Impressive win for McCormack/Mitchell in championship opener
Posted: April 13, 2019 3:33 PM
Marty McCormack & Barney Mitchell (Skoda Fabia R5) were deserved winners of the William Loughman Carrick on Suir Forestry Rally after an excellent drive on the six stage event. The opening round of the Valvoline Motorsport Ireland National Forest Rally Championship was tough for the competitors with slippy and very foggy conditions, particularly on the third stage which was cancelled for the 4WD on safety grounds as visibility was very poor. McCormack held off a strong challenge from Andrew Purcell and Garry Jennings over the course of the six stage event. The winning margin over Purcell (Fiesta R5) was eventually ten seconds after an intense battle with Jennings a further fifteen seconds further back in his Impreza WRC. 2017 forestry champion Sam Moffett hasn’t been out in the woods a lot since then, but was satisfied with fourth place just two seconds behind Jennings. Last year’s championship runner up Barry McKenna made a cautious start and had to settle for fifth place.
The 2WD category was won by Shane McGirr in his Toyota Starlet after David Crossen retired on the second loop after puncturing and suffering mechanical problems. Crossen had been the pace setter going into the afternoon stages with an advantage of over 30 seconds. McGirr did enough to take the 2WD honours despite strong pressure from Adrian Hetherington (Escort) only ten seconds behind with Michael Conlon (Escort) taking third place.
The junior battle was also very intense with Josh McErlean (Peugeot 208) eventually coming out on top over Derek Mackarel (Vauxhall Nova). McErlean had led for the first four stages although the margin over Mackarel was very small and the Monaghan driver edged in front on the penultimate stage. However a big push by the Kilrea driver on the last stage saw him go nine seconds quicker than his rival and take the junior win by just seven seconds. Third junior home was Marty Gallagher in his Peugeot 208 after a steady run.
The M.O’Brien sponsored J1000 category was won impressively by Reece Pollock after an excellent drive. Marcus McElwee led after the second stage with Pollock just eight seconds behind. However McElwees rally ended on the third stage when his Skoda got beached leaving Pollock with a lead of almost a minute. Peter Beaton had made a slow start but had moved into second place ahead of Kyle McBride by first service with Aaron Whelan, Casey Jay Coleman, Joseph Kelly and Ella Conway completing the field still running. Conway had slipped off the road and lost a huge amount of time on the foggy third stage but was still running. Pollock kept a cool head to win the category by 35 seconds from McBride who set some excellent times on the afternoon stages to finish ahead of Beaton. The only change further down the order was Conway edging ahead of Coleman to take fifth of the seven finishers.
Forest Foray for Billy Coleman Award Winner James Wilson!
Posted: January 18, 2019 6:54 PM
The winter rallying off-season has been a short and exciting one for 24 year old James Wilson. The County Armagh driver was declared the winner of the prestigious Billy Coleman Award as the Motorsport Ireland Young Rally Driver of the Year in December 2018. Not only the generous 50,000€ prize, but the assistance and guidance from Motorsport Ireland and Sport Ireland has been greatly received by the Keady engineer. “2019 has started with so much excitement and opportunity, it’s unreal” said James. “The support from Motorsport Ireland and Sport Ireland is so mush of a boost, as is the kudos of the Billy Coleman Award. I’ve been aware lately of just how recognized it is around the globe, and this year I will do my utmost to be an ambassador for the scheme.”
The first event for the newly crowed Coleman Award winner is this weekends Willie Loughman Forest Rally, round one of the 2019 Valvoline Motorsport Ireland Irish Forestry Championship. It was after an R2 category win on last year’s Carrick on Suir Motor Club run event that James received his nomination for the Billy Coleman Award.
“It was a rally we really enjoyed in 2018, and that could be said for the Irish forestry series in general, great rallies, great competition and friendly organisers. Clinching the Junior category meant a lot last season and we intend to contest the series again this season as well as a full attack on the British Rally Championship (BRC). It will be good to get out into the car again too and get motoring!”
