Great Stuff Caterers 2007 Killarney Historic Stages Rally
1st & 2nd December
Round 6 - 2007 Southern 4 Rally Championship (Historics)
Posted: December 19, 2007 11:57 AM
Christmas Newsletter available
See event website:
Photo: Joe Lane
Cunningham's Historic Killarney Triumph
Ray Cunningham and Richard Hyland have won the 2007 Great Stuff Caterers Killarney Historic Stages Rally for the second time! They dominated from the start on Saturday afternoon in their Mini Cooper S and eventually took victory by over 8 minutes. The result contrasted from their result last year when they lost out on victory by just one second to Dessie Nutt. Ray commented 'the drive back to the finish ramp this year was a lot more enjoyable than last year'.
It was a testing start for the Galway man having a pretty disastrous run on Saturday afternoon being the first on the road, his Mini Cooper was reduced to 3 cylinders due to the heavy rain fall. The 72 year old Fermanagh man Mervyn Johnston, co-driven by Wendy Blackledge finished second also in a Mini Cooper with the MGB of Philip Wylie and John Young 3 rd.
In the Post-Historic category the English visitors Steve Smith and Phil Spurge took a comfortable victory in their Porsche 911. The local crew of Ed Murphy and Shane Devane had lead for the first 6 stages in their MkI Escort but unfortunately due to mechanical problems on Sundays opening loop they ended up finishing 3 minutes behind in 2 nd. Sean Lockyear and Christopher Wood had a very consistent drive and held 3rd place for the 9 stages on Sunday! James O'Mahony and Paddy McDonnell from Limerick were sitting in 2nd position until their Volvo 140 broke the torque bar off the rear axle on the Healy Pass.
Welshman Gareth Lloyd and co-driver Ian Oakey took the honours in the Classic category in their Ford Escort RS. Boston domiciled Portuguese man Vincent Frontinan finished 2 nd in another Escort. It was an eventful end to the day for the Andrews Heat for Hire Lotus Sunbeam of Russell Brookes when the throttle cables gave up on the Healy Pass, they went on to suffer a variety of mechanical problems but managed to get back to the finish ramp to finish in 3 rd spot. It was an unlucky end to the rally for Thomas Randles and Sean Duggan, the local pair led for a lot of the event but crashed out on the Ardgroom stage when a ball joint broke.
The Modified Classic category provided the closest finish with Phil Collins and Adrian Deasy finishing the event with an advantage of just 4 seconds over Kris Meeke who was navigated by Killarney man Paul Nagle. Kris later incurred a 2 minute penalty for being late into stage 6 Killmakillogue having broken the exhaust manifold on Molls Gap which meant that Martin McGee and Arthur Kierans snatched the second spot with Gary McPhillips and Enda Sherry moving to 3rd. The Modified class provided great entertainment for the weekend with several drivers in with a shout of clinching a podium spot.
The 2007 Killarney Historic Stages Rally was proudly supported by Great Stuff Caterers , Randles Hotels, EPS Bison, McAuliffe Development and the Christmas in Killarney Festival.
