Report
Courtesy of Dunlop Proud Sponsors of the Dunlop National Rally
Championship 2011
LEADING from start to finish, Waterford’s, Craig Breen
(Ford Fiesta S2000) and his Welsh co-driver, Gareth Roberts,
took a convincing victory in the Suirway Farm Machinery Raven’s
Rock Rally, the fifth round of the Dunlop National Rally Championship.
At
the end of the Kilkenny based event, Breen/Roberts were a minute
and 45 seconds ahead of Colm Murphy/Don Montgomery (Subaru),
who took the maximum twenty points in the Dunlop series. Third
place went to Monaghan’s, Sam Moffett/James O’Reilly
(Mitsubishi) were 17 seconds further behind, they move into
second in the Dunlop series – 26 points behind series leader,
Tim McNulty, who was amongst the non-starters. Despite several
problems, Washington James/Lllinos Jones Davies won the Modified
category. Stephen Carey/Breda O’Driscoll (Honda Civic)
won the Group N award.
On
the opening stage, Kells, Breen set the pace and opened up a
19 second advantage over both Colm Murphy (Subaru) and Seb Ling
(Mitsubishi). Murphy lost time when he clipped a stone and the
wheel deflated, luckily, he was near the stage finish. Meanwhile,
Ed O’Callaghan (Ford Escort) was a further three seconds
in arrears in fourth place. Late entry, Sam Moffett (Mitsubishi),
Frank Kelly (Escort) and Shane Maguire (Subaru) were next in
classification.
Breen
was also quickest through the remaining two stages of the loop
to lead the Mitsubishi of Seb Ling by 47 seconds at the Chancellor’s
Mills service halt. Breen remarked,
“The stages are very fast, stage three in particular, I
was probably a little too conservative with my tyre choice,
the compound I selected was too soft.”
Ed
O’Callaghan crashed his Escort near the finish of the third
stage, earlier, on S.S. 2, Paul Mulcahy (Toyota Starlet), who
was ninth overall after the first stage, also crashed out.
Ling
had a good run through the second stage while Murphy clipped
a bank. Eoin Doyle (Subaru), who was fourth overall, had an
overshoot on the second stage while he was concerned by a transmission
glitch on the third test. Moffett was fifth. Washington James
(Darrian) traversed most of the loop with a warped brake disc.
John McQuaid (Escort) held seventh. Roy White, on his first
rally in some three years, occupied eighth in his MG S2000,
he opined that his pace increased as the rally progressed, he
did experience some brake fade on the third stage. Paddy O’Dwyer
(Vauxhall Nova) and Lloyd Hutchinson (Mini), who completed the
top ten, were both untroubled. However, Shane Maguire (Subaru)
lost some six minutes on S.S. 3 with transmission woes and he
retired at the service halt.
On
the repeat loop, Breen continued to dominate and with three
more fastest times, he arrived at the final service halt with
a lead of a minute and 28 seconds over second placed, Colm Murphy
(Subaru). The rally leader, who spun on S.S. 4, admitted that
he had slackened his pace. Murphy was 15 seconds ahead of third
placed Moffett, both enjoyed untroubled runs through the second
loop. Doyle was similarly trouble free – albeit some four
second behind Moffett.
Seb
Ling’s rally ended when he crashed on S.S. 4 and David
Condell put his Escort off the road on S.S. 5. Meanwhile, Frank
Kelly (Escort) occupied fifth from Roy White, who reckoned his
MG S2000 was down on power, particularly on S.S. 6 as it continued
to misfire.
Washington
James (Darrian) had to contend with an oil leak through the
entire loop. The top ten also featured the Escort trio of John
McQuaid, Sam Smyth and Hereford’s, Jay Stanley. Smyth reckoned
that his Escort was handling a little errantly while he also
endured a few minor overshoots. Shay Power retired his Escort
on S.S. 4 when the throttle cable snapped, ironically, a short
distance from his home.
Elsewhere,
Neil Williams (Escort) lost time when one of the spark plugs
failed near the finish of S.S. 6 while Joe Connolly, also in
an Escort, experienced a soft brake pedal on the same stage.
Breen
went on to take victory and complete a notable family double
as winner of the event. His father, Ray, a former Dunlop National
Rally champion, won the rally in 2005 and 2008. As Breen did
not register, Murphy took maximum points in the Dunlop series
while third placed Moffett took second placed points to move
into second in the Dunlop series – 26 points behind the
series leader, Tim McNulty.
James
was the highest placed in the Modified category while fifth
placed Eoin Doyle (Subaru) overshot and stalled on the final
stage. Sixth placed Frank Kelly (Escort) reckoned he couldn’t
have driven any harder. Roy White in seventh, finished with
a damaged air filter.
The
Dunlop “Drive of the Day” award was annexed by Monaghan’s,
John McQuaid (Ford Escort), who was co-driven by Kerry’s,
Seamus O’Connor. The final places in the top ten were claimed
by Sam Smyth (Escort) and Lloyd Hutchinson).
For
various reasons, Dunlop series leader, Tim McNulty (Subaru WRC),
Niall Maguire, Kevin Barrett and Darren Gass, all in Subaru
WRC’s, Liam McCarthy (Toyota Corolla WRC) and Wesley Patterson
(Ford Escort) withdrew their entries.
