Formula Karting Mourne Rally 2002 - (Sat) 15 Jun 02

Posted: June 17, 2002 7:49 AM

2000 rally winner Robin Phillips headed the entry in the David Greer Motorsport Toyota Corolla WRC closely followed by reigning champion and current championship leader Denis Biggerstaff in his MG Metro 6r4. His nearest championship rival, Derek McGarrity was seeded at number 3 in a Subaru Impreza WRC. 1997 winner David Arsmtrong set off at number 4 in his Escort Cosworth, with the similar cars of Trevor Moore and Gary White behind him at 5 and 6.

But from the off, it was Eugene Donnelly who was quickest off the blocks and shot off into a lead he wasn't to lose all day in his ageing Toyota Celica GT4, and at the end of the first loop of 4 stages he led by 17 seconds. David Armstrong was the driver in second place, pushing hard but not quite managing to match the Tobermore driver ahead of him. Robin Phillips, in his first outing in the Corolla WRC, and in his first rally in 18 months, lay in a hard earned 3rd place 12 seconds behind Armstrong and closing in behind in 4th was Derek McGarrity, the Glengormley man experiencing early power steering problems.

Gary White had held an early 4th place, but with the Impreza WRCs power steering sorted, he found himself in 5th place 17 seconds ahead of championship leader Denis Biggerstaff who was also experiencing mechanical difficulties. George Robinson, in another Escort Cosworth, was in 7th place, just ahead of the highest 2 wheel drive car of Alan Nesbitt in a G3 Ford Escort, while leading group N was Stevie Whitford in 9th place in his DGM-run Mitsubishi Lancer.

Leading retirements after the first loop included the Escort Cosworths of James Gillen and Trevor Moore. Gillen retired with centre differential failure, while Trevor Moore went out with a blown head gasket. The first stage of the second run was cancelled when Seamus Sands, acting as sweeper, put his very powerful rear-wheel drive Peugeot 205 on its roof in Camlough, and the rest of the field were directed to the Small Gullion stage.

Fastest on stages 6 and 7 over the two Slieve Gullion stages was Eugene Donnelly, extending his lead at the head of the field to nearly a minute. David Armstrong, a veteran of this rally, was still in second place, but his Escort Cosworth just didn't have the pace to keep up with the Celica of the man ahead of him. Robin Phillips, in 3rd, was by now being well caught by Derek McGarrity, and by the time the cars arrived in service in Carnbane Industrial Estate after the second loop of stages the Impreza WRC, had overtaken the Corolla WRC and had pulled out a gap of nearly 20 seconds over the Cooley Mountain stage.

Gary White had been in 5th place until the Cooley stage, but coming up to the jumps up at the Windy Gap, he clipped a hay bail and damaged his suspension. The jumps themselves ended his rally, when he broke a wheel and pulled the Escort Cosworth off the road further down the stage and into retirement.

With Denis Biggerstaff still encountering problems with his Metro, group N leader Stevie Whitford leapt ahead of the Dromara man, to move up to 5th place in his Lancer. Alan Nesbitt still held the honour of being top 2 wheel drive car in 8th, while 1996 winner Norman Armstrong moved into 9th place in his Mark 2 Escort, closely followed by joint Border Championship leader Trevor Lancashire in 10th place.

Coming into the closing stages of the rally David Armstrong and Derek McGarrity were as close as ever, with the 3rd place Impreza setting the fastest times. David though, decided to try and hold Derek off, and in his haste, he put the Escort Cosworth off the road for a short time on the penultimate stage of Big Gullion. This left the Impreza of McGarrity to coast to a hard fought 2nd place, with Armstrong eventually claiming 3rd.

Robin Phillips was happy with his first event in the Corolla WRC, and his first event in 18 months, and 4th was a very good result considering that all his fellow competitors have all been regularly competing this year. 5th place went to the hard charging Stevie Whitford who also won the Group N class in his Lancer, while Denis Biggerstaff eventually finished in 6th, the Metro 6r4 not firing on all 6 cylinders on the final test over Cooley.

George Robinson finished in 7th place where he spent most of the day, ahead of the top 2 wheel drive car of Alan Nesbitt in 8th, while rounding off the top 10 were the Mark 2 Escorts of Norman Armstrong and Trevor Lancashire, the 10th placed driver now opening up a clear lead in the Border Championship.

All that was left was for Eugene Donnelly to coast to the finish, and in the process, the Tobermore driver was by far the highest over the jumps in Cooley, jumping for joy at the turnaround in his fortunes since the start of the year. Winning is becoming a habit the Toyota driver seems to be getting used to.

FINAL RESULTS


 1 (7) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD)..53.39
 2 (3) Derek McGarrity/James McKee (Subaru Impreza WRC)......54.04
 3 (4) David Armstrong/Herbie Blackburn (Escort RS Cosworth).54.25
 4 (1) Robin Philips/Mike Gibson (Toyota Corolla WRC)........54.41
 5 (9) Stevie Whitford/Mark Crowe (Lancer EVO 6)..GpN........55.21
 6 (2) Denis Biggerstaff/Damian McCann (Metro 6R4)...........56.18
 7 (10) George Robinson/Tommy Speers (Escort RS Cosworth)....56.19
 8 (19) Alan Nesbitt/Fabian McShane (Escort G3)..............57.25
 9 (11) Norman Armstrong/Ciaran Kelly (Escort 2.0)...........58.01
10 (12) Trevor Lancashire/Noel Hall (Escort 2.0).............58.31

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