Adams Holds Off McElwee at St.Angelo! - Round 3 - 2018 National Construction Skills Academy Junior 1000 Rally Challenge Ireland
Posted: October 11, 2018 6:52 AM
The second round of the 2018 National Construction Skills Academy (NCSA) ANICC Junior 1000 Rally Challenge Ireland took place at St.Angelo airfield just outside Enniskillen for the Enniskillen Motor Club’s Erne Skip Hire May Day Stages event. Three Junior 1000 crews lined up for the six- stage event, which took place in excellent weather on Bank Holiday Monday.
Championship leader Marcus McElwee had obtained some sponsorship from J.C Halliday & Sons for the Citroen C1. The 15-year-old with co-driver John Henderson alongside was first on the road, and the young Magherafelt driver has really got onto the Citroen now, a change from his old Micra. Marcus took fastest time on stage two by just 0.1 of a second but dropped a crucial three seconds on stage three to Sam. After four stage he was just under four seconds back. Making a return to the series after being a back-seat passenger in a horrifying road accident, was Sam Adams. The 16 year-old missed round two at Bishopscourt but had competed in Scotland a few weeks previously taking third place. With the familiar Skoda Citigo, he took fastest time on stage one opening up a narrow two second advantage, and on stage three extended this by another three seconds. However Marcus replied on stage four taking one second back, and with final stage not running stage five was the finale to a great days Junior battling.
Recce Pollock had now got his Nissan Micra sorted after it’s round one mishaps and was setting some excellent stage times. Indeed on stage three he was second fastest just 2.8 seconds of leader Adams. With co-driver Hugh Watson he ended up a fine third, just thirty-four seconds behind the winner. “I had a great day, really enjoyed it once again and we were very happy with our position today” said Recce as the finish. His reward for third was enriched by the £75 prize money from championship sponsor Brendan Crealey of the NCSA. The battle for the win went into what was now the fifth and final stage. Marcus McElwee went for it and had a moment at chicane bale but still recorded fastest time, just over a second ahead of Sam Adams. “I have started to get the feel of the Citroen C1, it’s quite a bit different to the Micra” said Marcus. “It was really enjoyable today to be in a battle, and to record a couple of fastest times was good.” Winner of the first two rounds, Marcus still has a healthy championship lead as they head for the final double-header weekend in August taking in the Shackleton and Solway Coast events.
It was last year’s champion Sam Adams who took the honours at St.Angelo, pacing the final stage to lift the £150 NCSA first prize. “It was great to be back in the championship and great to have a battle with Marcus. It’s always good to get close competition and it really was all go all day. We had no major moments and the car ran perfectly thanks to the team” said Sam after stage five.
Rally Fans Bask on Sun-drenched St Angelo
Posted: October 11, 2018 6:35 AM
As promised the sun shone down on the rally fans on St Angelo Airfield on Bank Holiday Monday. Hundreds of rally enthusiasts turned up to watch Derek McGeehan and son Mark [on his first time as co-driver] in their Mini WRC win the Erne Skip Hire & Recycling May Day Stages Rally 2018 after staving off a hard-charging Damian Toner/Derrick Jobb in their 2.5 litre MkII Escort. Toner/Jobb were actually leading after Stage 2 by a single second but the superior traction of the 4WD Mini allowed the McGeehans to edge ahead and eventually take the win by just 11.5 seconds. Just a mere 5 seconds back came Alan Smyth/Ken Sproule in a Mitsubishi Evo X. to the delight of the hundreds of spectators these top three were never more than a handful of seconds apart all day. Finishing fourth on the day was the Evo 9 crew of Patrick O’Brien/Neil McIvor who must be rueing their slow start dropping some 8 seconds on the opening stage to McGeehan and Smyth which they could never quite make up over the 5 stages run such was the pace at the top. Some 109 rally crews started the event and 87 made it to the finish.
Moving on to the Class battles Class 1 was clinched by Martin Collins/Mikaela Woods – Honda Civic whilst Darren and Tanya McGrath from Derrylin claimed third in Class in their immaculate Honda Civic. Fourth and fifth respectively in this Class were local crews: Dermot Brewster/Brian D’Arcy – Astra GSI and James McGovern/ Dolores McGovern – Toyota Twin Cam RWD. Neil McGahey/Alan Crawford came 6th in this Class after a long lay-off. Popular winner of Class 2 was the stalwart Enniskillen crew of Mark Farmer/Mark Britton in Gerry’s Evo 6 who also came in a very creditable 47th Overall. The Lisbellaw duo of William Graham partnered by first-timer Darragh Sheridan in their agile little Corsa claimed 3rd in Class 3 which was won by Dean Humphrey/Nigel Brennan also in a Corsa. Class 4 winners were Travis Humphrey/Brian Little in a Peugeot 205 GTI with Raymond Elliott and Ben Thompson from Kesh taking second in a Vauxhall Corsa. Young Ben was also a first-time Co-driver on the day. Kinawley crew of Barry Murphy/Kevin McQuaid were 5th in this Class in their Talbot Sunbeam. Class 5 was won convincingly by Kyle White/Sean Topping – Peugeot 208 R2 with Derek Robinson/David Forde 13th in this large class in their ‘left hooker’ Corolla Twin Cam. In Class 6 brothers Hugh and Liam McQuaid finished 3rd in class by a mere 0.1 seconds! Paul McShea/Carrie McShea appeared in a MkII Escort instead of their more usual RWD Honda V6 engined Ford Orion and collected 7th in this hotly contested class. Next Class was 7 and here Brendan Campbell/Conall Mullin took their clean revving MkII Escort to 3rd position with brother Damian and Sean Wray next up only 4.4 seconds behind in their MkII Escort whilst the class winner here was Robert Erwin/Ciaran Carey in a most unusual 2 litre Honda Civic engined MR2: a very rapid machine indeed! Damien Tourish/Rodney Stewart were the winners of Class 8 in another MkII Escort while just 5.8 seconds behind was Brendan McDaid navigated by Enniskillen man Brian Hoy again in a MkII Escort. EMC wish Brian very good luck as he prepares to co-drive for Callum Devine in the WRC on the upcoming Rally Portugal in a Vauxhall Adam R2. Class 9 was the class for WRC, FIA Super 2000, R5, R4, R4T and R2 cars and was won by Patrick O’Brien/Neil McIvor in their Evo 9 as the top three Overall were not then eligible for the class awards.
Clerk of the Course, Ron Neely and his EMC team followed the successful formula of the past two years and the fast flowing but challenging stages were once again hailed as a great success by competitor and spectator alike. At the prize-giving Neely gave credit to Declan Magee of Erne Skip Hire & Recycling for once again sponsoring the May Day Stages Rally. He went on to thank Alan Cathcart who provided access to the airport for the rally, the marshals and other officials who acted professionally on the day to help make the event the success it was. He paid tribute to the patience and cooperation of the huge crowd of spectators who turned out to enjoy the spectacle in, for once, brilliant sunshine.
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