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Cork 20 International Rally - 2-4 Oct '98Posted: October 6, 1998 4:15 PM - 10319 Hits
Ian Greer and Dean Beckett were the surprise but well deserved winners of the final round of the Toshiba Equium Tarmac Championship. They totally dominated the event from the word go in their Treadwell sponsored Celica and after the demise of Andrew Nesbitt and Eamonn Boland on Sunday morning, they were able to keep it steady to the finish. Bertie Fisher and Rory Kennedy in the ToughMAC/Subaru Ireland Impreza had an uneventful weekend to finish second, with the local crew of Liam O'Callaghan and Hugh McPhilips a brilliant third in the Dunlop Shod F2 Escort Maxi. Posted: October 6, 1998 4:15 PM
Alan Verso and his team kept to a tight compact route for the 1998 Cork 20 International Rally. Saturday's stages were based around the Mallow area, a loop of 3 stages repeated 3 times, with service after SS1, SS4 and SS7 in the new Cork Horse Racing Course in Mallow. The stages were tight and very muddy, and would catch a number of people out on the opening day. The action on Sunday moved to Fermoy for 7 stages, one stage done 3 times and 2 stages done twice. These stages were cleaner and faster, but again were muddy in places.
Although this was the final round of the championship it attracted one of the best entries, in what was a great season. With over 20 GpA/WRC cars entered, the semi-works Ford team in F2 and the usual RWD entertainers it was an entry that the Munster Motor Cycle and Car Club could be well proud of. Frank Meagher had his 95 Championship winning Escort Cosworth in the main field of a rally for the first time this year. Prodrive entered the first 2-door Impreza to be seen in group N in Ireland for Japanese Group N champion Toshihiro Arai with Roger Freeman on the notes. Gene Meegan had a new Ralliart Gp N EVO V, and Declan Wilmot had his old EVO IV example. While the main and group N championship battles had been decided before this round, the modified class and class 11 awards were still there for the taking, although all Joe McGurk had to do was finish to secure his win. Class 11 was between Uel Williamson and Kieran O'Neill, with whoever won the class here taking the championship.
The drama on this event started on Friday evening, when after discovering
a problem with the steering in his Castrol Toyota Austin McHale was forced
to withdraw from the rally.
In the battle in class 11 (Modified 2.0 litre) local man John Shanahan had
been expected to make early running, his home begin on one of the stages.
However Kieran O'Neill/Paul Nagle in the Group Motors Kadett were leading
the class by SS4 and also the top RWD, despite giving the back axle a
knock on one of the slippery stages. Shanahan broke a strut after hitting
a bank and dropped down the order.
If anyone was going to challenge Greer it had to be after the done after
the 2nd
service. With Stephen Murphy/Michael Morrissey being forced to retire
their Statoil Escort at service due to power steering failure it was left
to Boland, Nesbitt and Fisher to fight it out with Greer. Greer/Beckett
responded with a time that rocked the chasing crews.
All the top crews lined up on Slicks for SS5 but a heavy mist was already
down on the stage. Greer/Beckett made the most of it, taking 18 seconds
off Fisher with a time of 10:25. Nesbitt ended the stage with a flat wheel
but Liam O'Callaghan recorded 4th fastest on the stage to open up a huge
lead in F2. JJ Felming/Robbie Ward on their first outing in the beautiful
ex-Latti Impreza was finding the Impreza completely different to the old
Escort WRC. At the front of the field however it was still all Greer. In fact the only time he would be beaten all day was on the last stage, when Andrew Nesbitt pulled off a giant killing performance to over halt Eamonn Boland for second. Nesbitt clocked 9:02 for the slippery stage, with Greer next on 9:17 after a spin and Boland on 9:18. Boland suffered another set back that night when the times for SS2 very scrubbed. This dropped the Wexford man to fourth just behind Fisher.
