via West Cork Rally Kelly and Flanagan are best on quality event The 2014 Quality Hotel Clonakilty West Cork Rally ran for the 36th time this past weekend the 15th & 16th March and was a great success. With its inclusion as part of the Clonakilty Blackpudding Irish Tarmac Modified Championship and the PlasticBags.ie Southern4 Rally Championship the action was bound to be hectic and so it proved. Donagh Kelly from Frosses in Donegal with Derryman Kevin Flanagan co-driving took overall victory on their first ever time doing the event. Their Focus WRC never missed a beat as they held off a strong challenge from Denis Cronin / Coleman Hurley in their Subaru WRC, while another Donegal crew Declan Gallagher and Ryan Moore bought their Toyota Starlet into a magnificent third place overall after a stirring drive. There was disappointment for Daragh O’Riordan / Tony McDaid when their Fiesta broke a driveshaft on the penultimate stage while lying third. Day 1 A field of 117 cars took to the start on Saturday morning in bright sunshine with the first stage commencing at Ring just after midday. Immediately Donagh Kelly belied his lack of experience of the West Cork stage by punching in the fastest time, some six seconds clear of Daragh O’Riordan with the rapid Darrian of James Stafford in third place. It was to be a short event for several notable crews, particularly Melvyn Evans who retired with transmission failure halfway through Ring, Robert Barrable who suffered a bad misfire at the end of the first test after taking fourth fastest and Owen Murphy who suffered a puncture and then head gasket failure. Local drivers Damien McCarthy (Puma) and Jason McSweeney were also out before the end of the first stage as the pace took its toll. By the first service Kelly still held a seven second lead over O’Riordan with Cronin now back up to third place while James Stafford and Kevin Kelleher were in fourth and fifth. Declan Gallagher was having a great drive in his Starlet while Pat Donegan was pressurising the Donegal driver in seventh. Mick O’Brien, Frank Kelly and Phil Collins rounded off the top ten. The afternoon loop started with another run over Ring, and Daragh O’Riordan lost some time towards the end of the stage when he slid into a soft ditch briefly and some of the following drivers also slid off in the same area from mud pulled out. Declan Gallagher had a big moment here with a half spin but Pat Donegan crashed out and Adrian Hetherington also was forced to retire soon after, when he incurred some damage at the same corner. Another prominent driver to retire here was David Guest as he crashed close to the flying finish of the stage. There was very little change for the rest of the afternoon with Mick O’Brien being the most notable retirement with overheating problems. Overnight Kelly was still in the lead by 25 seconds from Cronin with O’Riordan back in third place. In the Modified Championship James Stafford was top registered driver and lay in fourth place overnight with Declan Gallagher and Frank Kelly second and third of the registered competitors. Top 5 after Day 1 1 – Donagh Kelly / Kevin FlanaganFord Focus WRC0:58:39.5 2 – Denis Cronin / Coleman HurleySubaru Impreza WRC0:59:05.3 3 – Daragh O’Riordan / Tony McDaidFord Fiesta WRC0:59:18.6 4 – James Stafford / Richie ClearyDarrian T90 GTR0:59:44.3 5 – Kevin Kelleher / Martin KelleherSubaru Impreza WRC1:00:40.1 Day 2 Kelly extended his lead over Cronin to 33 seconds over the first run over Ardfield with O’Riordan still in third. It was the end of the road for Kelleher who retired before the restart with engine problems while transmission failure saw the end of James Stafford’s run just after Ardfield village. This promoted Gallagher to fourth with the hard charging Frank Kelly in fifth, just ahead of Collins & Patterson as the modified battle intensified. On Stage 9, Glandore, Martin Donnelly who had been lying an excellent eighth overall crashed his Corolla WRC out of the event as the pace of the rally began to take a major toll. Frank Kelly had an altercation with a bale on Stage 10, Sam’s Cross and despite getting back to service, he was forced to retire from the event, a sad end to an entertaining drive. With just one loop of three stages to go Kelly knew barring any major problems he had enough in hand to keep Cronin at bay, and this point was hammered home as he pushed his lead out to 36 seconds. O’Riordan could do little about the pace of the front two as he felt his Fiesta lacked the grunt of the older WRC cars. Gallagher still had about thirty seconds to spare from Collins but he couldn’t afford to relax while Patterson was keeping the pressure on as well. Stephen Carey was having an excellent run in seventh place in his Group N Honda Civic and in sight of his best ever finish on the rally. Over the final three stages Kelly kept his nerve to record a fantastic victory by 33.7 seconds from Cronin. There was late drama as O’Riordan broke a driveshaft on his Fiesta to drop out of third place and promote Gallagher to third place overall. Phil Collins took fourth place with Wesley Patterson in fifth place and Carey in sixth place. Cavan’s Gary Kiernan took an excellent seventh place overall and second in Class 13 while Cork crews rounded off the top ten in the shape of Cal McCarthy (Civic), Andy Mahon (Escort) and Jason Ryan (Starlet). Declan Gallagher has extended his lead in the Clonakilty Blackpudding Irish Tarmac Modified Championship after collecting his second batch of maximum points while Wesley Patterson still holding second place while this weekend’s good result has seen Phil Collins move into the reckoning in third place. The Historic section of the rally was won in sensational fashion as James O’Mahony & Kerrie Barry in their Volvo clawed back a 13.4 deficit on the final stage to win by just 0.9 seconds from Adrian Kermode / Maurice Beckett in a Porsche 911. Mick Smith & Ferghal Beamish were third in a Hillman Avenger. The Junior Rally was won by Alex Parpottas / Alex Kihurani in a Fiesta R2 by 19.3 seconds from Conor McCarthy & Dylan Coffey (Civic) after a great battle. James Bradley & Maria Kehoe took third place in their Ford Escort. Top 5 Overall 1 – Donagh Kelly / Kevin FlanaganFord Focus WRC1:48:07.7 2 – Denis Cronin / Coleman HurleySubaru Impreza WRC1:48:41.4 3 – Declan Gallagher / Ryan MooreToyota Starlet 1:54:20.5 4 – Phil Collins / Derek BranniganFord Escort1:55:07.0 5 – Wesley Patterson / Johnny BairdFord Escort1:55:22.9 Kevin O’Driscoll, Press & Media Officer kevin@westcorkrally
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 07:07:49 +0000
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