Tipperary Sean Conlon Memorial Forestry Rally - 14 Feb 10

Posted: February 17, 2010 3:06 PM

2nd Overall - John Reid and Enda Sheils
Photo: Trevor McGrath


3rd Overall - Seamus O'Connell/Brian Duggan
Photo: Ger Leahy

O’Connell/Wiley score maiden win in Mitchelstown.
Petro Systems National Forest Championship Round One Review

Posted: February 17, 2010 2:55 PM

Tipperary driver Pat O’Connell won his first ever rally on last Sunday’s Sean Conlon Memorial Forest rally. Lying second at first service and when Andrew Purcell experienced brake problems, O’Connell went into a lead he never surrendered.

O’Connell was runner up in last years Petro Systems forest championship and he was clearly delighted with his first big win.

Dubliner John Reid was runner up in the Toyota Corolla WRC, and he was joined on the podium by Seamus O’Connell in Escort Mk2. Fourth place was taken by Enda Mc Nulty, the Coalisland driver would have finished higher if he did not incur a two minute penalty. John Mc Laughlin and Ollie Williams were fifth and sixth respectively.

In an impressive seventh overall was Vincent Mc Aree, the Ballinode man in his first ever four wheel drive rally car. Mc Aree was winner of the junior class of the 2009 Petro Systems National Forest Rally Championship and his prize was a drive in Daragh Raftery’s Group N Impreza. Insurance cover was provided by Motorsport Ireland while the fuel and tyres were provided by Jim Crozier and Christy Carey (Race n rally) respectively.

The 8 stage (84km) rally was hosted by the Tipperary MC, and was based in Mitchelstown. It ran faultlessly thanks to the efforts of COC John Ward and his team. Fifty five started the rally and there were twenty nine finishers. The principal retirements were Andrew Purcell (OTL) James Murphy Escort WRC (accident), Frank Kelly Escort Mk2 (drive shaft failure) and James Coleman Escort Mk2 (drive shaft failure).

Seventh Heaven for Vincent and JP McAree on Mitchelstown Forestry Rally

Posted: February 17, 2010 2:50 PM

Photo: Trevor McGrath

Last weekend’s Mitchelstown Forestry Rally, round one of the Petro Systems Irish Forestry Rally Championship brought a superb seventh overall finish for Monaghan’s Vincent and JP McAree, on their first outing in a Group N Subaru Impreza. For 23 year old Vincent McAree and his co-driving cousin JP it was the first of two prize drives which they won after winning the junior section of the Irish Forestry series in 2009.

The car, a full specification 1999 Group N Subaru was provided by Galway man Daragh Raftery, with his hard working crew looking after the car.
“I had a few miles in the car the day before the event, just to get a basic feel for it” commented Vincent.
“When we got going on the event I started to get the feel of it more. The four wheel drive in the forest was just unreal! It took us a while to appreciate how much extra speed you could carry through the corners with a Group N car, and towards the end of the event we started to get onto it more and more. We made an adjustment to soften the back of the car at the mid day service as well, which helped me to get the car to step put more, as we don’t have a handbrake for the tight junctions. I have to say we really enjoyed the event, and by the last stage I felt we were getting a better pace up with the experience we had gained.”
Indeed a seventh fastest overall time on the final test, consolidated their seventh overall position, and the team was delighted to record a top ten finish on their first attempt.

“I have to thank Daragh, his son and the team. They were really pleased to see the car running in the top ten, took the job of running the car seriously and had prepared the car well for the rally also. Also thanks to Jim Crozier of Sunoco Fuels for the fuel for the event, Christy Carey of Hankook for providing the tyres, Motorsport Ireland for insuring the car, and of course John Quill and everyone who runs this series.”

Round two of the Irish Forestry series is in Carrick On-Suir in three weeks time, and this will be Vincent’s second prize drive in the Group N Subaru.
“I think we will have more experience going into this rally and I have to say I’m really looking forward to it. After this event I would like to continue in the Group N class, so we are looking into preparing a Group N Mitsubishi Evo 9 for the rest of the series also.”

Vincent and his cousin JP are hoping for continued backing from V-Mac Silos, T-Met Recycling and Premier Welding for the rest of the season that is seeing the young Monaghan engineer graduate into much more powerful machinery.

