Cork MC '1000' Shakes Night Navigation - 10-11 Jan 04

Posted: January 11, 2004 11:58 PM

25 crews started the event and 19 finished it, nobody cleaned it. Overall winning driver Gerard O Connell summed it up when he said,”it’s always nice to win an event but it’s especially satisfying to win a tough one, and this was a tough one!”

All the crews announced themselves happy with the event and the overall organisation was excellent. The first car was due back at 5.45 am so it was a long night for everyone. The 1000 shakes is a counting round of the Motorsport Ireland National Night Navigation Championship, as well as being a round of the P.J.O’Hea and Co.ltd Munster Navigation championship and the Cork Motor club Championship.

---

West Cork pair Ger O’Connell and Denis O’Donovan were in cracking form as they took a convincing victory in the Cork MC 1000 Shakes Navigation Trial on Saturday night, round four of the Motorsport Ireland National Championship. Although their Celica dropped a hefty 66 marks during the demanding and tricky 160 mile route, they were 49m ahead of the Mazda of runners up Ger Gowen and Paul Phelan, with defending National champions Andy Mackarel and Liam Higgins in third place, despite three wrong approaches.

Shortly after the start, a map trace section caused the first major problems for most crews, and the surprise early leaders were novices John Kenneally and Ken Carmody, showing all the experts up. By the petrol halt at Toon Bridge, the eventual winners had taken charge, and were never challenged from then onwards. Diarmuid French and Jason O’Mahony took the semi-experts class and fourth overall, while novice winners Nicholas and Philip Doherty brought their Peugeot 205 to sixth place.

Best of the Beginners were Jim Healy and Mark Bowens, ahead of Tadhg O’Shea/Brendan Fahy. National series points leaders Derek Coleman and Conor Maguire were forced to retire early in the event with broken wheel studs on their Astra, leaving Ray and Stephen O’Neill as the new leaders, finishing fifth despite a series of assorted problems which caused them to skip no fewer than ten time points. The casualty list also included the Ascona of Pete Willoughby and Greg Shinnors with electrical failure.

No. Driver/Navigator (Car) Total

OVERALL
7 Gerard O Connell/Denis O Donovan (Toyota Celica) 66

EXPERT
6 Ger Gowen/Paul Phelan (Mazda 323F) 115
3 Andrew Mackarel/Liam Higgins (Opel Ascona) 145
4 Ray O Neill/Stephen O Neill (VW Golf Gti) 258
9 Joseph Shinnors/Adrian Deasy (Nova SRI) 351
8 Tadgh O Sullivan/Nigel Coulter (Opel Ascona) 428
1 Pete Willoughby/Greg Shinnors (Opel Vectra) DNF
2 Derek Coleman/Conor Maguire (Opel Astra) DNF
5 Ian Chadwick/Vincent Fagan (Peugoet 205) DNF

SEMI-EXPERT
10 Diarmund French/Jason o Mahory (Nissan Primera ) 146
11 Kevin O Sullivan/Jeremiah Deasy (Nissan Primera ) 361

NOVICE
13 Nicholas Doherty/Philip Doherty (Peugoet 205) 320
16 Alan Shinnors/George Shinnors (Astra SXI) 455
12 Eamonn McKenna/Daniel McKenna (Volvo 340) 461
14 John Kenneally/Ken Carmody (Toyota Sprinter) 473
18 Micheal Murphy/Pat Cashman (Toyota Celica) 695
15 Ashley McAdoo/Adam Murray (Vectra) DNF
17 Maurice Fitzgerald /Vincent Mc Carty (Toyota Corrolla) EXCL

BEGINEERS
21 Jim Healy/Mark Bowes (Opel Corsa) 507
20 Tadgh O shea/Brendan Fahy (Opel Kadette) 521
25 Thomas Roche/Niall O Keefe (Fiat Ritmo Abarth) 560
22 Darren o Leary/Sean Duggen (Honda Civic) 597
26 John Quinn/Alice Quinn (Toyota Corrolla) 615
24 Brian O Mahoney/Stephen Quinn (VW Golf) 780
19 David Guest/Andrew Donoghue (Peugoet 205) DNF
23 Brendan O Sullivan/Kevin Flynn (Peugoet 205) DNF

• National Navigation Championship
• www.corkmotorclub.com