The car is the familiar Peugoet 208 R2 that was so successful in 2018, but there are changes that the Willie Loughman event will help James to adapt to. The first is a new co-driver filling the hot-seat, the vastly experienced Arthur Kierans from Monaghan and the fact the 1600cc R2 Peugeot is being fettled by Philip Case Rally Sport (PCRS) from Letterkenny, County Donegal. Both Arthur and the PCRS team will bring a vast amount of experience to aid the family based team, as ambitious plans beyond R2 are being sown. “Arthur has been with former Coleman Award winners and has a great knowledge of the BRC events to assist my development. Philip Case started his career with Frank Meagher before joining M-Sport and setting up on his own running a wide variety of cars including the new Hyundai R5’s. With the car so busy this season, it will help me to focus on my own personal preparation for events and getting the most out of everything. So this weekend we have a lot of new things to learn!”
With an expansion in the premises and the order books in the family Road Tankers Armagh business, James has been kept very busy, something he relishes is fully fired up. “There’s been so much support from my family and friends who all understand the sport so well which has been key and still is- that’s very important. Definitely it’s nice to go into 2019 with the Coleman Award, and now we aim to do the very best we can with it.”
Seeded Entry List
Posted: January 15, 2019 5:42 PM
1 Barry McKenna/Andy Hayes (Ford Fiesta R5) [5]
2 Josh Moffett/Stephen Thornton (Ford Fiesta R5) [5]
3 Sam Moffet/James Fulton (Ford Fiesta R5) [5]
4 Garry Jennings/Rory Kennedy (Subaru Impreza WRC S14) [7]
5 Martin McCormack/Barney Mitchell (Skoda Fabia R5) [5]
6 Cathan McCourt/Barry McNulty (Ford Fiesta R5) [5]
7 Ray Breen/TBA (Ford Fiesta R5) [5]
8 Patrick O'Brien/Stephen O'Brien (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) [20]
9 Niall Henry/Damien Duffin (Citroen DS3 R5) [5]
10 Gerard Lucey/Padraig O'Donovan (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8) [20]
11 Conor McCourt/Caolan McKenna (Ford Fiesta R5) [5]
12 Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4) [20]
14 Niall McCullagh/Ryan McCloskey (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) [4]
15 Peter McCullagh/Calum McGuire (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) [4]
16 Dónall Sweeney/Dean O'Sullivan (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6) [20]
17 Austin Snow/John Henderson (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) [4]
18 John Reid/Enda Shields (Toyota Corolla WRC) [15]
19 Mark Murphy/Anthony O'Sullivan (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8) [20]
20 Joe Hegarty/David Turkington (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) [20]
21 Keith Power/Seamus O'Grady (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) [20]
22 Stephen Dickson/Tommy Hayes (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) [4]
23 Ashley Dickson/TBA (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) [20]
24 Paul McCann/TBA (Ford Fiesta S2000) []
25 Pauric Sheridan/Sean Brunton (Ford Fiesta) [20]
26 Ian Dickson/Ashley Boulton (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) [4]
27 Richard Dalton/Joe O'Brien (Subaru Impreza) [4]
28 Neil Hickey/Enda Kennedy (Subaru Impreza) [20]
29 Richie O'Mahony/Eric Calnan (Subaru Impreza) [20]
30 Patricia Denning/Joe Downey (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) [20]
101 Michael Conlon/Ciaran McPhillips (Ford Escort) [14]
102 David Crossen/Aileen Kelly (Ford Escort MK 2) [13]
103 Shane McGirr/Liam McIntire (Toyota Starlet) [13]
104 Adrian Hetherington/Gary Nolan (Ford Escort MK 2) [14]
105 Vivian Hamill/Andrew Grennan (Ford Escort) [14]
106 John Gordon/Thomas Wedlock (Ford Escort) [13]
107 James Wilson/Arthur Kierans (Peugeot 208 R2) [2]
108 Derek Mackarel/Muireann Hayes (Vauxhall Nova) [16]
109 William Crighton/Liam Regan (Peugeot 208 R2) [2]
110 Marty Gallagher/Niall Burns (Peugeot 208 R2) [16]
111 Josh McErlean/Liam Moynihan (Peugeot 208 R2) [2]
112 Gary Kiernan/Darren O'Brien (Ford Escort) [13]
113 Alan Commins/Paul Collins (Ford Escort MK 2) [12]
114 Andrew Bustard/Mo Downey (Ford Escort MK 2) [12]
115 Damien McGauran/Michaela McGinn (BMW 320) [13]
116 Mike Garahy/Iarla McCarthy (Ford Escort MK 2) [10]
117 Pascal O'Shea/Robbie Hennessy (BMW Compact) [14]
118 Shane Kenneally/Jer Connors (Honda Civic) [16]
119 Ray Benskin/Peadar Walsh (Ford Escort MK 2) [12]
120 James Dunphy/Shane Gazely (Toyota Corolla) [13]
121 Raymond Doyle/Jarlath Kelly (Toyota Corolla) [11R]
122 Paul McMahon/Padraig Deasy (Honda Civic) [11F]
123 Sean W Benskin/Joe Fitzgibbon (Ford Escort MK 2) [12]
124 Hal Lewis/Stephen Joyce (Ford Escort) [13]
125 James Lucey/Muiris O'Scanaill (Mazda RX8) [13]
126 Brian Little/Eathan McColgan (Ford Escort G3) [12]
127 James Bradley/David Doyle (Vauxhall Nova) [10]
128 Jason Murphy/Matthew Murphy (Honda Civic) [16A]
129 Jason Dickson/TBA (Ford Fiesta R2) [16]
130 Gareth Deazley/Tony McGovern (Honda Civic) [16]
131 Ayrton Sherlock/Cathal Mullins (Honda Civic) [16A]
132 Jamie O'Flaherty/Daniel Hanratty (Ford Fiesta R2) [2]
133 Ashley McCarthy/Sean Berry (Peugeot 106) [11F]
134 Richard O'Shea/Steven Mackey (Ford Escort) [10]
135 Lee Bracken/Francis Kelly (Honda Civic) [9]
136 PJ Doyle/Peter Ryan (Peugeot 205) [9]
137 Sean McConnell/Dwayne Quigley (Honda Civic) [11F]
138 David McAulley/Andrew Moore (Honda Civic) [1]
301 Peter Beaton/Conor Boylan (Peugeot 107) [21]
302 Marcus McElwee/John Henderson (Skoda Citigo) [21]
303 Kyle McBride/Kieran McBride (Toyota Aggo) [21]
304 Casey Jay Coleman/James Fogarty (Nissan Micra) [21]
305 Joseph Kelly/TBA (Toyota Aggo) [21]
306 Ella Conway/Jarad Gill (Peugeot 107) [21]
307 Aaron Whelan/Des Sherlock (Nissan Micra) [21]
308 Reece Pollock/Ashley Boulton (Nissan Micra) [21]
Contact details for Competitors who wish to marshal for Championship points for South East Stages
Posted: January 6, 2019 10:26 AM
For our Willie Loughman Frorest Rally on the 20th January 2019 any competitors who are not competing in our event and would like to marshal to be awarded the 25 points please contact 087 2772366 / +353 87 2772366 asap.
In order to qualify for an award in this year's championship all registered competitors have been asked to marshal at one of the counting rounds (excluding Rallysprints) and the great thing about this is that you will be awarded 25 points for doing so! You will only get the opportunity to marshal for points on one round, although Simply this means to qualify for an award in 2019 you need to compete on a minimum of two rounds and marshal at one.
Urgent Notice to all Competitors
Posted: January 3, 2019 7:02 PM
As our Willie Loughman Forest Rally is fast approaching on the 20th January 2019 we would advise all competitors to check there helmets to make sure they comply with the new standards as there has been a change to the standard's for 2019. The new changes can be found on the Motorsport Ireland website:
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