Video Clips

Posted: February 15, 2010 8:43 PM

Photos:

Posted: February 15, 2010 4:23 PM

GER LEAHY PHOTOGRAPHY & PR
rallyprint.com - Trevor McGrath
myrally.ie Sport Photography
ontherack.net

Full Results & Times

Posted: February 14, 2010 6:47 PM

1 Pat O'Connell/Mark Wiley (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 57m 33s.
2 John Reid/Enda Shields (Toyota Corolla WRC) 59m 25s.
3 Seamus O'Connell/Brian Duggan (Ford Escort Mk II) 61m 10s.
4 Enda McNulty/Ronan O'Kane (Subaru Impreza WRX) 61m 25s.
5 John McLaughlin/Ray Fitzpatrick (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 62m 23s.
6 Ollie Williams/Michael Walsh (Ford Escort Mk II) 63m 40s.
7 Vincent McAree/J P McAree (Subaru Impreza GC-8 GpN) 64m 22s.
8 Bob Scanlon/Suzanne Wright (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 64m 43s.
9 Mark Murphy/Carol O'Keeffe (Subaru Impreza WRX) 65m 19s.
10 Michael Cuddihy/Richie Coady (Toyota Starlet 1600) 66m 18s.

Leaders After:
SS1-2 AndrewPurcell/Brian Daniels (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Gp N)
SS3-8 Pat O'Connell/Mark Wiley (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Gp N)

Stage Winners:
SS1 Andrew Purcell/Brian Daniels (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Gp N)
SS2 Andrew Purcell/Brian Daniels (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Gp N)
SS3 Pat O'Connell/Mark Wiley (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Gp N)
SS4 Pat O'Connell/Mark Wiley (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Gp N)
SS5 Andrew Purcell/Brian Daniels (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Gp N)
SS6 Andrew Purcell/Brian Daniels (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Gp N)
SS7 Andrew Purcell/Brian Daniels (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Gp N)
SS8 Pat O'Connell/Mark Wiley (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Gp N)

Tipp_Forestry_2010_Results.xls

Results also available at:

• Tipperary Motor Club

Final Instructions now available

Posted: February 12, 2010 11:25 AM

• Tipperary Motor Club

Program Outlets

Posted: February 11, 2010 8:39 AM

Rally Programs will be available from 9pm on Friday from:

* Firgrove Hotel Mitchelstown.
* Esso Service Station Mitchelstown.
* Esso Service Sation Clonmel Road, Cahir.
* Maxol Service Station Mitchelstown.
* Kilcornan Lodge Hotel Old Mitchelstown Cahir Road.

Petro Systems National Forest Rally Championship kicks off in Mitchelstown

Posted: February 11, 2010 8:37 AM

The Petro Systems Irish Forest Rally Championship kicks off with this weekends Sean Conlon Forestry rally. It is hosted once again by the Tipperary M.C. and based in Mitchelstown, with the HQ at the Firgrove Hotel.
The event has a new COC in John Ward who has introduced a new stage to the eight stage format. The fifty strong entry includes a mixture of forestry regulars and newcomers. Pat O'Connell, Andrew Purcell, Bob Scanlan, and Sarah Moynihan will be driving Mitsubishi Evo's and John Reid returns with his Toyota Corolla.
The Ford marque is well represented by Seamus O'Connell, Frank Kelly and Oliver Williams in Escort Mk2's and James Murphy in his Escort WRC.

Petro Systems National Forest Rally Junior Champion of 2009 Vincent Mc Aree avails of prize drive in Grp N Impreza.

For 2010, the Petro Systems National Forest Rally Championship has expanded from five rounds to a potential eight. As a result of the cancellation of the Limerick Forest rally- originally planned for April 4th - the Birr MC will run their forest rally on that date. The forestry sub-committee are studying a number of options for Birr's original date on October 10th.

With championship rounds in Donegal and Down, the rally championship has a wider geographical spread than before, and the Down rally marks the presence of this championship in Northern Ireland for the first time.

Other changes to the format include reduced entry fees thanks to the cooperation of Coillte and Motorsport Ireland. The Forestry junior championship has proven very successful for the past few years and in 2010 the top two juniors will be eligible for the Billy Coleman award. Last year the Billy Coleman award was won by Craig Breen, and he will be driving his Ford Fiesta S2000 in the Irish Tarmac and British Rally Championships.

Entry List / Time & Distance

Posted: February 11, 2010 8:33 AM

• Tipperary Motor Club

Petro Systems National Forest Rally Junior Champion avails of prize drive in Grp N Impreza.

Posted: February 10, 2010 9:49 PM

At the end of 2008 Darragh Rafferty from Galway felt there was not enough being done to promote junior drivers in the National Forest Rally Championship. So he offered a prize, the use of his Grp N Subaru Impreza for any two forest rallies in the 2010 series for the winner of the junior class (class 9) of the 2009 Petro Systems National Forest Rally Championship.

