More Than "All White" for Kyle in 2016 Rally Season!
Posted: October 19, 2016 11:25 AM
For twenty year old Kyle White, from Dunmurry the 2016 rally season contested in his Citroen C2 R2 Max has been one of great highs and a few disappointments, but once again the former Junior 1000 Rally winner, has shown great speed and skill. Last Saturday with co-driver Sean Topping he overcame the monsoon conditions on the Northern Ireland Championship Down Rally to finish a fine eleventh overall, and second in class. “The conditions to start were very difficult, and we could hardly see on the first two stages due to a misted windscreen” said Kyle. “Then after that things got better and better for us. We didn’t take any big risks but we were delighted to finish and get a result. Now we would love to move up to a Peugeot 208 R2, and look at contesting the Irish Tarmac Championship. They are good rallies, and with TV coverage, that should help us to attract more sponsorship which we really need. LA Distribution and Gary White Car Sales have been our main sponsors this year, and a big help to date.”
Kyle ended the year with third place in the Junior class in the Northern Ireland Rally Championship, but a spell of retirements whilst running well scuppered any chances of a win. The year started with an amazing third overall finish on the non- championship New Year Stages at Kirkistown, before an equally excellent fourteenth overall, and first in class finish on the Pacenotes Stages event also at the Co.Down venue. On the tough two day Circuit of Ireland Rally, Kyle didn’t put a wheel wrong to take another superb class win, and punch in times amongst the top British Championship R2 runners in the tricky conditions. ”That was really the highlight of the year for me. It was a superb event, and on the Bucks Head stage we took over forty seconds off our closest NI rival, and ended up just a second slower than Rob Duggan in the Vauxhall Adam.” Then a run of ill fortune started, firstly with a puncture on the first stage of the Tour of the Sperrins. “We went to jack the car up to change it at the end of the test and the jack wouldn’t reach high enough, so we had to drive another two stages with the puncture, then I got stuck in a ditch on stage four trying too hard to make back time.” On the Mourne Rally in June, the gear-stick broke on the first proper junction and when the temporary repair failed they were out once again. On the Tyrone Stages they were an impressive eighth overall, just ahead of rival Adam Bustard, when Kyle clipped a lorry tyre at a chicane and broke the steering. The ill luck continued into the Ulster Rally, as after a cautious start, Kyle was challenging hard, when a drive-shaft coupling broke on the final long Rousky stage. “That was a gutting one, as we were coming back into contention and on a charge on that stage. At that point we knew the championship challenge was over.”
Back to gravel for the Bushwhacker Rally based near Omagh and another drive-shaft breakage whilst running second in the Juniors. “We made the mistake of trying to save on the budget and we told that other drive-shaft components fitted perfectly, but it didn’t work, so we got two new drive-shafts from Citroen Racing before the Down Rally. It was the first time and last we ever tried to cut corners on the car.” Kyle who works as a mechanic in the family business started his motorsport career in karting before moving into the Junior 1000 rally championship, where he was twice runner up. Now for 2017 this talented young charger wants to move on and up in the rallying world.
Seventh Heaven for McGarrity- Down Rally win for Camillus Bradley!
Posted: October 18, 2016 11:03 AM
The Rathfriland Motor Club’s Down Rally provided a fitting climax to the Northern Ireland Rally Championship’s year. Clerk of the Course Paul Biggerstaff and his team had laid on six closed road special stages, which would decide the title between Derek McGarrity in his Fiesta WRC, and Camillus Bradley in his MK2 Escort. For McGarrity, seventh or better was all he needed to ensure his record breaking seventh title, but after two stages he was a lowly twenty-sixth, suffering from a severely misted windscreen in the saturated opening stages. With Camillus Bradley leading from start to finish, the pressure was on McGarrity as the driver from Mossley on the outskirts of Belfast climbed back to an eventual third overall, claiming that amazing seventh title. “It’s fantastic to get the Northern Ireland Championship title again. The stages were very good on this rally, but it’s hard to describe how much water was on them this morning. Even so a car like this shouldn’t have misted up, but at least we had none of our engine problems on this event, and once we could see where we were going, we could make our move back up. A big thanks to James O’Reilly in the co-driver’s seat today, and to the team for their efforts all year” said Derek.
Camillus Bradley drove valiantly all day, his 2.5 Escort skimming through the initial wet tests, to fend off a day long challenge from the similar machine of Damian Toner. Just over eight seconds after six stages was the margin. “I didn’t even think about the championship until the third stage and it nearly put me off my stride!” said Camillus. “We had a good battle today with Damian, the car ran perfectly and it was great to get the win. There was nothing more we could do about the championship.” Holding third until the final loop was Brendan Cumiskey in his R5 Fiesta, but he got stuck in a ditch on stage five, whilst Kenny McKinstry ended the event in fourth despite serious gear-change issues afflicting the S14 Impreza. Davy Armstrong had held third for the first three tests in his MK2 Escort, before going off the road on stage four. Another early casualty was Wesley Patterson who crashed on stage two. Surviving all the drama to take a fine fifth was John Devlin in his two litre Sunbeam, with Alastair Cochrane in his MK2 Escort sixth a result which sees him clinch the championship class. It was a fine result for the Bushmills farmer, who’s farming duties, meant that he had no time complete a pre-event recce.
Gilford’s Marty Taggart ended the day in seventh, just ahead of Omagh’s Alan Smyth in the Swift S1600. Alan clinched class four in the McGrady Insurance NI Championship, despite a few dramas during the day including bending the rear suspension badly on stage two and re-arranging a front corner on stage three. However he held on with championship rival Kyle White also a fine eleventh overall in his C2 R2 Max. Another challenger Adam Bustard retired his Fiesta R2 on the road section between stages three and four.
Keith White in his 2.5 MK1 Escort, and Marty Toner in his rebuild Sunbeam completed the top ten, as Clive Kilpatrick dropped out of ninth when he went off on the final test. This provisionally means that the Group N NI Champion is Colm McFall who ended the rally in a competitive twelfth overall and first in the class. Another Group N runner to show well was local driver William Herron, up to eleventh at one point, and finishing the day seventeenth, just behind championship sponsor Fintan McGrady.
Andy Johnson in the Vauxhall Chevette HSR took Historic honours ahead of Drew Wylie’s MK2 Escort RS1800. However Drew clinched the championship title. Class three winner Colin Price also clinched his championship class in the nimble Vauxhall Corsa.
Other important class winners on the Down Rally included Janice Magee who won class eight with the big Audi, and Malcolm Pedlow who took class eleven Historic honours on the day and in the series in his BMW 2002 tii.
Class Winners
Class 1: Barry Savage/Ciaran McMullan (Vauxhall GSi Astra)
Class 2: Colm McFall/John McCafferty (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)
Class 3: Colin Price/Ashley Boulton (Vauxhall Corsa)
Class 4: Alan Smyth/Mac Kierans (Suzuki Swift S1600)
Class 5: Jonny Cargo/David McElroy (Ford Escort)
Class 6: John Devlin/John McCarthy (Talbot Sunbeam)
Class 7: Camillus Bradley/Crawford Henderson (Ford Escort)
Class 8: Janice Magee/Evelyn Warwick (Audi S2 Coupe)
Class 9: Derek McGarrity/James O'Reilly (Ford Fiesta WRC)
Class 10: Brendan Cumiskey/Ronan O'Kane (Ford Fiesta R5)
Class 11: Malcolm Pedlow/Ivor Ferguson (BMW 2002tii)
Class 12: Andy Johnston/Jim McSherry (Vauxhall Chevette HSR)
Leaders After
SS1-6 Camillus Bradley/Crawford Henderson (Ford Escort MkII)
NI Rally Championship title goes Down To the Wire in Castlewellan…
Posted: October 11, 2016 3:22 AM
Two past winners are included in the entry list for the 2016 Down Rally which kicks off from Castlewellan Forest Park on Saturday morning.
Number 1 seed Derek McGarrity is in prime spot to lift the NI Rally Championship title and just has to finish in the top 7 places to secure the crown but should he falter, leading MkII Escort driver Camillus Bradley could just snatch the trophy away at the very last minute.
McGarrity has been joined by local hero Kenny McKinstry and both will be eager to add to their previous wins on the County Down based event. For 2016, McGarrity brings his Ford Fiesta WRC while McKinstry remains loyal to Subaru and he will wheel out an Impreza to try and take a fourth win on the Down Rally.
Joining the previous winners in the leading bunch is Dundalk’s Brendan Cumiskey in an R5 version of the Rally Fiesta and Carryduff’s Jonny Greer again in a new generation Citroen DS3 R5.
Following on from the 4 wheel drive cars is a host of rapid 2 wheel drive cars headed by Wesley Patterson, Camillus Bradley and Damian Toner, all driving Ford Escort MkII’s with Emma McKinstry and David Armstrong rounding out the quality top ten.
Looking further down the entry list, some of the local drivers vying for glory on their local event include Paul Killen, Martin Teggart, NI Rally Championship sponsor Fintan McGrady, Niall Braniff, John Devlin, Gerry McPolin, JT Warnock, Barry Savage, and William Herron. The entry list also includes a wide variety of machinery including Sunbeams, Vauxhalls, Mitsubishi’s, Audi’s and BMW’s to name a few.
The 2016 FMCCL Down Rally starts from Castlewellan Forest Park at 11am on Saturday morning with the 80 cars heading to the first test at Annaclone, then on to Katesbridge before returning to Castlewellan Forest Park for service.
After the short break the drivers will tackle the two stages twice more before with the winners are expected back to the finish in Castlewellan Forest Park at around 4.30pm on Saturday afternoon.
Supporters can also get spectating information and keep up to date by logging on for Patterson’s Rally Bulletin’s from the event website, www.rathfrilandmotorclub.com and follow the live results via www.rallyscore.net.
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