Posted: March 8, 2005 3:36 PM - 12613 Hits
Round 1 - 2005 National Forestry Championship
Round 1 - 2005 South East Stages Championship
Posted: March 8, 2005 3:36 PM
Young Guns Gareth McHale and Paul Nagle took a convincing victory on the opening round of “The McCauley Trailers National Forest Rally
Championship”; the Carrick on Suir based Willie Loughman Memorial Forest Rally. The Dublin/ Killarney duo showed many forest veterans a
clean pair of heels as they swept the board with “The Family Corolla WRC”. This is Gareth’s first win and comes as no surprise after his
notable result on the recent Galway International.
Pete Willoughby/ Greg McCarthy (Evo 8) were the early leaders after the opening stage “Ahenny”, McHale tied with Kevin O’Kane (Impreza
WRC) 2 secs in arrears. Pat Norris (Impreza 555) and Glen Allen (Escort WRC) tied for fourth, while Monaghan’s Adrian McElvaney (Impreza
555) held fifth. Dermot Kelly/ Greg Shinnors never made the start line as their Escort WRC had last minute transmission troubles.
Stage 2 “Gurteen” was 16 miles long and took its toll on the leader-board. James Murphy/ Anthony Nestor were the first casualties as
their Escort Cosworth’s rear suspension collapsed. Pete Willoughby’s run came to an abrupt end, when his Lancer got a wheel on grass and
slid into a low bridge damaging the gearbox casing. Gareth McHale set a staggering time through Gurteen, arriving into first service
holding a 36 sec lead from Adrian McElvaney. McHale damaged the sump on a heavy landing and it was Killarney’s infamous Bob Moran who
saved the day with his mobile welding unit. Pat Norris held third, 8 secs back.
Fourth placed Johnny McKenna/ Paddy Robinson (Evo 6) led Gp N. Glen Allen/ Damien Connolly held fifth but their Escort WRC had throttle
sensor problems. Tyrone’s Stephen Moore/ Tony McHugh lost fifth gear on Gurteen, their ex McShea N10 Impreza held 6th. Patrick Elliott/
Mark Bowes up graded to an Evo 8 this season, Elliott tied with Kevin O’Kane/ Martin Hanna for 7th. Local ace Richie Curran returned to
the woods after a long lay off, Curran acquired a Gp N Impreza and held 9th. John McCarthy/ Liam McLaughlin rounded off the top ten,
McCarthy hampered by power steering difficulties.
The event moved to the famous “Anner and Slievenamon” stages where Norris and McElvaney set fastest times respectively. McHale kept his
composure, arriving at the lunchtime service with a half-minute lead. McElvaney held second, Norris third, McKenna fourth and Glen Allen
fifth. Kevin O’Kane moved into 6th, 8 secs clear of Stephen Moore followed by Patrick Elliott in eight, Curran 9th and McCarthy 10th.
The rally returned to Ahenny and Gurteen for the repeat loop of stages and yet again “Gurteen” took its toll. McHale survived unscathed,
stopping the clocks a mere second down on his previous time. Glen Allen got into his stride; second fastest 2 secs off McHale and 49
secs up on his first run, elevating him into second. Adrian McElvaney’s brilliant run ended a mile into Gurteen, when his Impreza’s
gearlinkage broke. Pat Elliott was another to be sidelined in Gurteen his Evo 8 suffered a broken rear suspension. Clones man; Andy
Mackeral moved up to an Evo 4 and was starting to feature but he too burst a suspension on ss6 as did young Pete McCullagh (Evo 6).