Obviously the forest championship sub committee were very impressed with this generous offer and set about putting it into action. Firstly the car would have to be insured and to that end Motorsport Ireland came on board and agreed to cover the cost that insurance. Darragh will organise a service crew to run the car on the events so all that was left for the committee to organise was fuel and tyres. Jim Crozier was as impressed as the committee with the offer made by Darragh and agrees to sponsor the fuel required to match the prize. As the original tyre supplier announced is no longer trading the committee are delighted to announce that Christy Carey of CCS Race n Rally has come on board to supply Hankook Tyres for both events.

All that was left was to wait till the end to the 2009 Petro Systems National Forest Rally Championship to see who would be the recipient of this prize. After a long battle throughout the year where all of those competing for this prize were also contesting the NJRC, Vincent McAree from Monaghan came out on top. This was much to his surprise as he did not enter the final round due to car trouble. Two factors outside of Vincent’s control assisted in his success, firstly a blisteringly quick Craig Breen finished 3rd O/A on the Birr Forest Rally which kept him in O/A classification of the 2WD championship which excluded him from claiming a class prize. Also the retirement on the Birr forest event of an unlucky John Burns in his C2 R2 elevated Vincent to a class win in the Championship.

Vincent with his regular navigator and cousin John Paul McAree are entered in this weekend’s Sean Conlon Memorial Tipperary Forest Rally the first round of the 2010 Petro Systems National Forest Rally Championship. The crew intends on entering the 2nd round in Carrig-on-Siur on the 7th of March and from there if things go their way the will look at the possibility of competing in the rest of the series in a similar car.

The National Forest Rally Championship Sub committee and all concerned would like to wish Vincent and JP the very best of luck for the two events and pass on our sincere thanks to everyone for their support with this prize drive and helping to Make it possible.

Rally is GO!

Posted: February 6, 2010 1:09 AM

Thanks to all the competitors who entered the rally, the club can confirm that the event is now definitely going ahead. So its all systems go. We hope to have the results of the draw for the free entry by Saturday.
Please note that the club are still accepting entries. So if you have an interest in doing the event, get down to the garage and get the car ready.

STATEMENT FROM TIPPERARY MOTOR CLUB

Posted: February 2, 2010 3:24 PM

Its just over a week and half to go for the Sean Conlon Memorial Forestry rally and as of this morning COC John Ward has recevied only 25 committed entries.

Unfortuanely this is not a minimum required to run the event.
The event will be in serious danger of not running unless we can increase these numbers by the closng date, which is Feb 5th, this Friday.

Competitors are being appealed to get entries in this week should they have an interest in competing in the event by Friday.

As a reminder to competitors that entries received by this Friday the 5th will be eligable for a draw for which the winner will receive a free entry for the rally so get them in to win.

If you have any queries please phone 086-6030121 / +353 86-6030121.

The club want to run the event, all the advance planning is done and we have secured sponsors but we need the competitors to do their part and signal their intent.

Regulations are available to download at

• Tipperary Motor Club

Entries will be taken at the Forestry Test Day

Posted: January 26, 2010 10:05 PM

Tipperary Motor Club will be attending the Forestry Test Day this Saturday, where Entries for the Sean Conlon Memorial Forestry Rally will be taken.

Regulations and Entry From available

Posted: January 13, 2010 5:10 PM

Regulations and Entry Forms are now available for this years Sean Conlon Memorial Forestry Rally which will take place on Sunday the 14th February 2010 on the Tipperary Motor Club website. The event is once again based in Mitchelstown, Co Cork and the event is based at the Firgrove Hotel.

The event is made up 8 stages with a format of centralised servicing after every two stages totaling 84 stage kms approximately. The event has a new COC this year in John Ward who along with his team are hard at work preparing for the rally. John has included a new stage this year that has never before been run.

An added incentive to for competitors this year is that all paid entries received before the 5th of February 2010 will be eligable for a draw for which the winner will receive a free entry for the rally.

The event is the opening round of the Petro Systems National Forestry Rally Championship and also the Triton Showers South East Stages Rally Championship.

Regulations and Entry Form on:

• Tipperary Motor Club

Preliminary Details

Posted: January 1, 2010 12:01 AM

The rally is first round of the national forestry championship 2010 and will be held in Mitchelstown Co. Cork.
84km of stages and approx 170km road milage.
4 stages done twice
2x2 in the morning and 2x2 in the afternoon,
with central service on old Mitchelstown / Cahir road.

Regs should be available shortly.

• Tipperary Motor Club