincent Goggin (Peugeot 406).

Spirit of the Event Award:
Jim Walsh.

Cork Motor Club

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PRE EVENT NEWS

• CORK MOTOR CLUB GO RETRO.

The weekend of the 27th and 28th of May 2006 sees the 11th running of the Cork Motor Club Retro.
C.O.C. for the event will once again be the very experienced Jim Walsh who has run a number of such events over the years.

Headquarters for the event will be the Quality Hotel and Leisure Centre in Clonakilty,a very popular holiday venue in the West Cork town.

First car away will be at 2 o'clock on the Saturday and the event will have the usual mixture of test trials and regularities,including one extra regularity on the Saturday making four in all.

The route is as follows:

Saturday:
Start tests in Clonakility, then regularities covering areas such as Timoleague, Innishannon, Bandon, Macroom & onto Ballyvourney for the supper halt.
Night Navigation trial from Ballyvourney back to Clonakilty for a well earned overnight stay at rally HQ.

Sunday:
Starts with the usual tests around Clonakilty, then 2 regularities down to lunch in Baltimore.
Tests trials in the afternoon back to Clonakilty to finish by 5.00.

Regulations and further details will be available shortly from:

Cork Motor Club

Tel: 086 8238666 (+353 86 8238666)