At the final service with 2 stages remaining (Anner & Slievenamon) Gareth McHale held a comfortable 1 min advantage from Glenn Allen, who
had to fend off a hard charging Pat Norris only 2 secs adrift in third. Kevin O’Kane climbed to fourth. Johnny McKenna held 5th, 18
secs clear of Gp N rival Moore, who kept the pressure on despite having lost fifth gear. Richie Curran/ Gerry English were a solid
seventh. John McCarthy was well down in 8th as his Corolla’s steering could not be sorted on the day. Brian McGillin/ Dave Doherty
(Impreza) were now just inside the top ten. Brian Lawlor/ Peter Kavanagh rounded off the top ten and led the 2WD brigade. Frank Kelly/
John Shevlin made their first trip to Carrick and were just outside the top ten, having set 10th fastest time through ss6 – 26 sec up on
mk2 rival Lawlor.
Glenn Allen set FTD through Anner, 1 sec up on McHale, who simply turned up the heat again on the final stage with another FTD, 11 secs
faster than his first run. Fourth fastest Stephen Moore set a blistering time through Anner – 18 secs up on class rival McKenna, leaving
them tied in fifth going into the final stage. Frank Kelly was really getting on the pace – 6th fastest, 3 secs up on 2WD leader Lawlor.
Results: 1 Gareth McHale/Paul Nagle (Toyota Corolla WRC) 55:35 2 Glenn Allen/Damien Connolly (Ford Escort WRC) 56:52 3 Pat Norris/Declan Tumilty (Subaru Impreza 555) 57:00 4 Kevin O’Kane/Martin Hanna (Subaru Impreza WRC) 57:58 5 Johnny McKenna/Paddy Robinson (Mit. Lancer Evo Gp N 58:22 6 Stephen Moore/Tony McHugh (Subaru Impreza N10) Gp N 58:26 7 Richie Curran/Gerry English (Subaru Impreza WRX) Gp N 59:28 8 John McCarthy/Liam McLaughlin (Toyota Corolla WRC) 59:58 9 Brian McGillin/Dave Doherty (Subaru Impreza WRX) Gp N 1:00:21 10 Brian Lawlor/Peter Kavanagh (Escort 2.0) 1:00:22 Class winners: Alan Dineen/Tony Dineen (Nova) Alan Cummins/Declan Norris (Escort) Paul Mulcahy/Karl Baumann (Starlet) Jason Roche/Patrick Roche (Escort) Brian Lawlor/Peter Kavanagh Pat O’Connell/Paul Martin (Peugeot 206) Johnny McKenna/Paddy Robinson. Juniors: Ashley McAdoo/Adam Murray (Nova). Fastest Times: SS1 Pete Willoughby/Greg McCarthy (Mit. Lancer Evo 8) SS2 Gareth McHale/Paul Nagle (Toyota Corolla WRC) SS3 Pat Norris/Declan Tumilty (Subaru Impreza 555) SS4 Adrian McElvaney/Paul Goodman (Subaru Impreza 555) SS5 Gareth McHale/Paul Nagle (Toyota Corolla WRC) SS6 Gareth McHale/Paul Nagle (Toyota Corolla WRC) SS7 Glenn Allen/Damien Connolly (Ford Escort WRC) SS8 Gareth McHale/Paul Nagle (Toyota Corolla WRC) Leaders after: SS1 Pete Willoughby/Greg McCarthy (Mit. Lancer Evo 8) SS2-8 Gareth McHale/Paul Nagle (Toyota Corolla WRC)
