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Things were looking doubtful on the Friday morning before the event, as parts of the stages were blanketed with up to 6 inches of snow, but as the temperatures began to rise during the morning so did the spirits of the event organisers. Much was expected of the Devine/Bennett battle after the Tour of the Glens and with the large entry for the Grp N class;
a good day’s action was anticipated.

Indeed it was the production class drivers that were making all the news after the first stage. McCance was quick out of the blocks considering his co-driver, Martin O’Neill, had won the seat for the day at a charity auction. He stopped the clocks at 4.29 over the first Donard Wood stage (last used by the Circuit of Ireland in 1974) to take in initial lead of 9 seconds ahead of Donagh Kelly/Kevin Flanagan with 2004 Scottish Grp N Champion Raymond Mason 1 second behind. Enniskillen’s Richard Cathcart (son of Roy Cathcart) stunned the establishment with a time of 4.40 through Donard considering that he didn’t get to recce the stages beforehand to keep ahead of the pre event favourites of Craig Bennett and Sean Devine.

The 2 wheel drive battle kicked of to an equally hectic pace with Seamus O’Connell and Mark Barnett tying on 4.47. with Andy Magee a further 11 seconds behind.

After the first service halt, Sean Devine upped the pace to record the fastest time through Rostrevor at 4.55, with McCance on 5.02 again with Kelly and Cathcart 1 second each behind.

O’Connell and Barnett again tied through the stage on 5.15 with Andy Magee back up to speed with a time 5 seconds behind the 2wd pace setters.

Stage 3 & 4 again saw Devine top the time sheets to arrive at the second service halt just 4 seconds ahead of Neil McCance/Martin O’Neill with Cathcart/Clark in third place. The Bennett brothers retired in Donard Wood 2 when they lost a wheel on their Focus WRC and obviously could go no further and Gilford driver John McGaffin retired with a broken timing belt after some impressive times during the morning.

Further down the classes the battle raged between O’Connell, Barnett and Magee, and it was the latter that clawed his way back to take class honours at the end with Barnett in second and O’Connell a distant third after incurring some road penalties and Downpatrick driver Christian Cochrane/Paul Cunningham in fourth.

Class 6 was dominated by Adrian Donnelly/Donal Lennon ahead of Andrew Trotter/Ciaran McAnespy and Darrel Quinn/Daniel Woods. Class 5 honours belonged to Matt Mitchell/Barry McCarte while Mark McCrea/Barry McCarte and Paul Killen/David Walsh made it a Talbot Sunbeam 1, 2 in class 4.

Class 3 for the 1400cc cars was won by Andrew Straney and Mark Carson who made a rare appearance in the forests to prove that they can be as equally rapid on loose as they are on tarmac. David Sinnamon/Michael Faloon clinched second and local Annalong crew Brian Hanna/Paul Forsythe finished third. Class 2 was won by Ian and Amanda Green in their Peugeot 205 ahead of Jonathan Greer and Stephen McAuley.

At the front, Sean Devine held on over the last two stages to take another win after his victory on the recent Rally of the Glens. Neil McCance, with his stand in co-driver claimed the runner up position, and first in class 2 and the impressive combination of Richard Cathcart/Marshal Clark took the third step of the podium.

After the concerns about the weather, the event was well received locally at it is hoped that the event will be a regular feature on the local Motorsport calendar. Thanks must go out to everyone who assisted and supported the event.

ENDS

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