Post-Historic Winners: Steve Smith/Phil Spurge (Porsche 911)
Photo: Eoin O'Sullivan
Classic Winners: Gareth Lloyd/Ian Oakey (Ford Escort RS2000)
Photo: TPM Photosport
2007 Great Stuff Caterers Killarney Historic Stages Rally –
FINAL Results
Historic
1 Ray Cunningham/Richard Hyland Morris Cooper S 2:19:18
2 Mervyn Johnston/Wendy Blackledge Austin Cooper S 2:27:50
3 Philip Wylie/John Young MG B 2:30:50
4 Niall Creighton/Gregory Roberts Ford Cortina Lotus 2:33:22
5 Les Allfrey/Kevin Devine Austin Mini Cooper S 2:35:37
Post-Historic
1 Steve Smith/Phil Spurge Porsche 911 2:13:36
2 Ed Murphy/Shane Devane Ford Escort Mk1 2:16:45
3 Sean Lockyear/Christopher Wood Porsche 911 2:17:33
4 Joe Connolly/Gareth Connolly Ford Escort Mk1 2:19:26
5 Tommy Mason/Joseph Dunne Ford Escort Mk1 9 2:20:04
Classic
1 Gareth Lloyd/Ian Oakey Ford Escort RS2000 2:14:23
2 Vincent Frontinan/Derek Power Ford Escort 2:29:07
3 Russell Brookes/Sean Mullally Talbot Sunbeam 2:49:32
Modified-Classic
1 Phil Collins/Adrian Deasy Ford Escort RS Mk2 2:07:45
2 Martin McGee/Arthur Kierans Ford Escort Mk2 2:08:12
3 Gary McPhillips/Enda Sherry Ford Escort RS Mk2 2:09:41
4 Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle Ford Escort Mk2 2:09:49
5 Fergus O'Meara/Liam Brennan Ford Escort Mk2 2:10:03
Junior
1 Conor Collins/Timmy Foley Ford Escort 2:05:49
2 Paul McMahon/Derek Butler Ford Escort Mk2 2:06:46
Modified-Classic Winners: Phil Collins/Adrian Deasy (Ford Escort RS Mk2)
Photo: Eoin O'Sullivan
Pre Event News
- ALL STAR ENTRY FOR GREAT STUFF CATERERS KILLARNEY HISTORIC RALLY!
- Route
- Entry List available
- GREAT STUFF CATERERS 2007 Killarney Historic Stages Rally Launched!
- November Newsletter available
- Regulations/On line entry available
- Rally launch: - Killarney Historic Stages (1-2 Dec) - Rally Launch - 4 Nov 07
- Regulations available 17th September
ALL STAR ENTRY FOR GREAT STUFF CATERERS KILLARNEY HISTORIC RALLY!
There is always a lot of interest in the Killarney Historic Stages Rally. With names like Brookes, Meeke, McCartney, Boyd and Collins taking to the famous Killarney stages, this years event taking place on the 1st and 2nd of December is set to be a cracker!
The cars will be lead away on Saturday afternoon from the Start Ramp in Killarney Town Centre by the Ex-Works M3 BMW Course Car driven by Denis Cronin. He will be followed by the 2005 Winner and Number 1 seed Ray Cunningham in his popular Mini Cooper S. Ray who will be navigated by Richard Hyland has always been competitive in Killarney, finishing just 1 second off first place last year! Lining up behind Cunningham on the start ramp in his Porsche 911 is the 2 time Post-Historic winner and this years Southern 4 Historic Champion, local man Todd Falvey. Todd will have his regular co-driver Dan Barry in the hot seat. In the number 3 spot is the Escort RS2000 of Gareth Lloyd, another previous winner in the event.
The rally is full of well known competitors and this year fans of all ages will get a rare opportunity to see one of the sports finest in competition. Twice British Rally Champion Russell Brookes is running at number 9 in one of his original cars, the Ex-Works 'Andrews Heat for Hire' Talbot Sunbeam Lotus which Russell used on the RAC rally in '81. As if one rally legend wasn't enough Dessie McCartney is lining up at number 14 in a Porsche 911 along with Derek Boyd at number 18 also in a Porsche, both McCartney from Co. Down and Boyd from Belfast have both had great careers in rallying and are guaranteed to bring great entertainment.
The top entrants in this year's Modified class are all well known names. Leading the pack out is this years Rally of the Lakes winner Kris Meeke. Kris is no stranger to a powerful rear wheel drive car and will be up against some of the countries finest in Conor Curley's MkII Escort. The next Modified on the start ramp will be the Ford of Phil Collins. Putting pressure on him will be the 'Feckin Irish Whiskey' Escort of Wesley Patterson.
The rally maintains a similar schedule to previous years with 4 stages on Saturday, 2 of which are night stages. Early Sunday morning the competitors will line up to tackle Molls Gap, the first of the days 9 stages, with the winning Historic crew due to return to the Finish Ramp at Randles Garage shortly before 4.30pm. The 2007 Killarney Historic Stages Rally is proudly supported by Great Stuff Caterers, Randles Hotels, EPS Bison, McAuliffe Development and the Christmas in Killarney Festival.
