Posted: March 26, 2008 12:26 PM - 39319 Hits
Quality Hotels West Cork Rally
Round 1 - 2008 Southern 4 Rally Championship
Round 2 - 2008 Irish Evolution Challenge
Rounds 1 & 2 - 2008 Citroen C2 R2 Irish Cup
Posted: March 21, 2008 10:59 AM
The Quality Hotels West Cork Rally reached a significant milestone over St.Patricks Weekend as it celebrated its 30th running. Based in Clonakilty Co.Cork as usual, this year the rally was the opening round of the 023 Tiles Southern 4 Rally Championship & the 2008 Rallysport Cup. The event also counted for rounds 1&2 of the C2 R2 Irish Cup and the second round of the Irish Mitsubishi Evolution Challenge. Modified cars weren’t forgotten either as the Bones O’Connor Modified Challenge Trophy was up for grabs too with a very strong entry of Darrians and Escorts. 151 cars were to start in the main field with 20 historics joining in on the fifth stage. The juniors were to take part in the last five stages of the rally.
With top seed Melvyn Evans having withdrawn his entry the week before, it was left to Stephen Murphy / M.J.Morrissey with number 2 on their door to lead the field away in their Impreza WRC S12b. They were followed in turn by Donie O’Sullivan / Paul Nagle and Liam McCarthy / Kieran Murphy in their Impreza WRC and Corolla WRC respectively. Inaugural winners of the modified challenge in 2007 John Dalton / Gwynfor Jones were at 5 in their Darrian T90 GTR followed by Phil Collins / Derek Brannigan in their red Mk2 Escort. Leading Evo Challengers Colm Murphy / Ger Loughrey and Owen Murphy / James O’Brien were next up in their Evo 9s. Bob Fowden and Conor McCloskey were to be at 9 & 10 but both had to withdraw, so J.J.Fleming / Robbie Ward in their Focus WRC were next up. Alan Ring / Adrian Deasy were at 12 in their Evo 9, while Kevin O’Donoghue / Joe O’Leary at 14 rounded off the top ten starters. Martin Laverty / Trevor Payne and Marty McCormack / Liam Moynihan were the top seeded C2 R2 competitors at numbers 75 & 76 respectively. There were a total of 17 stages over the two days, with eight stages on the Saturday and nine on the Sunday. Service was centralised in Darrara Agricultural College for the two days while there were 155 stage miles to 112 road miles making the event excellent value for money.
Day 1
Heavy rain and saturated roads greeted the drivers as the cars took to the start of the first stage. Stephen Murphy found the going difficult and after a spin and a stall on Stage 1 lost 25 seconds to Donie O’Sullivan. Liam McCarthy was penalised for a jump start and lost 30 seconds. Colm Murphy went into second place immediately while Phil Collins held third despite conditions being very unfavourable towards two wheel drive. Adrien Heatherington was flying in the awful conditions and was using his forestry expertise to good effect. Washington James was off the road for around 90 seconds while Ashley Field was very rusty after a long lay off from rallying. Kevin O’Donoghue was complaining of bad handling in his Escort as Wesley Patterson almost caught up with him on the first stage. On Stage two came the first real drama, the retirement of Stephen Murphy. Running first on the road the conditions took their toll and he went off the road early on the stage damaging the front of the car. Although he made it to the end of the stage, the car was too damaged to continue. The car was fixed up overnight and Stephen went out as a 00 to get some more testing done.
Stage three and four brought more drama as the bad conditions were compounded by petrol on the road all through the stage. Donie O’Sullivan lost 30 seconds with a puncture, while Phil Collins went off the road and damaged an oil pipe but was able to continue. Owen Murphy also collected a puncture and when he stopped to change it the jack wouldn’t work with the result almost six minutes were lost. J.J.Fleming slid off the road and out of the rally. Colm Murphy was fastest on stage 3 to go into an eight second lead, but O’Sullivan fought back on Stage 4 to retake a lead he was never to lose. Pat Donegan also went off the road for a while and Guy Woodcock lost four minutes with a puncture on this loop and dropped down the leaderboard while mechanical problems forced Kevin O’Donoghue out at service.
With the roads drying and summer-like conditions appearing John Dalton began to up the pace and move into fourth place in his Darrian which was revelling on the drier roads. James Stafford was also beginning to move up the leaderboard as the Darrians began to make their power / weight ratio tell. O’Sullivan still led from Colm Murphy with Liam McCarthy making no impression on the leading two in third place. Neil Williams and Wesley Patterson were in a battle for fifth place as the action got fast and furious. Owen Murphy had a big off on stage 5 as a result of braking problems which necessitated his removal to hospital as a precaution. He was later released none the worse for his experience. Brian O’Mahony had a puncture and lost some more time.
On the final pair of stages of the day, Donie O’Sullivan lost fifth gear and had to back off a little to avoid damaging the car but was still able to maintain his lead over Colm Murphy who was comfortably leading the Evo Challenge. Liam McCarthy was overtaken for third place by John Dalton who set an amazing fastest time on the last stage of the day as he really got the Darrian wound up. Wesley Patterson was in fifth despite some worries over the diff with James Stafford up to 6th overall. Alan Ring held seventh in his Lancer with Neil Williams, Gwyndaf Evans and Conor Curley making up the top ten overnight. In the C2 R2 Cup, Marty McCormack took full points in the first round.
Overnight Top 5;
1 – Donie O’Sullivan / Paul Nagle – Subaru Impreza WRC – 1:04:06.0
2 – Colm Murphy / Ger Loughrey – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo – 1:04:20.0
3 – John Dalton / Gwynfor Jones – Darrian T90 GTR – 1:05:15.4
4 – Liam McCarthy / Kieran Murphy – Toyota Corolla WRC – 1:05:16.3
5 – Wesley Patterson / Ruth Guest – Ford Escort – 1:06:38.2
Day 2
Dull, misty weather greeted the drivers as they started the second day and in two stages Donie O’Sullivan put the hammer down to stretch his lead from 14 to 48 seconds. Despite the greasy conditions Dalton was able to pull further away from McCarthy, while Stafford had overtaken Patterson for fifth. Conor Curley crashed out on the first junction of stage nine, with the car landing a long way off the road inside in a river, thankfully with out injury to the crew. This moved Pat Donegan up the leaderboard but only for a short time as he two crashed out on stage 11. Phil Collins was back inside the top ten after his mishaps of the previous day.
After the second loop of the morning stages O’Sullivan was able to relax a little to conserve the car. Murphy was all alone in second place and comfortably leading the Evo challenge part of the event. Dalton & McCarthy were still having a battle for third place while Stafford was in fifth. Patterson was coming under increasing pressure from Ring to hold onto sixth place. Terence O’Shaughnessy was well inside the top 20 in his 1600 Corolla and mixing it very well with the much more powerful Escorts and Darrians. Collins suffered a puncture and lost some time while Stafford had some mechanical problems with the car.
The classic Ring stage was stage 13 and it proved to be very unlucky for Colm Murphy who crashed into the wall after the harbour in Ring village and out of the event. This promoted Alan Carmichael to the lead in the Evo Challenge which he was to hold until the end. Dalton was now in second but still coming under pressure from McCarthy. Stafford was now if fourth place with Alan Ring in fifth ahead of Wesley Patterson. Gwyndaf Evans retired from a top ten position just before Ring village ending a fine drive as the car just stopped and refused to fire up again.
More drama was to follow on the following stage in Dunworley as Neil Williams crashed after a jump and vacated seventh place to Phil Collins who still wasn’t giving up. After this sudden flurry of events things seemed to settle down once more as drivers realised that the end of a long tough event was in sight and nothing more was to be gained by pushing too hard. Donie O’Sullivan extended his lead to over two minutes as John Dalton increased his lead on Liam McCarthy.
There were no more mishaps and Donie O’Sullivan and Paul Nagle safely negotiated the final spectator stage in Clonakilty to claim their second victory on this event. John Dalton and Gwynfor Jones took their best West Cork Rally result to date with a superb second overall. Liam McCarthy and Kieran Murphy were third with James Stafford and Frank Dwyer fourth in the Darrian. Alan Ring and Adrian Deasy came fifth overall and won Gp N in their Evo 9. Wesley Patterson, Sean Flanagan, Adrien Heatherington, Edward O’Callaghan and Washington James completed the top ten. Alan Carmichael won the Irish Evo Challenge while Barry Evans won round 2 of the C2 R2 Irish Cup after Marty McCormack went off the road on Stage 12.
Once again the Quality Hotels West Cork Rally was a hard and challenging event that was enjoyed by competitors and spectators alike. Considering the toughness of the event, the fact that 88 of the 151 starters made it to finish was a surprise. Credit must go to Brian O’Connell (who was clerking the event for the final time) and his team who made sure the event ran on time all weekend. Tommy Mason won the Historic Rally in his Mk1 Escort while Noel Kelleher won the Junior Rally in his Honda Civic.
Posted: March 20, 2008 11:31 AM
County Cork driver Brian O’Mahony and County Mayo co-driver John Higgins made a successful start to their season on this weekend’s two-day West Cork Rally (15-16 March).
The reigning Dunlop National Championship class 6 champions finished 22nd overall and second in class 6 in their OM Concrete Products and Tom Hogan Motors-backed Super 1600 Renault Clio, run by O’Leary Motorsport, on the Clonakilty-based tarmac event.
Their event did not run exactly to plan, however, as a puncture lost them around six minutes on stage three and the gearbox began to cry sick, meaning the crew had to nurse it to the finish on the final day on Sunday.
But, despite the setbacks, the pair made it third time lucky on the West Cork Rally as they had twice previously failed to make it beyond the first day after retiring with mechanical problems and had a positive shakedown ahead of their British Rally Championship (BRC) campaign, which begins in April.
“I’m pleased that we finally got to the finish of the West Cork but it’s a shame that a few problems hampered us along the way,” 23-year-old O’Mahony said.
“The event was a good run out before we start the BRC next month and it was good to get some important time back in the car as I hadn’t driven it since Rally Ireland in November. The stages were great fun as always and we’re pleased that we still managed to get a good result.”
O’Mahony and Higgins will run the course car on the Moonraker Forestry Rally on Sunday 13 April in preparation for a return to the gravel for the opening round of the BRC, the Carlisle-based Pirelli International Rally, the following weekend on Friday 18 - Saturday 19 April.
Posted: March 19, 2008 5:08 PM
The West Cork Rally played host to the first two rounds of the new Citroen C2 R2 Irish Cup, and an impressive turn out of twelve of the 1600cc Citroen Sport designed cars lined up in Clonakilty for this historic weekend.
Round one took in the eight stages of day one on this famous rally, and leading the field away was the reigning British C2 R2 Champion, Martin Laverty. However Martin had a somewhat hesitant start, and in fact was caught on stage two, by C2 R2 newcomers Martin McCormack and Liam Moynihan. The young Historic rally ace was experiencing front wheel drive and left hand drive for the first time, and held a twenty second lead at first service. “It’s different than rear wheel drive. You have to be more precise with front wheel drive, and can’t throw the tail out with the power, but I’m really enjoying it. The car is really good on the fast stuff and the bumps and jumps.” Third R2 seed was Welsh man Jason Pritchard, but his rally was very short rolling out on the first special stage. Steve Clery in his hired C2, was another to go his roof, on the second stage, but the Clonakilty driver proved the strength of these cars to continue onto finish round one in a good fourth place. Young Clones driver Martin Tynan was another to strike early trouble in the shape of a first stage puncture which cost three minutes, but he eventually salvaged fifth place. Martin and ninth placed finisher Mark Buckley who had some day one niggles, would prove more of a threat on round two however. Adapting from a rear wheel drive Escort, Kildare’s Graham Kelly would finish the round in fifth place, Armagh’s Sean Agnew on his first event in a C2, finished seventh and Comber’s David Johnston who is more used to driving an off road Bowler 4x4, eighth on his first ever closed road rally.
Meanwhile up front Martin McCormack’s lead was reduced by a hard charging Barry Evans who took eleven seconds back on stage four, and then McCormack punctured on stage five, having to stop and change the wheel. But luck was on his side as the stage was cancelled due to another competitor’s crash and Martin kept up his quick pace to win the very first C2 R2 Irish Cup round. Barry Evans was second, but his friend and close rival Paul Manton who was just seconds behind, rolled his C2 on stage six. “I was just trying to find the extra speed to catch Barry, and just tried too hard, as simple as that” quipped Paul. That meant that the youngest competitor in the Cup, 18 year old Sam Moffett, took a well deserved third place. But winner Martin McCormack was delighted. “Yes I’m really thrilled. We learnt a lot today about the car, and when we stiffened it up for the drier afternoon tests it made a big difference. We really enjoyed the stages, and we were we lucky too with the puncture.”
Day two and round two of the Citroen C2 R2 Irish Cup, and once again conditions were damp for the early morning stages, and once again Martin McCormack led after four tests. But the Magherafelt ace, now in the British Rally Elite scheme, wasn’t having things his own way. Martin Tynan was just one scant second behind, the Clones driver’s motivation renewed after round one, and he would soon take the lead when Martin McCormack retired after clipping a bank, on stage five,. This was due to a braking problem, but no one was breaking away at the front. Barry Evans was again very fast, the Monaghan driver who was the first C2 R2 owner in Ireland, very much on form. Also swapping seconds with Barry was former Ka Champion, Mark Buckley who was disappointed with a first round full of dramas, and the Cork driver was setting top three times. A small off however put him out on the penultimate test.
And talking about off road excursions, Steve Clery and Paul Manton had their patched up C2’s running on round two. Paul was regaining his confidence after his round one exploits, but a gearbox problem would put him out, and Steve Clery would also not make the finish. He had changed the rear suspension to the latest C2 adjustable units and his times were right up there with the leaders on the early tests, but his rally, as he put it was “Game over” with another off road excursion. Keeping it all on the road, was former Off Road ace David Johnston who was very much learning the rally game, and he picked up useful points in sixth. Fifth was Sean Agnew who was also adapting to front wheel drive, from four wheel drive, and Graham Kelly finished a superb fourth, his second good points scoring position of the weekend.
In the battle at the front Martin Tynan had a thirty second advantage, after six stages, but on the seventh stage he broke a front driveshaft and the fell back to third place. Another driver who could possibly have been victorious was second placed Sam Moffett. Despite running the earlier non adjustable suspension set up on his C2, the 18 year old Monaghan driver was setting fastest times, and was just sixteen seconds behind the winner. But fittingly it was Barry Evans who took the win, with a superb drive. Barry was ecstatic as he walked away with his 750€ of prize money and took the championship lead.
“I knew I had to do well this weekend, and we had to use our previous experience of the car, before all these young lads start pulling away. It’s a brilliant feeling to win and it’s been a brilliant weekend. The competition has been intense and it’s been very well organised by Charles Hurst, and also the event by the organisers.”
Round 1
1 Martin McCormack/ Liam Moynihan 1hr 11min 11.3
2 Barry Evans/ David Lyons +32.3
3 Sam Moffett/ Donal Lennon +2m 26.7
Round 2
1 Barry Evans/ David Lyons 1hr 15min 17.1
2 Sam Moffett/ Donal Lennon +15.9
3 Martin Tynan/ Ciaran Tynan +1m 20.7
For more information visit www.c2r2.ie
Posted: March 17, 2008 5:46 PM
A jubilant Alan Carmichael and co-driver Ivor Lamont crossed the finish line of this weekend’s Quality Hotels West Cork Rally to win the second round of the Irish Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge and, in doing so, now lead the one-make championship for Group N Lancer Evolutions.
Second-placed Stanley Ballentine/Richard Hyland put up a fight to the finish following the demise of pace-setter Colm Murphy, who retired after leading for three-quarters of the event when he hit a wall on stage 13.
Based in Clonakilty, the two-day West Cork event is one of the most popular rallies in Southern Ireland and this year saw a total of 166 cars start the main event. Of these, the Evo Challenge accounted for six entries, the Mitsubishi field reduced on this occasion due to driver’s ill health, family or business commitments.
Saturday featured eight timed special stages with a service halt after every two and, as he had done in round one, Colm Murphy showed the rest of the Evo Challenge field – and in fact all other Group N runners - a clean pair of heels. Following two wet stages, he returned to the first service interval 40 seconds ahead of his nearest Mitsubishi rival Owen Murphy, having set a pace good enough to put him in third place overall.
Although second in the Evo Challenge, Owen Murphy was already having difficulties, a problem with his car’s centre differential forcing him to drive with just two-wheel-drive through SS2. After changing two driveshafts at the first service halt his team then replaced the car’s transfer box at the second and, although getting the car’s transmission back to working order, over seven minutes had been lost.
Hoping to use local knowledge to his advantage, the Cork 21 year old’s attempts to make up time came to an end when he found himself with no brakes at the end of a flat-out straight. He subsequently left the road, with the car coming to a standstill in a ditch with such impact, both he and co-driver James O’Brien were taken to hospital for a check up, but were thankfully released later that day with no more than severe bruising.
Also having problems - albeit not so drastic - during Saturday, was now second-placed Tom Curley, who’s car appeared to have a slipping clutch, Alan Carmichael was in third, even though his co-driver Ivor Lamont was becoming increasing un-well with a suspected bought of food poisoning.
Making his debut to the Mitsubishi series was Liam McFall who, after making a few adjustments to his car in the morning, was going well, until a blown turbo brought a premature end to his rally on SS5.
Positions after stage eight before the overnight night showed Colm Murphy well out in front of the Evo Challenge field – and holding a stunning second place overall. Carmichael was now second of the Mitsubishi runners after Curley’s transmission problems – and now a misfire - continued to effect his pace, with Ballentine having a good run and moved up to third.