Entry List Car No: Driver /Navigator (Car) [Class] 1 Kevin O'Kane/Martin Hanna (Subaru Impreza WRC) [6] 2 Glenn Allen/Damien Connolly (Ford Escort WRC) [6] 3 Pat Norris/Declan Tumilty (Subaru Impreza 555) [4] 4 John McCarthy/Liam McLaughlin (Toyota Corolla WRC) [6] 5 Dermot Kelly/Greg Shinnors (Ford Escort WRC) [6] 6 James Murphy/Anthony Nestor (Ford Escort RS Cosworth) [6] 7 Gareth McHale/Paul Nagle (Ford Escort WRC) [6] 8 Stephen Moore/Tony McHugh (Subaru Impreza N10) [8] 9 Pete Willoughby/Greg McCarthy (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7) [8] 10 Adrian McElvaney/Paul Goodman (Subaru Impreza 555) [6] 11 Patrick Elliott/Mark Bones (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8) [8] 12 Trevor J Harding/Martin Brady (Subaru Impreza) [6] 13 Brian T Lawlor/Peter Kavanagh (Ford Escort Mk 2) [5] 14 Paul Barrett/Dermot Colgan (Ford Escort Mk 2) [5] 15 John Reid/Enda Shields (Escort) [5] 16 Paul Staunton/Bruce Burgess (Escort Mk2) [5] 17 Richie Curran/Gerry English (Subaru Impreza ) [8] 18 Paul Mulcahy/Karl Baumann (Toyota Starlet) [3] 19 Johnny McKenna/Paddy Robinson (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6) [8] 20 Andrew Mackarel/Richard Cassidy (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4) [8] 21 Noel Driver/Joe Shinnors (Ford Escort Mk 2) [5] 22 James Coleman/Eoin O'Neill (Ford Escort Mk 2) [5] 23 David James/Jim Crowe (Ford Escort Mk 2) [5] 24 Donie Keating/John Carroll (Subaru Impreza) [8] 25 Bob Scanlon/Graham Lewis (Mitsubishi Evo 6) [8] 26 Eddie Garry/Francis Regan (Subaru Impreza) [8] 27 PJ O'Connor/Liam O'Connor (Subaru Impreza) [8] 28 Brian McGillin/David Doherty (Subaru Impreza ) [8] 29 Peter McCullagh/Alan Dolan (Mitsubishi Evo 6) [8] 30 Donal Bownes/Mike Wilks (Mitsubishi Evo 3) [8] 31 Patrick Keenan/Finian Hannigan (Mitsubishi Evo 7) [8] 32 Pat Price/TBA (Mitsubishi Evo 8) [8] 33 John O'Leary/Michael Coleman (Mitsubishi Evo 6) [8] 34 Michael Murray/Tommy Doyle (Subaru Impreza WRX) [6] 35 Denis Heaney/Sean Devlin (Toyota Corolla WRC) [6] 36 Brecan McBreen/Ronan Kelly (Subaru Impreza) [8] 37 Michael O'Connor/Denis Collins (Opel Manta) [5] 38 Jimmy Devane/Mike Buckley (Nissan Sunny) [5] 39 Michael Tynan/Colin Brady (Vauxhall Astra) [5] 40 Michael Nevin/John Kinahan (Ford Escort Mk 2) [2] 41 Frank Kelly/John Shelvin (Ford Escort Mk 2) [5] 42 Trevor Farrell/Janice Mackarel (Ford Escort ) [2] 43 Keith Power/Fergal Talbot (Ford Puma Super 1600) [3] 44 Malachy Donnelly/TBA (Ford Escort Mk 2) [2] 45 James Fagan/Ray Greene (Ford Escort Mk 2) [2] 46 Alan Commins/Declan Norris (Ford Escort Mk 2) [2] 47 Seamus Anderson/Alan Kinsella (Ford Escort Mk 2) [4] 48 Ray Benskin/Peader Walsh (Ford Escort Mk 2) [4] 49 Tom Kenneally/Brian Corbett (Peugeot 205 RWD) [4] 50 Sean W Benskin/Tom O'Regan (Ford Escort Mk 2) [4] 51 Jason