End Leg one 1 I. Greer/D. Beckett (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD)....1.10.56 2 A. Nesbitt/ J. O'Brien (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD).1.12.07 2 B. Fisher/R. Kennedy (Subaru Impreza 555)........1.12.25 4 E. Bolland/D Morrissey (Ford Escort WRC).........1.12.26 5 B. Fowden/G. Hynes (Ford Escort WRC).............1.14.32 6 L. O'Callaghan/H. McPhillips (Escort Kit Car).F2.1.14.37 7 L. McCarthy/T. O'Donovan (Escort RS Cosworth)....1.15.15 8 F. O'Mahony/B. Curtin (Subaru Impreza 555).......1.17.09 9 T. Arai/R. Freeman (Subaru Impreza Sti)...GpN....1.18.25 10 D. McCartan/M. McElwee (Mit. Lancer Evo V)..GpN..1.18.33 11 K. O'Neill/P. Nagle (Opel Kadett C 2.0)..........1.19.06 12 U. Williamson/G. Wilson (Escort Mk I 2.0)........1.19.11 13 P. Akerstrom/H. Jacobsson (Escort Maxi Kit Car)..1.19.30 14 J. Dempsey/P. Dempsey (Subaru Impreza 555).......1.19.44 15 J. Shanahan/J. Brennan (Escort 2.0)..............1.20.05On Sunday the action moved to Fermoy for 7 stages. The word was that these stages were in better condition than the Saturday stages but on the first stage an 11 mile test there was a big change to the leaderboard when both Andrew Nesbitt and Eamonn Boland both went off. Nesbitt "rearranged" front and rear right hand suspension when he ran wide on a slippery corner. Boland's accident happened on one of the first corners of the stage when the black Escort WRC went straight on over a bank. In fact Nesbitt was lucky to even get out as the car needed a push start that morning in Parc Ferme.
This now gave Greer a lead of 87 seconds over Fisher, and Fisher had over
2 mins on Bob Fowden in third.. Fowden with Gerry Hynes on the notes was
under pressure from Liam O'Callaghan, and by first service O'Callaghan had
moved up to third with some brilliant driving in conditions that was
better suited to the 4WD drive cars. Fowden had put a wheel off the road
on SS12 that slowed him a little. Local drivers Liam McCarthy and Frank
O'Mahony were holding 5th and 6th. Kieran O'Neill had a very good morning
adding 13 seconds to his lead over Uel Williamson with 2 top 6 times. In
F2, Petter Akerstrom who was just outside the top 10 came into service on
a tow rope when a broken driveshaft burst the sump of the Dunlop backed
Escort.
For Greer and Fisher it was just a drive to the finish, but behind then it
was all to play for. Liam McCarthy/Tim O'Donovan took third fastest time
to move to within 4 seconds of Bob Fowden in fourth, who was only 34
seconds behind Liam O'Callaghan. Fowden wasn't happy with the handling at
the rear of his Escort WRC. In the end it was Williamson who won class 11 and the championship. O'Neill/Nagle had 3 huge spins and in fact Williamson was almost on their bumper at the end. The Dempseys did enough to take ninth, but Liam McCarthy charge in fourth was blunted when he hit the front of his MLP Escort and damaged a steering arm. Despite a small fire, Joe McGurk finished to take the modified championship although he had to give best to Dominic Loughran/ Lisa Mangan in the sole remaining M3 and Tom Randles/ Diarmuid Lynch in the Dyno Rod Escort in the class on this rally
The day belonged to Ian Greer and Dean Beckett, Bertie Fisher begin one of
the first people to congratulate them on their first International