2007 Great Stuff Caterers Killarney Historic Stages Rally - Schedule
Saturday 1st December
Start Ramp: Market Cross, Killarney 13:10
SS1: Shanera
SS2: Rockfield
Service
SS3: Shanera
SS4: Rockfield
Parc Fermé (In): Killarney Racecourse 18:41
Sunday 2nd December
Parc Fermé (Out): Killarney Racecourse 07:45
SS5: Molls Gap
SS6: Killmakillogue
SS7: Healy Pass
Service: Adrigole-Castletownbere Road
SS8: Cods Head
SS9: Ardgroom
SS10: Healy Pass
Service: Adrigole-Castletownbere Road
SS11: Cod's Head
SS12: Ardgroom
SS13: Killmakillogue
Finish Ramp: Randles Garage, Muckross Road 16:21
Prizegiving: The Shelbourne Suite, Dromhall Hotel 21:00
12/11/07
Entry List Available on event website:
06/11/07 GREAT STUFF CATERERS 2007 Killarney Historic Stages RallyLaunched!
The official launch of the Great Stuff Caterers 2007 Killarney Historic
Rally took place on Sunday the 4th of November at the Dromhall Hotel,
Muckross Road, Killarney. Guests included, Bryan Allen, Great Stuff
Caterers, Bernadette Randles of the Randles Dromhall Hotel, Pat Buckley of
EPS Bison and many more.
The rally, which will mark the start of the "Christmas in Killarney"
Festival, will commence with a town-centre start on the afternoon of
Saturday, December 1st. Two afternoon stages followed by two night-time
stages will be run on Saturday, with a further nine stages following on
Sunday, December 2nd.
The rally will feature categories for four types of cars:
Historic Cars, which have a cut off date of 31/12/67
The Post Historic section will cater for cars up to 31/12/74
The Classic category will cater for Homologated Cars dating from 1st January
1975 to 31st December 1981
The popular Modified Classic section will cater for cars up to 31/12/79.
The 2007 Killarney Historic Stages Rally will also include a Junior Rally
for Drivers under 27 years of age.
With over 200 entries already received for the popular December rally it was
confirmed at the rally launch that Russell Brookes will be competing in the
original, works spec, Andrews Heat for Hire Talbot Sunbeam. The car will be
serviced by the original mechanics who built and ran the car in the 1981 RAC
rally and will run in the classic section.
Also entered is Dessie McCartney. Dessie won the Galway Rally in 1975 in a
Porsche 911 and Ulster in 1980 in a Chevette. He also came 2nd in the
Circuit of Ireland. He has entered the Killarney Historics in a Porsche 911.
2005 Killarney Historic rally winners and runner up on last year's event Ray
Cunningham is among the leading entries, as is winner of the first ever
Killarney Historic Stages Rally, John Keatley.
Two surprise entries are 2007 Rally of the Lakes Winner Kris Meeke in Conor
Curley¹s Mark 2 Escort (Meeke is sponsored by Padraig O’Shea Building
Contractors) and local man, Alan Ring who normally drives a Group N Subaru,
and is competing this weekend in a Post Historic Mark 1 Escort. Also entered
in the modified section is Phil Collins.
Some local competitors, who might be contenders for a trophy this year
include Kevin O’Donoghue/Joe O’Leary, Dave Slattery/Ger Somers, Peter
Kelly/Peggy Kelly, Tommy Randles/Sean Duggan, Charlie & Johnny Hickey.
Winners of the 023 Tiles Southern 4 Championship for 2007 in the Junior
Category are Barry Ryan and local navigator Donal Falvey this weekend they
will be competing in the Modified Section and hope to give the rest of their
class competitors a run for their money.
Entries for the Great Stuff Caterers 2007 Killarney Historic Stages Rally
close this Friday November the 9th.
06/11/07
November Newsletter available
See event website below:
17/09/07
Regulations/On line entry available
Entries are now being taken on line via the rally website:
12/09/07
September Newsletter available
See event website:
Rally launch: