NATIONAL JUNIOR RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
Report after Round 1
Purcell/Courtney win by 1 second!
Full Results
Photos
Video Clips
IN-CAR Action from the rally winners
Posted: February 19, 2008 7:58 PM
NATIONAL JUNIOR RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
Report after Round 1
The inaugural round of the Motorsport Ireland “National Junior Rally Championship” (NJRC) took place in Mitchelstown on Sunday 10th of February as part of “The Sean Conlon Memorial Tipperary Forest Rally”. This new initiative saw 21 registered competitors start at the head of the field of what was the dawn of a new era in Irish Forest rallying.
The NJRC is a mixed surface championship for junior competitors with 4 forest rounds and 4 tarmac rounds run between February and October. The best three rounds of each discipline to count towards final points for the National Junior Rally Championship, which is class based. There are 8 classes, however on forest events all these classes run in class 9, the junior category. The winner of each class, along with two other drivers who may be nominated by expert competitors selected by Motorsport Ireland, will go forward for consideration for the Billy Coleman Award. More details of the championship are available on www.motorsportireland.com.
The Sean Conlon Memorial Tipperary Forest Rally saw an amazing influx of young drivers whose names would normally be attributed to tarmac rallying such as Peter Wilson, Damien McCarthy, Jack Newman, Mark Sheahan, Jason Ryan to name a few. Indeed the prospect of running as first cars on the road was a deciding factor for a lot of those who have made the transition to forest rallying for the first time. Most junior competitors also registered for the Hankook National Forest Rally Championship.
Stage one in Kilworth saw John Byrnes from Limerick put in a blistering time taking a 24 second advantage over Damien McCarthy of Timoleague, who led Youghal’s Jason Ryan by 2 seconds. Kells man Peter Wilson was fourth, all the above driving Honda Civics. Eamonn Power in a Peugeot 106 was fifth followed by Jack Newman in a Civic, Kevin O’Connor in a 106, and Bernard Mulvihill in another Civic lying 8th. Stage one was a baptism of fire for the Junior competitors as 6 of the 21 suffered mechanical woes.
Stage 2 & 3 ran in the Kilcoran Forest. John Byrnes using his forest experience had consolidated his lead on stage 2 but suffered electrical problems and lost time on stage 3 and then retired. Damien McCarthy then led by 1 second from Jason Ryan, with Jack Newman third, Peter Wilson, Eamonn Power, Bernard Mulvihill, Sarah Moynihan and Mark Sheahan following up in the NJRC. Form here the rally moved to the classic Cambaun stage where Ryan took two seconds back from McCarthy to arrive into main service with a lead of 1 second.
Heading back out to repeat the loop the newcomers had acclimatised themselves to the loose surface by shaving almost 30 seconds of their stage 1 times. Ryan set fastest class time on stage 5 with Wilson 3 seconds adrift. Newman followed by 5 seconds and McCarthy a further 4 seconds off, who did not appear on the time sheet after this. Ryan won 6 and 7 and at this point had a commanding lead which opened the door for Power to win the final stage from Wilson, Newman 3rd and Patrick Cunningham 4th who had trouble on stage 1 but had good times throughout the rest of the day.
Final results were for class 9 as follows, 1st Jason Ryan (1.06.45), 2nd Jack Newman (1.07.32) 3rd Peter Wilson (1.07.42) all in class G of NJRC. 4th Eamonn Power, winning class H. Bernard Mulvihill, Patrick Cunningham and James Brown rounded off class G. Mark Lane took class B honours in his 106. Mark Sheahan won class D from Sarah Moynihan, both in 206’s. Full breakdown of NJRC standings listed below.
On winning the first round of the NJRC Jason Ryan said, “I am delighted with the result, it being my first time on the loose. We got off to a slow start but the confidence grew a little with every mile. The car was too low and bottomed out quite a lot and also used more oil than it should have.” Indeed finishing 17th overall and 4th two wheel drive was a great result for any driver on his first day in the woods.
Results
1 Andrew Purcell/Michael Courtney (Subaru Impreza WRC) 57m 22s,
2 Stephen Moore/Tony McHugh (Ford Focus WRC) 57m 23s,
3 Ray Breen/Craig Breen (Ford Focus WRC) 58m 51s,
4 Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (Subaru Impreza WRC) 59m 49s,
5 John Reid/Enda Shields (Toyota Corolla WRC) 60m 45s,
6 Brian Lawlor/Peter Kavanagh (Mit. Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 60m 55s,
7 Colin Britton/Arthur Kierans (Mit. Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 61m 38s,
8 Patrick Keenan/Barry McNulty (Mit. Lancer Evo 8 Gp N) 61m 56s,
9 Sean Heaney/Liam McLaughlin (Mit. Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 62m 01s,
10 Connie Smith/Breen McNamee (Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4) 62m 48s.
JUNIOR CLASS:
1 Jason Ryan/Tadhg O'Sullivan (Civic) 66m 45s,
2 Jack Newman/David Coyle (Civic) 67m 32s,
3 Peter Wilson/John Kilmurray (Civic) 67m 42s.
Leaders After:
SS1-8 Andrew Purcell/Michael Courtney (Subaru Impreza WRC)
Stage Winners
SS1 Andrew Purcell/Michael Courtney (Subaru Impreza WRC)
SS2 Stephen Moore/Tony McHugh (Ford Focus WRC)
SS3 Stephen Moore/Tony McHugh (Ford Focus WRC)
SS4 Andrew Purcell/Michael Courtney (Subaru Impreza WRC)
SS5 Andrew Purcell/Michael Courtney (Subaru Impreza WRC)
SS6 Stephen Moore/Tony McHugh (Ford Focus WRC)
SS7 Stephen Moore/Tony McHugh (Ford Focus WRC)
& Andrew Purcell/Michael Courtney (Subaru Impreza WRC)
SS8 Stephen Moore/Tony McHugh (Ford Focus WRC)