win. Results: 1 I. Greer/D. Beckett (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD)..2.08.52 2 B. Fisher/R. Kennedy (Subaru Impreza 555)......2.10.05 3 L. O'Callaghan/H. McPhillips (Escort Kit Car)..2.14.52 4 B. Fowden/G. Hynes (Ford Escort WRC)...........2.16.04 5 L. McCarthy/T. O'Donovan (Escort RS Cosworth)..2.16.17 6 F. O'Mahony/B. Curtin (Subaru Impreza 555).....2.19.33 7 T. Arai/R. Freeman (Subaru Impreza Sti)...GpN..2.21.47 8 U. Williamson/G. Wilson (Escort Mk I 2.0)......2.21.52 9 J. Dempsey/P. Dempsey (Subaru Impreza 555).....2.22.01 10 K. O'Neill/P. Nagle (Opel Kadett C 2.0)........2.22.17 F2 3 L. O'Callaghan/H. McPhillips (Escort Kit Car)..2.14.52 16 S. Keenan/S O'Riordan (Opel Astra GSI).........2.27.34 19 O. O'Donovan/C Murphy (Opel Astra GSI).........2.29.46 Group N 7 T. Arai/R. Freeman (Subaru Impreza Sti)........2.21.47 17 D. Wilmot/J Casey/ (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IV)..2.28.16 18 G. Meegan/D O'Gorman (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO V).2.28.35 Rear Wheel Drives 8 U. Williamson/G. Wilson (Escort Mk I 2.0).......2.21.52 10 K. O'Neill/P. Nagle (Opel Kadett C 2.0).........2.22.17 11 D. Loughran/L. Mangan (BMW M3)..................2:23:56 12 T. Randles/D. Lynch (Escort 2.4)................2:24:59 13 G. McCormack/S. Magee (Escort 2.0)..............2:26:03 Retirments: SS15 J. Shanahan/J. Brennan (Escort 2.0)..............Head Gasket SS12 D. McCartan/M. McElwee (Mit. Lancer Evo V)..........Accident SS12 P. Akerstrom/H. Jacobsson (Escort Maxi Kit Car)...Driveshaft SS10 A. Nesbitt/ J. O'Brien (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD)....Accident SS10 E. Bolland/D Morrissey (Ford Escort WRC)............Accident SS4 S. Murphy/M. Mossissey (Ford Escort WRC).......Power Steering SS3 M. Barrable/J. Downey (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD)....Mechanical SS2 D. Cornin/C Kelleher (BMW M3)........................Accident SS2 F. Meagher/P Moloughney (Escort RS Cosworth).......Electrical Leaders SS1-16 I. Greer/D. Beckett (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD) Stage winners SS1 I. Greer/D. Beckett (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD) SS2 I. Greer/D. Beckett (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD) - (Stage Cancelled) SS3 I. Greer/D. Beckett (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD) SS4 I. Greer/D. Beckett (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD) SS5 I. Greer/D. Beckett (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD) SS6 I. Greer/D. Beckett (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD) SS7 I. Greer/D. Beckett (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD) SS8 I. Greer/D. Beckett (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD) SS9 A. Nesbitt/ J. O'Brien (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD) SS10 I. Greer/D. Beckett (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD) -(Stage Cancelled) SS11 B. Fisher/R. Kennedy (Subaru Impreza 555) SS12 B. Fisher/R. Kennedy (Subaru Impreza 555) SS13 I. Greer/D. Beckett (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD) SS14 B. Fisher/R. Kennedy (Subaru Impreza 555) SS15 B. Fisher/R. Kennedy (Subaru Impreza 555) SS16 I. Greer/D. Beckett (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD) Historics 1 Philip Wylie/James Howe (MGB)........................02:03:54 2 Mervyn Johnson/Elkin Robinson (Austin Mini Cooper S).02:04:27 3 Joe Connolly/Peter Connolly (Porsche 911)............02:05:38 Overall Historics/Classics 1 Martin Ward/Linda Conroy (Opel Manta A)..............02:03:07 2 Lee Freestone/Chris Keyes (Escort RS 1600)...........02:03:38 3 Philip Wylie/James Howe (MGB)........................02:03:54 4 Mervyn Johnson/Elkin Robinson (Austin Mini Cooper S).02:04:27 5 Joe Connolly/Peter Connolly (Porsche 911)............02:05:38 6 Martin Boyle/Mark Rowan (Ford Anglia)................02:05:48 7 Niall Creighton/Gregory Roberts (Ford Lotus Cortina).02:09:11 8 Con Ward/Tim Horan (Austin Mini Cooper S)............02:11:45 9 Liam Sheehan/Martin Cronin (Ford Escort Mk1).........02:13:17 10 Roger Du Croq-Slip/Marie Du Croq-Slip (Lotus Cortina)02:14:24
Topics:
Cork '20 Rally
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