Day two featured a similar format of eight stages split by a service halt after every two, with the added extra of a three km run very close to the host town as the final stage.
Colm Murphy continued as he had done throughout Saturday – right up until SS13 - when his car slid-wide and into a wall as he came into the section around Clonakilty Harbour, about two kms into the infamous Ring stage. With too much damage to the offside corner of his James Foley Rallysport Evo to continue, Murphy’s impressive run had come to an end, but not before the talented Dubliner has proved his potential.
This left Carmichael and Ballentine in first and second places – and with Ballentine getting more used to his new car he was now closing on Carmichael and the still un-well Lamont.
As they lined-up to start the 17th and final stage just five seconds separated the two front-runners. Both pushed as hard as they could, setting almost identical times, which meant that Carmichael crossed the line to take his first ever Evolution Challenge victory.
“I can believe I’ve won a round of the Evo Challenge” said an overwhelmed Carmichael at the finish.”Once I could see a chance of winning it was a case of 100% concentration and no mistakes, plus Ivor did a great job considering he was unwell, so this is an excellent result for us – especially as we now lead the championship.”
Carmichael’s performance also scooped him four Pirelli tyres, the Performance Friction Brakes Cup and the Sunoco Spirit Award – which was down to Lamont’s determination not to give up, even though he was feeling so un-well.
Ballentine was delighted to finish second, collect three Pirelli tyres, plus the Murray Motorsport Best Improvement on Seeding Award and the Best Prepared Car Award, whilst Curley was just relieved to get to the finish having had to drive around a series of un-traceable mechanical problems throughout the day.
The third round of the Irish Evolution Challenge takes place on 3rd & 4th May, when the Mitsubishi crews head to Killarney for the Rally of the Lakes.
The 2008 Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge Ireland is supported by: Sunoco Racing Fuels, Pirelli tyres, Mitsubishi Motors Ireland, Performance Friction Brakes, Speedline Corse wheels, PIAA lights, Murray Motorsport, Sparco racewear, Pacenotes and James Foley Rallysport, who are providing a Group N Lancer Evolution for the 2008 Champion to use in next year’s Rally Ireland.
Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge Ireland – Round 2
Results
1 Alan Carmichael (Ballymena)/Ivor Lamont (Ballymena) 2:23:36.8
2 Stanley Ballentine (Strabane)/Richard Hyland (Omagh) 2:23:42.6
3 Tom Curley (Oranmore)/Pat Cashman (Falway) 2:47:47.4
Posted: March 17, 2008 5:25 PM
Posted: March 17, 2008 5:02 PM
Results
1 Donie O' Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2:11:15.9
2 John Dalton/Gwynfor Jones (Darrien T90 GTR) 2:13:39.9
3 Liam McCarthy/Kieran Murphy (Toyota Corolla WRC) 2:14:13.5
4 James Stafford/Frank Dwyer (Darrian T90 GTR)
5 Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) GpN 2:16:59.3
6 Wesley Patterson/Ruth Guest (Ford Escort Mk2) 2:17:02.9
7 Phil Collins/Derek Brannigan (Ford Escort MK2) 2:17:26.1
8 Sean Flanagan/Brian Duggan (Subaru Impreza N12) GpN 2:19:49.7
9 Adrian Hetherington/Gary Nolan (Ford Escort Mk2) 2:19:56.0
10 Washington James/Aled Jones (Darrien T90 GTR) 2:20:18.5
Leaders:
SS1-17 Donie O'Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Subaru Impreza WRC)
Stage Winners
SS1 Donie O'Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Subaru Impreza WRC)
SS2 Donie O'Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Subaru Impreza WRC)
SS3 Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) GpN
SS4 Donie O'Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Subaru Impreza WRC)
SS5 Donie O'Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Subaru Impreza WRC)
SS6 Liam McCarthy/Kieran Murphy (Toyota Corolla WRC)
SS7 Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) GpN
& Donie O'Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Subaru Impreza WRC)
SS8 John Dalton/Gwynfor Jones (Darrien T90 GTR)
SS9 Donie O'Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Subaru Impreza WRC)
SS10 Donie O'Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Subaru Impreza WRC)
SS11 Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) GpN
SS12 Donie O'Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Subaru Impreza WRC)
SS13 Donie O'Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Subaru Impreza WRC)
SS14 Donie O'Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Subaru Impreza WRC)
SS15 John Dalton/Gwynfor Jones (Darrien T90 GTR)
SS16 Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) GpN
SS17 John Dalton/Gwynfor Jones (Darrien T90 GTR)
Posted: March 12, 2008 12:17 PM