Midland Navigation Trial (DATE CHANGE) - 22-23 Feb 14

Report: Midland crew secure Munster Championship & top spot in National Championship

Posted: February 27, 2014 11:15 AM

Saturday night last 22nd February saw Enda McLoughlin take the reigns of COC for our Clubs first Night Navigation trial of the year. Based on former events with Enda as COC it was bound to be another tricky night for navigators plotting the route with plot and bash challenges but also an enjoyable car friendly flowing night of driving for the drivers!!

The headquarters was the picturesque Drumcoura  Lake Resort  Derrygoan, based just outside Ballinamore, Co.Leitrim. The night consisted of approx. 70 miles of driving around the countryside of county Leitrim. There were 32 starters from all over the country, all the way from Cork to Donegal. It was a counting round of the Midland Club, the Munster, the National and Border championships.

TP1 was just a mile away from the headquarters. It was a straight forward run from TP1-TP2 and that’s when the fun began….. TP3,4 and 5 were on Plot and Bash consisting of a “snake” type herringbone that caused a lot of head scratching for most crews, with all crews dropping time or missing time points at these three except for the expert crew of Colin Duffy and Sam Johnston! Duffy/Johnston took hold of the lead and they looked determined not to let it go! Still this was only TP5 and there was a long night ahead. By control 10 most crews were back on track after a time recovery section and SRS section.

Just when everything was looking like plain sailing for everyone Enda handed out the next Plot and Bash for TP12,13 and 14, although it may not have been as hard on brain power as the snake herringbone earlier on the night the pressure was now on the drivers to negotiate their cars through the miles and miles of forestry mountain roads of Aughnasheelin to find these three time points. Most crews dropped time or missed timepoints through these woods. After that it was a run of well set out tarmac roads towards Cloone and then back to Drumcoura to finish.

Duffy/Johnston proved their worth by holding on to pole position from start to finish on the night. In doing so this was enough to secure their place as Munster Champions and also claim the top spot as National Champions for the first time!

This is the first time ever that a Midland crew have won this prestigious National Championship, Colin is the first Midland driver to ever win in the National and Sam is second only to his father Derek, who won this Championship 41 years ago this year. This crew also have a clear lead in the Border Championship with 2 rounds still remaining needing only a top 10 finish in either event to take a clean sweep of all Navigation Championships for the 2013/2014 season. This is a huge feat for this crew and Midland Motor Club are proud of their achievement.

Other club members out on the night were Shane Dalton and Micheal Reilly who also had a tremendous run to finish 1st in class and 2nd O/A. It was fantastic to see Micheal back on the motorsport scene for a short period while he was home on holidays from Canada. He has lost none of his spark or enthusiasm for Navigation while being away.

Pakie Duffy was out again with now regular navigator Monaghan man Evin Hughes, unfortunately they did not feature high in results on the night due to 1 very simple mistake which seen them going out of the running.

Other crews were Andrew Steward and Robert Howard, Gerry & Nicola Kelly who unfortunately did not make the finish .

To conclude, a massive congratulations to Enda on a super event, keeping up the run of excellent Night Navigations being ran by Midland Motor Club. Thanks to all marshals who came out to help on the night and as usual every point was manned, next event is the autocross next weekend 2nd March.

Results

Posted: February 23, 2014 9:10 PM

1 Colin Duffy/Sam Johnston (Subaru Impreza) 6 marks,
2 Shane Dalton/Micheal Reilly (Subaru Impreza) 64m,
3 Joe Shinnors/Greg Shinnors (Subaru Impreza) 75m,
4 Richard Cassidy/Paul Phelan (Subaru Impreza) 81m,
5 Paul Gibbons/Seamus McTigue (Subaru Impreza) 83m,
6 Fintan McGorman/Derek Mackarel (Subaru Impreza) 95m,
7 Mickey Tynan/Ciaran Tynan (Subaru Impreza) 95m,
8 Trevor McConnell/Eoghan McCarthy (Subaru Impreza) 97m,
9 David Beamish/Muireann Hayes (Subaru Impreza) 100m,
10 Ashley McAdoo/Laurence Keenan (Subaru Impreza) 117m.

Semi-experts:
1 David Beamish/Muireann Hayes,
2 Ashley McAdoo/Laurence Keenan,
3 Matt Hume/Enda Hume (Subaru Impreza) 138m.

Novices:
1 Shane Dalton/Micheal Reilly,
2 Paul Gibbons/Seamus McTigue,
3 Fintan McGorman/Derek Mackarel.

Beginners:
1 Emmet McCooey/Mickey Carbin (Subaru Impreza) 219m,
2 Thomas Wedlock/Andrew Wedlock (Subaru Legacy) 252m.

Midland Navigation Trial - 22-23 Feb 14 - RESULTS

Date Change / Preliminary Details

Posted: February 6, 2014 9:57 AM

Midland Motor Club Navigation Trial
COC: Enda McLoughlin
New Date: 22nd February 2014
Venue: Drumcoura Lake Resort, Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim
Unique opportunity for travelling crews to rent on site log cabins at venue
Suitable for 2wd
Approx Mileage: 75miles Regs available shortly
More Details on the event or to rent a log cabin contact: 087-2852136 / +353 87-2852136

Club Website

Posted: February 6, 2014 9:56 AM

Midland Motorclub