Roche/Patrick Roche (Ford Escort Mk 2) [4] 52 Damien Quinn/Martin Donnelly (Subaru Legacy) [6] 53 John Meade/Kevin Kearney (Peugeot 205) [2] 54 Damien Morrissey/Ronald Mackey (Ford Escort Mk 2) [5] 55 John Bagge/Damien Walsh (Toyota Starlet ) [3] 56 Michael Lenihan/Dan Maguire (Mitsubishi Evo 6) [8] 57 Andrew Kearney/Eoin O'Neill (Peugeot) [7] 58 Graham Quinn/Martin Costello (Peugeot 106 GT) [7] 59 Kevin Corcoran/Michael Haley (Opel Corsa) [1] 60 Pat O'Connell/Paul Manton (Peugeot 206 XSI) [7] 61 Leslie Allen/David Long (Opel Corsa) [3] 62 Paul Elliott/Adrian Foley (Mitsubishi Evo 6) [8] 63 Patrick Shanahan Jnr/Joey Irwin (Toyota Starlet RWD) [1] 64 Owen Murphy/TBA (Rover Mini) [9] 65 Clement Lonergan/Martin Luddy (Honda Civic) [3] 66 John O'Donnell/TBA (Suzuki Swift GTI) [1] 67 Keith Cronin/Colm Cronin (Peugeot 106) [7] 68 Martin Kirwan/Olive Costello (Opel Corsa) [1] 69 Michael McGillin/Alan Kenna (Ford Escort G3) [5] 70 Joe Conway/TBA (Ford Escort Mk 2) [2] 71 Ger Gowen/Pat Gowen (Peugeot 205 ) [2] 72 Jeremy Drislane/Barry Goodman (Peugeot 206XS) [3] 73 Sidney Bourke/Robert Hughes (Peugeot 106 S16) [7] 74 Mervyn Galbraith/Chris O'Connor (Vauxhall Nova) [1] 75 Colman Kirby/Jemima Ottman (Nissan Sunny) [1] 76 Noel Wade/David O'Brien (Ford Escort Mk 2) [2] 77 Mark Andrew/Aled Richards (Ford Escort Mk 2) [2] 78 Donal Keane Jnr/Foxy Ger McCarthy (Toyota Starlet) [4] 79 Eddie Grinsell/TBA (Ford Escort) [5] 80 Alan Dineen/Tony Dineen (Vauxhall Nova) [1] 81 Padraig Purcell/Gerry Purcell (Vauxhall Astra) [5] 82 Billy O'Keeffe/Derrick O'Neill (Opel Corsa) [9] 83 Ivan Bryan/Alaistair Wyllie (Toyota Corolla) [3] 84 Nicholas Doherty/Philip Doherty (Peugeot 205) [2] 85 Thomas Brennan/Aidan Fitzpatrick (Ford Escort G3) [4] 86 Moss Fitzgerald/Vincent McCarthy (Toyota Corolla GT) [3] 87 Brian Hennessy/Laura Brennan (Peugeot 205 GTI) [2] 88 Andres Reid/William Fitzpatrick (Austin Mini) [1] 89 Darren Donnelly/Barry McGillin (Toyota Corolla GP N) [3] 90 Michael Piggott/Declan Piggott (Honda Civic ) [2] 91 Kieran Crawley/Colin Fitzgerald (Peugeot 106 GTI) [3] 92 Pat Curran/Kevin Barry (Ford Escort Mk 2) [3] 93 Hans Matthia/Sinead O'Keeffe (Suzuki Swift GTI) [1] 94 Joseph McDonald/Tom Snell (Ford Escort Mk 2) [2] 95 Ashley McAdoo/Adam Murray (Opel Corsa) [1] 96 Johnny Kenneally/Ken Carmody (Ford Escort Mk 2) [9] 97 Richard Nugent/Robert Nugent (Honda Civic CRX) [9] 98 Brian Connolly/TBA (Peugeot 106) [1] 99 James John Wall/Enda Delaney (Peugeot 106 ) [9] 100 Michael Cuddihy/Donal Mc Andrew (Ford Escort Mk 2) [2] 101 James Cunningham/Joseph Fitzgibbon (Toyota Corolla) [3] 102 Conor Kelly/Walter Dick (Opel Corsa) [9] 103 Mark Kinirons/Pat Conlon (Skoda Felicia) [2] 104 Gemma Kerley/Edel Mackey (Vauxhall Nova) [9]